ipprofile,syncspeed, microfilter and rj11questions

Ive been having problems with a tiscali max connection.

Ive been dealing with tech support on a few occations now. Spoke to them on Saturday and they said they are getting bt to change my ip profile to 1750(or there abouts) and that it would take at least 72hours. I waited patiently and still no increase in ipprofile. Its currently set to 350. Speedtest.net is also confirming data throughput speeds at around 0.35.

I was speaking to tiscali tech support last night and they said they would call bt again.

I have had my netgear dg834g router plugged into the test socket with a microfilter fitted as well.

Today I thought i would buy a new cat5 and rj11 cable just in case these were causing problems with sync speed.

Generaly i was getting between 1500 and 2200 sync speeds.

When i got home i realised the new rj11 cable was rj11 to bt. So i thought id try the new cable and just go into the test socket without a microfilter.

Im now getting a sync speed as shown below.
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7872 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 21 db 5 db
Noise Margin 15 db 26 db

I guess this means I had a faulty microfilter?
or a previously faulty rj11 to rj11.

For a long time the bt line checker has said my line is capable of 512 and might go to 1mb.
Is it possible that internal wiring such as a faulty microfilter being used over a long time could affect the information the bt line checker will give?

I will need to connect a microfilter eventually as i need to use the landline. What is the very best microfilter i could buy?

As i understand it the ipprofile will automatically readjust itself over a number of days. Should i just let this happen or hope that tiscali will speak to bt. Will getting bt to reset the ipprofile be more advantages? It could be the iprofile is stuck at the moment.


Sorry to be all over the place in this post and hope you folks can throw in your thoughts

Yep a faulty filter or lead. Your profile should sort itself out and you should get the max sync of 8128.
It is possible that the info BT got from the DSLAM cause the checker info to be incorrect.

Hi
quote
Line Attenuation 21 db 5 db
Noise Margin 15 db 26 db
With your attenuation you should synch at 8128Kbps . But it seems your target SNR has been set to 15db .losing you some synch speed . This normally happens when the DSLAM has seen your line as unstable . It will take some time (weeks ,months ) to get the target SNR down again . This will only happen with a very quiet stable line . So Not too many resynchs in a short period
Regards Jeff

Thanks for the replies guys.

Things have a progressed a little now.

BT are now reporting the following through the ipprofile test site...

Download speed achieved during the test was - 1810 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :7872 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 6500 Kbps



Its good news the ip profile has increased to 6500. Ive never seen it this high. Hopefully when i get a new microfilter it will stay this high.

Is it strange to see the acceptable range of speeds as 600-7150 Kbps? it just seems like quite a wide range.

Speed test.net is also reporting around the same throughput speed.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/561342662.png

These are my current router stats....
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7872 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 21 db 5 db
Noise Margin 14 db 26 db

The down noise margin does seem to fluctuate between 14 and 15 db.

The bt availability checker also reports the following.....
"Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 1Mbps or greater."

Do you think according to my router stats and ip profile speed that i should be getting higher data throughput speeds? Its my understanding the waiting game is usually for the ip profile to rise in line with the sync speed. That appears to have happened but the data throughput speed is low when considering the sync and ip profile speed.

Also can anyone recommend the best quality microfilter to buy please?

Thanks again everyone.

In reply to a post by Rockh:

Yep a faulty filter or lead. Your profile should sort itself out and you should get the max sync of 8128.
It is possible that the info BT got from the DSLAM cause the checker info to be incorrect.

Not necessarily. It could also be a faulty faceplate. The OP's best bet would be to purchase a filtered faceplate. I'd recommend the ADSL Nation XTE-2005 which should rule out both the filter and the faceplate. In rare occurrences, a line fault can be made worse by fitting a microfilter to the line.

Thanks for the reply.

I take the point about eliminating a faceplate problem. At the moment im running through the test socket and have been for probebly close to a month now.

What do people think about the following...

At the moment i am not using any kind of microfilter, i am just plugged streight into the test socket directly from my router. Is this ok as long i dont want to use a phone?

Is it strange to see the acceptable range of speeds as 600-7150 Kbps from the bt ip profile test page? it just seems like quite a wide range.

Do you think according to my router stats and ip profile speed that i should be getting higher data throughput speeds?

Thanks again for looking.

Are we to assume that you have extensions fitted to the original faceplate ? Your extension wiring could be causing your line instability.

Have you tried plugging the microfilter into the test socket ?

Your stats show an excellent line, but (as at least one other poster has said), any line instability will cause the profile of your line to drop, so it doesn't matter what your current sync speed is, you won't get any more throughput than what the profile limits it to.

Also, I noted from your speed test you are with Tiscali. Not exactly the best ISP to get decent tech support from. Have you been with them long ?

Hi,

I have no internal wiring connected to the face plate at the moment. I only have the router connected directly to the test socket without a microfilter and i am getting the best sync speed and ip profile ever (see above)

The issue is now my data throughput speed is only between 1.5 -2mb.

Depending on who you get at tiscali depends on how knowlagable and useful they are. A helpfull guy has just rung me to check how things were. He agrees i should be getting higher throughput speeds as well. They wany the usual speedtest.net results sending to them which i will do.

btw

yes ive had a microfilter running directly into the test socket as well. Its only since bypassing the microfilter that the sync and ipprofile have shot up in speed.

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

In reply to a post by Rockh:

Yep a faulty filter or lead. Your profile should sort itself out and you should get the max sync of 8128.
It is possible that the info BT got from the DSLAM cause the checker info to be incorrect.

Not necessarily. It could also be a faulty faceplate. The OP's best bet would be to purchase a filtered faceplate. I'd recommend the ADSL Nation XTE-2005 which should rule out both the filter and the faceplate. In rare occurrences, a line fault can be made worse by fitting a microfilter to the line.

The OP said they were using the test socket hence my comment about a faulty filter / lead since they got a large improvement by using a BT - RJ11 lead.

In reply to a post by Rockh:

In reply to a post by zebedeee:

In reply to a post by Rockh:

Yep a faulty filter or lead. Your profile should sort itself out and you should get the max sync of 8128.
It is possible that the info BT got from the DSLAM cause the checker info to be incorrect.

Not necessarily. It could also be a faulty faceplate. The OP's best bet would be to purchase a filtered faceplate. I'd recommend the ADSL Nation XTE-2005 which should rule out both the filter and the faceplate. In rare occurrences, a line fault can be made worse by fitting a microfilter to the line.

The OP said they were using the test socket hence my comment about a faulty filter / lead since they got a large improvement by using a BT - RJ11 lead.

Yes, but to get at the test socket, he would have had to remove the faceplate, and faceplate plugs (the ones that go into the test socket, when you plug the faceplate in) have been known to corrode. I have had an instance where a fault was caused by the faceplate base (which BT have to change), which is why I suggested it. Since the OP was looking for a new microfilter, the obvious answer (to me) was to fit a filtered faceplate, and the best one of those (IMHO) is an XTE-2005.

In reply to a post by harta:

At the moment i am not using any kind of microfilter, i am just plugged streight into the test socket directly from my router. Is this ok as long i dont want to use a phone?

Is it strange to see the acceptable range of speeds as 600-7150 Kbps from the bt ip profile test page? it just seems like quite a wide range.

No problem using the TEST socket full time.
As for the 'acceptable' range - yep, that's how things work

Thanks for the replies again folks.

Just to confirm. The faceplate is removed at the moment and has been for prob about a month and half. Its only the other day though i removed the micro filter so that only the router was plugged directly into the test socket and this is when the sync speed shot up.

Just to update everyone on my current stats..........here are the router stats....

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 7904 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 21 db 5 db
Noise Margin 14 db 28 db

http://test.speedtester.bt.com/ ......................results
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1640 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :7904 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 6500 Kbps


Anyone any ideas on any possible reasons why the data throughput speed is not near the ipprofile speed?


When speedtester.bt.com reports.....................................
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
they cant seriously mean any speed within this wide range is acceptable service standards?


Anyone any ideas on the kinds of things i can get 2nd line tech support at tiscali to ask bt to do?

Thanks again everyone

...Anyone any ideas on any possible reasons why the data throughput speed is not near the ipprofile speed?

With it being Tiscali, it's almost certain that it's due to congestion somewhere on Tiscali's system - in other words, they don't have/not willing to spend, on the resources required to support the customer base that they have.

This means that the resources they've got is shared between the customers.

The other possible, is congestion at your exchange which is designed to support up to 50 customers per connection.

Tiscali do not have a very good reputation, personally I would ask for my MAC and migrate elsewhere.

After a bit more reading, i wonder if this could be a low MSR?.

I'll ask tiscali to confirm what the msr is.

Can i tiscali get bt to reset the MSR? Would this involve going through a whole 10 day training/ stabilisation period.

It could be some of my leads have always been faulty and when i first moved in and got the tiscali braodband sorted then the msr was set low because my internal wiring at the time was faulty which would affect line speeds.

Now I have my internal wiring sorted and get a sync speed of 7904 am i right to think the line would benefit from going through a new stabilization period thus hopefully increasing the MSR?

From http://www.dslzoneuk.net/adslmax_explained.php (reformatted)

Maximum Stable Rate: The MSR is the lowest SYNC rate that your modem has connected at during the first 10 days of your line being connected to the ADSL Max service.

Fault Threshold Rate: The FTR is the speed below which a fault can be reported to BT Wholesale via your ISP. It is set to 30% lower than the MSR.

Personally I doubt that BT take any account of the MSR/FTR anymore. It used to be said that they'd investigate if the line rate fell beneath the FTR.

but the whole maxdsl configuration requires the MSR to be set doesnt it? this therefore dictates maximum data throughput speeds that can be gained i believe?

When i first connected with tiscali at this current address (a few years ago) i was only syncing at around 2000. therefore the MSR will have been set around this level.

But I can constantly get a sync speed of nearly 8000. Therefore i believe the line would benefit from having the MSR reset thus allowing a higher MSR to be set.

Does MSR affect actual data throughput speed or is ijust used to set the FTR which specifies the point at which btw will investigate line problems?

Not quiet. The only point of the MSR is in determining the FTR. The MSR could be 1000kbps during the training period. Later, if your line improved, your modem could sync at 8128kbps and your BT profile could be 7150kbps and you could be downloading at those high speeds.

Is it strange to see the acceptable range of speeds as 600-7150 Kbps?

No, the original spec for MaxDSL said 400k was the minimum acceptable throughput, as per a 2M line, so it has gone up a bit since then.

The ADSLnation XF-1e has a good reputation as a microfilter.