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[nickharris792]

I have just moved to MaxDSL and although my sync rates are generally much higher (3 Mps - which isn't high but 3 times what I was getting before) my actual download rates have slowed dramatically.

Often download speeds (when downloading files) go down to something like 15 Kb/sec, whereas before I went on DLSMax speeds were around 180Kb/sec, despite lower sync speeds around 980 kps.

Using internet tests of bandwidth speed show my bandwidth speed is 146 kps despite a downstream sync speed reported by my router of 3 Mps!  My router has an NTE5 faceplate but  the line is quite long and my attenuation is about 50dbs - and the SNR tends to vary wildly between 0 and 15 db,  and of course I have frequent drop outs.

Questions:

(1) the sync rate appears to be irrelevant - I had thought with a faster sync rate I would have faster downloads but the opposite appears to be the case?

(2) should I return to a fixed rate line say 1Mb or even 500K?

Thanks

Nick

[roseway]

With your noise margin jumping about like that, it's quite likely that you will sometimes get a much lower speed connection, which will result in your IP profile being lowered. This will limit your actual download speed. You can check your IP profile by going to the BT speedtester but do be aware that this is often slow or even unavailable, so you may have to try a few times.

Before you do anything else you should make sure that your own setup is as good as it can be. 50 dB is a fairly high attenuation, but should be perfectly usable. Have a read of this and the associated pages to see what you can do to optimise your connection.

[nickharris792]

Roseway

Thanks for the reply.  I used the speedtester this morning with the following results:

downstream sync speed 2336 Kbps, upstream 448 Kbps
IP Profile 135 Kbps, actual IP throughput 118 Kbps.

I have a NTE5 faceplate fitted at the master socket, and the router plugged directly into the mastersocket. My router has an AR7 chipset, which is known not to deal well with noise, but I am going to try one without this chipset soon.

Am I right in thinking that I have a stuck bRAS profile, when the IP Profile is so much lower?

Secondly, I had much higher throughput speeds when I was on a fixed rate 0.5 Mb connection. Should I downgrade?

Thanks

Nick

[UncleUB]

With a downstream sync speed of 2336Kbps your IP profile should be 2000.have a look here.


http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/IPprofile.htm

[roseway]

Yes, it's your low IP profile which is limiting your speed, and the low value is the result of a previous connection at a much lower speed. That doesn't mean that it's a stuck IP profile, because it does take some time for the IP profile to rise.

I doubt very much if the router / chipset is the cause of the problem. The wide variation in noise margin indicates either a line fault or a nearby source of very high interference. Downgrading to a fixed 512 kbps connection might give you better stability and more consistent speeds, but it wouldn't solve the underlying problem. You would still get disconnections from time to time.

If it were me I would prefer to try to solve the underlying problem, because decent ADSL Max performance should be attainable. But that decision would up to you of course. If you want to try to fix the problem we'll do our best to help.

[nickharris792]

Thanks Eric and Phil for your posts.  I will test my homeplug system by attaching a laptop direct to the router to ensure it isn't the homeplug system which is causing the problem.   However if it is a line fault, my ISP's first line of defence is to say that the line is configured for 512k and that I must therefore downgrade from MaxDSL.

I am tempted to do this as I had much faster and consistent throughput when I was on the fixed rate line - and then see if I can get them to sort the dropouts, which is a greater concern to me than the linespeed issue.

Thanks again,

Nick

[nickharris792]

On investigation, the slow download speed was caused by the failure of my NTE5 faceplate - I  think in the recent heavy rain, water had tracked down the BT dropline, going through the wall into the BT masterbox, and thus into NTE5 faceplate. There was definitely water on the external cable on the BT side of the masterbox, and water in the NTE5 faceplate.

I put back on the standard BT faceplate, but left the black wire (the ringwire?) unconnected. Since then good download times (given my distance from the exchange) and a very stable connection.

Any views on what sealant I should use to stop the rainwater tracking down the dropwire?

Nick

[kitz]

Glad the error has been resolved.

but left the black wire (the ringwire?) unconnected.

Im not sure about the Black - hopefully someone else can comment on that.

Any views on what sealant I should use to stop the rainwater tracking down the dropwire?

I'd be tempted to just use the clear sealant like what is used around kitchen sinks or the white stuff for UPVC windows..  but Im not sure of BTs stance of using it on their equipment and if theyd have a bit of a fit on that..  perhaps ezzer could kindly comment on what his reaction would be.