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[ailema]

my net connection also suck, its very useless still have to finish my subscription for this huhhhhhhhhh

[guest]

Right forget the downstream because its usually not relevant when talking about VPNs. Upstream is the relevant sync speed to look at.

So what speed is the upstream synchronised at?

Lets assume its 488kbps for argument's sake. Now how many users are using VPN in at any given moment? Lets say 3, so your 488kbps is now 160kbps but its actually worse than that as you'll need some upstream reserved for the VPN host and you'll need to take into account overheads. Rough guess would be about 80kbps available per client before things go pear-shaped.

Now unless you have something limiting those clients to 80kbps at the VPN host (traffic management/speed cap) then what'll happen is that the clients will behave just like they are on a LAN and they'll suck all of the upstream bandwidth - Windows clients are a monumental PITA for this - and then you'll see uncontrolled contention within the VPN. Edit - then the latency/packet loss on the saturated upstream (outside the VPN tunnel) will begin to cause clients to disconnect/reconnect. Its messy

My upstream is synched at 764kbps and I find that painful enough when I VPN back home.

I would suggest that your customer get a clue Or another phone line (or two) 

[Ammit]

Rizla

Upstream is synced at 448kbps. 

The saga continues - get this, they are using RDP.  That pretty much explains all for me. 

[mr_chris]

Rizla

Upstream is synced at 448kbps. 

The saga continues - get this, they are using RDP.  That pretty much explains all for me. 

OK lemme get this straight... the office has ADSL on a VERY long line... syncing stable at 704 / 448 kbps.

And they are trying to run VPN / Terminal Server / Exchange ... all on the same line?

For any speedtests to be valid they need to disconnect all servers and services from the line and run a speed test from a single PC connected to the router. They can't run a speedtest and complain about the results whilst there's still VPN users and RDP sessions and mail coming in on the line.

Either that or they need to get something faster. If they can't afford a leased line then like Rizla said, they need to get another phone line or 3! And set up some kind of wan load balancing device.

To explain the effect of attenuation and SNR for you, briefly:

Attenuation is directly related to the length of the line, and shows how much the ADSL signal degrades (loses power) over the distance of the line. This should remain pretty static.

SNR is the Signal to Noise Ratio, or how much proper signal is on the line compared to the amount of noise. Ideally this would stay pretty static too, but when this goes down, it means there is more noise present on the line compared to what there was. Basically the wider the fluctuations in SNR, the more the end user will have problems with maintaining a stable connection.

So if your customer's line is staying up, there's no more BT can do. That's it. You probably run the risk of having charges levvied by BT if you push it back to them any more, since the line is stable. What exactly is your boss expecting BT to do? Suddenly make the line sync at 5Mb or something? Because it ain't gonna happen.

Besides, with VPN as Rizla also said, it's the upstream bandwidth that's the problem, not downstream. I wouldn't recommend going for a Max Premium (up to 832kbps upstream) regrade due to the length of the line, but they might be lucky and it works.

So they need to try testing the speeds directly from the office with NONE of their servers connected to the net, thereby ensuring nobody is using the VPN or RDP or exchange servers.

Out of interest, not looking for the exact answer here (not asking you to breach DPA!) but if you do have a way of looking at usage in GB or average kbps on the line, is that quite a lot? Dunno if you have access to RADIUS logs to see amount of traffic transferred in this session, but it might be worthwhile having a look, to see exactly how much they are using the line.

[Ammit]

I can get radius logs yes. 

You are right here.  Well as far as installing a new line is concerned that's a no go as well.  it's going to cost 22k because THERE ARE NO SPARE LINES   

I don't know what my boss is expecting.  I honestly don't. 

I'm not rejecting it back anymore....simply because it's stable, and it'd be ridiculous to complain anymore.  But that still leaves me with a very screwed up situation to deal with.  As my boyfriend put it, you don't run a car till it runs out of fuel then call up the car dealership to complain, that's what these guys are doing!