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[c410]

Finally got a phone line and ADSL from BT installed a couple days ago, after a lot of confusion from OpenReach engineers as to which exchange(!) my line went to. Took their unlimited package (domestic) advertised up to 16Mb. Never expected to get 16Mb of course, not had a lot of experience with ADSL before. The online speed predictor expected I would get around 10Mb (it's a recent development and right in the city centre). Currently I'm getting a throughput of around 1Mb downstream (it's quite often even slower). It's a BT Home Hub 4 currently plugged in so the stats I can find are pretty limited although it does report the downstream at 7.938 and upstream at 448 Mbps. If this is sync speed, presumably after overheads it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect at least 6Mb or so?

Am I being impatient and should I just wait the full 10 days of stabilisation or should I report it not being right? If I'm understanding the sync speed between the modem and the exchange correctly then this sounds like it would suggest just contention at the exchange and that the local loop is capable of better performance. There are no figures I can find on this modem to indicate noise or SNR or error counts. I doubt they would consider a lift and shift for such a new installation.

Currently I've tried plugging the modem directly into the NTE5 with the faceplate removed. I've restarted it twice now over 2 days but don't want to keep trying that so it appears as a fault during the stabilisation. I've checked the exchange using plusnet's tool and it shows no fault and the BTw speed tester shows consistently poor results similar to speedtest.net and testmy.net

Perhaps I'm being impatient but with the hassle I had getting the phone line hooked up and confusion with the engineers, I have a suspicion something else might be at fault. I may just have to accept this is as good as it gets. If anyone has had a similar experience with a new ADSL line or any tips of things to try I'd love to hear.

Cheers

Craig

[kitz]

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately the HH4 doesnt offer any line stats other than connection speed, but you may be able to get a little bit more info if you dig into the event log
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#71

The sync speed you are getting now should be a good indication of what you can achieve and no you shouldnt have to wait the full 10 days.  Thats just to set various information about your line and for the DLM to get a better idea of your line conditions.

From the info youve given it does sound like you are syncing at 7938/448 so you should reasonably be expecting speeds around 7Mbps.  1Mbps sounds like something wrong (unless its 1 MB p/sec. 1 MegaByte = 8 Megabit).

What does a BT performance test report?
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/btwperformancetest.htm

[c410]

Hi Kitz,

Thanks for your reply. I've run another BTw test just now and it's reported the best I've seen yet but still well below what I was expecting.

Down 1.96 Mbps
Up  0.34 Mbps
Ping 35ms

I checked the event log earlier and there is nothing I can see in regards to ADSL, quite a lot of blocked packets from external IP's. I have a couple other ADSL modems here. A Draytek Vigor 100 and ZyXEL Prestige 600. I had thought about putting one of them on to see if I could at least get more stats I'm just cautious about swapping them over as I'm still in the 10 day period.

It's not been particularly unstable, it was in the first hour or so and has settled down. I've not noticed that sync speed change and throughput has been fairly steady. Consistently poor in other words.

ADDITION:
Just did another reset and had a look at the WAN event log.

Reported this:
DSL noise margin: 22.00 dB upstream, 7.80 dB downstream
DSL line rate: 448 Kbps upstream, 8128 Kbps downstream

[kitz]

8128/448 = adsl1 sync rate.

Down 1.96 Mbps   

hmmmmmmmmmmm   stuck default 2Mbps IPprofile anyone? 

The 2Mb stuck profile isnt meant to happen often these days, but from the info you have been able to get from the HH4, it appears that you should be able to eke more than 448 on your upstream and perhaps a bit more on your downstream. (22.00 dB upstream, 7.80 dB downstream)

The 2Mb stuck profile only tends to occur on those lines which are capable of more than 8Mbps.


The link I gave above re the BT performance test shows how to do a "diagnostic test" which should return your IPprofile.
You may have to wait 2hrs between running tests, but we now really do need to know what your IP profile is set at.

[kitz]

PS just had another thought.

Can you run your details through the adsl line checker.
Im wanting to know if your exchange is 20/21CN.   Can you let me know please what it says for:-


In the top left box under "21CN WBC (Broadband)"
and the 3 figures in the box under "BT Line Speed Estimation".

[c410]

Sorry I should have said I tried to take the BTw test the stage further yesterday and it doesn't recognise my phone number no doubt back to this confusion over which exchange it goes to.

I've just put a draytek router on it so I can get some more stats. I ran the BTw test again and got very similar results although it accepted my phone number this time. low and behold:

Your DSL Connection Rate :8.13 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2 Mbps

Draytek reports:
Speed Up  448000
Speed Down  8128000
SNR Margin  7
Loop Att. 33

Think you hit the nail on the head about the same time I was reading your page on IP profiles.

I guess I need to call BT, presumably it won't fix itself and there is nothing else I can do?

21CN WBC - Enabled

Line speed estimates
Fixed ADSL:    2048 kbps    (2 Mb)
DSL Max:     8000 kbps   (8 Mb)
21CN WBC :   12000 kbps   (12 Mb)

It's Abbeyhill Exchange we're talking about ESABB if it's any help.

[kitz]

>> 21CN WBC - Enabled

Most of the 2Mb stuck profiles happen on 20CN exchanges, it very seldom happens on 21CN exchanges and we dont see it happen much these days due to most exchanges now being 20CN.   The issue with your phone no and to which exchange is curious, I wonder if the other exchange is 20CN.   20CN exchanges arent able to provide adsl2+ speeds and the max is 8128/448

Anyhow what ever the reason, then it would appear you do have the stuck 2Mb IPprofile.    2Mb is a default if the DLM cant set a correct line profile the very first time you connect.   Unfortunately it seldom clears on its own.   
Even more unfortunately BT helpdesk will most likely insist that you have to wait for the 10 day training period.   


You could attempt to contact them insisting that you have been placed on an adsl1 connection as evidenced by your 8128/448 sync and you also have a stuck 2Mb profile as evidenced by a BTperformance test.
Request that they reset your line to adsl2+ and you can even try the tactic that you have been reliably informed that your current line restrictions have nothing what so ever to do with the 10 day training period.

Good Luck. 
Please let us know how you get on. 

[c410]

Well, thank you very much for your help. It's very much appreciated. Currently have a BT rep calling me nearly every day because my install took a very long time I had to raise a complaint so I might use that opportunity to see what they can do. I don't even mind waiting 10 days. It took months just to get my phone line hooked up.

Thanks again for all your help and such an informative site. I'll post back and let you know how I get on.

[kitz]

It's Abbeyhill Exchange we're talking about ESABB if it's any help.

Wild stab in the dark, but is the other exchange Liberton?   
There appears to be some overlap between Abbeyhill and Liberton in the Craigmillar area. 
Liberton exchange is only 20CN.

[Black Sheep]

It sounds like 'the boss' has determined your issue, C410 ………. however, just for clarification purposes are you testing via a wired connection, with only the one device connected

Also, I can tell you from regular experience, that individuals Laptops/PCs differ greatly with regard to throughput speed. I've seen EU's get as low as 20 Meg on a FTTC product with their kit, whilst I attained 76Meg with my works laptop using the same ethernet cable from the Hub.

It does indeed sound like a 'capped' profile, but you never know ??. Cheers. 

[c410]

Kitz - no unfortunately the other exchange OR had me confused with is Leith - which is bigger than ESABB and 21CN also.
Black Sheep - Yeh. I've ruled out as much as I can at my end. It's GigE cabled between my laptop and modem and the modem is straight into the NTE5 with the face plate removed. I've tried various speed tests from my desktop, phone and ipad also to rule out anything strange at this end and all results have been pretty consistent.

[kitz]

Heh oh well there goes that theory with 20cn exchange

Something else you could perhaps look at if you still have the vigour on - dont switch over if you don't as its best not to do any more re syncs....  Is see if it tells you what type of adsl standard you are connected at.   I'm sorry I don't know what it says or where it will be on the vigour as I'm not familiar with them, but look for something like g.dmt / g.dmt.bis+ Or G922.1 / g922.5  or  Adsl1 / adsl2+



Grrr at capitalisation.  Mobile device.  But hopefully you get my drift.

[c410]

It's a good theory. I've just left the draytek on it now - showing G.DMT which is presumably ADSL1. The modulation mode is set in multimode which looks like auto given the other options are ADSL2, ADSL 2+ etc. I wonder if it's worth forcing it to ADSL2+ at this end and seeing if it syncs? Everything I'd read about stuck profiles led me to think they were that rare now and on a line that's only be running 4 days it wouldn't be that, looks like it must be. Need to try and get a hold of BT.

[kitz]

It could be worth a shot, but TBH i would advise against doing any unnecessary reboots atm as you may find the dlm does something silly such as apply interleaving.   

 I hate to sound pessimistic, but i dont think it would make any difference.  You can force backwards compatibility, (adsl2 -.> adsl1) but you can't over-ride adsl1 if its set on your profile which is what it appears to be.

Stuck bRAS/ipProfiles mostly happened on maxDsl (adsl1).   As most exchanges and connections are adsl2+ these days, its why the problem isnt as common.