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[Cloudane]

When we first got FTTC we were getting 62mbps.
Then a week or so later, interleaving kicked in (we suspect) and it went down to about 54.

At this point we should have left heck alone, but no one likes seeing their speed drop by huge chunks so we start looking into trying to diagnose it.  Starting with the obvious, reseat cables, restart the modem.  Bad idea, DLM hates that, down to 52.

Since then we've had various things over the year or so we've had FTTC like a couple of times the power has tripped in the house, problems we could only troubleshoot via restarts etc.  51, 50, 49, 47....

Having reached 47 or so recently I thought well we have the HG612 modem with stats enabled (got it off eBay early on to save "risking" the hack of the BT provided one) I'll try to get some monitoring going on LAN2 so I can at least get some figures for someone to look at.  Set static IP to 192.168.1.100 as suggested, attempt to contact 192.168.1.1, nada.  Maybe it was preconfigured on a different subnet but with 256 subnets to choose from even if it's definitely on a class C subnet, I'll never find it. 

"Try a 10+ second press of the reset button to reset the configuration"
*sigh* that was a stupid thing to do.  It didn't help (could one of the BT updates have re-locked the modem?).  Now the IP profile is 40mbps.  Might as well have just got 40/10 instead of 80/20!!

I just daren't touch it any more.  At this rate we'll be back to ADSL speeds.  On a call to Plusnet they say they'll "reset the IP profile" but that doesn't appear to do anything.  Once the DLM managed to actually increase it back by about 2mbps after a few weeks, but usually once it goes down it doesn't go back up again.
They can send an engineer out, but if the engineer doesn't find a fault they say we'll get stung for a call-out charge, which is expensive.

I have read about the trick of powering off for at least 30 minutes at a time to try and appease DLM's iron fist of doom, but just don't know if I dare touch it even while doing that any more.   

Completely stumped.  Any thoughts?

[Dray]

Unlock the modem, run DSLstats to capture the details and enable uploading to MyDSLWebStats so everyone can see.

Also, identify your cabinet

[Cloudane]

It was supposed to be unlocked already and trying to do so will probably knock the speed down to the 30s

I guess that might be the only way though.

I know which cabinet we're on

[broadstairs]

Unlocking alone wont stop the HG612 from being updated again, you need to stop the BTAgent so it cannot be updated. I suspect this is what happened to yours. Look round the forum for help on unlocking the HG612 and disabling the BTAgent, there's plenty of info here and helpful folks.. Make sure when you turn off the modem LEAVE it off for 30 mins, that way you can be sure DLM wont do anything as it will assume it is something like a power outage.

Stuart

[Dray]

Is your cabinet a Huawei?

You don't need to have the modem online to unlock it, so it won't affect the DLM.

[Cloudane]

Hmm sounds like it may have updated then.  Thanks will have a look at redoing the unlock.  With a great deal of trepidation as we've been clobbered with speed reductions so many times now I'm scared to even breathe near the modem 

No unfortunately they put ECI cabinets around here  (wish they were Huawei as then they'd possibly have that new vectoring mod)

[Cloudane]

More info from plusnet  (we're a family of nerds, dad's been onto them while I research online)

- Our exchange is full.  No one else can sign up to FTTC in town.  That might affect overall speed since the exchange is at max capacity
- They're going to raise it as a fault and get the line reset at the exchange, apparently this won't involve an engineer visit to the house they'll just reset it there.  We'll be told within a few days when they can do it.

Race against time now to try and get this hack done and figure out if/what fault is happening since it seems to me if they just reset it without doing anything to fix the line it'll just drift back down again.  Maybe it's a good time to try and purchase a UPS for the modem though 

[Dray]

I doubt they can reset it without an engineer visit, or that the exchange is full.

[Weaver]

When you use a UPS, recommend you mains-filter the output from the UPS just in case, to protect the modem from picking up hf noise. Because many UPS's have horrible high harmonics in their synthesised ac output. I use a Belkin PureAV mains conditioner 8-way mains block.

[Weaver]

Is there a possibility that this is crosstalk, given its so popular?

Do you have g.vector already? Or forthcoming?

[Ixel]

When you use a UPS, recommend you mains-filter the output from the UPS just in case, to protect the modem from picking up hf noise. Because many UPS's have horrible high harmonics in their synthesised ac output. I use a Belkin PureAV mains conditioner 8-way mains block.

Wow, didn't know this. I thought I read in my UPS (Online type UPS that is) that it's not recommended (or potentially dangerous) to put a surge protector or mains conditioner on the output. I'll check again but if it's safe to put a mains conditioner on the output and many UPS's have what you mentioned then I'll do that here too.

[burakkucat]

More info from plusnet  . . .

- Our exchange is full.  No one else can sign up to FTTC in town.  That might affect overall speed since the exchange is at max capacity
- They're going to raise it as a fault and get the line reset at the exchange, apparently this won't involve an engineer visit to the house they'll just reset it there.  We'll be told within a few days when they can do it.

That is pure and utter hog-wash from Plusnet! 

• Your exchange has nothing to do with the availability of VDSL2 based services from a cabinet.
• A "line reset" does not take place "at the exchange".
• They (Plusnet) can not "do it".

[tbailey2]

When you use a UPS, recommend you mains-filter the output from the UPS just in case, to protect the modem from picking up hf noise. Because many UPS's have horrible high harmonics in their synthesised ac output. I use a Belkin PureAV mains conditioner 8-way mains block.

Wow, didn't know this. I thought I read in my UPS (Online type UPS that is) that it's not recommended (or potentially dangerous) to put a surge protector or mains conditioner on the output. I'll check again but if it's safe to put a mains conditioner on the output and many UPS's have what you mentioned then I'll do that here too.

I had a feeling this was NOT a good idea at either end of the UPS from a phone conversation I had with APC years ago...

Plugging a surge protector into your UPS:
 The noise filtration circuitry in a Surge Protector can effectively "mask" some of the load from the UPS, causing the UPS to report a lower percentage of attached \load than there actually is. This can cause a user to inadvertently overload their UPS. When the UPS switches to battery, it may be unable to support the equipment attached, causing a dropped load.
 
 Surge protectors filter the power for surges and offer EMI/RFI filtering but do not efficiently distribute the power, meaning that some equipment may be deprived of the necessary amperage it requires to run properly  causing your attached equipment (computer, monitor, etc) to shutdown or reboot. If you need to supply additional receptacles on the output of your UPS, we recommend using Power Distribution Units (PDU's). PDUs evenly distribute the amperage among the outlets, while the UPS will filter the power and provide surge protection. PDUs use and distribute the available amperage more efficiently, allowing your equipment to receive the best available power to maintain operation.
 
Plugging your UPS into a surge protector:
 In order for your UPS to get the best power available, you should plug your UPS directly into the wall receptacle. Plugging your UPS into a surge protector may cause the UPS to go to battery often when it normally should remain online. This is because other, more powerful equipment may draw necessary voltage away from the UPS which it requires to remain online. In addition, it may compromise the ground connection which the UPS needs in order to provide adequate surge protection. All APC Back-UPS and Smart-UPS products provide proper surge suppression for power lines without the need of additional protection.

FWIW

[Cloudane]

Hmmm maybe not on the UPS!  Hopefully power fails won't be a problem.  Whether DLM pays attention to the "dying gasp" appears to be a topic of hot debate, but surely the odd cut once or twice a year won't be a problem.

More info from plusnet  . . .

- Our exchange is full.  No one else can sign up to FTTC in town.  That might affect overall speed since the exchange is at max capacity
- They're going to raise it as a fault and get the line reset at the exchange, apparently this won't involve an engineer visit to the house they'll just reset it there.  We'll be told within a few days when they can do it.

That is pure and utter hog-wash from Plusnet! 

• Your exchange has nothing to do with the availability of VDSL2 based services from a cabinet.
• A "line reset" does not take place "at the exchange".
• They (Plusnet) can not "do it".

I did wonder about that since everything I've seen before refers to the DSLAM/cabinet not the exchange.  Turns out to be a bit of the 'Chinese Whispers' effect at our end - apparently the agent said "full capacity in your area" and didn't say anything about exchanges or cabinets.  From my understanding (attribution of "they" aside) Plusnet were to log a fault with BT Wholesale and I'm presuming asked them to reset DLM at the cabinet without a visit to the premises, then one of the two "theys" would call to let us know when. But tbh I've never heard of that happening as it goes against everything I've read about a BT engineer having to log a fault on the line from the premises before being allowed to reset it.n  All in all I have no idea what is going on with that and will just concentrate on getting the logging up and running this evening.

[burakkucat]

. . . will just concentrate on getting the logging up and running this evening.

That will be a sensible step, as a record of the statistical data is a necessity.