My ISP manually increased my Data Rate well above the correct level at their end and this did increase my throughput.

I then dropped down a Bras level and immediately synced back up again where I've been ever since.

My ISP confirms BT's figures mirror that change in level and that everything now is ok.

At one point they confirmed they suspected the problem was not with BT and all the evidence confirms this.

Considering my Data Rate with my ISP is still above the correct level and has not changed, I'm not entirely convinced they have any reason to be confident their systems are now working properly.

I have been re-booting the Router although I'm certain the problem lies with my ISP.

Edited by deleted (Mon 09-Oct-06 09:57:28)

If your ISP are the ones increasing your throughput, then the problem lies fairly and squarely at their feet as they are traffic shaping your connection rather heavily. If it was an issue with BT, then your ISP couldn't increase your throughput at all, which means they are traffic shaping/capping you, which is not a good thing at all.

I would appreciate some clarification on some terminology.
Is my following understanding correct:

BT Downstream Line Rate is the lowest sync speed for a given Profile.
Sync speeds between 5696 and 6208 relate to a BT Downstream Line Rate of 5696 and a Data Rate / Stable Rate of 5000.

The wording on one of Plusnet's pages is:
'This is the speed that the network supplier is telling us you should expect on your line. If your hardware is reporting higher speeds, you can try and automatically update this speed by disconnecting and reconnecting once a day for 3 days.'

'Kitz' actually link to this page on their site and refer to it as Data Rate.
Plusnet's own link includes the wording 'stablerate'
I regard this value as Stable or Data Rate.


I am syncing at 5696 or slightly higher.

Plusnet have manually increased the value on their Web Page [Data Rate - Stable Rate ?] to 5500 and assure me this corresponds correctly to BT's Downstream Line Rate value of 5696.

Is this correct ?.

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-Oct-06 18:05:38)

ATM Line sync speed
IP Data Rate
from 288Kbps 0.25Mbps
from 576Kbps 0.5Mbps
from 1152Kbps 1Mbps
from 1728Kbps 1.5Mbps
from 2272Kbps 2Mbps
from 2848Kbps 2.5Mbps
from 3424Kbps 3Mbps
from 4000Kbps 3.5Mbps
from 4544Kbps 4Mbps
from 5120Kbps 4.5Mbps
from 5696Kbps 5Mbps
from 6240Kbps 5.5Mbps
from 6816Kbps 6Mbps
7392Kbps 6.5Mbps
7968Kbps 7Mbps
8128Kbps 7.15Mbps

Your sync rate will give you an actual speed throughput of 5meg (naturally actual speeds will depend on the time of day). If you were to sync at 6240 then your BRAS profile would be 5.5meg... and so on. The above table is the easiest thing to refer to as you can check your sync rate against it and be able to tell without any extra waffle what you're supposed to get providing you've synced at the required rate for 3 days or more.

Thanks I did have access to the table that you refer to, thats where I got my figures from quoted above.

As stated previously my ISP has been limiting my throughput in the past and are now manually adjusting settings supposedly to try to match BT's figures.

You're right cutting through the waffle is exactly what I'm trying to do.
Without an understanding of some of the terminology, my ISP quote things which are difficult to follow if not meaningless.

My ISP quoted:
'It is the Downstream Line Rate that is relevant to your service speed and not the MSR.
Our system sets it to the nearest 0.5MB increments so with your current line rate a setting of 5.5MB would be correct.

I've no idea why they brought the MSR into it.
I've never heard of 'service speed'.

I still assume BT's Downstream Line Rate is the lowest sync speed for a given Profile and suspect this is the figure my ISP quote on their Web page ie 5.5 MB corresponding to a Data Rate of 5 MB.

This would suggest to me that the link on 'Kitz' web site to my ISP's Web Page isn't the Data Rate after all as Kitz state but is the Downstream Line Rate. As stated above the page it links to gives a value of 5500.

Edited by deleted (Sat 14-Oct-06 23:09:09)

Your provider is basically giving you info that you don't need to know about at all as you only need to know your actual throughput rate/Profile rate. Going by what your provider are saying, they seem to be saying that your actual sync rate is your 'service speed' (if I read that correctly). Why they are telling you things you already know, I can only assume they are hoping to blind you with rubbish and adding in different names for things will certainly not help. All you want to know (which you already know) is what your actual speed is.

What you need to do with your provider is to basically ask them to stop capping/restricting your connection because they are the ones who are physically stopping you get close to the 600kBps actual download rate that you should be getting when things are quiet on your exchange.

Since it's not a BT fault, your provider should just lift the restrictions and stop the messing around. They can set you to the proper rate in one go as there's no need for this incremental increase rubbish.

>>> 'Only Tap 1 Tests enabled - Log In as Tap1 User'.

Pressumably... You've not logged into the Performance tester correctly. You need to put your phone no and username@isprealm
eg. [email protected]

alternatively if using via the speedtest domain login try speedtest@speedtest_domain ?

but the performance tester is awfully buggy and slow anyhow atm

>> This would suggest to me that the link on 'Kitz' web site to my ISP's Web Page isn't the Data Rate after all as Kitz state but is the Downstream Line Rate.

The page linked to on the portal should show you your Data Rate, which should mirror your bRAS profile set by BT.

You have to sync for 3 full days at a higher rate before your profile is increased.
Just one bad sync during that period can mean right back to the beginning again :/

After 3 full days of syncing at a higher speed, BT then set a new bRAS profile and send a report to your ISP (Delta report) advising them of the new profile.
So we are now on day 4.. and it may take a few hours before your ISP actually processes them (I believe they are only done at certain times of the day).

Therefore there may be an overlap of up to a day before both figures are equal?

An isp can manually overide the automated system and increase their datarate, which they do sometimes do in cases where it may be a suspected bRAS profile. However this only increases throughput on their side, and wont actually do anything in the event of something going wrong with the BT side of things.

*** If they have increased your data rate you must reconnect before you will see any speed increase ****

>> BT Downstream Line Rate is the lowest sync speed for a given Profile".

BTw define the line rate as the speed which you sync to the exchange at at (or last sync'd at).
quote

Downstream line rate

----

ooooohh  

Im going to give you some more "waffle", but Im hoping that its going to explain and clarify a few things for some people. (or maybe not).

IMHO the IP profile attained from the BTw performance tester may confuse some people, and its something I mentioned when beta testing the performance tester that perhaps wasnt followed up on properly.

AFAIK the IP profile stated from the performance tester is an indication of the maximum throughput speed you are likely to see after allowing for overheads.

Take for eg my own line
~ I sync at 8128 kbps and have never synced at anything other than 8128 kbps.
~ My Data Rate is 8000 - (& aside from a couple of stuck bRAS profiles its always been at 8000).
~ My IP profile however is 7150 kbps - The BTw performance tester says its 7150.

In the early days of MAX I received several speedtests in the region of 7260kbps
(dont get that now - contentions kicked in 24/7).

During early testing of the performance tester it used to say
"Your configured download throughput speed for this service is 7150 k"
"Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was 6009 kbps

I believe theyve changed it, exactly what I dont know, because since its gone out into *the public domain* its always busy and Ive not been able to access it.

Anyhow, I repeat the IP profile on the performance tester is a guide to the maximum throughput speed... ie anticipated maximum speed after allowing for overheads.

IP profile != DataRate/bRAS profile.

>> then the problem lies fairly and squarely at their feet as they are traffic shaping your connection rather heavily.

I think conclusions have been jumped to here? Look at some of the facts

~ Stuck at <500 kbps what ever time of day??

~ If PN were traffic shaping 6Mb connections at 500kbps on http dont you think there would be a hell of a stink in _all_ the forums? Even more so that this is a PAYG account.

~ PN certainly aint gonna be the ones increasing the Target SNR Margin up to 15 db either are they?

~ Something else has been going on here.. What was the 230 and 160 profiles all about too??

The fact that they are trying to increase the data rate on their side of things, and because they can - doesnt point to traffic shaping.

Dont ask me what though cause I aint going to go jumping to conclusions.
However, I have recently heard of stuck low profiles.
I am also wondering about if delta reports have been received >> acted upon, and the overlap time inbetween this period.
Then remember it takes a reconnect to see the speed increases.