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[Davidhs]

May I ask some basic questions about DMT?

I have just acquired an ST 546(i) v6 (replacing an older Netgear DG834 v2) and should like to tweak things in the hope of achieving a better data throughput.

Q1. Are the various releases of DMT aimed at different modem or router models?  Or is v 8 a superset of v7?
Q2. It appears that only v7.35 works with the ST546.  v8 or 9 appear unable to connect to the 546.  Is that as intended?
Q3. The facility to access extra adjustments in Special / Misc options / Unlock experimental area is greyed out.  Is that as intended?  Have I taken a wrong turn in buying the ST546 and come up against another chip limitation?

Out of the box, the ST 546 is giving me a LOWER downstream data rate than the old DG834 - 2626 kbps vs well over 3000 before.
The attenuation is reported as 53db, SNRM 15.5, TX power 18.5.

I also see that the nice little router stats package I have used no longer works with the ST546 because the box will only talk to browsers running javascript.  Does anyone know a way around that?  I have not yet found a stats page via my browser (Firefox).

The whole saga of acquiring and setting up the Thomson Speedtouch has been a complete mess.  I will document it all eventually.
For example, should there be a CD with the product or not: Yes says the Thomson documentation, No says DSL Source Cust service, Yes says the manual (when I eventually located one, a saga in itself)...  I did not receive a CD.
And then: what is the router's IP address?  Not stated in the box or Quick Start Guide, "You don't need it" said DSL Source Cust Service, "It's plug and play" (think about that for second or two!), DSL Source Tech Support eventually told me - 192.168.1.254 for the record - but rather hard to do much with the box on a network until you know that.

I have just spotted the page http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/speedtouch585.htm on ST 585 commands. Presumably the same applies to the 546?  I will digest it all later.

Netgear make things SO much more straightforward!

David

[roseway]

Q1: The different versions are for different routers. This page lists which versions work with which routers.
Q2: As intended (see Q1)
Q3: You have to enable the extra tab. See this page (near the bottom of the page) to see how to do this.

The router's IP address is normally shown on the Quick Start guides for Speedtouch routers, but it looks as though it's missing in this case. You certainly don't need any CD, and setting it up should be a simple matter of typing the IP address into the address bar of a browser and using the setup wizard. The ST585 commands in the link you mentioned are really 'expert' commands; they may work with the 546 but you don't need them for setting up the router.

[rwm32]

I've got the 546v6 (6.1.4.6 firmware);  no problems using DMT 7.35, including the extra adjustment tabs.

You should find the router's stats page at

http://speedtouch.lan/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?ce=1&be=0&l0=1&l1=0

and if you're referring to the RouterStats package, you should be able to use it OK, with a small amount of extra configuration (it doesn't work with the 546 'out of the box' in the way that it does for the Netgear). The only problem I've found is that RouterStats has a slight tendency to 'forget' the User Defined values -- but this wasn't more than a minor inconvenience for me in several weeks of 24/7 monitoring (different story, unrelated to routers... thankfully now resolved).

ST585 commands: should be the same on the 546 for the same firmware revision.

I have found that for a given SN Margin the 546 sync's slightly higher than my Netgear DG834v3. I wonder if your target SN Margin has been raised at the DSLAM?

Hope this gives some reassurance.

rwm32

[Davidhs]

Thank you Roseway and RWM32, but my reason for asking for precise clarification is that things are not working as you suggest they should.
I had read the section on enabling the hidden 5th tab and I could see the box to be checked, but it was and still is greyed out and inoperative.
If on DMT's main screen I click on the tab two places to the right of Info 3 the desired sliders etc are visible for a fraction of a second and then disappear.

My ST546(i) v6 came with firmware 6.2.17.5.
And I have just found this on a DMT forum in answer to a similar question:
(http://forum.mhilfe.de/viewtopic.php?t=4091)
Question: "I just bought a speedtouch 585 (i) v6 with firmware 6.2.15.5 and DMT 7.35 does not shows the SNR and the advance settings to tweak the snr are disable too. Can anybody tell me how can I make DMT work on this modem???"
Answer by VelleX who is described as Spezialist: "firmware 6.2 does not allow changing the SNR Margin, and also it does not shoe the SNR Margin per tone. So you have to downgrade the firmware."
In subsequent posts there is a discussion of which back-level firmware is "best".

I think also see (helped by Google translations) other threads bemoaning loss of function with firmware updates.

I am not about to put back-level firmware on a brand new box - and then be unable to ever up date it in future.   I bought it having read discussions in this and other router fora to be able to tweak my settings in the hope of getting more out of our long, noisy line.  Thomson Speedtouch have chosen to block that capability so the box is no longer suitable for my purpose.   ...  Return to vendor and look for the latest Netgear, I think.   Unless you good people have different suggestions ..

As to Routerstats: I have tried the URL suggested by RWM32 .. no improvement.  I can see that is a stats page from Firefox, but in Routerstats the reponse is: "To view the Web interface of the SpeedTouch, JavaScript must be supported and enabled on your browser!  Please enable scripting and refresh your browser."  I also get a succession of I/O error messages.
Is this a further "enhancement" that came with the firmware upgrade?

Thanks for your interest and help.

David

[rwm32]

As to Routerstats: I have tried the URL suggested by RWM32 .. no improvement.  I can see that is a stats page from Firefox, but in Routerstats the reponse is: "To view the Web interface of the SpeedTouch, JavaScript must be supported and enabled on your browser!  Please enable scripting and refresh your browser."  I also get a succession of I/O error messages.
Is this a further "enhancement" that came with the firmware upgrade?

I get this message too.  Nevertheless, the stats data is still available, if you scroll down and across from that message.  I've used RouterStats on the TG585v7 (successor to ST585v6, with 7.n.n.n firmware), so it should work with the 6.2.n.n that you have.

My 546 came with the 6.1.4.6 firmware.  Comparing this with the 7.n.n.n on the TG585v7, I'd say that Thomson have gone sideways and slightly backwards, introducing more errors than benefits -- but I can't compare with 6.2.n.n.

AFAIK, regressing to 6.1.n.n should not prevent future firmware upgrades.

Having said all of which, I also like the DG834...

rwm32

[roseway]

I recently set up Routerstats for my Billion 5200G router, and got the same message about Javascript. However I was still able to pick out the appropriate up/down figures from the displayed information, and Router stats works fine. As mentioned above, this part of the setting up didn't seem to stick always, but after a couple of repeats it did eventually work properly.

[kitz]

Ive never had a 546 Im afraid. -
Only the 585 and 576, both of which I have been able to configure with routerstats.

If you mean Javascript must be supported from this page [see image below].  Then thats ok you can ignore it. Its only the router page picking up that router stats doesnt support javascript.  But it doesnt stop you being able to configure routerstats, since router stats reads the line stats using the the raw html page.

Just scroll down to where it displays the SNRM etc.  Highlight the figure - then click the TX Noise button etc etc and it should all work.

Like rwm32, on occasion routerstats will forget the setting, but its a quick case of going back to the "Router Search Text tab" and redoing.


Re DMT and the latest ST Firmware..  this is not good news that ST seem now to be blocking out some of the advanced settings on all their routers.
A bit bleedin silly IMHO since these features are what made the ST routers so popular in the first place.