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[cacoe]

So I know the fact I'm with IDNET and the fact that I have a new SOGEA line is just incidental information, just putting it out there first up.

I've had a few new lines installed previously due to moving around a lot in the past. In my previous experience, sync speeds start slow, DLM pushes things up until the connection isn't stable then dials the line back a bit to maintain stability. Whether this is always the case, or is what in fact is actually happening, not sure, as stated, just from experience, I could be wrong.

It's been 48 hours since I had a new line installed and I've synced at 37mbit, this speed hasn't budged (which is what I find the most unusual). It's actually a second line, I still have a line active with sky currently synced at 54mbit. The Openreach engineer said they're both taking the same route to the same cab, it's just a different pair. IDNet's take on the situation is that they can't see any indicators for any problems, the line's profile is set to the max of 80mbit (I totally don't exect to ever get that speed but I would have expected it at least come closer to my first line's speed) and the only thing I can do is change equipment (I just paid for a router that they advise using on their site) or get someone from Openreach to fault check but stated that it's likely that I'll be charged because there's no indication of a fault. My pings are also (at best) about 10ms higher than with sky.

So we're at an impasse, I don't want to risk being charged but I don't think the line is nessasarily behaving properly. They say there's no problem.

Their say on the matter is "it appears that the specific copper pair that you're connected to is already reaching it's potential" - (paraphrased)

I think the smartest thing to do is wait for the 10 day period to pass and hope for the best, glad they don't have a contract and I'm really glad I opted for a new line to be installed because I can just cancel with IDNet if need be, and my Sky service continues like nothing happened.

Anyway, all of that considered my downstream is interleaved at a pretty high depth level, my line attenuation on the new line is actually lower than my attenuation on the Sky line, I'm seeing a few CRC errors but nothing eyebrow raising, anything of interest in my connection stats?

(IDNet rep asked me do do a single resync to check if there was any change, hense the low uptime)

[meritez]

Welcome @cacoe

Just to confirm, that's an Asus DSL-AC68U running Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_41995 ?

[cacoe]

Hi, it's not that model, it's a ASUS DSL-AC55U - I think while looking into all of this I saw potential issues with one of their firmwares... wonder if that's the case on this model too? - Current firmware is 1.1.2.3_858-gb01e6a7

Oh another thing that bugged me about the IDNet rep was they claimed my line is running above my minimum quoted speed which contradicts what their own site said when signing up, and what their confirmation email stated that they sent me, stated 44mbit-63mbit - which is fair enough but he made out that he had no idea where I was reading that information, I was like... it's information that you sent me! He was quoting over 33mbit down but -




Which is quite maddening, their support has been claimed to be excellent but thus far it hasn't been, when I said my pings are quite poor he said "what do you mean by pings?" - maybe he wanted me to say latancy, point being is he would have known what I meant, not having a great experience so far.

Sorry, just needed to get that mini rant out, more imporantly, I just want the line to be working properly

[meritez]

The general consensus on most UK Broadband forums is that the Asus Cable Routers are lovely, but the ASUS DSL routers are crippled by the Mediatek Trendchip modems.

Have you got another router you could test with?

[cacoe]

Afraid not, the only other router I have is the Sky one, and everyone else I know only has a locked down ISP router too. Not wanting to rock the DLM boat by trying it without knowing for sure, should my Sky router at least provide some line stats even though it won't actually connect?

[RealAleMadrid]

@cacoe

I agree with meritez, that the Asus DSL routers with Mediatek modem chips are to be avoided at all costs. See this post I made recently on another forum, the OP was asking if he should use an old Asus DSL-56U on his FTTC connection

"My advice would be to get rid of any old Asus DSL modem/routers and never connect them to your phone line. They all have the notoriously bad Mediatek modem chipset known to have a load of problems with Openreach VDSL2 services. Poor speeds, dropping connections often resulting in DLM banding the line are likely to happen.

The list of bad devices includes the following :- N17U, AC52U, AC55U, AC56U, N66U, AC68U

If you really want an ASUS device the DSL-AC88U has the much more acceptable Broadcom modem chipset and is generally considered a good choice, it is several years old so there may be newer models available for which I have no details, but don't get one with a Mediatek chipset."

Your sync speed on the SOGEA line looks very low for 15.8 dB attenuation even with 6.2dB SNRM, my line is stable and runs at 79.999Mbps with 15.3 dB attenuation but with a low SNRM of 1.8 dB, G.inp has set the target to 3dB but it is reduced by crosstalk.

If you want to try the SKY router just to see if it syncs at a better speed go ahead, it shouldn't upset DLM, there is no 10 day training period, DLM is active continuously from the start of service.

[j0hn]

Like like you may already be rocking the DLM boat by using that modem.

You're on a Huawei cabinet and the DLM has yet to activate G.INP.

The last I read up on the matter the Asus DSL-AC68U was on a no G.INP list because of the way that chipset implements it.
Recent firmware may have fixed that, or maybe not.

If you don't get G.INP in the next couple days I strongly suspect that it's because of the DSL chipset in the Asus you are using.

They really are horrible chipsets.

[cacoe]

So if I'm on the DLM boat already, only option has to be better router+convincing IDNet to get openreach out for a DSLAM reset?

Also, what router would be considered defacto in terms of modem chipset? (that is at least currently available on amazon for under £150, just saw the price of the AC88u - yikes)

(It is indeed a Huawei cab)

Also would a dedicated modem in combination with my current router do a better job?

I might just return the Asus router but there will be a period of time with nothing connected to the line at all, will this be detremental?

[cacoe]

Switched to the Sky router - 27mbit down.... back to the Asus, up to 38mbit - probs just a marginal gain due to SNR variability - not sure why the sky router was so bad.

[cacoe]

OK after some research, finding it pretty hard to find routers with Broadcom modems integrated (tends not to be listed on product sheets) and even when I do find a definitive hit, it's either been discontinued or is out of stock.

Any recomendations at all? I can probably top out at £200 if I get this router refunded.

Thanks.

[meritez]

Tp-link Archer VR400 V3 has a broadcom chipset.
You may do better with a separate modem though.

[cacoe]

Billion seem to be fairly popular in terms of modems, but again, stock seems to be an issue. open to any more suggestions for both routers and standalone modems?

The TP-Link TL-Link Archer VR400 seems ok, bare bones but if it syncs better that's favorable. Any suggestions with better integrated wifi would also be appreciated.

[cacoe]

OK so I bought a Tp-link Archer VR400 V3.

Current plans are install the new router tomorrow, hope and pray for an improvement and if it doesn't work out, cancel and send everything back after a few days.

[tickmike]

Stop disconnecting the modem/router leave it alone for 10 days or more because every time you disconnect you upset the DLM.

[cacoe]

"Stop disconnecting the modem/router leave it alone for 10 days or more because every time you disconnect you upset the DLM."

"If you want to try the SKY router just to see if it syncs at a better speed go ahead, it shouldn't upset DLM, there is no 10 day training period, DLM is active continuously from the start of service."

Is there consensus on this? I've seen both posted elsewhere too, so I'm either misunderstanding and both are correct, or there is some misinformation floating around (perhaps based on old information).

In 72 hours of the line being active, it has reconnected twice, once on the advisement of IDNet and once to switch to the Sky router for a moment.

Regardless, based on what's been said here, the line will need to drop once more tomorrow to switch to the new router.


As far as I can see, DLM shouldn't kick into high gear unless there are multiple dropouts within a very short amount of time.