In reply to a post by RepairExpert:

Deadbeat, before the line fault here at Xmas I used to get 6Mb on a 6.5Mb IP profile; but in repairing it they swapped me to a grotty pair (and they don't care because the phone stats are OK, and I haven't got BB with them). There's a 300metre stretch of corroded cable in the route and that's accounting for the poor speed.
I think it's possible theoretically to get around 18Mb on my distance from the exchange with good cable on ADSL2+. But that's wishful thinking.

Mike.

I know all about pair swaps!
ADSL2/2+ will tend to see any noise "faults" that may have been ignored by ADSL because of the higher frequencies involved. From the little that I've seen of TP-Link kit it seems to be pretty good so it's probably best to hold any judgement until your new router is hooked up.

Thanks Deadbeat; that could be the problem then; noise. Hopefully will get the TP-link one hooked up on Sunday when my son is here; he's the expert on these things.
Will keep you updated.

Really peed off when they swapped my pair over from a really great one to a carp one; I'm sure some careless linesman dissed one leg of the good one when they were messing about in the cabinet at the other end of the road; they're there so often, I'm surprised they don't set up a tent and sleep there LOL.

Mike

In reply to a post by RepairExpert:

Thanks Deadbeat; that could be the problem then; noise. Hopefully will get the TP-link one hooked up on Sunday when my son is here; he's the expert on these things.
Will keep you updated.

Really peed off when they swapped my pair over from a really great one to a carp one; I'm sure some careless linesman dissed one leg of the good one when they were messing about in the cabinet at the other end of the road; they're there so often, I'm surprised they don't set up a tent and sleep there LOL.

Mike

I've had 3 downward spiralling pair swaps over the last few years so be prepared!
Remember of course that the increased noise susceptibility also applies to conditions on your side of the NTE so if possible, it's worth reviewing your internal cabling and it's quality/routing etc as well.

Hi Deadbeat; all the wiring and cabling is OK; I've done the test from the back of the NTL5 socket and there's no real difference; it's just this bad line that's causing it I think; they are having so much trouble down our end of the village they'll just have to replace the bad length of cable in the end.

It was rumoured that we are going to get FTTC at the end of the year (to 300 metres of my home) but I'll believe it when I see it. That would surely give me a very good speed; near to maximum I think; can't wait.

Mike.

Just found this thread on the Virgin forum...
http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Broadband-down-y...

(Worth reading it all if you have time; both pages.)

It appears that others have this problem and ADSL2 will not work properly until VM lift the 'up to 8Mb' speed cap, for which they want a lot more money.

I've been looking at the BT deals and if VM can't sort this out then I'm off to there. I already have the line from BT so should be no problem changing over.

This idea of 'new customer only' deals really gets on my nerves. You stay with a company for a decade or more and they give newcomers deals significantly below what you pay.

Will try and hook up the TP-link modem today and see if I get any improvement.

With 41dB att and 7dB noise margin I should get 5Mb on ADSL and 9-10Mb on ADSL2+. On a quiet day I get 4Mb.

Will let you know how I get on.

Mike.

Update; my son was unable to get the TP-link modem working on the VM connection; so I'm ringing BT and VM tomorrow to try and sort the change over to BT package; should save a considerable sum each month too. Thanks for all your help.

Edited by deleted (Sun 20-May-12 16:52:14)

Well that was a waste of time... rang BT and they did a check... best they could offer on the line with the BT hub is 3-4Mb. Getting 4Mb now.
According to that checker posted above with my router stats I should be able to get 9-10Mb on ADSL2+.

Back to the drawing board... 2nd thought's think I'll just give up and wait till they repair that faulty cable then take another look.

Mike.

A fault cable is usually reflected in a poor attenuation for the actual length of cable.

You may actually be being limited by the C&W LLU (if memory is working this morning) that your service is on.

The checkers are only guesstimates - The real world figures are dictated by your line stats which BT have no way of knowing.

Edited by Deadbeat (Mon 21-May-12 10:22:43)

Thanks Andrew and Deadbeat; it could be some restriction on LLU; will have to ask Virgin.

There was another user on VM who had a similar problem (in the link I posted above) and they said they would have to lift the 8Mb limit for him, but he'd have to pay more; dear enough already. But I can't really see how you couldn't get 'up to 8Mb' on ADSL2+?

Will have to live with these '3rd World' speeds I guess till they repair the cable or move to Korea or Japan LOL.

Mike.

Edited by deleted (Mon 21-May-12 11:34:41)

If the voice performance of the line is OK they will probably never "repair" it unless their is a definite fault.

Unfortunately a line which performs poorly for ADSL doesnt count as faulty.

I don't think the VM is the best ISP to use if you arent on their cable network (which has its own issues).

Depending on who has the exchange unbundled BE (in the past anyway) and Andrews & Arnold have good reputations for getting BT to fix this sort of issue.