Orange Broadband

Hi,

I posted this a while back but the issue is still present. My broadband has a problem regarding downloading/streaming. When I am downloading a file, or streaming, if I do a number of these things, either the streaming will stop or the download will halt.

For example, if I download a 1gb file from thinkbroadband.com, it works fine, UNTIL I start streaming or do other demanding stuff on the line, of which the download or streaming halts. Here are my settings. Thanks in advance!

ADSL STATUS

This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.

Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Fast Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)
Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1155 (Kbps.)
Downstream 17927 (Kbps.)
Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 6.2 dB 3.1 dB
Line Attenuation 10.0 dB 25.5 dB
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 11.8 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction NA NA
Fast Path CRC Error 982 11
Interleaved Path CRC Error NA NA
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR 4024 4
Interleaved Path HEC Error NA NA
Error Seconds 7139 77
Statistics
Received Cells 67919568
Transmitted Cells 3664489

Error Seconds 7139 77

that's 2 hours of seconds with errors in them - how long had it been up ?

Noise Margin 6.2 dB 3.1 dB

so it's a low noise margin downstream which gives a high apparent sync speed but possibly excessive errors, and it isn't interleaved (yet).

I didn't quite follow your thing about downloading a large file and then it stopping - so how hast is the connection throughput downloading a massive file and what happens to that if you start streaming ? Yuo can see the connection throughput in Task Manager's networking tab in Windows.

If I am downloading for example it will be around 1500 kbps. When I stream on another site, the download total amount downloaded will halt, and the download speed in chrome reads 1500, 1490, 1480, 1470, 1460 all the way down until it just grinds to a halt.

I get the impression that the router may cut the connection to the download/streaming when it hits maximum bandwidth. Is it a good idea for me to try and cap my bandwidth?

Please post also the "Time Connected:" from the top Status page alongside the stats so we can see how long it's been up.

00:22:39. I've been playing around with some of the settings. It appears that if I bandwidth control my wireless it seems to make it work and not crash. Any ideas?

One assumes when you say 1500 kbps you meant 1500 Kilo Bytes per second, which is 12000 Kilo bits per second, which is still slow for a 17000 Kbps sync.

Suggestion maybe that errors are impacting you more than you realise.

What should happen when you saturate a connection usually is that the both streams/downloads continue, but speed may go up and down. For some streaming protocols this variation is enough to break them. Others like Netflix are more resiliant to these variations.

Yes I meant 1500 Kilo Bytes per second, and speedtest.net shows around 15 meg download speed.

Any ideas? Do you think it's a router thing or line?

Speedtest.net is meant to be 8 downloads at once, which sort of breaks your theory in a way.
A router should handle two or more computers online at once, and if not it is only worth use as a door stop.

You need to do things like monitor whether the error counts are increasing sharply when using the connection a lot and doing things like downloading our 500MB and 200MB file at the same time and see if they both complete.

Brilliant thanks.

Okay, starting two downloads, one 1gb one 500mb;

Error at start 7267.
Downloads 1 minute in - still working 7270
Minute 2: 1gb download fails - 7272
Minute 4: 500mb failed - 7274

The download cap I tried didn't work either, downloads still died.

Noise margin stays at the 3.1 figure? Or dropping to 1dB?

Time to find a different router to try.

Noise margin doesn't really change. It's using the brightbox router. I had this replaced about a month ago and still the same problem. Do you think it's to do with that manufacturers router?

Most people do fine with the brightbox, so it may just be that your line is not handling a 3dB target margin very well.

Orange for a long time had a habit of slower syncs than other providers, and recently a few lines showing up that may be pushing speeds too far.

A revert to a standard 6dB target margin, might reduce errors and drop a bit of sync speed but give a much better overall experience. Of course you can try experimenting with wiring, different routers etc to try and reduce the errors

I doubt it is the Bright Box router at fault. Over the past two weeks I've had problems with my line, suddenly my lovely upstream speed 1249 Kbps did a dive down to 440 Kbps and at times BBC iPlayer would not run.
I have been monitoring the connection and to my delight the upstream speed is increasing, it�s now this morning at 888 Kbps that�s some relief. I was thinking an engineer had done a (lift and shift) and used my connection.

ADSL Status
This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.
Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)

Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 1249 (Kbps.)
Downstream 13365 (Kbps.)

Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin .... 6.1 dB 5.9 dB
Line Attenuation 15.4 dB 29.0 dB

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.4 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction NA NA
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 40286 0
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 273 0
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 7033 0
Error Seconds 9 0
Statistics
Received Cells 118598
Transmitted Cells 20153
-----------------------

ADSL Status
This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.
Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)

Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 440 (Kbps.)
Downstream 13298 (Kbps.)

Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin .... 25.6 dB 1.3 dB
Line Attenuation 15.5 dB 29.5 dB

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.3 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction NA NA
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 47429 188
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 518 2
Loss of Signal Defect 1 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 14471 4
Error Seconds 407 75
Statistics
Received Cells 497450
Transmitted Cells 33649
-----------------------

ADSL Status
This page shows information about your ADSL connection if applicable.
Status
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Operation Mode Automatic G992.5(ADSL2+)

Data Rate Information
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Upstream 888 (Kbps.)
Downstream 13264 (Kbps.)

Defect/Failure Indication
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin .... 16.2 dB 6.4 dB
Line Attenuation 15.5 dB 29.0 dB

Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Output Power 12.3 dBm 0.0 dBm
Fast Path FEC Correction NA NA
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 5244 0
Fast Path CRC Error NA NA
Interleaved Path CRC Error 53 0
Loss of Signal Defect 0 0
Fast Path HEC Error STR NA NA
Interleaved Path HEC Error 1616 0
Error Seconds 31 0
Statistics
Received Cells 585769
Transmitted Cells 95872

Do you think the upstream SNRM will continue to reduce over time since previously with interleaving you got a 1249K sync?

Also isn't a 13264K downstream sync still a little slow on a ~6dB SNRM and 29dB attenuation - perhaps one would expect ~16000K ?

It is usual to get 888K Up on Interleaved. Indeed it was surprising that you ever got higher.

AS I've pointed out to you previously you should be getting about 16 Meg Down.

The 2nd set of stats has a v. low Down NM.