Why is my attenuation so high

patrickpc

Hi there,

I am about 1.4km via the road network from the Eircom cabinets - ADSL and VDSL. The cabinets are connected to the NewtownMountKennedy exchange which is Fibre enabled.

My modem is showing a download attenuation figure of 123 which suggests I am about 9-10km from the cabinet. I am getting about 2.5Mb download on ADSL at best.

Can anyone explain how my attenuation could be so high when I am relatively close to the cabinet ? I have connected the modem directly to the main drop point with nothing else connected. As it stands the max speed I can obtain is 7Mb.

Is there anything I can do ? Can I get Eircom out to check the line ?

Thanks,

-P

kaizersoze

patrickpc wrote: »

Hi there,

I am about 1.4km via the road network from the Eircom cabinets - ADSL and VDSL. The cabinets are connected to the NewtownMountKennedy exchange which is Fibre enabled.

My modem is showing a download attenuation figure of 123 which suggests I am about 9-10km from the cabinet. I am getting about 2.5Mb download on ADSL at best.

Can anyone explain how my attenuation could be so high when I am relatively close to the cabinet ? I have connected the modem directly to the main drop point with nothing else connected. As it stands the max speed I can obtain is 7Mb.

Is there anything I can do ? Can I get Eircom out to check the line ?

Thanks,

-P

That 123 attenuation figure is without doubt a false. You won't get DSL sync over ~65db and with that you'd struggle to get 1 meg speeds.

If you're still on ADSL which you suggest, then your distance from the cabinet is irrelevant. It's the distance from the exchange that's important.

patrickpc

kaizersoze wrote: »

That 123 attenuation figure is without doubt a false. You won't get DSL sync over ~65db and with that you'd struggle to get 1 meg speeds.

If you're still on ADSL which you suggest, then your distance from the cabinet is irrelevant. It's the distance from the exchange that's important.

OK - thanks.

Has anyone else on here had issue with high attenuation figures ?

I have ordered eFibre so hopefully this won't be an issue once installed.

ZiabR

Who are you with?

ED E

You're line is faulting or your modem is f'cked if its reading 123dB.

patrickpc

kaizersoze wrote: »

That 123 attenuation figure is without doubt a false. You won't get DSL sync over ~65db and with that you'd struggle to get 1 meg speeds.

If you're still on ADSL which you suggest, then your distance from the cabinet is irrelevant. It's the distance from the exchange that's important.

logik wrote: »

Who are you with?

I am with Vodafone. I am getting a constant download rate of between 2.5-2.6 Mbs and upload of about 0.3Mbs.

patrickpc

ED E wrote: »

You're line is faulting or your modem is f'cked if its reading 123dB.

The modem seems to be working Ok - I rarely have to reboot it. I think that the neighbours are all getting around the same download rates so could it be a fault on the line to the cabinet ?

seaniefr

It sounds like your profile is set to 3072Kb/384Kb download/upload (3meg) and as the other poster has said your modem is probably f**ked:)
my downstream attenuation is 57dB (4Km from exchange)and I can manage to connect at the above profile & my actual speeds are exactly as you describe(2.5 down/.03 up)

patrickpc

seaniefr wrote: »

It sounds like your profile is set to 3072Kb/384Kb download/upload (3meg) and as the other poster has said your modem is probably f**ked:)
my downstream attenuation is 57dB (4Km from exchange)and I can manage to connect at the above profile & my actual speeds are exactly as you describe(2.5 down/.03 up)

I upgraded the firmware on my modem Belkin Surf+ and the attenuation is now reading 56db which is more like it as I reckon I am about 4km from the exchange, via the cabinet about 1.5km away.

Am I right to think that my attenuation should drop to about 20 or so once I am upgraded to fibre via the cabinet 1.5km away? According to this site http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php I should be getting upto 20Mb if this is true.

Anything would be better than the 2.5Mb I'm on today.

seaniefr

patrickpc wrote: »

I upgraded the firmware on my modem Belkin Surf+ and the attenuation is now reading 56db which is more like it as I reckon I am about 4km from the exchange, via the cabinet about 1.5km away.

Am I right to think that my attenuation should drop to about 20 or so once I am upgraded to fibre via the cabinet 1.5km away? According to this site http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php I should be getting upto 20Mb if this is true.

Anything would be better than the 2.5Mb I'm on today.

That unfortunately depends on Eircom am afraid. I would guess that you will be in the same boat as me but I hope not (no date on when the exchange will get fibre and all the promises in the world when I rang Eircom cancellations) I am changing to a fixed wireless provider in December getting (hopefully) 6Meg down 2 meg up as Eircom don't give a flying F**K about people like us around 4km from the exchange:cool: & I have had it up to here paying for a phone line that I don't use!

Lennyzip

How is the distance from the cabinet worked out using the line attenuation figure ?

Edit : ah ok found this

Less than 1km = 24Mbit
1.0km = 13.81dB = 23Mbit
1.5km = 20.7dB = 21Mbit
2.0km = 27.6dB = 18Mbit
2.5km = 34.5dB = 13Mbit
3.0km = 41.4dB = 8Mbit
3.5km = 48.3dB = 6Mbit
4.0km = 56dB = 4Mbit
4.5km = 62.1dB = 3Mbit
5.0km = 69dB = 2Mbit

kaizersoze

patrickpc wrote: »

I upgraded the firmware on my modem Belkin Surf+ and the attenuation is now reading 56db which is more like it as I reckon I am about 4km from the exchange, via the cabinet about 1.5km away.

Am I right to think that my attenuation should drop to about 20 or so once I am upgraded to fibre via the cabinet 1.5km away? According to this site http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php I should be getting upto 20Mb if this is true.

Anything would be better than the 2.5Mb I'm on today.

These are the extended reach profiles.....

15M_3M_R 15 3 1400m
12M_1M_R 12 1 1700m
7M_1M_R 7 1 2000m

You'll be put on one to suit your line. There are also Rate Adaptive (RA) versions of the profiles.

kaizersoze

Lennyzip wrote: »

How is the distance from the cabinet worked out using the line attenuation figure ?

Edit : ah ok found this

Less than 1km = 24Mbit
1.0km = 13.81dB = 23Mbit
1.5km = 20.7dB = 21Mbit
2.0km = 27.6dB = 18Mbit
2.5km = 34.5dB = 13Mbit
3.0km = 41.4dB = 8Mbit
3.5km = 48.3dB = 6Mbit
4.0km = 56dB = 4Mbit
4.5km = 62.1dB = 3Mbit
5.0km = 69dB = 2Mbit

They are ADSL2/2+ figures and not 'real world'. You wouldn't get 2 meg at 69dB in a month of Sundays. You'd even struggle to get sync.

This site is a tad more realistic and gives VDSL output as well.
Still not real world but a bit closer.

http://www.speedguide.net/dsl_speed_calc.php

lucernarian

I think eircom themselves get confused over attenuation figures. I was once quoted 78dB for my family's phone but it can support 3072/384 and at 55dB attenuation. The line is 6k long from house to exchange, almost as the crow flies. I can't honestly explain it! (the VDSL rollout didn't change those figures)