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Author Topic: Where's the catch  (Read 4501 times)

Yorkie

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Where's the catch
« on: May 29, 2008, 07:56:56 AM »

I've had an email from my isp offering a free upgrade to 8mb from 2mb.

My package at the moment is 2mb with a 5g download limit, which is sufficient for my needs. The package I'm on is no longer available, you now only get 1g download and have to buy extra, 5g is £2.50 a month, not a bank breaker I know, but it all adds up.

I took the 2mb package because when I checked my line the max was up to 5mb, how come suddenly it can take 8mb.
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guest

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2008, 08:25:10 AM »

It probably can't but everyone advertises like it can manage 8Mbps regardless of length/state of line.

If the usage allowance remained the same then I'd say go for it. It has reduced so it's hardly what I'd call "free" or an "upgrade".

Tell them "thanks but no thanks" is my advice.
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kitz

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2008, 11:19:31 AM »

Hi Yorkie

Im not certain who youre with or what package youre on... 
but if its the Namesco 1GB account that they are offering you for £14.95, then it may seem a little expensive for only 1GB.
Obviously it depends on your usage requirements but there are a few ISPs that may be worth looking at in the £15 range
http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/isp_price_list.php

As regards to the up to 8Mb thing - if you'd like to post your line stats then someone will be happy to have a look and give you a rough indication.

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How to get your router line stats :: ADSL Exchange Checker

Yorkie

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2008, 03:34:20 PM »

Having studied the site and the offer, yes it is Namesco, and think they may have been a little economical with the truth.
I'm not going to shovel the dirt because they got me onto broadband under difficult circumstances when several other companies just went belly up. Their support is UK based 24/7 but have only used it once when I made a hash of setting up the modem and they were excellent. I could have shopped around a bit more I suppose, but touch wood there has been no problems whatsoever.

I suspect my speeds are not as good as they could be, but telephone line has to negotiate the middle of a birch tree and has been hooked up on next doors guttering for fifteen years. The drop line connects to an old fashioned grey oval box that gets belted every time I mop the kitchen floor, from that a grotty piece of wire negotiates round two door frames before emerging through the door jamb to a newer box, but not one of the new split type ones. It always amazes me that I actually connect to any thing, perhaps I'm to complacent.

I'm not sure if this is the line stats you mean, but this is from the modem

noise margin downstream: 11 db
output power upstream: 11 db
attenuation downstream: 28 db
tone   0- 31: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone  32- 63: 00 02 24 55 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66 66
tone  64- 95: 06 55 55 55 55 55 55 45 44 44 54 55 55 54 44 44
tone  96-127: 54 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 44 33 44 33 33 33
tone 128-159: 33 33 33 33 33 33 32 33 33 32 22 22 00 00 02 22
tone 160-191: 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22
tone 192-223: 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 20 22 22 22 20 20 00
tone 224-255: 22 22 22 02 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 33 22 22 34
tone 256-287: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 288-319: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 320-351: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 352-383: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 384-415: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 416-447: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 448-479: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
tone 480-511: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Its greek to me.
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roseway

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2008, 05:04:08 PM »

It's lines 1 and 3 which are of interest. With an attenuation of only 28 dB you should have a much higher noise margin with a 2 megs fixed speed connection. That implies that there's a lot of interference on your line, which may be the result of the dodgy wiring you mention. I would certainly stick with the fixed speed connection for the moment, but it really ought to be possible to improve the performance if you want to give it a try.
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  Eric

kitz

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2008, 05:12:56 PM »

Quote
noise margin downstream: 11 db
output power upstream: 11 db
attenuation downstream: 28 db

Those are part of the figures we need, but there should be a connection speed somewhere.
Something like 2272 kbps Down 288 kbps Up.

I just want to make sure that you are on a true fixed 2Mbps account and not already on Max, and just being throttled back to 2Mb by the ISP.

28dB attenuation should in theory give some decent speeds...  but your SNR is much lower than what I would expect if you were on a 2Mb line.
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Yorkie

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2008, 06:38:41 PM »

Is this the one you mean



Its still greek to me.
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roseway

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2008, 06:48:29 PM »

That confirms that you are on a fixed 2 Mbps connection. Your noise margin is very low, and you can get a lot of advice about improving it here. If it needs more explanation, just ask. :)
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  Eric

Yorkie

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #8 on: May 29, 2008, 09:47:45 PM »

Thank you everyone for your replies, I suspect it is my grotty wiring. Strangely enough today I've been getting faster download speeds than normal, have just downloaded and installed SP3 (and lived to tell the tale) the download speed was 215kb I've never had that before, and if net meter is to be believed I'm regularly in the 140-170kb range again an uncommon occurrence.
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kitz

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #9 on: May 29, 2008, 10:34:37 PM »

I think youre correct and the problem is most likely here

Quote
The drop line connects to an old fashioned grey oval box that gets belted every time I mop the kitchen floor, from that a grotty piece of wire negotiates round two door frames before emerging through the door jamb to a newer box, but not one of the new split type ones.
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Please do not PM me with queries for broadband help as I may not be able to respond.
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mr_chris

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Re: Where's the catch
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2008, 08:37:09 AM »

the download speed was 215kb I've never had that before, and if net meter is to be believed I'm regularly in the 140-170kb range again an uncommon occurrence.

Possibly due to the hotter weather, or perhaps you banged the grey box with your mop in just the right way... don't do any more mopping!!

Seriously though, for the line attenuation, that noise margin should be a lot higher on a fixed service, and that really needs sorting before trying to upgrade the line speed at all.

As it stands, you wouldn't really benefit that much from a speed upgrade, but if you do follow the advice on the Low SNR page, you may well make a big improvement.

Normally on a line with 28dB attenuation, you'd expect to easily achieve a stable, full speed 8Mbps connection if you got upgraded, and higher still if you went for an ADSL2+ service (Be, O2, UK Online etc), BUT not as the line is currently.

As others have said already, politely decline the upgrade offer for now, but do see if you can improve the internal wiring, as there's every possibility you'll want a faster connection at some point in the future.
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Chris