AOL 'Up to 24Mbps Speed Broadband Boost'

Hi

I'm at my parents house for Xmas and forgot just how terrible their AOL broadband internet is and have been trying anything to speed it up.

Looking at their online AOL account, I found a setting called 'Up to 24Mbps Speed' which was unchecked, so I ticked the box. That was a few hours ago and not much seems to have changed. It looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/xsgiHkJ.jpg

Can I assume this is something to do with using ADSL2+ and not ADSL? The current speeds are:

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3181961742

I'm not sure (but doubt) if my current router (a [censored] Belkin F6D4630) even supports ADSL2+. If it doesn't can you run an ADSL router on and ADSL2+ line, but where it defaults to a lower speed (thinking that otherwise if AOL do at some point switch it to a higher speed I've just killed my parents internet for a bit!).

Thanks

An ADSL router will work fine on an ADSL2+ line.

Unlikely that the setting change actually changed anything, sounds too simple for AOL.

The speedtest also shows that you would probably not see much of a speed boost from ADSL2+, perhaps an extra meg of download speed.

What you really need to look at are connection speed, attenuation and noise margin figures from the router and throw them into http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/calc to get a feel for what the line can actually do.

Yeah counting on AOL to do anything simple isn't a good bet...

Also I agree there's not much room for improvement on my line - stats are

ADSL
Type Interleave Path
Status SHOWTIME

Downstream Upstream

Data rate(Kbps) 4436Kb 440Kb
Noise Margin 9 20
Output power(dBm) 123 190
Attenuation(dB) 57 26 *well that looks awesome!*

Going off on a tangent, if I switch to a FTTC provider e.g. BT would I be able to get the stated 30Mbps+ speeds, even if the attenuation isn't great? (thinking about it, is that attenuation value above from the house all the way to the exchange, whereas FTTC is only bad copper wires between the house and the cabinet, which is far closer than the exchange so there's less chance for the signal to degrade?)

In reply to a post by cgreen3:

Data rate(Kbps) 4436Kb 440Kb
Noise Margin 9 20
Attenuation(dB) 57 26 *well that looks awesome!*

To be honest thats a very good speed for that attenuation and it looks like you have room for more if your line is stable. If you're on BT Kit and subscribe for Up To 24Mbps with AOL, the new DLM allows the Noise Margin to drop to 3dB instead of the old 6dB if your line is stable.

In reply to a post by cgreen3:

Going off on a tangent, if I switch to a FTTC provider e.g. BT would I be able to get the stated 30Mbps+ speeds, even if the attenuation isn't great? (thinking about it, is that attenuation value above from the house all the way to the exchange, whereas FTTC is only bad copper wires between the house and the cabinet, which is far closer than the exchange so there's less chance for the signal to degrade?)

It all depends how close to the cabinet you are. VDSL speeds drop massively more over distance that ADSL so it can be very unpredictable on long lines unless you know where your cabinet is. What does the BT Wholesale checker say? It would also help to know your connection error counts so we can see how 'clean' your line is. Remember: ADSL2+ (Up to 24Mbps) is much more sensitive to errors than ADSLMax (Up to 8Mbps), so if you have a poor connection (As far as error rates are concerned) switching to ADSL2+ may not be very pleasant.

In reply to a post by chris6273:

If you're on BT Kit and subscribe for Up To 24Mbps with AOL, the new DLM allows the Noise Margin to drop to 3dB

I doubt that AOL will buy BT WBC in its non-LLU areas. I imagine that Boost is only applicable at LLU exchanges.

@OP: What exchange are your parents on?

Those stats are v. good for BTw ADSL Max which AOL has you parents on, prob. cuz they are not LLU there. Unlikely you will benefit from ADSL2+ on that long line.

What exchange is your parents on?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I doubt that AOL will buy BT WBC in its non-LLU areas.

Isn't it cheaper ? IPStream is also retiring at a list of exchanges.

I'm currently on this exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EACRH

Also I think I'm on LLU as in the account page the plan is listed as 'AOL BB (SMPF)' where I think SMPF is Shared Metallic Path Facility (another name for LLU?)?

SMPF is shared metallic path facility which did used to mean LLU broadband (with phone via BT exchange) however same term is used now for BT provided ADSL.

Exchange has both TT and AOL LLU listed and BT 21CN so ADSL2/2+ options should be available to you. They would give you a faster upload if nothing else, although I would expect a few hundred k uplift on the downstream too.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

however same term is used now for BT provided ADSL.

Can't be Unbundled from BT, when it is BT itself that is providing the service. That is Bundled!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by yarwell:

however same term is used now for BT provided ADSL.

Can't be Unbundled from BT, when it is BT itself that is providing the service. That is Bundled!

as I said, SMPF is a term also used for BT provided ADSL. See for example here where it says "All technical issues have been resolved and BT Wholesale ISP's can now process SLU SMPF to LLU SMPF using a manually generated MAC" or here where it says "BTW ISPs wishing to migrate customers from SLU, must advise the end users to cease their SLU service first, before submitting a provide SMPF order into BTW" or
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/migration.html where "SMPF includes BT Wholesale" or entries in the BT Wholesale catalogue that refer to Openreach SMPF charges on Market 1 (BT only) exchanges.

The doctrine of EoI led them to call it the same thing to avoid apparent discrimination, so now we need to say "LLU SMPF" for clarity.

Thanks for the replies!

I rang up AOL tech support, and it was going well until they asked me what router I had. (The one they initially sent me, a Speedtouch 580, died years ago so I've been using the Belkin one).

After initially being told my router was unsupported, I mentioned I was only using it because my old one broke (whether that was really the case, or because I'm part of the meddling 1% of users who fix things that aren't broken I can't remember), at which point the nice tech support guy offered to send me a new router for free!

Here are the new stats:

Upstream line rate (kbit/s) 440
Downstream line rate (kbit/s) 5568
Line standard ADSL2+
Channel type
Interleaved
Upstream SNR (dB) 15
Downstream SNR (dB) 7.5
Upstream line attenuation (dB) 28.9
Downstream line attenuation (dB) 51
Upstream output power (dBmV) 11.5
Downstream output power (dBmV) 18.5
Upstream CRC 0
Downstream CRC 0
Upstream FEC 640
Downstream FEC 0

Compared to the old ones (copied from previous post):

ADSL
Type Interleave Path
Status SHOWTIME

Downstream Upstream

Data rate(Kbps) 4436Kb 440Kb
Noise Margin 9 20
Output power(dBm) 123 190
Attenuation(dB) 57 26

Old speedtest: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3181961742
New speedtest: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3195012131

4.7/3.7 = 1.27 (2sf) = 27% speed increase

So the takeaway is, if you've been with your ISP for ages (especially AOL), it may help to get a new router, and see if tech support can give you it for free!