Better broadband setup

Hello there, my name is Aaron.

I am noticing really poor speeds right now and have had a 10m rj11 connector running from the main socket to my router for years but I have read on here that using a small rj11 near the socket and router and then running a longer RJ45 to the PC is the best solution for better speeds?

Is this the case?

I will make a few amazon purchases if so.... If any one has any cable recommendations.

If you're going to try it out, I suggest you have a decent BB faceplate splitter, and use Cat5E cable. It's worth splashing out a couple of quid extra. I would search for the products with good ratings.

Hi I just registered. Easier...

Well how would I set one up. I am not a professional and was just looking for cables haha...

So you agree that using a small rj11 and a good cat5e cable is the route to go?

Years ago my master socket was under my desk, so I ran a 0.5M cable to the router then a 0.5M cable to the PC (the router sat on the PC).

Nowadays my master socket is downstairs arcoss the house, so I got a faceplate with built in extension wiring, and ran a Cat6 20M cable up through the wall, through the loft and down again to an extension port, then just repeated the setup in the old house.

Just as good a connection. My point is that in small distances (under 30 metres) as long as the cables and good, the connections are good and with the fewest joint in the system as possible, you probably can't go wrong. It's not as if there's a better choice in that scenario.

What I would start with is plug a short cable from the socket to the router and the same again to the PC (move it temporarily if you can) and see what speeds you get by plugging directly into the back of the master socket. Then start working away from that. If you have decent kit, and you're not running very long cables, the differences will be negligible.

I only say this as I am getting like 0.5mb at present and I am pretty sure I can get more than that. (8mb... but of course I live miles from the exchange)

I am running a 10m rj11 from the master socket/filter to the router and a 2m cable from there to the PC.

I am suggesting moving the router to the master socket and just running a longer cat5e cable which I can tack to the wall.

I read on here that this is the best option.

I shall look into faceplates but I am not too confident about fiddling with our phone line as such... Would a good quality filter also be a factor? I am currently using one which came with the router.

I am going to move the PC and router and do what you suggest soon though.

In reply to a post by curedtc:

I only say this as I am getting like 0.5mb at present and I am pretty sure I can get more than that. (8mb... but of course I live miles from the exchange)

I am running a 10m rj11 from the master socket/filter to the router and a 2m cable from there to the PC.

I am suggesting moving the router to the master socket and just running a longer cat5e cable which I can tack to the wall.

I read on here that this is the best option.

Yes, you're right - the best option is to have a short rj11 of say 1m, and a long cat5e up to 100m. It's unlikely to make any difference though. It really depends on your line stats reported by your router to see what's giving you low speeds.

How can I check what is going on with the speeds then?

Avoid "tacking" to the walls etc - all too easy to mess up the cable with the hammer.

Use the small rectangular conduit with adhesive foam backing..

Also avoid sharp bends, eg do not take the conduit right in to corners, stop an inch or so from the corner, so that the cable can curve around from one wall to next.

You need to get your line stats http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

I didn't 'tack' the cable to the walls. I ran one loosely through a wall from the ground to the loft. ANyway, it's getting off topic.

My router is not on that list. I have a Netgear DGN2000 - Where else can I check things.

I am certainly intrigued with this faceplate idea and it seems to be a good way to get a reliable connection.

Thanks for all these titbits so far every one.

Just to confirm what others have said ...

You need to minimise the pick-up of noise from domestic equipment so shortening the distance from socket to modem will help.

1. Make sure you have a decent face plate filter and not a dangly one.

2. Get a short 0.5 - 0.75 m 2 pair Cat5e cable terminated in RJ11s - the cable will be circular and NOT flat.

3. Install the modem close to the master.

4. Use a long 10m or more cable from Modem/Router to PC.


And also, see if there is any electrical equipment such as fridges, televisions &c sitting close to the incoming phone cable. By moving a TV a couple of metres away from a cable, I was able to improve one slow connection from about 700k to almost 2Mbps ...

There's a couple of suggestions been made so far that you ought to do before you do a lot more.

**************************************
Edit - I see you have posted since that your router isn't in the list. Please look in its screens to see if you can find the Connection Speeds, Noise Margin and Attenuation. Those should show up somewhere and are the most important line stats.
**************************************

One is easy - see if you can get and post your line stats, as per the link BatBoy gave, without altering anything.

Second, if your master socket is the kind where the bottom half of the faceplate comes of, as in this pic, the socket at the back on the wall is the Test socket. You should then carefully open it up, (the BT Phone Book tells you to do this if you think you have a phone fault, before calling them out), plug the filter into the test socket, (which is what camieabz meant by the back of the socket), and take the stats again.

Those two sets of figures will tell us roughly what your speed could be, and possibly indicate an easy mod to make that could give a much bigger improvement than anything else you could do by messing around with cables.

Can you also run the BT Speed Test, (without bothering with all the "red" things to do first - just click the Yes I've done those button), and copy/paste the full contents of the two Results boxes. Don't use the Beta version - we need the diagnostic one.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 07-Jun-12 18:50:58)

I think you just logon to the router and there's a button to press to show statistics.

Try http://192.168.0.1

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Jun-12 18:49:20)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/box...

There is the Netgear stats...

The BT test had an error so would not work at present.

High downstream SNR. That'll be reducing the sync rate. What you need to know is why your line has a high snr.

Which would be?

Perfect . But bad stats.

As Zarjaz says, a very high Noise Margin. If that was in the normal 6dB area or so you would be connecting at getting on for 4000kbps, not 2172kbps. We need to find out what is causing that. (It can be a chicken and egg problem).

Right at the start, you said "I am noticing really poor speeds right now". Do you mean this 0.5mbps is recent and things used to be a lot better? And is it 0.5MegaBits per second or 0.5MegaBytes per second?

Am I right in thinking you are on AOL LLU? The BT speed tester won't run on that. The connection speeds suggest you are. Which exchange is it please?

Have you got anything else connected to the phone line, like a Sky box? If so, is it - and anything else - going through a filter, or is something straight into the socket?

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 07-Jun-12 22:17:04)

Yes we have AOL and speeds range from 0.5megabytes to 3megabytes throughout the years...

No other devices just the scenario outlined earlier with the long rj11 cable.

And the exchange is ...?

Haha erm.... In the village?
It is over a mile maybe 2 miles away?

Heh!

Please post the link to what samknows says for your phone number. I'm just wanting to double-check on the AOL there.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/fdg...

There.

In reply to a post by curedtc:

My router is not on that list. I have a Netgear DGN2000 - Where else can I check things.

I am certainly intrigued with this faceplate idea and it seems to be a good way to get a reliable connection.

Thanks for all these titbits so far every one.

If you're interested, ADSL versions of my FTTC graphing scripts (for Netgear DG834GT router/modems) can be downloaded via this link:-

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,11216.0.html

As your Netgear DGN2000 uses the same chipset as the DG834GT, there�s a good chance the scripts will work straight away, or with some very minor modification.

Also see here:-

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/netgeardg834_interleav...


Using the scripts, you could grab a graphical snapshot of your connection, which may identify a �noisy� line from the QLN,Hlog,SNR and bit-loading graphs, or auto-monitor the connection's ongoing stats over a period of time that may identify things such as bursts of interference at the same time each day/night, suggesting interference from your own or a neighbour�s electrical equipment & so on............................

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Jun-12 22:55:12)

In reply to a post by curedtc:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/fdg...

There.

Allesley

Yeah Allesley.
Sorry.

Any noise on the phone line, crackling and such ?

No not really. Hence why I am deliberating about changing the setup/cables/faceplate.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by curedtc:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/fdg...

There.

Allesley

Grrr - how did you work that out?

Have you been told anything by AOL about your connection being improved? It looks as though you are on a TalkTalk LLU service. It's almost as though you are ona capped service.

Did you check out what sort of master socket it is, as in my post earlier with a picture link? Connecting during daylight tomorrow, using the test socket, then getting those stats straight away, would be interesting.

This 10m RJ11 by the way, is that just a plug-in phone extension cable, or a long modem cable?

We were told many years ago it was improved but nothing has changed in 8 or more years of broadband other than changing the router. I bought one myself.
It is the CarephoneWarehouse now so probably is TalkTalk but it is still AOL and always has been.

I have not opened it up yet as I am still on this forum talking etc haha.

It does have a removable bottom half though.

The rj11 goes from the filter straight into my modem/router

In reply to a post by curedtc:

speeds range from 0.5megabytes to 3megabytes throughout the years...

Doubt you ever got 3 MegaBytes. Think you mean Megabits (per sec)! And assume you mean speedtests, not router connection speed.

Yes, yes ok.
You got what I meant,
As a Computing student I should show myself better... Haha..

I have just opened it up and there are no wires attached to the back of the face plate... It merely came away and the wires are shooting off up into the top of the box....

The noise is the same when I plug the filter into the "Test socket".... I know the line comes in through the roof and we have a small box by the window but this is the master/only socket in the house which was put in.... So this is very odd to me....

EDIT: The downstream is up 500kb/s to 2600 from earlier but that was probably due to peak hours online and it is now 2am...Upstream is down to 394kb/s

In reply to a post by curedtc:

The noise is the same when I plug the filter into the "Test socket"....

What noise? Do you mean the noise margin, or audible noise on the phone?

If you mean the noise margin, what about the connection speed and attenuation. The three are closely related - hence my "chicken and egg" comment earlier. Please always post all three when doing comparisons .

Re the wires that shoot off into the top of the box, a photo would be useful so we can check what they are.

Or have a peek and see if any of these pics are similar, then link back said pic.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bt+master+socket+w...

I would quit now

you won't be passing any exams.

In reply to a post by camieabz:

Or have a peek and see if any of these pics are similar, then link back said pic.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bt+master+socket+w...

It looks exactly like an master socket with the test socket on the right.
https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9G...

But NO WIRES are attached to the faceplate bottom bit. They are all shooting up the back into the top panel it seems. It just came away when I removed it and no wires are attached.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by curedtc:

The noise is the same when I plug the filter into the "Test socket"....

What noise? Do you mean the noise margin, or audible noise on the phone?

If you mean the noise margin, what about the connection speed and attenuation. The three are closely related - hence my "chicken and egg" comment earlier. Please always post all three when doing comparisons .

Re the wires that shoot off into the top of the box, a photo would be useful so we can check what they are.

I meant the margin as there is no noise on the line.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/fdg...

There is both done just now.


EDIT: Socket image of mine... http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/P10...

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Jun-12 15:08:02)

That photo looks OK to me, assuming the incoming cable is from the box by the window and that is fed from the entry in the loft.

I was a bit worried about the wires going into the back as sometimes non-BT people connect extensions/Sky boxes/burglar alarms to the hidden terminals inside that top part, and that can cause havoc if not properly done. We know you have havoc .

I think you have three problems:-

1) Long-term instability which may be to do with your wiring setup, but I have reservations about that. Have you ever had a lot of disconnections and rung AOL, who "stabilised" the line?

2) Your less than ideal wiring setup, which is the question you raised in the first place. You have had plenty of good advice about that. Changing it should help, but I feel not dramatically. At least not in the short-term. It would probably need AOL to adjust some settings once done.

3) Simple congestion on AOL. We have seen connection speeds of 2172kbps and a couple around 2700kbps. A very low expectation (in my opinion) is half the connection speed as throughput, and a high expectation is 80% or more. 500kbps that you report is abysmal.

Remember, you should have a connection speed somewhere between 3500 and 4000kbps, according to your attenuation. Which ties in with you reporting speeds in the past of 3Mbps.

I suggest a useful thing to do would be to download RouterStats Lite and see if it works with your router. From the list it is known to work with I reckon there is a fair chance. Just try the DGN1000 or 2200 settings.

I like 5-second sampling, 8 seconds at the most. MHC likes much bigger intervals. Make sure you get it to save the graphs, and I like to set it to log to a file as well. That way we can see how much your noise margin varies 24/7 for a few days, which might show your connection problems are in the past and we just need to get the noise margin reset in order to get a good connection speed. Or it might show you have a big problem with noise bursts still going on.

Along with the occasional speed test we should also be able to pick up on congested times of day - maybe run one every 2-3 hours and occasionally post the history list (copy and paste) - rather than posting links to the clumsy pretty results box every time.

If you can get RSL running now, then if you do alter the wiring we would get a useful comparison between the two setups.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 08-Jun-12 23:13:25)

Okay I shall download that program but on Monday I shall have a new computer so that is why I was thinking about all of this now, as I was going to just build everything and set up my new wiring too.

So I think I shall buy the wiring and just run this until they arrive and then run it on the new wiring like you suggest.

Yes the phone line comes into the loft and runs down in the living room and a lil box, then runs round the room to this "master socket" which is the only phone socket in the house.

EDIT: Never rang AOL to discuss the line really.

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Jun-12 23:26:10)

Make sure that the cable you get to connect modem to socket is a twisted pair cable and NOT a flat telephone extension type. In your case every little helps.

As Roberto says, I suggest 10 or 30 second intervals but only because with some devices the repeated requests for the same page can cause problems but also that using a 30 second interval allows for one day (2880 points) to be on a single graph of 3000 points.

I'll settle for 10 seconds in this instance . What I feel 30 seconds can fail to spot is big noise swings that don't cause a disconnection. With a target margin apparently 15dB these could be present.

Looking on Amazon all rj11 cable seems flat compared to cat5e rj45 stuff?
Any links?

And I have started it at 5 seconds as first instructed, want me to stop it running and redo it for 10 eh?

Hovering around 14 noise margin downstream and 14.5 upstream as we speak.

Keep it at 5 . It does give a lot of data, I accept, but I ran it for months and found it easy to handle.

Keep an eye out for fair-sized spikes in noise margin, and of course sync speed changes. If your lucky, things will be smooth.

Expect a steady rise in margin around dawn and a matching fall at dusk.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 09-Jun-12 00:04:01)

RJ11 is a connector type as is an RJ45

Cat5e is a cable type ...

Have a look at: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-Grey-CAT6-ADSL-BROADBAN...

That is a 1m cable and Cat6 is better than Cat5e but you will not notice any difference between the two. If you want shorter, ask.


If RSL is running with 5 seconds - leave it running.

I shall keep it running, and shall I keep my PC on then? Or just run it each time it is on.

Also, like I said, any good links for cheapish cables you would say to use?

Thanks for everything so far, I had never really thought about this before but now I am intrigued to optimise it.

EDIT: Just saw ebay link.

Edited by deleted (Sat 09-Jun-12 00:10:10)

In reply to a post by MHC:

RJ11 is a connector type as is an RJ45

Cat5e is a cable type ...

Have a look at: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-Grey-CAT6-ADSL-BROADBAN...

That is a 1m cable and Cat6 is better than Cat5e but you will not notice any difference between the two. If you want shorter, ask.


If RSL is running with 5 seconds - leave it running.

You learn something new every day.. I have always been looking for the cable types associated with those names.

If I am moving my router to the master socket I could probably get away with even shorter than 1m cable as my mum wants it on the floor next to it out of sight haha....

And a 20m RJ45 Cat6 or cat5e will be fine to run from the router to the PC, I get it now.

If the router is on, keep the PC on. Ideally keep both on 24/7 for a few days even if you normally turn the router off sometimes. Unless you get a disconnection and it reconnects very slowly. In which case it's OK to force a reconnection to try to get the speed back up. Then post either or both of the graphs and (part of the) log through the unexpected disconnection.

Don't have the router directly on carpet. It can cause overheating. A hard mat under it on the carpet should be OK.

It looks as though they make cables to order - so email and ask the question.


For teh 20m from router to PC you should really go for Cat5e as they are a lot more flexible and can handle Gbit easily enough. Personally, I use Kikatek for Cables to Go cables as I find teh quality to be good.

http://www.kikatek.com/index.php?cPath=156_448_167&s...

gives a choice of 20m cables in many colours. You could get cheaper, but quality can suffer.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

If the router is on, keep the PC on. Ideally keep both on 24/7 for a few days even if you normally turn the router off sometimes. Unless you get a disconnection and it reconnects very slowly. In which case it's OK to force a reconnection to try to get the speed back up. Then post either or both of the graphs and (part of the) log through the unexpected disconnection.

How do I know the graphs will be saved, I made sure it was logging, and was saving to a text file.

I will keep the system running when when I am not around then. And then buy some cabling and do it again.

(Also is it worth buying a faceplate adsl filter thing? or just wait and see on these logs etc)

RSL does an auto save after 3000 samples so at 5 seconds that will be about 4 hours.

The "Save" setting is somewhere in the tabs across the top - I don't have it any more as I'm on fibre. IIRC there's also a setting to save the graph on closing the program.

Do you use the landline phone? Or connect anything into the phone socket of the filter? If not, apart from neatness the dangly should be OK. Your Mum may like neatness . ADSL Nation, Solwise and Clarity are popular.

In particular though, if the phone or anything else on the line is used, see what happens to the noise margin! Filters can fail.

Take heed of the earlier recommendation to keep the router away from power bricks and other power cables, TV etc.

In reply to a post by MHC:

RSL does an auto save after 3000 samples so at 5 seconds that will be about 4 hours.

Where would it save as I just ran the exe... Did not define any where except the text file.

In regards to the cables, I shall email that ebay seller about the rj11 and I shall got cat5e for the rj45. Thanks. I have bookmarked things.

Also overheating is a good point as it seems to be hot all the bloomin time! Haha..(It is on a wood shelf at present don't worry)

First job is let this program run for a bit, probably Monday I will have to turn it off due to my new PC. Then I shall order some cables.

Haha this 'simple' question has really opened me up to changing the setup and networking I have. Thanks.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The "Save" setting is somewhere in the tabs across the top - I don't have it any more as I'm on fibre. IIRC there's also a setting to save the graph on closing the program.

Do you use the landline phone? Or connect anything into the phone socket of the filter? If not, apart from neatness the dangly should be OK. Your Mum may like neatness . ADSL Nation, Solwise and Clarity are popular.

In particular though, if the phone or anything else on the line is used, see what happens to the noise margin! Filters can fail.

Take heed of the earlier recommendation to keep the router away from power bricks and other power cables, TV etc.

I live in the sticks. Fibre will not be along any time soon....

Well yes, we have 2 phones. In the phone side of the filter there is a phone splitter so there are 2 phones.
The filters do fail, I have changed about 4 or 5 over the 8/9 years of broadband.

In reply to a post by curedtc:

The filters do fail, I have changed about 4 or 5 over the 8/9 years of broadband.

That many is most unusual. Maybe one of your phones is causing a major problem? What are they and have they ever changed in that period?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by curedtc:

The filters do fail, I have changed about 4 or 5 over the 8/9 years of broadband.

That many is most unusual. Maybe one of your phones is causing a major problem? What are they and have they ever changed in that period?

Haha, we have been struck by lightning once or twice I think!

Erm... One has changed, it is an old style turn the numbers to dial them phone now (But very new). And one is a BT mobile style walkabout phone which is rather old now.

OK .

Some time try dialling out with one and then the other, or dial in and answer is better if you have spare minutes on a mobile. Just note what the noise margin does in each case. 30 seconds is enough as you will get a clear reading from RSL in that time.

My images are stored in:

C:\Program Files\Utilities\RouterStats Lite which is the location that I told RSL to install in ... you may have gone for C:\Program Files\RouterStats Lite or somewhere else.

The files will be called something similar to:
ConnectionSpeed-2010Aug01-0011.jpg and
NoiseMargin-2010Aug01-0011.jpg

where the date will be today or tomorrow and the last 4 digits the sequential file on the day.

In reply to a post by MHC:

My images are stored in:

C:\Program Files\Utilities\RouterStats Lite which is the location that I told RSL to install in ... you may have gone for C:\Program Files\RouterStats Lite or somewhere else.

The files will be called something similar to:
ConnectionSpeed-2010Aug01-0011.jpg and
NoiseMargin-2010Aug01-0011.jpg

where the date will be today or tomorrow and the last 4 digits the sequential file on the day.

I didn't install, just ran it. But maybe it will have created the directory any way. Not looked.

And I shall try dialling. They both ring at the same time so I shall disconnect one etc..
When people are on the phone I have never really noticed problems though.

Check it out ...

I need some sleep - some pest control to sort out tomorrow morning

In reply to a post by MHC:

Check it out ...

I need some sleep - some pest control to sort out tomorrow morning

Yeah it is not installed, I shall manually save I guess.
Have a good sleep.. Cricket for me tomorrow... Rain permitting.

I have a lot of images now, what should I do with them? ZIP them up?
I will stop this thing running later.

Have a look through them. We just want to know if there are wide swings in the noise margin, and/or lots of disconnections, and/or are there short spikes that don't disconnect.

4dB gradual fall and rise ar dusk and dawn are OK. 10dB sudden drops are not. That sort of thing.

None of us will want to plough through them all from an upload. If you open a saved one with Windows Media Player you can quickly flick through them and pick out anything relevant. Then post those. Or find the same time in the log, and it's easy to copyt/paste chunks from that direct into here. That's my preferred way of doing it .

There are a few spikes, nothing major over the few days, will post shortly. Need a quick wash....

Cables have been ordered... (on a side note)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/Rx_...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/Rx_...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/Tx_...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/Tx_...

Main occasions... Other tiny differences here and there but these are the main two. Other than that all the lines stayed hovering around the same mark...

Right, that's good.

The first blip - what did you turn off? There is a 2-hour 20 gap. And I've never seem that solid vertical line before.

The second blip, if you look on the Rx one the drop is in red and the pickup immediate. That is just the router saying get lost, I've more important things to do than hand out this info. In other words it was busy doing real work.

What are the highest and lowest downstream noise margins? Subject to what those are it looks as though your next job is the unenviable task of ringing AOL support and asking them why the noise margin when you connect is set to 15dB, and please can you have it reset to their normal figure. (Probably 6, 7 or 9dB).

But don't do that till we have seen the max/min readings . Then we should be able to give you a bit more to say.

I did not turn anything off. It may have reset itself. That happens on rare occasions.


And the lowest was just above the 12 and the highest was just over 13 (in the middle of 12 and 14)
It hovered around that all the time except for the noted blips.

You need to get them to reset the "target/connection-time/sync-time" noise margin to the normal figure, as I said above. Your evidence is that you used to have higher speeds, and whatever went wrong to cause it isn't wrong now, as your noise margin varies by less than 3dB 24/7.

It will probably take a few phone calls, and them insisting you do all sorts of pointless tests, but try not to lose your rag. That never helps, and nearly all ISPs are the same . It will probably need them to escalate it to Tier 2 support, ( Tier 1 may not even understand what you are saying), so good luck .

Improving your wiring will obviously help, and may prevent future trouble, but this will make a big difference.

I shall test again with the new cables and see what happens, and then maybe dig out a phone number for a frustrated time. Haha...

Quick update...
Everything is so slow right now (I have not done any changes yet) so I did a test again..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v334/Klaus5000/sfs...


The noise is lower and the speed is nearly at 3000kb yet the download is shocking...

Very odd, compared to the other days results...
And it is 11pm!

Just thought I would share again.

I've been away.

Did you have RSL running when things changed? It's when that happens we need to see the graphs from a bit before to a bit after .

It certainly seems the "target" noise margin has been lowered, which helps the connection speed, but that you still have congestion.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 16-Jun-12 18:21:16)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I've been away.

Did you have RSL running when things changed? It's when that happens we need to see the graphs from a bit before to a bit after .

It certainly seems the "target" noise margin has been lowered, which helps the connection speed, but that you still have congestion.

No I didnt, I am on a different system. I will be changing the cables Monday as they should be here then will see how it goes... Just thought I would post. On uswitch I did a test and people in my area seem to get better connections so it is possible even though my distance from the exchange as we have said.

Distance from the exchange only affects connection speed. It doesn't cause time-of-day big swings, which are congestion. If you get under half the connection speed as throughput, (when wired rather than wireless), then you have a problem ISP. If wireless, you also need to check local channels in use, with InSSIDer.

Okay my cables have been in a few days.
http://i46.tinypic.com/24caau0.png

Okay, the max I have seen the connection speed is about 3800, so 3500 is good and improved compared to before in the 2000s...


However my download speed as I write this is 16kb/s which is a nonsense. (A rapidshare file, and they have good servers.) I cannot watch youtube videos really..

Hm.

3500kbps connection speed on a 9.3dB noise marging is excellent. (Edit - couldn't be butter ). On 6dB you wouldn't get more than 4Mbps.

The 16kbps download has to be AOL/TT congestion or traffic management. 16kilobits/s, or 16kiloBytes/s? 16kB/s = 128kbps which looks like a P2P cap.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 25-Jun-12 21:57:53)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

3500kbps connection speed on a 9.3dB noise marging is excellent. (Edit - couldn't be butter ). On 6dB you wouldn't get more than 4Mbps.

The 16kbps download has to be AOL/TT congestion or traffic management. 16kilobits/s, or 16kiloBytes/s? 16kB/s = 128kbps which looks like a P2P cap.

Well it is dreadful any way.
Very slow.
Even when it is the middle of the night. I measured it last night at 2am and I could not do a thing.

Here is a reading from now.
http://i47.tinypic.com/nyuxpg.png

As of now... I have a few windows open sure.. But still...Earlier it was 0.2 or 0.1 haha..

Looks like time to change ISP.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Looks like time to change ISP.

Been with them since 2001! It has been better than this before, but now the connection is better in cabling terms I had hoped this would pick up. I shall ring perhaps....

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Looks like time to change ISP.

Called them up. They said it is unusually low and will call me tomorrow and test the line their end for problems.

I was getting 0.7mb as a result on a speed test when I was on the phone.

They said my DGN2000 was not a supported router but it is, it is just I bought it myself and it is not theirs.

Shall post tomorrow...

Friend of mine was with AOL ADSL MAX, he lives just a couple of hundred yards from this exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WMSRK - download speeds became appalling, even though it's a small rural village, so he switched to BT and now things are fine 24/7

In reply to a post by 4M2:

Friend of mine was with AOL ADSL MAX, he lives just a couple of hundred yards from this exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WMSRK - download speeds became appalling, even though it's a small rural village, so he switched to BT and now things are fine 24/7

I have been with them for 11 years and not had any problems until now really, so I am letting them try and sort it before I threaten to walk haha.

If you request a MAC key things might start to miraculously improve; if they do then you don't have to use it, if they don't then you are free to walk...

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Looks like time to change ISP.

Okay I called them.
They lowered the noise margin it looks like....The speed was really good in the day time but at night like now it is still ridiculous. They have kept my ticket open and said to get a better filter and plug it into my test socket which I am currently...
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/13411...

Here are the stats:

http://i47.tinypic.com/351bcci.png

As you can see from the speed test the upload rate is great haha...