Is there any cure for my broadband woes?

Hi,
Sorry to post yet another "will it go faster?" question.

I used to think my Pipex 1.8-2.4Mbps connection was bad enough but since changing to Utility Warehouse for all my utilities last year I now suffer 1.4Mbps broadband! I'm using the UW supplied Thomson ST510 which I connected up while still on Pipex and it was happily running at 1.8-2.4Mbps. At some point after the switch to UW speeds dropped so I contacted them and things improved briefly, almost back to previous speeds but then went back down to 1.4Mbps. All these speeds are from the thinkbroadband speed tester.

Here are the router stats from this morning:

Uptime: 6 days, 12:46:47

Modulation: G.992.3 Annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 577 / 1,724

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [KB/KB]: 0.00 / 0.00

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.5 / 0.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 28.5 / 55.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 11.5 / 12.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / µ

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): 2,176 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 80 / 1,834,095

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2,896

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2,200

At the moment the router is plugged into a short extension off the master socket which is where it's always been but I know you'll want some stats from the test socket so I'll try to sort that out this morning. After a similar plea for help last year I disconnected all the other internal extensions which helped a lot.

Just for a laugh here's what the BT checker says about possible speeds at my location (we are on the Slaithwaite exchange).

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial check on your address indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 5Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 3.5Mbps and 7.5Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 6Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 4Mbps and 8Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line could support an estimated ADSL 2+ Annex-M broadband upstream line speed of 1Mbps and downstream line speed of 6Mbps; typically the downstream speed would range between 4Mbps and 8Mbps.

Thanks in advance,
Mark.

Expected download speed at your current sync rate: 183.40 KB per second (or 1467 kbit)

Expected upload speed at your current sync rate: 61.38 KB per second (or 491 kbit)

Problem: Downstream attenuation is very high at 55dB.

Problem: Downstream sync speed of 1724 kbit is 2659 kbit slower or 39 percent of the average for connections with the same downstream attenuation of 55dB.

Problem: Output power down (0.0dBm) is very low. Most common values are 17 to 19.5dBm.

Problem: Router is using ADSL2 mode; this may be because of poor line conditions. ADSL2+ mode should result in a faster speed on most lines.

Problem: Signal Noise Margin Down (12.5dB) is extremely high. ISP may have put you on this profile to compensate for a high error rate. If you know that your line is actually reliable, lowering the value to the average of 6dB should give a sync speed increase. Call ISP to change it.

Problem: Signal Noise Margin Up (11.5dB) is higher than average and may be this high in order to compensate for current/previous high error rates.

Problem: There are some FEC Up errors. FEC errors are *corrected* errors, so these are probably nothing to worry about. Speedtouch routers have a habit of misreporting FEC errors anyway.

Problem: Your upstream sync speed of 577 kbit is 57% of the average of 1004 kbit for connections with the same upstream attenuation of 28.5dB.

The output power figure could well be 0.0 dBm as the figure may relate to a quiescent period.

Yes, I agree that it's not important.

The 12dB target margin that UW are running you at is what is costing you your speed

If they were set the target down to 6dB, then you'd get another meg to 1.5 meg

Thanks for the input guys. I guess I'll get onto UW again and see if they can do anything. From what you've said am I right in thinking they've basically decided the line quality is poor so rather than go for a fast(ish) connection that will be unreliable they've gone for a more stable slower one?

If the line quality really is that poor can I do anything to get them to improve it or am I stuck with it until either Virgin or BT decide to run fibre somewhere close to my house? The chances of that by the way are probably about as likely as a lottery win without a ticket!

Cheers,
Mark.

As MrSaffron says your Target SNR is slowing things down - BUT those 'Error Seconds' don't look good to me and show a possible issue with your wiring/line.

You mention seeing improvements before when you removed your extensions and tried the TEST socket. Why not fit a Faceplate Filter to make sure your wiring etc. doesn't effect your connection? Only about £10 or so...

Also it might be worth trying your old router to see how that performs as it sounds like your changed routers when you changed ISPs?

But my money is on your wiring

In reply to a post by b4dger:

BUT those 'Error Seconds' don't look good to me and show a possible issue with your wiring/line.

Those ES are entirely reasonable for the Uptime.

That's not my experience with a Thomson router - and my line is pretty long and flakey!

My 'Error Seconds' would normally show '0' unless there is a problem with the line or storms etc. around. I don't believe Thomson reported 'Error Seconds' are the same as other routers report them. I notice some routers report 'serious errored seconds' which may be more inline.