On Nildram, thinking of switching to Be

I've been on Nildram for years, since it was its own company. I'm seriously considering switching now, since I've noticed that I get disconnected a lot now, sometimes more than once a day when it's bad. Since my exchange is Tiscali LLU-enabled, I'm assuming I've been switched to that, hence the bad service.

I'm considering switching to Be, and I'm trying to figure out what speed I might get from them. (They're enabled for our exchange). Here are my stats (downstream followed by upstream):

Data rate 7648 448
Noise margin 5.9 23.0
Output power 19.8 12.4
Attenuation 27.0 14.5

Thanks in advance!

Do those stats improve if you test in the NTE test jack ? I have the same d/s attenuation, a higher snr, and full sync, could the disconnections be due to something within your place ?


DSL Connection

Link Information

Uptime: 9 days, 20:34:33
Modulation: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 8,128
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 212.77 / 376.75
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 15.0 / 27.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 24.0 / 8.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ALCB

As Zarjaz says, you should be getting a higher sync than that - 8128 - on that attenuation. The Test Jack he refers to is behind the faceplate if you have a modern master socket - see here, and do what it says re the wiring while you have it open.

Are you using the master socket all the time, or an extension. Poor extension wiring can slow you down both at the master socket and the extension socket, even after you remove the ring wire - as above.

As he says, the cause of the low sync could also be the cause of the disconnections, so they would remain even if you migrate. If they only started recently, has anything changed at home WRT anything that connects to the phone line?

However, with the stats as they are, with Be you should sync nearer 18,000kbps than 17,000 and should get a download speed approaching 16,000.

Thanks for the replies. I'm taking a look at the links to find out how and what I need to check - I think it's on the master socket, but to be honest, I'm not sure. We've always had some problems with disconnects, but it used to be every few weeks, instead of this regularly. Nothing's changed with the wiring/set up, since it got worse, however.

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but we got broadband back when the ISP used to send BT engineers to install something on our end to set up ADSL instead of just sending you a modem. Unfortunately, I can't remember what the technical terms for what they did are.

Ah, so you are using an SSFP, an engineer installed 'lumpy' faceplate on the NTE .. if this is the case, then your problem will most likely be with your equipment, the pair itself, or the exchange. Robertos has mentioned the perils of swapping providers to cure a fault you apportion to your current ISP, best address these issues before you ask your line to go even faster.

Yeah, that sounds like the thing I've got. Unfortunately, a bunch of boxes are in front of it at the moment, so we need to shift them to look closely. So it will be a bit before I can get to the SSFP to take a look at it.

Is it worth switching from an SSFP to something else to try to fix the problems? Also, what's the pair you're mentioning below? Sorry if my questions are basic - if there's a good guide you can recommend (even on this site) to help out, I'd appreciate it.

I'm not just wanting to switch because of problems - I'm also not wanting to be on Tiscali because of their bad rep for service (and I'm pretty certain I'm on their LLU now by the results of a tracert), plus I'd like to be able to go faster if it's possible. But I agree it makes sense to try to fix what's wrong on my end first, so I can be realistic about what would happen if I changed providers.

Same thing happened to me over the weekend - went from a stable connection to constantly dropping - I also think its down to being switched over to Tilcali's LLU and am thinking of moving to Be. I was syncing at about 7K before the weekend with my Upstream SNR at around 9 or so, downsteam around 15, then it went right down to 1-2 (upstream) sometime on friday and has stayed like that unless I use DMT tool to move my target SNR up. Best SNR I get now is 6-7 upstream, with a downstream of 25.5 and sync at 2700 and get frequent disconnects.

BTW how can I be sure i'm on Tiscali's LLU?

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 64 / 2,752
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [KB/MB]: 647.00 / 4.74
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 48.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.0 / 25.5

In reply to:

---

Also, what's the pair you're mentioning below?

---

The 'pair' is the wires between you and the telephone exchange.