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Author Topic: What speed should you get?  (Read 8660 times)

Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« on: July 24, 2006, 09:44:34 PM »

Hi folks
Is there a prog out there that estimates what download speed you should get with ADSL max?  I am ~1.6 km from the exchange and have a Netgear DG834Gv2 which synchs solidly at 8128  with Line Attenuation of 32db and Noise Margin of 11 db.  Is it realistic to expect speeds greater than 2Mb/s.  My best is usually ~1.8 Mb/s
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My ISP, Eclipse, has contacted BT and as a result my download speeds have dropped to ~0.4 Mb/s (similar on BT speedtester)-- that will teach me to complain.  The technical support people at Eclipse are still looking into the problem but have suggested that I power cycle the router at least once a day for the next few days.  Will this help or is it just to annoy BT?

One last thing.  Why are upload speed more consistent than download speeds?

Great website, Kitz, just joined

All help gratefully received.
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Astral

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2006, 10:00:13 PM »

Hi there & welcome

There is a program for estimating throughput, but it only works before you've been maxed. Looking at your stats I'd say you should eventually improve your speed to perhaps 3-4 meg. I say eventually in the light of my own rather tortuous experience.

Upload speeds are pretty constant because you are not working anywhere near the limits of your line, whereas on download you are at the limit, less a bit to ensure stability.

I'm sure Kitz will have more detail to add to the above.

Hope it all goes well for you.
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kitz

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2006, 12:04:39 AM »

Hi charlie


Astral's covered a lot of it already, but just to expand.

>> which synchs solidly at 8128
>> Noise Margin of 11 db.

If thats the case your should get max speeds, however... does your SNR Margin vary throughout the day (most drop during the evenings), but as long as your SNR Margin doesnt drop too low then you should be ok.

>> My best is usually ~1.8 Mb/s

When did you get maxed?  Are you still within your 10 day training period?
It could be that your bRAS profile hasnt been set correctly yet.

Have you been effected by a storm recently which could have caused your line to loose sync.
If so it could be 3-4 days before your line stabelises again. :/

Have you ever been able to get above 2Mb speeds (stuck bRAS profile).

>>> have suggested that I power cycle the router at least once a day for the next few days

Normally if you have a good connection with good sync speeds IMHO you are best staying connected.  However something is wrong somewhere so perhaps the DLM needs a kick start.
If I were you I would try during the ealier part of the day when line conditions are normally optimal.  Dont do it too many times though or the DLM may think you are loosing sync. Once a day should be sufficient.


>> Is there a prog out there that estimates what download speed you should get with ADSL max?
Astrals covered that one... youd need to put your previous premax details (fixed 2Mb/1Mb etc) in  here
Theres no harm in seeing what BTw estimate your line is capable of .  Put your phone no in the BTw checker here.

The higher your speeds, the more variations start to occur on the line, and the SNR becomes more important.  8128 is pushing the limits for most phone lines on adsl.  Most phone lines can easily cope with 488 kbpw.
Upstream uses lower frequencies than DownStream.  The higher the frequency then its more likely to be affected by Noise. (Look up frequency bins if you want the real techy explanation).


>>> Is it realistic to expect speeds greater than 2Mb/s.

Finally theres the wonderful thing called contention. :/
IPStream adsl is sold as a shared resource to make it affordable for all.  Therefore the maximum speeds you can acheive depends upon what other users at your exchange are doing with their connection.  The more users using their connection at the same time as you.. and theres less available bandwidth for you.:(
On a good exchange and with good line conditions..  I would expect to see speeds between 3-4Mb at peak +  6Mb during the wee small hours of the morning.
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Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2006, 12:13:05 PM »

Thanks for this info.  Connection speed is absolutely stable at 8128 and SNR varies between 9 and 11.  I recently moved to Eclipse and my 10 day training period is over and resulted in ~2 Mb speeds.  However, when I asked Eclipse re higher speeds, they asked me to check my connections by experimenting with different router to BT faceplate cables, filters, BT faceplate off etc  --- I think that is when BT downgraded my BRAS profile because things must have looked a bit erratic from that end.   So I guess I am on my 3 day probation at present. Come to think about it, maybe trying all these things is counter-productive as, from BT's end (unpleasant thought that!) it looks like the connection has gone haywire and they then downgrade the profile. Anyway, none of the changes seemed to improve the router stats although I did get 5Mb for a moment before things went pear-shaped.

The progs you mentioned seemed to suggest that I might get up to 5Mb on a good day, or more likely, night.

Anyway here's hoping things improve in a day or two.  Thanks again for the helpful advice.
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Astral

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2006, 12:34:08 PM »

Hi Charliedawg

I think you are being realistic to expect 4-5meg most of the time. Certainly that's what my connection has setled down to. I think Max was a bit oversold but the reality is we've got at least double the speed in most cases for no extra cost. Looks like a bargain put that way.

One thing I found beneficial was the MTU tweaking page on this site. I certainly got a measurable improvement after using DrTCP.
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Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2006, 12:55:21 PM »

Hi Astral

I used DrTCP a few weeks back and didn't see any improvement, so I think it's down to the BRAS profile.

Thanks again
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mr_chris

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2006, 12:56:01 PM »

If you're connected solidly at 8128k with a decent SNR, as it seems, then this isn't your problem.

As Astral says, you should expect to see 4-5Mbps most of the time - especially during "off peak" hours. If you can, try at about 7am when you should probably see max speeds.

If it's still running below 2Mb, then you've either got a BRAS profile problem, or an Eclipse problem.

To find out where the problem lies, perform a BT speedtest - instructions at http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/btwspeedtest.htm - again try this early morning for best chance of local exchange congestion not being a factor.

If this doesn't go above 2Mb at all, then your problem is a BRAS profile, and you'll have to wait for something to happen (see below)

If the BT test DOES go above 2Mb, then getting back on Eclipse you're only getting 2Mb, you know Eclipse are limiting you, and you need to take it up with them directly.

Apparently, the "proper" way to do it is to power up your router, but turn it off at least once a day, overnight, during the training period. I don't know why, but this is what BT have told ISPs. You could try this for the next 2 or 3 days to see if it drags your speed profile up at all?

If not, Eclipse should be able to raise a fault to BT, as this "stuck BRAS" was something BT were aware of, and should have been fixed a while back.

Good luck :)
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Chris

Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2006, 02:35:24 PM »

BT speedtest fairly thundering along at all of 438Kbps at the moment so I guess the ball is in their court.

Anyone for tennis?
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Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2006, 10:22:39 AM »

Back up to ~2mbps so I guess BT have upgraded my BRAS profile.  Thanks for all the help.
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mr_chris

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2006, 03:49:36 PM »

But hang on - you should be seeing ~7Mb at a good time, not 2Mb!!

Guess wait it out and see, but it does look like a BRAS issue (or an exchange congestion issue :( )

Either way, good luck, and hope it gets sorted.
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Chris

Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2006, 04:52:04 PM »

Yup, I know but I think I will leave it a few days and see what happens.  Seem to be spending my life checking downloads speeds and router stats..... it's a bit like constantly tinkering with your car and never going for a drive!

Now shouldn't this car do more than 30 mph?...wonder if it depends how far I am from the garage?...........
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Astral

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2006, 06:11:44 PM »

Welcome to the Maxdsl debacle :lol:
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Charliedawg

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What speed should you get?
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2006, 11:18:09 PM »

After a few days of router power-cycling and a phone call to my ISP Eclipse, my download speed has increased to the hoped-for ~5 Mbps.  What was a bit strange though was that sandwiched between two >5  Mbps ADSLguide speedtests about 5 minutes apart, I did a BT speedtest which gave 1.96 Mbps.  All very strange (to me at anyrate)......

Anywaze, thanks to the forum folks who helped with this problem.
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