I built a tool to test what speed you should be getting on the Eircom Network.

MichealKenny

Eircoms API is unstable at the moment, so it may or may not work - 09:30

Hey guys, I built this web app so that anyone on the Eircom network(Eircom, Vodafone, Magnet, etc.) could check what speed they should be getting to diagnose issues like congestion and to see if your provider incorrectly set your sync speed.

I posted this in a thread before and people found it useful, so I said I would make my own thread about it, for exposure, and bug reporting, and such. If I am breaking any rules with regards to spam or anything like that then I'm sorry and you can remove it, but I don't make any money from it and I genuinely think it's useful.

Also developers, I built a small JSON API that is faster than Vodafones, and much much easier to use than Eircoms. access it like this.

https://speedcheck.mikenny.com/<number>

<number> being the phone number you want to test excluding spaces and brackets and the like.

Example Response:

{
    "speed": 5.86,
    "sync": {
        "down": 6,
        "up": 0.5
    }
}

I would really appreciate any feedback or any constructive criticism, thank you.

PeadarB

{"speed": 95.4, "sync": {"down": 100.0, "up": 20.0}}

Though rates at 100/20 I'm getting 92/18.

MichealKenny

Your router probably negotiated down as it found the sync unstable, but on Eircom's end you're at 100/20, now if it gave you back 100/20 and you are at 50/10, then something is wrong and you'd contact Eircom over that.

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

BigMoose

Likewise (the error), so it's not just my number or something dumb I did

swoofer

It says 47mb for me but I get 38mb!! Does the 47 actually mean 47?? i am with VF about 800m from the cabinet. I checked with VF a while back and they said there was a fault on the line, eircom called and checked it and said no fault. Apparently the cabinet is restricted to 50mb max!

MichealKenny

Eircoms API is down guys, that's what's causing the error.

https://www.eircom.net/prequalWidget/rest/ardaddresslook/phone-rsp/###-#######/broadband/true

replace first hashes with area code, and second hashes with rest of phone number to check for yourself.


----

I have tweeted Eircom, lets see if they fix it in a timely fashion, this is kind of funny though, boards.ie hug of death.

MichealKenny

Ok guys seems to be back up and running again, who knows how long it will last, I've customized the error page so people know it may be on Eircom's end if it happens again.

db

It tells me I should be getting 2.93Mbps but on speedtest.net I am only getting 1.77. It might not be much to some people but that 1Mbps would be a big improvement for me. I'm with Eircom - any suggestions on how to improve the speed?
Thanks

ED E

MichealKenny the prequals indicate the *Best* the line can do, not what youll always be able to get and not what you'll see on a speed test. This should probably be made clear.

eg:
15_1 prequal, may only be stable at 12_1 and a speedtest will show 10.5_0.9 due to link overheads.

or

20_1 prequal, users getting 3_0.3 sync and 0.5_0.3 on speedtests. On a radio exchange this is the expected result.

Its not quite as simple as "this is what you should get".

MichealKenny

db wrote: »

It tells me I should be getting 2.93Mbps but on speedtest.net I am only getting 1.77. It might not be much to some people but that 1Mbps would be a big improvement for me. I'm with Eircom - any suggestions on how to improve the speed?
Thanks

With low speeds like that it sounds like what would happen if you weren't using filters on all of your phone jacks, also if the phone wiring is fairly old in the house it could be causing issues. You can request free filters from your ISP, just say you never got them. Also to help with interference, for us an Eircom engineer came out to the house and replaced the old cat 3 phone cable with cat5 ethernet because it's so cheap nowadays.

MichealKenny

ED E wrote: »

MichealKenny the prequals indicate the *Best* the line can do, not what youll always be able to get and not what you'll see on a speed test. This should probably be made clear.

eg:
15_1 prequal, may only be stable at 12_1 and a speedtest will show 10.5_0.9 due to link overheads.

or

20_1 prequal, users getting 3_0.3 sync and 0.5_0.3 on speedtests. On a radio exchange this is the expected result.

Its not quite as simple as "this is what you should get".

I understand completely, and that's why I don't give back full sync values on the web interface, for HSI I multiply it by 0.954 and for NGB & DSL I multiply by 0.977, these are the values Vodafone use for their prequal and for most people they are fairly accurate.

But I agree I should clarify that this is just a guideline and only contact your ISP if the results are way off.

Also, I kinda used my own experience to vouch for the calculations, because I live 4km from the exchange, hardly best case scenario.

db

MichealKenny wrote: »

With low speeds like that it sounds like what would happen if you weren't using filters on all of your phone jacks, also if the phone wiring is fairly old in the house it could be causing issues. You can request free filters from your ISP, just say you never got them. Also to help with interference, for us an Eircom engineer came out to the house and replaced the old cat 3 phone cable with cat5 ethernet because it's so cheap nowadays.

New house with filter socket and new wiring. I had an engineer in recently to fix some problems caused by lightning and he checked the wiring.

MichealKenny

db wrote: »

New house with filter socket and new wiring. I had an engineer in recently to fix some problems caused by lightning and he checked the wiring.

db can you get your dsl stats from your modem? the details for logging into the modem should be on the bottom of it.

Gonzo

it says I can get 11.72meg, that's fairly close to my sync speed of 11.576meg.

db

MichealKenny wrote: »

db can you get your dsl stats from your modem? the details for logging into the modem should be on the bottom of it.

ED E

You're configured for 2Mb at the exchange, get them to change up up to 3Mb, line can take it.

db

Thanks, I'll give it a try

db

ED E wrote: »

You're configured for 2Mb at the exchange, get them to change up up to 3Mb, line can take it.

Got it brought up to 4Mb and now getting speed of 3.41:)
He did say it might not be stable at this speed and it might need to be reduced to 3Mb but I'l happy to give it a go. Fantastic help guys, thanks.

user2011

{"speed": 11.72, "sync": {"down": 12.0, "up": 0.66}}

Only ever get 7/8Mb on my android box that's connected to the router.

MichealKenny

user2011 wrote: »

{"speed": 11.72, "sync": {"down": 12.0, "up": 0.66}}

Only ever get 7/8Mb on my android box that's connected to the router.

Connected wired or wireless? Another possibility is you could be on an ADSL1 DSLAM but your exchange supports ADSL2+. please log into your modem and get the dsl statistics, the details to login should be printed on the bottom of the modem.

Mc Love

Says I should be getting 28.62 but I'm getting less than half that
{"speed": 28.62, "sync": {"down": 30.0, "up": 8.0}}



Should I be calling Vodafone then?

MichealKenny

Mc Love wrote: »

Says I should be getting 28.62 but I'm getting less than half that
{"speed": 28.62, "sync": {"down": 30.0, "up": 8.0}}



Should I be calling Vodafone then?

Hi Mc Love, please post your DSL statistics by logging into your modem and taking a screenshot of them, my best guess is your exchange supports vdsl and they have you on adsl2+, if this is the case, you should definitely call them and ask to be moved up.

ED E

Mc Love wrote: »

Says I should be getting 28.62 but I'm getting less than half that
{"speed": 28.62, "sync": {"down": 30.0, "up": 8.0}}



Should I be calling Vodafone then?

You're on ADSL. Its quoting VDSL Speeds. Call them an order an upgrade to "fibre power".

Mc Love

I am on fibre

MichealKenny

Are you sure, can you post your DSL statistics to verify that?

user2011

MichealKenny wrote: »

Connected wired or wireless? Another possibility is you could be on an ADSL1 DSLAM but your exchange supports ADSL2+. please log into your modem and get the dsl statistics, the details to login should be printed on the bottom of the modem.

My set up is, crap eircom box > tplink > android box.

Since I went down this way I can't see sync stats on tplink.

Wirelessly for laptop phone I get solid 6/7

Mc Love

MichealKenny wrote: »

Are you sure, can you post your DSL statistics to verify that?

Have phonewatch but I think that comes in on a different line, have filters on the other phone, and I'm about 1200m from the cab

frozenfrozen

user2011 wrote: »

My set up is, crap eircom box > tplink > android box.

Since I went down this way I can't see sync stats on tplink.

Wirelessly for laptop phone I get solid 6/7

log into the crap eircom box and check your dsl stats

MichealKenny

user2011 wrote: »

My set up is, crap eircom box > tplink > android box.

Since I went down this way I can't see sync stats on tplink.

Wirelessly for laptop phone I get solid 6/7

Ah right well if it's wireless that's to be expected.

Mc Love wrote: »

woah, I don't know enough about VDSL to see what's wrong here, only guess I could make is your upstream attenuation is below 10dB and I heard that can make stuff unstable, I'm not sure though, hopefully someone else will be more knowledgeable in that area.

frozenfrozen

{"speed": 11.72, "sync": {"down": 12.0, "up": 0.66}}


Statistics -- ADSL


Mode: ADSL2+
Line Coding: Trellis On
Status: Connected
Link Power State: L0

Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin (dB): 6.9 22.8
Attenuation (dB): 33.5 15.4
Power (dBm): 18.4 12.4
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 17580 1208
Rate (Kbps): 12287 670
MSGc (number of bytes in overhead channel message): 88 14
B (number of bytes in Mux Data Frame): 32 9
M (number of Mux Data Frames in FEC Data Frame): 1 8
T (Mux Data Frames over sync bytes): 8 7
R (number of check bytes in FEC Data Frame): 8 16
S (ratio of FEC over PMD Data Frame length): 0.0856 3.7647
L (number of bits in PMD Data Frame): 3831 204
D (interleaver depth): 384 8
Delay (msec): 8 7

Super Frames: 6626530 6666357
Super Frame Errors: 22 0
RS Words: 688183410 1605602
RS Correctable Errors: 210760 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors: 1563 N/A

HEC Errors: 18 1208
OCD Errors: 1 0
LCD Errors: 0 0
Total Cells: 3090963090 3193324036
Data Cells: 36276748 2020760114
Bit Errors: 0 50350

Total ES: 19 10
Total SES: 0 2
Total UAS: 31 65334


anything I can do?

Mc Love

It says an uptime of over 12 days but the connection does drop intermittently

MichealKenny

frozenfrozen wrote: »

{"speed": 11.72, "sync": {"down": 12.0, "up": 0.66}}


anything I can do?

I'd say that's perfectly within the margin of error of the api itself, all you could really do is check if you have filters on all phone jacks.

Mc Love wrote: »

It says an uptime of over 12 days but the connection does drop intermittently

I highly recommend you call vodafone, just say "your website says I can get 30mbps, but i'm only getting 11mbps", they'll sort it out if they can

brianon

https://speedcheck.mikenny.com/ says 14.65. Worth calling Eircom over this ?

MichealKenny

brianon wrote: »

https://speedcheck.mikenny.com/ says 14.65. Worth calling Eircom over this ?

Hi Brian can you post your DSL statistics found in your modem, if you are synced at 15mbps and speedtest is giving you 10mbps, it's likely congestion.

brianon

MichealKenny wrote: »

Hi Brian can you post your DSL statistics found in your modem, if you are synced at 15mbps and speedtest is giving you 10mbps, it's likely congestion.

This what your looking for ?

Connection

DSL Mode : ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Speed: 12288 kbps/670 kbps
Line Attenuation(Down/Up): 21.3 dB/ 12.0 dB
DSL Noise Margin: 6.8 dB/ 18.5 dB

*I will add that on the likes of steam I see 1.1mb download consistently but never more than 1.2.

MichealKenny

Yep, so it's not congestion, you're synced at 12mbps, and your line attenuation is plenty good for 15mbps, so check that you have filters on all of your phone jacks, your router probably found the connection unstable, and if that is not the issue maybe call Eircom, they might have you set at a lower sync.

brianon

Thanks. I've 3 phone jacks in the house. 2 have nothing connected. We've no phone in the house. So I can discount those right ? On the phone jack that's in use I have some Excelsus filter from eircom(i think) on it and then a 10 meter cable from that to the router.

ED E

brianon wrote: »

Thanks. I've 3 phone jacks in the house. 2 have nothing connected. We've no phone in the house. So I can discount those right ? On the phone jack that's in use I have some Excelsus filter from eircom(i think) on it and then a 10 meter cable from that to the router.

That 10m cable is most likely nuking your sync. Lose it and you'll do 15, maybe even 17Mb.

brianon

ED E wrote: »

That 10m cable is most likely nuking your sync. Lose it and you'll do 15, maybe even 17Mb.

Would I be better with the router closer to the phone jack and then a longer ethernet cable?

*I think it's more like 3m actually of the phone cable from the filter to the router. Eh...what's that cable actually called ? And where would i get a good one ? The one I use is about 12 years old.

MichealKenny

Yeah it doesn't matter if nothing is connected to it, but when you have more than one phone jack it can cause issues, the correct setup for multiple phone jacks and broadband is:

Main Line into house -> filter/splitter -> ADSL jack.
                                        -> Phone jack -> Phone jack 1
                                                      -> Phone jack 2
                                                      -> Phone jack 3

Whereas most older homes do this:

Main Line into house -> Phone jack 1 -> ADSL filter
                     -> Phone jack 2 -> ADSL filter
                     -> Phone jack 3 -> ADSL filter/splitter

And this really messes with the broadband.

ibFoxer

So mine says 85.86, I am not even getting half that via speedtest..... What's my next step?

MichealKenny

foxerv1 wrote: »

So mine says 85.86, I am not even getting half that via speedtest..... What's my next step?

Hi foxerv1, please post your DSL statistics by logging on to your modem, details to login should be on the bottom of the modem.

ibFoxer

MichealKenny wrote: »

Hi foxerv1, please post your DSL statistics by logging on to your modem, details to login should be on the bottom of the modem.

Will do as soon as I land home

ED E

brianon wrote: »

Would I be better with the router closer to the phone jack and then a longer ethernet cable?

*I think it's more like 3m actually of the phone cable from the filter to the router. Eh...what's that cable actually called ? And where would i get a good one ? The one I use is about 12 years old.

Ethernet will give you the same speed at 100m and 2m, where as the flat phone cable (bell wire RJ11 terminated) you're using slows the sync down with every foot. So yes, thats exactly what you should do.

If you're replacing it buy CAT5 and crimp RJ11 connectors on the end, but really running ethernet is even better.

brianon

I really have no idea which setup I have. House was built in 2002.

What I know...

-> Phone jack 1 -> nothing
           -> Phone jack 2 -> nothing
           -> Phone jack 3 -> ADSL filter/splitter (with just the ADSL to router connected/no phone

I grabbed a adsl cable from the attic there. A short 1m cable. Never been used (from an spare router we got from O2 years ago).

I moved the router closer to the Phone Jack and used the new adsl cable and a longer ethernet to the PC.

Speed Test was giving me weird results like 6mbps and 8mbps but I kicked off a steam download and it got up to 1.3MB/S. I've never seen (though that's not 100% proof it never happened) it go past 1.2 before so that's good start

Anything else I could do ?

ED E

brianon wrote: »

I really have no idea which setup I have. House was built in 2002.

What I know...

-> Phone jack 1 -> nothing
           -> Phone jack 2 -> nothing
           -> Phone jack 3 -> ADSL filter/splitter (with just the ADSL to router connected/no phone

I grabbed a adsl cable from the attic there. A short 1m cable. Never been used (from an spare router we got from O2 years ago).

I moved the router closer to the Phone Jack and used the new adsl cable and a longer ethernet to the PC.

Speed Test was giving me weird results like 6mbps and 8mbps but I kicked off a steam download and it got up to 1.3MB/S. I've never seen (though that's not 100% proof it never happened) it go past 1.2 before so that's good start

Anything else I could do ?

Read the line stats again. Your downstream SNR should be a chunk higher (every 3dB is a DOUBLING in received strength).

brianon

Before and after ?

Before

DSL Mode :	ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Speed:	12288 kbps/670 kbps
Line Attenuation(Down/Up):	21.3 dB/ 12.0 dB
DSL Noise Margin:	6.8 dB/ 18.5 dB

After

DSL Mode :	ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
Speed:	12288 kbps/670 kbps
Line Attenuation(Down/Up):	20.4 dB/ 10.6 dB
DSL Noise Margin:	8.8 dB/ 19.7 dB

Excuse my igorence but I can't tell if this is an improvement.

ED E

Better. Was expecting a little higher still, but your internal wiring may a lil weak or there may be another source of RFI.

Loop length should be around 1500m, so normally that line would manage 17Mb no problem. If you call and have yourself set to 15Mb now your sync rate will jump up and your SNR will fall back to about 6.x which should be fine.

brianon

ED E wrote: »

Better. Was expecting a little higher still, but your internal wiring may a lil weak or there may be another source of RFI.

Loop length should be around 1500m, so normally that line would manage 17Mb no problem. If you call and have yourself set to 15Mb now your sync rate will jump up and your SNR will fall back to about 6.x which should be fine.

Thanks. Much appreciated. So I just ring Eircom and tell them ... to set my sync rate ? Is that something they will do for me ?

Would it be tech support I'd be ringing ?

ED E

Yeah, call tech support and ask them to increase your profile up to the 15Mb one (its on 12 now). You can ask them to a linetest while you're at it just to make sure its not knackered.