0.25mbps following a regrade...Am I going insane ?

Hi, I am at my wits end with Orange.

I have foolishly entered into another contract with them after requesting my MAC code and am now paying for it big time.

I was very nicely offered a regrade on my line to get better line speeds (as I was only getting about 2mbps - oh what I would give for 2mbps now !). I was told this would take 10 days. I waited and watched my connection drop, speeds go down, speeds go up a little and...hey presto the overall experience wasn't great but, as it was part of the regrade process, I thought I had better stick with it. My ip profile also went up and down all over the place.

The day my regrade was completed (yesterday) lo and behold, I suddenly started connecting at 10mbps with an ip profile and download speed to match. It did drop out every hour or so however.

Last night everything went nuts and I got a download speed of 0.22mbps and an ip profile to of 0.25mbps and this hasn't changed (with a suitably hysterical noise margin in the mid 20's). After a rather frustrating exchange with Orange I am now being told that there will be another 10 days stabilisation period and there is nothing they can do (and in fact, the regrade process 10 days is separate to the stabilisation period).

Am I having my leg pulled here ? Are the two separate ? Am I now waiting another 10 days for things to get better ? Has a rat chewed through a wire at my local exchange (attn 41db so it isn't a million miles away) ? Should I consider suicide ?

Many thanks,

Bill

At 41dB attenuation a connection speed of 8Meg is possible, but 6 to 7 most likely.

What are all the figures from the modem? Particularly the upstream, as if thats more than 448Kbps, then the IP profile should update in real time.

Were your old speeds 2272 down and 288Kbps up by any chance? i.e. on an old fixed speed 2 Mbps service.

Hi, thanks for your response. Here are the stats from my router

data rate information:
stream type actual data rate
Upstream 440 (Kbps.)
Downstream 283 (Kbps.)
defect/failure indication:
operation data upstream downstream
Noise Margin 17.5 dB 22.3 dB
Line Attenuation 22.6 dB 40.0 dB

indicator name near end indicator far end indicator
Output Power 12.8 dBm 0.0 dBm

Prior to regrade the connection speeds were variable but I seem to remember speeds normally around the 5mb and 196kbps mark (with rarely speeds over 3mb).

Thanks,

Bill

Hi,

I have seen this a number of times where a line is converted to 21CN and a formerly stable line becomes unusable and unreliable - resulting in the IP profile bing lowered to the point of being useless, as you describe.

Assuming the line is noise-free (you can use callinbox to test this - see other posts) then if possible, check how stable the line is using only the test socket and no internal BT wiring. If you need a phone, plug into the filter in the test socket - avoid using extension leads.

At this stage you're looking for stability - rather than speed. If the line is stable like this and you need the extensions connecting, use an ADSL faceplate to filter all the extension wiring and retest. If the line remains stable - the speed will eventually return to at least the speed you had at first.

If the router needs to be away from the test socket, let me know...

Good luck!

AHA !!!

I take it this is too much line noise ?

http://www.qfpost.com/file/d?g=6THRhp0JW

Orange are now telling me that they have run a line test and that there is no problem with the line to my socket or the internal wiring. They can escalate but will stiff me for £105 if there is still no fault on the line. By the way, that soundfile that I uploaded was with the mute button on.

Any thoughts ?

Okay so looks like 20CN to 21CN

On 21CN which tries to use ADSL2+ if you had a variable line connection before, then it will be worse.

Restart the modem once, and get the same stats as soon as you can. Modems tend to settle on the lowest speed, and only recover if YOU restart them.

Do you have a master socket, that comes apart like in the picture http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/faq/faceplates/...

If yes, try the modem in the test socket, and post the stats. The IP Profile may take a short while to improve, so just the stats are the important part.

If that socket is better then read http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq/sections/radsl.htm...

In terms of escalating, if the problem is your wiring then yes Openreach will charge to fix it. If the noise is not present when using the test socket, then suggestion is that it is your wiring.

if the noise is present at the test socket, and all other phone sockets DONT work and you DO NOT have any filters or ADSL modem plugged in, then report a noisy line to your voice line rental provider, and DO NOT mention broadband, and when engineer arrives unplug all the broadband kit to show the noise is still present.

Hi - thanks for thrying that - there is some noise - but quite quiet - ideally there should be none - of course. If that's typical of how it normally is, I would go with testing at the test socket as previous,y described and see if it is stable there.

At least now you can keep the recording for future ref and see if it deteriorates or improves.

Ok many thanks....I have just bought a corded phone and I will test tonight. I have to say, I really appreciate the help !!

Is that with or w/out the router connected? And from test socket?

If you have any noise with router disconnected you should report it as voice fault w/out mentioning BB.