BT 24 Mb running at 2 Mb

Aidans

Hello,
I'm looking for some help on this please...

Changed from eircom BB to BT's new 24 Mb service a week ago
I had been with eircoms 1 Mb service for some years - solid but a bit slow.
The reason for the change was to allow me do my thing (Internet Radio, a few downloads), the wife - just browsing and
the son to play his online games (PC and XBOX) WITHOUT upsetting each others activities.

I have 2 problems at the moment, one is speed and the other is consistency
Symptoms
Internet radio (Squeezebox - wired to a wireless router) - any station that it connects to - will drop the station after a few minutes,
it tries to rebuffer but eventually it drops off - these are typically 128 kbit streams
On line gaming PC/XBOX360 - impossible to use - might work for a minute or two, then games lock up, can't connect, timeout
Browser - actually experiencing timeouts every now and again (never happened with eircom)
To see what was happening I fired up a dozen or so torrent downloads (uTorrent) so I could watch the little download performance graphs
The graph would build up to something between 150 kbits to 250kbits in a minute or so and then drop off to practically nothing, this process would then repeat
indefinitely - building up to some peak and then drop off.

So I switched everything off, removed all devices from the telephone line (2 x Sky, 2 x phones) so the only thing connected to the
phone line was the modem - switched everything back on - same result. All devices have an ADSL filter fitted.

I'm running XP SP2 and the BT supplied Voyager 210 modem
Broadband Line status
Line Mode ADSL2
Latency Type Interleave
Line Coding Trellis on
Line Power State L0 Line Up count 4

Stats Downstream Upstream
Line rate 2,345 Kbps 507 Kbps
Noise Margin 5.6 db 15.2db
Attenuation 55.5db 29.9db
output power 0.0 dBm 12.6 dBm

The physical telephone line into the house was replaced by eircom about 6/7 years ago - it was noisy at the time but the last 2/3 years with
eircom broadband have been pretty solid.

Before I call BT tech support is there anything obvious I'm missing or is there anything I can do at my end to either
further diagnose the problem or inprove the consistency.

The speed issue is another days work... :-(

Thanks in advance

Aidan

Spear

Aidans wrote: »

Attenuation 55.5db 29.9db
output power 0.0 dBm 12.6 dBm

You'll never see anything above 4 megs with that attenuation.

Aidans

'You'll never see anything above 4 megs with that attenuation.'


As of right now - 4 megs would be 4 times faster that what I had with eircom
I'm not into big downloads, so once we can xbox360 on line and play Internet radio
and browse - I'd be happy enough

It's the lack of line consistency that's killing me at themoment

Aidan

smellslikeshoes

Honestly, you shouldn't be on a 24mbit package it is the cause of your problems.
You would get a solid 2mbit with that line and thats about it and BT should not have sold you the 24mbit package.

Onikage

+1 smellslikeshoes

Try the oft-mentioned kitz adsl checker to see for yourself: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php Trying to sync at 24Mb will give you nothing but headaches.

Praetor

Aidans wrote: »

Stats Downstream Upstream
Line rate 2,345 Kbps 507 Kbps
Noise Margin 5.6 db 15.2db
Attenuation 55.5db 29.9db
output power 0.0 dBm 12.6 dBm

Your main problem is the noise margin. The default target noise margin should be around 6 dB. Yours is 5.6 dB. This means that your line is struggling to sync at 2.3mb. My advice is ask them to run a DMT test and check your line attainable rates. Then if the tests confirms this is the best you can get they will lower your profile to 2 mb.

If you were on ADSL1 you couldnt get anything higher than 1 mb.

Aidans

...they suggested that the extension lead from the modem to the wall socket is too long and is definitely causing the problem.....it's approx 35 feet of a cheapo extension cord

They suggested moving the Voyager 210 right next to the wall socket (where the line comes into the house)
and then use a long ethernet cable from the modem to wherever it needs to go....

Does that sound reasonable ?

Rgds
Aidan

Spear

Aidans wrote: »

...they suggested that the extension lead from the modem to the wall socket is too long and is definitely causing the problem.....it's approx 35 feet of a cheapo extension cord

They suggested moving the Voyager 210 right next to the wall socket (where the line comes into the house)
and then use a long ethernet cable from the modem to wherever it needs to go....

Does that sound reasonable ?

Rgds
Aidan

Entirely possible, and worth trying. A long, cheap cable could act as a source of noise and attenuation.

bk

Yes, wiring in your home can certainly cause problems.

I would try the following:

1) Disconnect all telephone equipment (phones, Sky, Fax machine, etc.)

2) remove the splitter and connect the BT modem directly to your master phone socket using a new and short phone cable.

Now try it out, you should also look at your SNR, which will now hopefully be higher and you should get a more stable connection.

By doing this it will hopefully eliminate any faulty equipment that might be causing problems.

You can gradually reconnect the other equipment later, checking your SNR each time, to find what is faulty.

I once found that my splitter was faulty and causing SNR problems.

BTW if this does improve things, rather then running a long ethernet cable (which is perfectly fine, but might be unsightly), you could look at getting a wireless router or homeplug gear.

Aidans

Thanks for the help and advice - appreciate it..

I tried BTs advice - moved the modem right next to the main phone socket and then used a long Ethernet cable from the modem to the wireless router, the stats now are


Stats Downstream Upstream
Line rate 4,466 Kbps 507 Kbps
Noise Margin varies from 5.4 to 6.5db down 15.2db
Attenuation 55.0db 29.9db
output power 0.0 dBm 12.6 dBm

So I still can't hold a modest Internet radio stream for more than a minute or two
Downloads of multiple torrents fluctuate wildly - they climb to 300 Kb/s and then fall away to nothing every few minutes...

Is there anything further I can do to stabilise the link
or
should I request BT to downgrade my speed to stabilise the connection (if that's possible ?)

Regards
Aidan

Spear

Aidans wrote: »

Thanks for the help and advice - appreciate it..

I tried BTs advice - moved the modem right next to the main phone socket and then used a long Ethernet cable from the modem to the wireless router, the stats now are


Stats Downstream Upstream
Line rate 4,466 Kbps 507 Kbps
Noise Margin varies from 5.4 to 6.5db down 15.2db
Attenuation 55.0db 29.9db
output power 0.0 dBm 12.6 dBm

So I still can't hold a modest Internet radio stream for more than a minute or two
Downloads of multiple torrents fluctuate wildly - they climb to 300 Kb/s and then fall away to nothing every few minutes...

Is there anything further I can do to stabilise the link
or
should I request BT to downgrade my speed to stabilise the connection (if that's possible ?)

Regards
Aidan

Your are syncing much higher, but the signal quality is too low. You should request a lower package, or you won't get any stability.

Aidans

Ok Spear - thanks - I'll call them in the morning....

Aidan


btw are there any other technologies that offer really hi speeds - through the air,, NTL etc

Spear

Aidans wrote: »

Ok Spear - thanks - I'll call them in the morning....

Aidan


btw are there any other technologies that offer really hi speeds - through the air,, NTL etc

NTL/UPC do 20 meg cable connections.

Aidans

...Ok called BT again...this time they suggested I upgrade the firmware in the Voyager 210 to the current level... managed that and rebooted everything.

My stats are now

Line rate 4,261
Noise Margin 6.9db
Attenuation 54.5


but it's still dropping the connection say for Internet radio every few minutes.

If I could get it stabilised at this I'd be happy enough...but it's useless to me if the connection isin't consistent

Rgds
AIdan