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[Black Sheep]

"Not all engineers actually let the end user see the stats, even though they know the OR HG612 & the ECI modems are officially locked".

Not quite true BE. I reckon if you carried out a straw-poll that 98% of engineers wouldn't have a clue about the Huwaei/ECI modems being 'Locked'. I don't wish this to sound confrontational, but it's not in their remit to know. The official line we work to is, run an Eclipse test once the VDSL Modem is installed, and the results we get back from that (via an SMS) are the ones that matter.

We are told not to perform a 'Throughput Speedtest' due to the many and varied results given. We are supposed to demo 'streaming', such as BBC i-Player.

I personally have never seen any kind of memo stating we haven't to show JDSU/EXFO readings to the EU's. In stark contrast to this myth, I always get the EU involved and explain what the various tests are doing, and what the results mean. I have had great feedback to my gaffer as a result of this. Not that I'm trying to court ass-licking, I just enjoy trying to inform people of how BB works (obviously in laymans terms). Not everyone wants to hear it, but the vast majority do.

On the back of that, I don't think you can demand to see results from the engineers tester, as if somebody tried that with me, I'd be quite stand-offish about it. There are ways, and there are ways of requesting to see the information, and as mooted, I can't for the life in me understand why any engineer would treat it as anything other than genuine interest and offer up the relevant information.

 

[Bald_Eagle1]

Cheers BS,

having corresponded with you previously, in my "other" thread, I am aware that you and the original FTTC installation engineer appear to be of the same ilk.

He was very chatty & informative & explained everything he was doing.
It was all a bit alien to me at that time as my previous ADSLMAX connection had only once exceeded 1Mb (due to distance from the exchange) & I had no idea whatsoever regarding stats, attenuation, SNR etc. etc.
Prior to that I was on a 0.5Mb fixed rate & prior to that I was classed as too far from the exchange to have anything other than dialup.

He was more than willing to show me his gadget. (I didn't have a clue what a JDSU was at that time).
He didn't mention my distance from the cabinet & unfortunately, I didn't ask.
Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the stats that he showed me.
How I now wish I had done so.

My most important memory of his visit is that he told me the connection had synced at around 35Mb, which looked about right for the distance.

We didn't look at any 'streaming', but he suggested we have a look at Namesco bbmax speed test.
That returned 1Mb DS & 1.67Mb US.
As my ISP is Plusnet, I had already been informed that they do not adjust profiles from ADSL to FTTC speeds until the installation engineer has confirmed a successful installation.
He must have confirmed that just after he left as within 1 hour I was seeing 33Mb download speeds.

That was on the original 8c profile, using my own shielded 20m "high speed data" extension cable to relocate the master socket instead of the BT "data extension" kit as it was apparently better quality than the cable the engineer had in his van.

I reckon if you carried out a straw-poll that 98% of engineers wouldn't have a clue about the Huwaei/ECI modems being 'Locked'.

Really? That genuinely surprises me.
Mind you, it could explain why none of the visiting engineers have subsequently expressed any sign of surprise when I have showed them the stats as displayed in the modem's GUI.

I'm sure no memos exist that state that end users must not be allowed to see the stats from a JDSU/EXFO.
However, from my "other" thread, you have seen me report that one engineer was happy for me to photograph the stats shown on his JDSU on arrival, but on his return from doing something at the cabinet refused to let me even see the stats, never mind photograph them.
He actually told me he could lose his job if anyone found out that he had let me see the stats!

Perhaps demanding to see the stats is too strong a description.
Perhaps being insistently persuasive may be be a better description?
However, from an end user's perspective, unless we mess about & "illegally" unlock the modems, how on earth are we supposed to know how a connection is performing (at least at installation) when faced with an engineer who point-blank refuses to tell us/show us the stats?


Paul.

[waltergmw]

Both B S & B E should be quite interested in this link in the adjacent article:-

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,10846.0.html

In particular the final paragraphs. Now if the end user has access to the modem's 17a profile it will be immediately obvious that a line such as Paul's, together with its history, is unsuitable for an upgraded saving the CP and BT O a significant amount of effort.

K R
Walter

PS I too applaud B S's approach re explanations & data provision to the end user.
He might even end up with a slightly larger girth from all the bacon butties too !

[Bald_Eagle1]

nice snips matey!

Eh, what?

[Black Sheep]

Hi BE

Thanks for the plaudits, re- being likened to one of the other engineers you received. I suppose it's just down to individuals mannerisms at the end of the day ??

I'm genuinely as surprised as you are regarding 'Locked-down modem awareness', but with regard to viewing JDSU/EXFO stats ??!! Anybody can purchase one of these beasts and conduct there own tests, so why should any 'cloak & dagger' enter into it ?? Add to that, the modems have been 'cracked' anyway, giving up just as much information as what the meters do. I really do fail to see the apparent secrecy surrounding the Manchester lads way of working.

I can only assume that the taking of photographs may come across as dubious, to an already suspicious engineering workforce ?? When you are constantly being told you must do better, or else !! (Performance Management - AKA - The Sacking Tool) ...... and as well as having to work in a quality manner (as we have regular audits whereby ..... yup, you could get sacked if you've made a faux-pas), crack off approx 4-5 jobs a day, and not get any of them re-reported again within 28 days or ..... (I think you get the gist ?). As well as having to keep on top of your stores (for a multi-skilled engineer, this is immense), keep visits to the Exchange down to a minimum, spend literally hours on the phone trying to get co-op from our 'Support Services' ................. I could go on and on, honestly.

I'm well aware there are worse jobs out there, but for the industry we are in there are too many variables to be able to pin a bog-standard time to a task. I'm also aware there has to be performance indicators and statistics, highlighting where the issues lie. But we have so many to meet that they are actually contradictory in some cases. For example, we have a RARA index re- telephoning the EU (Ring ahead-Ring after). Thats great, but then we get a rollocking for overspending the allocated budget !!! Another is 'Idle Tasks', these are built on occasions where there isn't the work available for an engineer. He will have an 'Idle Task' built whereby he will go to an Exchange and perform some on-line documentation. Great ...... but we get a rollicking if we spend too much time in the Exchange ??!! It's madness to the 'nth' degree.

So <deep breath icon>, if the engineer was getting twitchy when you whipped out a camera, I can maybe see how they would be retisant. especially if they are new to Broadband/VDSL as the training isn't what it could be.

[Blackeagle]

Whew, I think I'll have to go with bacon butties rather than biscuits and a jotter rather than a camera 

On a more serious note & to answer a few of the earlier queries, yes Paul, Win 7, I'm not posh enough for a Mac.  I have in fact already downloaded your scripts in eager anticipation, and as long as its not the ECI, the modem will be unlocked as soon as the engineer has left !!   I might even go as far as to have an unlocked one waiting in my wings 

I've always monitored my connection in the past (I'm sad that way) with a variety of routers and a variety of methods.  Indeed you can check out my current stats at http://blackeagle.no-ip.info:81

I will certainly post up the initial line stats and start recording them as soon as possible, if only to have evidence right from the start, should I be unfortunate to suffer as you have.

BS, sounds a bit like where I work.  It never ceases to amaze me that I am expected to repair things without actually buying any parts for them to do it with.  Our conversations generally go along the lines of :-

"I need part x for machine y and its gonna be £180"
"Oooh, thats dear, have you rung around for the cheapest quote?"
"Yep and thats the cheapest option"
"Oh, well......." (boss looks at budget spreadsheet on PC  )"....Well, the spares budget for this month is already spent!!"
"Do you want it fixing or not?"
"Yes of course I do"
"Then I need to buy the parts"
"Yes, but the budget........"

At this point I usually go off and bang my head on a wall for a bit 

[Ottersnose]

nice snips matey!

Eh, what?

I was referring to the side cutters in your picture of the Tester but I guess the moment has gone...

[Blackeagle]

*****  UPDATE *****

Today I have spoken to both BT & Talktalk regarding a fibre upgrade.  Although I like BT's upstream speed and lack of installation fee (on option 2), TT were able to offer me 1/2 price lie rental for 12 months, free installation and reduced cost for unlimited download.

I therefore have an install date 0f 1/4/12 (7 days from now) in the afternoon.

Current stats can be seen from here and I will update with engineers stats (if possible) and my own as soon as install is completed 

Should add that BT estimates my downstream at 33.5 and upstream at 5.9 although TT is currently capped at 2meg upstream 

[burakkucat]

Thanks for the update, B*eagle.

Will you please edit your previous post and correct the broken link? Currently it is set as --

http://"http//blackeagle.no-ip.info:81%22

-- and not what you had obviously intended.

[Blackeagle]

Ta b*cat, links on here are formatted slightly differently to what I am used to, but I believe its sorted now 

[burakkucat]

Ta b*cat, links on here are formatted slightly differently to what I am used to, but I believe its sorted now 

Still a problem for me, unfortunately. I eventually obtain a "Problem loading page. The connection has timed out. The server at blackeagle.no-ip.info is taking too long to respond." error response. And it is consistently repeatable . . . 

[Blackeagle]

Erm...... T'was a slight hitch with a misconfiguration on my router 

Link should be working now as I have checked using my phone and can browse to it on 3G.  Hoping to be able to do something similar for my fibre stats as long as I get an unlockable modem.  TT have changed my install date (boo!!) to a week on thursday.  Gonna have to book half a day off work now so as to be home when the engineer comes, although I shouldn't complain as they gave me quite a good deal !

[burakkucat]

Erm...... T'was a slight hitch with a misconfiguration on my router 

A minor mishap amongst friends is of no significance and soon forgotten. 

Ooh . . . graphs that automagically refresh. What ever you do, don't let your fellow bird-of-prey (Baldy) see them -- otherwise he will start developing grand plans to display his own. 

[Black Sheep]

I'm going mad with these aliases !!!  I genuinely thought I was Black Eagle there for a minute.

[Blackeagle]

I'm going mad with these aliases !!!  I genuinely thought I was Black Eagle there for a minute.

 

Not quite sure what my missus would make of that !!

A minor mishap amongst friends is of no significance and soon forgotten. 

Ooh . . . graphs that automagically refresh. What ever you do, don't let your fellow bird-of-prey (Baldy) see them -- otherwise he will start developing grand plans to display his own. 

There was some php to pull stats from a logfile and write it to the page.  Upstream SNR, dsl uptime, that sort of thing, but I can't generate the required logfile with the TG router, so its currently commented out 

Currently, you can clearly see my SNR steadily dropping over the last half hour.