How to interpret the ADSL lins status diagnostics?Please

Hi there, I have a BT Voyager 240 router/switch (the 240 does not appear to be listed in the BT Broadband Desktop Help menu) and was converted onto Broadband with VOIP line last Christmas 2005. The buck passing and failure to get results is enough to send someone to another place! I am approx. 3 km from the exchange and I believe all my problems are down to poor quality and aged line plant, both underground and overhead lines. I wish to be able to interpret and understand what is meant by K, R, S, D, SuperFrame Errors, RS Correctable Errors, RS Uncorrectable Errors and HEC Errors, etc., on the ADSL Line Status print out that I am regularly taking off the router. On the 18th July I was converted to DSL Max and my VOIP line was made usable on 18th September following the 10v adapter being found to have the wrong firmware as my service had been migrated from the NGCP platform to the SIP platform. Any comments, views and assistance are very welcome!

Post Extras
Totally cheesed off with the time it has and is taking to get and keep it up !!!!!

Well why not cut and paste the details, and we can interpret for you ?

Thanks here is the current test
Line mode G.dmt Line state Show Time
Latency Type Interleave Line Up Time 01:21:47:19
Line Coding Trellis On Line Up Count 2

Statistics Downstream Upstream
Line Rate 3648 Kbps 448 Kbps
Noise Margin 10.4 dB 21.0 dB
Line Attenuation 41.0 dB 26.0 dB
Output Power 18.4 dBm 12.3 dBm
K 115 15
R 16 4
S 2 4
D 16 8
Super Frames 9695914 9695912
Super Frame Errors 894 46
RS Words 329661084 164830504
RS Correctable Errors 4151758 67
RS Uncorrectable Errors 7393 0
HEC Errors 753 0
OCD Errors 23 0
LCD Errors 0 0
ES Errors 0 0

I simply have to bring myself up to date with this dslmax as I appear to have been left behind. My problem is known to be old, aged line plant that BT promised to "uplift" over the last five years and now they say it is not necesaary. But a considerable amount of work must have been done as my pstn line has greatly improved recently. I simply do not get consistent service. I just need to do some swatting in all these new terms. Thanks for any help.

Line Rate 3648 Kbps 448 Kbps
Noise Margin 10.4 dB 21.0 dB
Line Attenuation 41.0 dB 26.0 dB

Not wonderful figures for 41db attenuation.
I would expect either your sync or margin to be a lot higher.

Usual questions: -
Router into 'test' socket inside master? If not, any difference if you do?
Removed wires 3 & 4 from 'phone sockets?

Thanks Ade I believe you have come to the conclusion I am expecting and the 240 router is directly on the master socket as you say. Currently nothing else plugged in that line.
My line was so bad last year that I had to give up using dial up from July 2005 til Xmas then the BT customer servives manager hooked me up to broadband in an attempt to give me some form of connection.
Im spending up to 3 hours a day on to BT with all the outages, thats why I want to update myself with all that I can find.
I have a major case going to ofcom and a claim etc. The longest the connection has been up is about 8 days and only got the voip working on 18th Sept, been without it since 18th July.
All help I can get would be appreciated to interpret and bring myself up to speed on this.

Are there any extensions from that master socket (as, even without devices plugged in, the wiring alone can drag in some interference)?
If all you have is a master socket, no 'phone, no extension wiring etc, it looks like a really dodgy line.
Your line attenuation (41db) would indicate a straight line distance, to the exchange, of around 2km, and a cable length around 3km (ish) - Albertring should be able to comment further on these distances.
Of lines that I have personal experience of, and with similar line attenuation, syncs of 8128kbps (the maximum available on ADSLmax) are not uncommon, although with an attenuation of 41db a stable sync at maximum speed may not be sustainable.
6Mbps should be easily possible, if it weren't for your low noise margin (which implies a high level of noise on your line).
I wonder if crosstalk from an adjoining pair (not required to be a neighbour) with another ADSL1 (or ADSL2+) could be a cause.
Any audible noise on the line?

The problem with going to OFCOM, is BT are not required to provide a line suitable for high speed ADSL, only a voice line.

Your post implies you have a 'phone line specifically for ADSL, assuming you have another line coming in, is that any better? Can ADSL be enabled on it (may be worth the

Well the cable length is a jot over 3Km and it is a very noisy cable that I have known for over 5 years with every couple of weeks until I elevated it to the Chairmans office as a high level complaint. I have continually been cut off, test tones, noise etc etc. The longest up time for adsl has been it appears 8 days. The Customer servive manager dealing with all my complaints over the years went long term sick in April and it appears all my complaints went missing with him, How convenient. Hi superior took over and wrote to me that there was no evidence to suggest that an uplift to the line plant was necessary. So I hit the roof, and will not come off, thats what brought me onto the sites.
These results are from being plugged in directly to the master socket backplate. Nothing else connected.I did have another line until July which was just as bad if not worse.
Now with regard to you gestimate of reliable speed I would expect tops of 4 Mips but after losses an acceptable service of 3.5Mips at this location. I am just trying to find out what all the figures given by the line status print out mean. As I am failing to be able to reference them all, do you know at all. Please or do you know someone that does. Thanks for your help.

Latency Type Interleave Line Up Time 01:21:47:19
Line Coding Trellis On Line Up Count 2

-- interleaved line, up for nearly two days, Trellis encoding in use. Two retrains ?

Line Rate 3648 Kbps 448 Kbps
Noise Margin 10.4 dB 21.0 dB
Line Attenuation 41.0 dB 26.0 dB
Output Power 18.4 dBm 12.3 dBm

-- the usual stuff, not the best 41 dB line but equally getting 3M MaxDSL at the attenuation limit of 2M fixed speed service. Decent SNR margins.

K 115 15
R 16 4
S 2 4
D 16 8

- these define the depth and nature of the interleaving. Well over my head. RTFM.

Super Frames 9695914 9695912
Super Frame Errors 894 46
RS Words 329661084 164830504
RS Correctable Errors 4151758 67 <-- errors the interleaving fixed
RS Uncorrectable Errors 7393 0 <-- the ones it can't

-- very small proportion of errors. 7400 uncorrectables in an hour are survivable, over 2 days they are insignificant.

You have my sympathies. Unfortunately line attenuation isn't the only factor in line sync speed, as you have found out. I run a business from home, and I have a home line and a business line, with ADSL on each.

The business line has an attenuation of 42.5dB and is currently sync'd at 3776 kbps with an SNR of 7dB. The home line has an attenuation of 47dB, and is currently sync'd at 6016 kbps with an SNR of 4dB.

BT say that one line is copper, and the other is aluminium. We have BT engineers here on average once per month to fix line faults. I too have taken it up with the Chairman's office, and we just get led round in circles. Still, I suppose it could be worse - at least we have ADSL

It does appear, you have a poorly line.
Unfortunately, it's giving you ADSL above the minimum speed of 400kbps, so it's unlikely BT would do anything if the problem was confined to the ADSL side of the line.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at things), it would appear the voice side is not exactly up-to-scratch, if you are getting continual cut-offs, noise, stupid tones, etc. then BT may well be duty bound to fix it.

As has been mentioned elsewhere [in this thread], BT's lines are a mix of copper and aluminium (and maybe a bit of wet string and seaweed thrown in for good measure). ADSL performs better over Cu than Al (at one point BT were stating Al lines were not suitable for ADSL - fortunately that's changed, as large chunks of my town are wired in it).

BT need to get to the bottom of your problem. And as you have voice line problems, too, you stand a good chance of getting them to attend.
However, you also have a chance of them giving up and grading your line as unsuitable for ADSL (normally something that would only happen on really long lines), and disconnecting you (so it's important to know how far you can push them).
The important thing to remember is BT are in no way, duty bound to provide you with a line that will work with ADSL.

Do any of your neighbours have similar problems, or is it something specific to your line?