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Author Topic: Help - speeds and router questions...  (Read 26621 times)

kitz

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #15 on: June 20, 2008, 04:50:54 PM »

Quote
Do you know of anyway to get the speedtouch to display the time on its own stats page. Am i missing something? I'm finding the "time since last boot" hard to decifer compared to the Netgear.

You may actually find the following page useful as it lists some of the common commands for the Speedtouch CLI on how to improve and tweak a couple of things.  Its not actually linked live on the main site yet - as it was something I started a couple of weeks back, but didnt get chance to finish before my absence and it was an ongoing piece of work of any tweaks I made in my own router.

However, it does have all the info you need to set the date and time in the Speedtouch 585. (and a few more)

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/speedtouch585.htm

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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #16 on: June 20, 2008, 10:56:13 PM »

Thanks Kitz that's very helpful.  :)Interestingly, my husband's BT box actually tells him in the stats that interleaving is switched on. Shame all routers don't do this.

Roseway :), thanks - it's a helpful link - I am checking out those things but I don't understand how it could be anything local to me since the sync problem wasn't there until the BT engineer changed the pair over and fiddled around in the exchange. I have tried different filters, isolated my wiring by connecting from inside test-socket,  tried different routers all to no avail when I was having poor throughput on my old line. No obvious Xmas trees or streetlights on etc that might be causing it. Finally for the throughput problem, the BT engineer came out and found various things wrong at exchange and changed pair over. Now I'm getting the sync problem which is new. Anyway, I suppose fitting an NTE5 socket might be worth a try. It's currently hard to test loss of sync in isolation otherwise as it requires my telephone to be out of use for a long time, unlike the 5 mins it takes just to test the throughput. However, I doubt it's my wiring as it wasn't a problem with the old pair.

B4dger - don't knock yourself - I find your posts very useful  :)
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kitz

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #17 on: June 20, 2008, 11:20:59 PM »

>> B4dger - don't knock yourself - I find your posts very useful

Agreed :)

..  and he good thing about forums is that various people all have things to say and we can all learn along the way :)
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b4dger

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #18 on: June 21, 2008, 09:09:17 AM »

>> B4dger - don't knock yourself - I find your posts very useful :)
>>Agreed :)


Thanks guys  :blush:
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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #19 on: June 24, 2008, 12:04:59 PM »

Hi again folks,

Thank you Roseway for directing me to that page. I ordered an NTE5 plate, it arrived today and I have just fitted it. In doing so, I noticed that the BT engineer when changing over my master socket on his visit had reconnected the orange bell wire to my extensions! (It had definitely been disconnected on the previous socket as I had read about how disconnecting it can help solve problems sometimes and I checked it was already disconnected when I developed the initial fault). I am wondering whether him reconnecting it is why I suddenly started to develop so much noise on my line.

Anyway as a result of fitting the NTE 5 plate, my sync speed is back up to 7.8M (from 5800 kbps this morning) and my profile also jumped (from 3000 kbps this morning) to 5000 kbps. So we shall see if things continue to improve and my IP profile/ SNR improve accordingly over the next few days if I don't lose sync any more. Fingers crossed!
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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #20 on: June 24, 2008, 12:13:37 PM »

Oh what I didn't mention is that my throughput was only 646 kbps this morning at 6:30am (on a 3000kbps profile) and since changing the faceplate over, I am still only getting a pathetically low throughput of 735 kbps (noon) (on an IP profile of 5000kbps). SNR 12dB in both instances.

I should be getting more than this on a Tuesday lunchtime, surely? Any suggestions?
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roseway

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2008, 12:43:27 PM »

Quote
I am wondering whether him reconnecting it is why I suddenly started to develop so much noise on my line.

Yes, that's quite possible.

Quote
Oh what I didn't mention is that my throughput was only 646 kbps this morning at 6:30am (on a 3000kbps profile) and since changing the faceplate over, I am still only getting a pathetically low throughput of 735 kbps (noon) (on an IP profile of 5000kbps). SNR 12dB in both instances.

I should be getting more than this on a Tuesday lunchtime, surely? Any suggestions?

If your IP profile is now at 5000 kbps then the connection isn't the cause of the problem. It could be serious congestion somewhere, throttling by your ISP, a problem with the speed tester server, or perhaps you need to adjust the MTU/RWIN values of your PC. For info on MTU/RWIN, see here. It might be worth trying a different speed test site just to make sure that isn't the problem.
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  Eric

Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #22 on: June 25, 2008, 07:15:45 AM »

Thanks roseway. I got a much healthier 4.5M throughput this morning (still on 5000k bps profile). I started looking into MTU/RWIN yesterday - can you tell me whether MTU could still be the cause if the throughput issue is variable like this? If not, it will save me some work. I have windows XP, so don't need to look at RWIN, as it's dynamic, right?

Held onto the 8M sync overnight. I have great hope over this...
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roseway

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #23 on: June 25, 2008, 07:51:02 AM »

I don't use Windows myself, so I can't really help with MTU/RWIN issues, but I rather doubt if that's the issue when it's so variable.
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  Eric

kitz

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #24 on: June 25, 2008, 11:41:34 AM »

>> I have windows XP, so don't need to look at RWIN, as it's dynamic, right

Correct its supposed to - but XP doesnt calculate it large enough with todays high speeds in mind and often vastly under estimates the ideal RWIN.  Many years ago, when I went from 512 to 1Mb I doubled my RWIN..  then doubled it again when I went from 1Mb to 2Mb..  and so on and so on.

Its tweaking (decreasing) the MTU that stops packet fragmentation (which is when "the internet" can do weird things like not display some pages especially secure sites).
Tweaking (increasing) the Receive window size in line with your internet connection that can improve your speeds.

However for optimum rwin you cant just put "any figure" in and there is an accepted formula which you then apply the multiplier.  Hence why I coded the MTU/rwin calculator which will calculate some recommended rwin settings based on your speed.  Select your speed from the drop down box and your MTU and the image will change to show you which settings to put into Dr TCP.

If your syncing at around 8Mb then the following is a good setting to use as it has a built in allowance for speed fluctuations
MTU 1458 RWIN 153144
or my own personal favourite
MTU 1430 RWIN 166800

Having said all that though, as roseway states I doubt that the very low speeds you are seeing is attributable to MTU/RWIN. - despite the fact that I have seen it do many weird and wonderful things


-
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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #25 on: June 26, 2008, 09:49:43 AM »

Thanks Kitz and Roseway - just for now then, I will put the MTU/RWIN possibilities aside, but it's something to try tweaking in the future. Still monitoring the throughput, but ISP tell me BTw won't act unless throughput is less than 450kbps on an up to 8M service, even when syncing at over 8M and with a profile of 5M+. Crazy!!!

On the other hand, since changing the faceplate (and disconnecting those bell-wires), my connection seems far more stable now at least. I am keen to try and get the IP profile up and then maybe my throughput will go up too.

Prior to replacing the faceplate, my IP profile was down to 3000kbps (12dB SNRM)
Immediately after I replaced it 2 days ago, my sync immediately went up to over 8M (12dB SNR Margin) and the IP profile increased instantly, but only to 5000kbps.
Then I had a single loss of sync yesterday lunchtime and resynced at 6.9M. The SNRM then went up to 15dB. Still I was at 5000kbps profile. I left it at this overnight and my IP profile was still only 5000kbps this morning. 
I got tempted this morning and did a resync and got my 8M sync back. (I thought if the differential is at it's highest, then maybe the IP profile might adjust more quickly, but of course, I am causing a loss of resync when I reset so that will go against me).
So now I must wait and hope that within the next 5 days, I can stay at a constant high sync rate will not get any resyncs and that I get a higher profile.

I have some questions that I would appreciate some clarification on:

Why did my IP profile only go up to 5000kbps if my increase in sync speed after changing the faceplate was enough to kick it up immediately, rather than wait 5 days. Shouldn't it have gone up to 7000 kbps in line with the sync?

Immediately on resyncing this morning, my SNRM was still 15dB, but I am getting an 8064kbps sync. Does this mean that my actual target SNR is not set as high as 15dB at the exchange, as I understand that there is a 700kbps loss in potential sync speed for each 3dB the target SNR goes up by? So does this tell me that some of this is just margin on my line?

If I do ever get my profile up to 6000kbps or even 7000kbps (hopefully) by staying at high speed and no loss of sync for 5 days, how do disconnects affect it? How many am I allowed?  What if I disconnect my router briefly, several times? Will that just affect the target SNR and not the IP profile so long as my resyncs are all at high speeds? (I understand that if the target SNR goes up then I may get the 700kbps drop per 3dB, but if it is already set to 15dB then it is at it's maximum anyway.)

Many thanks guys - you are being so helpful and Kitz, your site is really informative - thanks again! :)
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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #26 on: June 26, 2008, 10:06:21 AM »


OK just did another speedtest:

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    IP profile for your line is - 7000 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8064 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1229 kbps

 
Good news, my profile did go up as a result of my forced resync :)
Bad news is throughput is still dire!
... and my SNRM is now reading 11.5dB Goodness knows what the target is now then?
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roseway

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #27 on: June 26, 2008, 10:22:12 AM »

Your IP profile is now only a smidgin short of the maximum, so it's probably not worth bothering about the target noise margin. Reconnections won't change things unless they are frequent, or you get a reconnection at a lower speed.

I suggest that you try the MTU/RWIN values suggested by Kitz, even if just to eliminate that as a cause of the low throughput. Otherwise it's down to congestion or throttling, with the latter being more likely I think, so you'll need to raise it (again) with your ISP.
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  Eric

kitz

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #28 on: June 26, 2008, 08:10:43 PM »

>> Otherwise it's down to congestion or throttling, with the latter being more likely I think,

I'm in total agreement with Roseway on this one.   With congestion then you would NOT expect it to be low all the time - just at peak... and certainly not at 10am... and definitely not 646kbps at 6.30am

You can try putting your exchange details into the Usertools exchange checker, to see if it throws anything up for your exchange.


I know a few months back there were quite a few complaints about the extent of Eclipse's traffic shaping, but I thought they were mostly to have this under control when they brought out their new packages last month...  Just a thought - you arent on one of the Evo packages are you?
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Helpneedadvice

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Re: Help - speeds and router questions...
« Reply #29 on: June 27, 2008, 01:29:49 PM »

Hi again folks

My ISP is going to disconnect me for " 30 mins testing" of my line hopefully later today. Meanwhile, i typed my exchange into the exchange checker and it came up with:


Virtual paths: Red

BT is reporting that some of the virtual paths at this exchange are not operating within BT Wholesale's planning guidance, although they are still operating within the product specification.

At busy times, your ADSL connection may operate at a reduced speed, although not all customers on your exchange may be affected. You should only contact support if there is no current ETA date set.

The ETA fix time is: 26 Jun 08


Could this be the cause of my throughput problems? However, it only mentions "during busy times" and some of my problems were off-peak.
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