Having a bit of a nightmare with O2 BB!

First post on here so be gentle, I'll try my best to give people the information they need to try and figure out the problem.

I've been really annoyed with the speed im getting recently from O2, I cant even play a youtube video without having to load every 5 seconds!

Did a quick test to find this:

[img]http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/7352/speedjg.jpg[/img]

I remember running a test in December which I still have the screenshot for that shows I was getting just over 3mb d/l speeds, which although not great is much better than what I seem to be getting now. The last 4 months have been a constant 1mb.

I've called O2 numerous time and sent in a complaint to which they gave me some compensation (£14 thanks) but nothing has changed.

Here are some stats from the O2 Wireless box II

Uptime: 0 days, 1:21: 08
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,088 / 2,569
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,083 / 1,835
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 16.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.0 / 54.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.5 / 7.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 4 / 3,958
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 4 / 3
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 61,995 / 2

I also live in a new build property so don't have a master socket, just an external NTE (I think its called).

Any help appreciated.

The sync speed is reasonable for te attenuation - could be a little higher but not too far out. It is your throughput that is very low.


Have you done a complete power cycle reboot? Maybe leaving the router powered off for 15 -20 minutes.

What about tests on the TBB speedtester - they will be recorded on your profile.

Go to http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks and run their test - what advice does it give?

Connected at 1.8Mbit at 54dB? Sounds low in the first instance.

Our old ADSL was about 55dB and we got over 3Mbit and our line is made of wet wool and held together by engineers spit by the looks of it.

Not sure what is up with the error counts listed. Seem rather strange.

Edited by orly (Sun 25-Sep-11 02:29:21)

Downstream sync speed of 1835 kbit is 2691 kbit slower or 41 percent of the average for connections with the same downstream attenuation of 54dB.

SNR Margin of 7.5 indicates you have noise problems on the line.

Output power of 16dBm indicates a line problem.

I suspect there may be some wiring problems between your external NTE and where the modem is plugged in.

Snip the bell wire in the external NTE, then reboot the router and see what they stats look like.

In reply to a post by MHC:

The sync speed is reasonable for te attenuation - could be a little higher but not too far out. It is your throughput that is very low.


Have you done a complete power cycle reboot? Maybe leaving the router powered off for 15 -20 minutes.

What about tests on the TBB speedtester - they will be recorded on your profile.

Go to http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks and run their test - what advice does it give?

Im amazed how clever people are on this site being able to draw all of the above from the stats I posted. (bear in mind most of it is another language to me,lol)

TBB Speed test is here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/1...

Here are the results from dlsreports:
http://www.dslreports.com/tweakr/block:58c5c05?servi...

What number is the bell wire plugged into?

Here's the NTE -

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8348/photo2509201...

Also, this is a pic of the closest socket to the NTE (just after the radiator), would that be classed as the first socket and so gett a better connection?

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6398/photo2509201...

Currently have the router connected to one futher away in the living room.

Edited by deleted (Sun 25-Sep-11 16:59:09)

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

What number is the bell wire plugged into?

Here's the NTE -

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/8348/photo2509201...

Number three, the orange/white. I would also go around and remove it at each socket -- otherwise you are effectively leaving an aerial connected.

Also, this is a pic of the closest socket to the NTE (just after the radiator), would that be classed as the first socket and so gett a better connection?

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6398/photo2509201...

Currently have the router connected to one futher away in the living room.

Quite likely. (But then who knows how long is a piece of string, without measuring it. )

Edited by burakkucat (Sun 25-Sep-11 17:41:48)

Disconnected that orange wire in the external nte and it's gone from just over 1mb to 2mb, I'll post some more stats later. So you think it'd be beneficial to disconnect this also on the individual sockets?

Should I buy a master socket with an adsl faceplate and replace one of the extensions?

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Disconnected that orange wire in the external nte and it's gone from just over 1mb to 2mb, I'll post some more stats later. So you think it'd be beneficial to disconnect this also on the individual sockets?

Yes, I would systematically go around to every extension socket and ensure that only the blue pair is connected. (Blue/white stripe to IDC2 and white/blue stripe to IDC5.)

Should I buy a master socket with an adsl faceplate and replace one of the extensions?

If you are going to do that, you should identify the location of the first socket after the XNTE and replace it with your own NTE5/A. Ideally you would remove the surge suppressor, capacitor and resistor from the NTE5/A before fitting it -- otherwise your pair will be doubly terminated. That said, I have seen situations where an OR engineer has left a circuit doubly terminated . . .

Once you have your NTE5/A fitted, then install a SSFP and take your telephony pair from its IDC2 & 5. If it is not convenient to plug your modem/router in at the location of your NTE5/A + SSFP, then you could run a data extension (using CAT5e cable) from the A & B IDCs of the SSFP.

Awesome, I've been round and disconnected the orange wire from the sockets. On first impressions it looks to have increased the speed by a further half a mb.

There are 4 sockets (extensions I think you call them on here) two downstairs and two upstairs. Tbh I wouldn't know which one is the first one from the xnte as they all look the same. They all have two blue wires going into the same connection on the left and two blue/White going into the connection on the right, apart from one where one of each wire went into the left and right, I think the electrician got that wrong.

A lot of what you put above re the Nte5 went over my head but I'll link to what I think I need tomorrow before I buy it and you guys can let me know if it's right. I'll also post some more stats to see if it can be improved further.

Thanks again for all your help.

Unfortunately, it is a common occurrence for a building contractor's electrician to wire up telephone sockets in a sub-optimal fashion. If the telephone works, it's considered "job done". However, as you have found, it can severely degrade a broadband service.

Before you order (or purchase) anything, how about taking a current picture of the wiring at each socket, just like you did for the XNTE? I'd be happier giving you advice after reviewing the present situation.

I've already taken a picture as I went, I'm on my iPhone at the moment but I'll be happy to upload them tomorrow when I get in from work.

So far I've gone from 1mb to 2.5mb, seriously helpful this forum.

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

I've already taken a picture as I went, I'm on my iPhone at the moment but I'll be happy to upload them tomorrow when I get in from work.

Great! I'll look out for the link, tomorrow.

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

So far I've gone from 1mb to 2.5mb

Presume you are quoting the speed tests.

The important thing is your connection speed. What are your router stats now?

This is the back of the main extension in the living room.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/9219/photo2509201...

All the others are exactly the same apart from one which was like this:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4978/photo2509201...

So I swopped the wires so they were matching, this one above is the closest to the xnte but as people have pointed out, maybe not the first wired.

Stats now are:

Uptime: 0 days, 10:34:58
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Channel mode: Interleave
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,336 / 4,672
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,142 / 3,807
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.0 / 52.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 4.0 / 5.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 9 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 11 / 3,362,308
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 11 / 1,119
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 5 / 1,010

Massive difference, can't see me getting better than this!

Good stats! You have actually been switched from ADSL2+ to ADSL1, but on your long line that is all to the good.

You should be seeing about 3.2 Meg on speedtests.

EDIT: Sorry, I confused "Bandwidth" with "Max Bandwidth", so not as good as I 1st thought

Edited by XRaySpeX (Mon 26-Sep-11 16:48:59)

Yes Im really impressed with the improvment that little bit of work has made thanks to the help of people on here. A quick speed test this morning showed 3.2mb. What does ADSL2+ and ADSL1 mean? I know I was on ADSL2+ before but is ADSL1 better then?

Do you think it would help at further to completely disconnect the other sockets that I don't use? We dont use a home phone and only use the one socket in the living room to plug the router into.

Is it possible to connect a small length of wire directly into the XNTE (possibly on the 'red connection' side with a NTE5 on the other end just to see what the maximum possible connection could be?

I've also been told that ditching the O2 Wireless Box and getting a Netgear router will improve the speed further, not sure how true this is.

Edited by deleted (Mon 26-Sep-11 14:12:54)

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

What does ADSL2+ and ADSL1 mean?

They are different standards of ADSL technology. ADSL2+ is capable of up to 24 Meg D/L speeds but it falls off faster with distance. ADSL(1) is only capable of up to 12 Meg D/L speeds but it doesn't falls off as fast, so eventually at long distances such as yours it overtakes ADSL2+. For more, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adsl

ADSL limit 8Meg
ADSL2 limit 12meg - better maths but same frequencies
ADSL2+ up to 24meg, due to using an extra 1.1MHz

Never seen a line with G.992.1 (ADSL) go over the 8Meg mark.

Im with you, so sometimes at longer distances it makes sense to be on ADSL1. Interesting stuff. Cant see me getting more than 4meg anyway.

Edited by deleted (Mon 26-Sep-11 14:57:30)

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Im with you, so sometimes at longer distances it makes sense to be on ADSL1. Interesting stuff. Cant see me getting more than 4meg anyway.

I dont see why not you should be syncing just over 4.0Mb on ADSl2+ if all was good according to kitz, so your a little under for that, being on ADSL1 should get you a little more still at least near 5Mb so something still not right.

Edited by deleted (Mon 26-Sep-11 15:19:01)

Cool, Im going to have another play about with it tonight when I get in.

I'll try disconnecting all the other unused extensions first and see if that helps.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Never seen a line with G.992.1 (ADSL) go over the 8Meg mark.

No, but I was talking about the standard itself. In UK it is limited to 8 Meg for some reason. Use ADSL2 if you want up to 12 Meg (but no use to OP).

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

This is the back of the main extension in the living room.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/9219/photo2509201...

All the others are exactly the same apart from one which was like this:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4978/photo2509201...

So I swopped the wires so they were matching, this one above is the closest to the xnte but as people have pointed out, maybe not the first wired.

Sorry for the delay, I've just managed to review the pictures and the other posts to this thread. As XRay & Mr Saffron have covered the sync speed, protocols and statistics, I'll just concentrate on the wiring.

Yes, as expected, you have suffered from a construction site electrician's botch. Notice how the insulation on every wire has been stripped back, the cores twisted together and then forced into the IDC connectors? All in all, a big fat zero and a fail!

Where exactly do you wish to site the modem/router? (Edit: In the lounge, as I now see.)

I note from your later comments that you do not have, nor wish to have, a telephone connected to that circuit and it is only used to provide a broadband signal. In that case, this is what I would do --

(1) Remove the yellow plug in the XNTE to isolate the internal wiring.

(2) At each socket upstairs, disconnect the socket, snip off the exposed copper core of the wires that were connected, coil the wires neatly into the backing box and fit a blanking plate over the backing box.

(3) In the hall remove the socket and separate the two cables. Choose one and (temporarily) connect the blue/white stripe to IDC2 and the while/blue stripe to IDC5 of the socket. Plug a telephone into that socket and re-insert the yellow plug in the XNTE. Check to see if the phone is live. If so, mark the cable as the incoming supply from the XNTE. If not, check the other cable.

(4) Remove the yellow isolator plug, once again. Now, with freshly trimmed wires from both cables, fit gel-crimps to join the like to like wires of the blue pairs in each cable. That is blue/white stripe to blue/white stripe and white/blue stripe to white/blue stripe. Fit a blanking plate over the backing box.

(5) In the lounge, remove the socket and separate the two cables. Do the same test as you performed in the hall to identify the incoming cable. Having marked the incoming cable trim off all old exposed copper cores. Neatly coil the cable which supplies the feed to upstairs into the back of the box. From the incoming cable, connect the blue/white striped wire to the terminal marked "B" and the white/blue striped wire to the terminal marked "A" of your newly purchased NTE5/A. Fit the back plate of the NTE5/A to the backing box, plug a telephone into the test socket and re-insert the yellow isolator plug into the XNTE. Confirm the circuit is live.

(6) Finally, fit the newly purchased ADSL filtered faceplate to the NTE5/A. Make a final check by plugging the telephone into the front phone socket.

(7) Connect up your modem/router and allow it to sync. Call your ISP, explain that you have had your poor internal wiring rationalised and ask if they will perform a full reset on your line, starting with a new training period, as if it was a new service provide.

Your shopping list.

Three white blanking plates. (Any electrical retailer.)
Two gel-crimps. (Probably have to purchase a small pack from Amazon, for example.)
One NTE5/A. (From Clarity, for example.)
One ADSL filtered faceplate. (From Clarity, for example.)

Edited by burakkucat (Mon 26-Sep-11 17:06:15)

http://www.juniper.net/us/en/local/pdf/datasheets/10...
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/asna/presentations/...

ANSI DMT Modulatoin and G992.1 8Mps downstream, 1.2Mbps upstream.
There is a S=1/2 line coding that with G.992.1 can yield 12Mbps, but ADSL2 G.992.3 took over circa 2002

A tendecy to take more notice of those than wiki's.

Like you, a2hgo, I'm a newbie & a non-techie. I'm not even sure how to obtain stats. I've been with O2 for a few years & I've been very satisfied until recently. I live in a low-speed area & was accustomed to speeds of 1.8 - 2.4 meg even at peak times.

Although I still achieve speeds up to 2.4 meg off-peak I'm now lucky to reach 1.0 meg at busy periods. On Sat & Sun evenings my speed dropped to 0.3 meg & averaged about 0.5 meg.

On Sat I was asked by 2nd Level Tech Support at O2 to monitor my speeds for a day or two in order to establish whether my low speeds were caused by a technical problem or by volume of traffic. They said I would need to speak with Customer Services if the latter proved to be the cause. I'm not sure why.

Could you please advise whether your low speeds are also occurring at peak times. I accept that speeds will reduce during evenings & weekends but a drop from 2.4 to 0.3 seems intolerable.

Could it be that O2, at least in some areas, just don't have the equipment to handle their increasing customer base. I'd like to know if it would be possible, prior to moving to a new ISP, to establish how many other people a user would have to share with. I think it's called a contention ratio.

My broadband speed of 0.3 to 2.4 meg seems absurd considering that I live 2 miles from the city centre of Wakefield in industrial West Yorkshire. My heart goes out to those who don't have much hope of ever going faster than about 2 meg. I think my local exchange, Sandal, is to be upgraded to FTTC next year but I don't know how I'll be affected personally.

You should be able to get the router line stats using the info from this link to the KITZ website.

Don't apologise burakkucat, your help is appreciated.

Had all the faceplates off the sockets tonight. I've disconnected the upstairs ones end established the socket in the hall is the first from the XNTE.

Just out of interest I wired a faceplate with a short length of wire directly to the customer side of the XNTE and plugged the router in. Quickly went into the stats and it was syncing at 6meg!!!!!

Anyway, at the fist socket it's now syncing at just over 4meg. When I connect the wires together in this first socket and use the socket in the lounge it drops further to around 2.8meg. So I've decided to relocate the router to the hallway. Only problem wit this is that I can't plug the Ethernet in for my xbox and Internet TV without running it across the living room floor.

I'd be interested to know if it would be possible to run a new length of external cable directly from the XNTE, across the front of the property and into the living room through the hole currently also used for the sky dish and into the existing socket in that corner of the lounge. I could then replace this socket with an NTE5 and Ssfp. Effectively being a direct feed from the XNTE and perhaps achieving the 6meg speeds I got when trialled and meaning the router will be back in the lounge so I can plug all my stuff in.

1_4_all, I feel my problems are mainly wiring related as opposed to ISP as by messing with the wiring I've got it from 1mb to 4mb.

The stats 5 mins ago plugged into the first socet in the hallway are:



DSL Connection

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 0:12:30
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,235 / 6,533
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,235 / 4,802
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.5 / 53.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 3.0 / 4.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 20 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 23,108
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 20,329 / 0

Although it's showing 4.8meg soeedtests show about 2.5meg for some reason.

Edited by deleted (Mon 26-Sep-11 22:07:29)

I'd be interested to know if it would be possible to run a new length of external cable directly from the XNTE, across the front of the property and into the living room through the hole currently also used for the sky dish and into the existing socket in that corner of the lounge. I could then replace this socket with an NTE5 and Ssfp. Effectively being a direct feed from the XNTE and perhaps achieving the 6meg speeds I got when trialled and meaning the router will be back in the lounge so I can plug all my stuff in.

It is certainly do-able and you have (already) convinced me that it would be worth the effort.

I would consider the possibility of drilling a new hole from within the backing box directly out through the wall. Ensure that it slopes slightly downwards to stop rain water penetration and drop the cable vertically downwards from the hole, outside. Seal it with silicone and all should be well. Run the cable horizontally, ensuring that it approaches the XNTE from below. In other words, it should turn through 90 degrees and run vertically up to the XNTE. You may need to drill a 5mm hole into the bottom of the XNTE, if there is no suitable knock-out you can use to gain access to the "customer's side". Apply some more silicone sealant to keep that entry hole water-tight.

Good stuff, I'll give it a go at the weekend. Is this the external wire I need:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10m-2-pair-4-wire-Black-ex...

Or this one
http://www.o2help.co.uk/router-statistics/

That should do the job fine. Just use the blue/white and white/blue pair.

Technically there is no reason to fit an NTE5 inside as the XNTE does exactly the same job. Only benefit will be to do away with the dangly filter - which as you have no phones connected isn't even needed.

I did think that about the nte5. I'll get to it this weekend and report back with some stats. )

Hi

Is the Sky system you mention connected to the phone line and if so how?

Regards

Dave

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Good stuff, I'll give it a go at the weekend. Is this the external wire I need:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10m-2-pair-4-wire-Black-ex...

Yes, that will be perfect.

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

Technically there is no reason to fit an NTE5 inside as the XNTE does exactly the same job. Only benefit will be to do away with the dangly filter - which as you have no phones connected isn't even needed.

A good idea. One could suggest using a RJ11 socket in the lounge [1][2], thus doing away with any potential confusion as to the status of the service on the pair.

However there is one reason for having a "more standard" NTE5/A + SSFP pair -- and that is when the ISP / CP asks for a telephone to be connected direct to the "test socket" for a quiet line test, etc.

[1] http://www.clarity.it/xcart/product.php?productid=16...
[2] http://www.clarity.it/xcart/product.php?productid=16...

Edited by burakkucat (Tue 27-Sep-11 19:57:19)

I did think that, but didn't have time to go scouting for relevant products. That would also save faffing around trying to find an old dial-up modem cable with the right pinouts (should the OP be keen to do away with the dangly filter).


Oh and good point about maybe needing to do the quiet line test from time to time. I'm just a little concerned what the impact will be having both the XNTE and NTE on the line. Only concerned, as I don't know the answer to it

Edited by deleted (Tue 27-Sep-11 20:06:58)

No the sky box is not connected to the phone line at all.

Many thanks, Apprentice, for your link to KITZ website. I've tried this link before for my router - Thompson TG585 v7 - but I can't find the stats I need.

Not to worry: I have to get back to O2 & so I'll check with them. During the daytime Mon to Fri, my down speed is usually about 2.3/2.4 meg which is OK for my area. At weekends, however, my speed drops to as low as 0.3 meg. especially in the evening. Last night (Mon) it was 0.5 meg.

I have precious little technical knowledge but I believe the problem has to be a contention issue. Would you agree? Thanks again for the link.

I'll try it without a nte5a to start with and see how I get on. Can alway stick one one if I start to have problems at a later date.

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

I'll try it without a nte5a to start with and see how I get on. Can alway stick one one if I start to have problems at a later date.

Nods, in encouragement.

After all, your have four secondary sockets to "play" with. (I hope the IDCs have not been damaged by the electrician forcing the twisted-together wires into them.) If you have a typical Wizard's grotto, you'll have the appropriate cable with a BT plug at one end and a RJ11 plug at the other end, otherwise they can still be purchased.

In reply to a post by 1_4_all:

Many thanks, Apprentice, for your link to KITZ website. I've tried this link before for my router - Thompson TG585 v7 - but I can't find the stats I need.

Not to worry: I have to get back to O2 & so I'll check with them. During the daytime Mon to Fri, my down speed is usually about 2.3/2.4 meg which is OK for my area. At weekends, however, my speed drops to as low as 0.3 meg. especially in the evening. Last night (Mon) it was 0.5 meg.

I have precious little technical knowledge but I believe the problem has to be a contention issue. Would you agree? Thanks again for the link.

Try http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?ce=1&be=0&l0=1&l1=0

In reply to a post by burakkucat:

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

I'll try it without a nte5a to start with and see how I get on. Can alway stick one one if I start to have problems at a later date.

Nods, in encouragement.

After all, your have four secondary sockets to "play" with. (I hope the IDCs have not been damaged by the electrician forcing the twisted-together wires into them.) If you have a typical Wizard's grotto, you'll have the appropriate cable with a BT plug at one end and a RJ11 plug at the other end, otherwise they can still be purchased.

Well proof is in the pudding as they say. Spent an hour this afternoon running a wire from the XNTE to the socket in the living room, all done neatly, proper job. Anyway heres a screenshot of the router stats:

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/4858/photolol.png

Basicaly a from a 2.5mb sync to 8.5mb, 3x increase in speed. Can't be much happier with that!

Edited by deleted (Fri 30-Sep-11 22:04:48)

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Basically a from a 2.5mb sync to 8.5mb,

It's actually from 1.8 Meg to 6.6 Meg increase in Sync and it's very good . It's the Bandwidth reading that's your Sync not the Maximum one which is what it would be if no DLM restrictions were in place.

Suggestions re socket and protocol:-

1) If you want a neat socket with phone and broadband sockets, then given the XNTE I suggest an XTF 85 faceplate instead of a complete XTE-2005.

2) I only skimmed the thread but IIRC you don't particularly want a phone anyway, in which case the ADSL cable from the router should be pluggable directly into the existing socket, with no filter. The only purpose of the filter is to prevent ADSL "noise" getting onto the phone line and ADSL frequency range noise picked up by the phone cabling side of things being fed back onto the ADSL circuit.

3) The best connection for your line I suggest would be ADSL2, rather than ADSL(1) or ADSL2+. See this post, but note that I believe the "saveall" needs to be a separate command, not part of the main one. (It may even be "save all". What it does is preserve the setting for subsequent re-connections).

4) What is strange is your downstream noise margin never seems to be near the default 6dB. What time of day do you tend to connect, and what time of day do you read the stats? Daylight connections are fastest, and a stats reading immediately after one would be interesting.

Thanks for clarifying dude.

If I'm to connect the adsl cable from the router straight into the wall without the filter I'll need to buy that faceplate as the adsl connection is obviously different to the phone socket. Do they sell them in BnQ?

With regards to point 3, are you saying I should go into the router and manually change it to ADSL2?

Point 4. I tend to connect at around 7-8pm for general browsing, bit of online gaming etc. I'll sometimes do a quick check of the stats first thing in a morning, 8am and find theyre usually around 10-20% better than in the evening.

Are you saying if I address point 1.2and 3 I can look to improve the connection even further?

If you look closely, the ADSL cable plug is smaller. The connections I believe are in the centre of both plug and socket, and although I have never tried it myself many people I respect have said it works. It certainly will not do any harm to try, as long as you don't force anything.

The faceplate I linked to is on the site you get it from. You will probably find similar on the Clarity site if that is where you were thinking of getting a replacement NTE5.

Neither of these suggestions will improve the connection, just look neater than a dangly filter.

Point 3, re ADSL2, there is a fair chance ADSL2 will give a slightly higher connection speed than the other two, and it will certainly give better stability than ADSL2+. I used it all the time on O2, with similar stats to yours.

With the O2 box you have to telnet those commands into it, as per that link.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say the 8am stats are better than in the evening, if you haven't done a reconnection.

Having never used telnet, I just completed point 3, here's the results:


Uptime: 0 days, 0:00:56
DSL Type: G.992.3 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,230 / 9,033
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,235 / 7,152
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.0 / 49.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 3.0 / 3.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 10 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 542
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 20,843 / 0

The difference is incredible compared to a few days ago, and to think according to all the websites the most I should possibly be getting in 4mb.

As i used the 'save all' command at the end, does this mean I don't have to worry about it jumping back to ADSL2+?

I'm not too bothered about having the filter there tbh as the router and connection to the wall etc are hidden by the sofa.

When I say the connection speeds tend to be higher in a morning, I'm basing that solely off a quick speed test using speedtest.net (not very reliable I know).

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Oct-11 00:41:53)

Interesting that you have a 3.5dB noise margin. Odd even!

Yes, the save all stops it reverting to ADSL2+.

You will probably find a reconnection in the morning is faster. There is more noise/interference when it is dark. But you are about at the best possible now - mainly due to the wiring changes.

Awesome, thanks for your help.

Knowing not a great deal about what these stats mean, whats odd about 3.5db?

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Well proof is in the pudding as they say. Spent an hour this afternoon running a wire from the XNTE to the socket in the living room, all done neatly, proper job. Anyway here's a screenshot of the router stats:

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/4858/photolol.png

Basically a [significant] increase in speed. Can't be much happier with that!

A great result. Thank your for reporting back.

Here's the stats from this morning,


Uptime: 0 days, 9:43:36
DSL Type: G.992.3 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,239 / 9,509
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,235 / 7,152
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.0 / 49.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 3.5 / 5.0

Looks as although the max bandwidth has gone up half a meg, the sync speed is still the same. I'm therefore guessing that I've reached the limit of what O2 will allow me to get out of the line! Still very happy with the results.

Yeah for 49.0 Attenuation

7mbps sync speed is decent.

Very good sync speed for that attenuation. I don't think O2 is limiting you, just your SNR margin is at the limit.

You need to re-sync in daylight. It never goes up by itself.

The oddity about the 3.5dB margin is that the sync-time default on O2 is 6dB, unless it has recently changed.

Unfortunately a 6dB margin would slow you down by about 1Mbps connection, though only about 800kbps actual throughput.

The 3.5dB margin accounts for the higher than normal connection speed that others have commented on.

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Looks as although the max bandwidth has gone up half a meg

That's cuz NM has gone up by 1.5 dB, allowing greater leeway for it to be reduced without the line disconnecting.

You should not just take readings during daylight, but force a reboot then, so as to get max benefit.

Are forcing a reboot and re-syncing the same thing? So I should go into the router nd click the 'restart' button now it's daylight to allow it to refresh?

No and yes .

A re-sync is disconnecting from the exchange and re-connecting. A reboot is restarting the the router like restarting a computer. So a reboot automatically causes a re-sync, but they aren't the same thing.

So yes, click the restart, then read the stats as soon as its back up working .

Got you, just done it,


Uptime: 0 days, 0:04:31
DSL Type: G.992.3 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,239 / 8,384
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,243 / 7,709
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.0 / 49.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 3.0 / 4.0

Job done! See how it goes.

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Got you, just done it,


Uptime: 0 days, 0:04:31
DSL Type: G.992.3 annex A
Maximum Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,239 / 8,384
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,243 / 7,709
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 30.0 / 49.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 3.0 / 4.0

Looking good. Now please leave the modem/router alone for a couple of weeks -- seriously.

Whatever you do, don't force a re-sync but monitor the status whenever you like. Why not set up routerstats and let it do the graphical monitoring for you? Assuming, of course, that the modem/router is compatible with John's software.

Haha, yes will do. Thanks again for all your help pal!

In reply to a post by a2hgo:

Thanks again for all your help pal!

You're welcome.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

SNR Margin of 7.5 indicates you have noise problems on the line.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

I suspect there may be some wiring problems between your external NTE and where the modem is plugged in

.

+ - 1db is hardly an indication of a noise problem snr will nearly always have some degree of fluctuation,Whilst it is possible that there maybe some issue with the op's internal wiring or connected equipment inc filters in use, But i would imagine that some basic testing has been carried out already to rule this out?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

+ - 1db is hardly an indication of a noise problem snr will nearly always have some degree of fluctuation,Whilst it is possible that there maybe some issue with the op's internal wiring or connected equipment inc filters in use, But i would imagine that some basic testing has been carried out already to rule this out?

Bit late to the party Anon The noise problems that were indicated as I said, have been sorted out and everyone is satisfied.

Happy trolling

Monitered this for the last few days, speeds have been great, 6mb+ consistently.

Only thing that bugs me is that the xbox seems to lag more than when I was getting less than 1mb!! Really frustrating.