topic Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network in Archive

Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:10:33 GMT

Silly really - small home network running ok and never any real problems with with BT running up to 8mb, so I took advantage of the offer to upgrade to 'up to 20mb' after bt transferred me to the 'new' higher speed network now available in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

BT's website didn't make it clear exactly what steps needed to be taken such as to resign for a new contract period and what the implications were (I was on option 1).

However, I've resigned to option 2 apparently as I opted for a 12 month contract thinking the price would be the same but . . yes its a higher cost, plus my static ip address and ip phone.

BT seem to think I'm upgraded but after several days my hub seems to be stuck on the same speed (its also got a different interface than that shown in bt's help). My ip profile also states 'up to 8mb' and that hasn't changed either.

BT say 10 days to settle down before contacting engineering support - so is this normal behaviour during an upgrade or am I expecting too much?

Ah yes . . tried the speed tester

Results are:

Download speedachieved during the test was - 7115 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 1000-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8124 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 7000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 12.9:23.07:64.03 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.

Any help appreciated as the initial tests indicated that I should receive up tp 13mb!

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

alastair — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:25:22 GMT

you rebooted the router to retrain the line?

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:30:49 GMT

Thanks - yes, I restart the whole network including the router every morning and a router reboot at lunchtime to see if anything changes.

Due to an administrative error I do have a spare router as standby to try out later on if all fails !

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

alastair — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:48:28 GMT

i'd suggest only rebooting the router if you absolutely have to.

If you reboot the router the exchange sees a drop in sync and will lower your sync rate. It will then take something like 8 hours of steading sync for the exchange to increase your sync speed.

I'd suggest when you replace the router leave it connected the rest of the day and be patient for the exchange to update. I think it takes 4 hours but i say 8 incase you just miss a recalculation and have to wait for the next.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:57:58 GMT

OK thanks Alistair,

That sounds a reasonable explanation of what may be happening bearing in mind I don't know how the line speed sync works.

Perhaps I should leave the router on 24/7 (if nothing else) for the next week or so, to give the best opportunity for the router to sync with the exchange and keep a watch on what happens - everything is on a UPS so its not too difficult.

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

alastair — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:02:33 GMT

I think that is a good idea.

And yes it needs to be on 24/7 or the network thinks it needs to recalculate the sync speed to a lower rate.

This may or may not be your issue.

Alot of people turn their routers off at night and get slower speeds.

I can see why it is done and its a good idea. the users just need educated on it or they think there is a slow speed fault on their line while in reality it is just a lower rate.

If the rate gets too low from recalculating i think i've heard that it can cause a dropping connection.

Dont quote me on that though

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 10:20:38 GMT

Well, its now Tuesday and no improvement - I'm about half a mile from the exchange (as the crow flies) so I would be happy with the 13mb that the line speed checker suggests I would have on this up to 20mb network.

Tried to contact BT this morning with live assistance and travelled here and there with everyone saying its not their department - including the complaints dept !!!

My broadband (on the new higher speed network) is capped at 8mb it seems and when I asked why I was impolitely disconnected. Of course I kept the transcript for later use.

Shouldn't the cap be at 20mb (I have resigned another contract) and let the router find its own level (13mbs or so) or am I wrong.

This is the first time I have experienced such irritation with BT and would normally have recommended them!

All help appreciated

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:29:49 GMT

Hi reab,

Are you still having issues with this?

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:23:09 GMT

Yes I'm afraid so - nothing has changed.

This situation is not what I expected and I'm very disappointed that I cannot get anything better on the new 'up to 20mb' network.

I signed a new contract based on BT's speed checker and it apparently got it wrong - its been corrected needless to say!

Point is I'm no better off on the new higher speed network than I was on the old network - why on earth not not?

All help appreciated

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:42:08 GMT

I am sorry to hear this. Can you Private Message me with the Broadband telephone number and all the references you have regarding this so can get this looked into. Thank you.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:56:53 GMT

PM sent at 1pm

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:42:45 GMT

Hi,

I have replied to your PM regarding this now.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:41:23 GMT

Just to confirm, your service should be corrected on the 6th October. If you could let us know how you get on after this date we would be grateful. Thanks.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:36:51 GMT

OK - the upgrade to 20mb uncapped happened as agreed on 6th October, it was at no cost to me (apart from time taken to sort all of this out) and I've given time for things to settle down to an optimum level.

But heres the thing:

For the first few days the download speed stayed the same at around 7.5kbs but the upload speed tripled to around 1440kbs.

Now:

Same download speed as on the old network and download speed back to 448kbs - just checked with BT's line checker and it thinks 5.5kbs is my max download speed? If this keeps up I'll soon be at 0kbs!

So:

Being around a half mile from the exchange I expected something a little better than this or is there something that BT is not openly admitting to about this upgrade and 20mb availability? Is the general wiring from the exchange so poor that it can't support anything better? Even my extension was carried out by BT to ensure best quality signals (don't mention the cost) and I still can't get anything better.

Incidentally all the line checkers from Virgin etc show much the same figures for my line.

How do I get answers on this?

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:44:00 GMT

Oh dear,

Just checked the router and it still thinks that the cap rate is 8469 kbs, could the router have a problem?

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 10:57:16 GMT

Hmm . . .

Looked further into the router system>DSL and get the following:

DSL Diagnostics - Training History Physical Line 1 General Information

DSL Line (Wire Pair):	Line 1 (inner pair)
Downstream Rate Cap:	24384 kbps
Downstream Atten. at 300kHz:	27.7 dB
Uncancelled Echo:	-20.1 dB	Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset:	13.1 ppm	Ok
Final Rx Gain:	17.9 dB	Ok
Impulse Noise Comp. Tones:	0	Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise:	0	Ok
Impulse noise protection:	0.00
Delay of latency path:	0.09 ms

Is the attenuation too high?

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 13:59:16 GMT

Hi Roger,

First of all, I am sorry to hear you are having problems still. Have you noticed the broadband dropping out at any time? Also, can you confirm that you are using the Business Hub and has this been changed recently?

Thanks.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:25:53 GMT

Thanks for the reply Alun,

I'm using the original BT2700HGV hub supplied when I changed to business broadband about 5-6 months ago (may well be more as time seems to go quickly now a days!) It still has firmware v 6.1.1.48.1-enh.tm installed and hasn't been upgraded that I know of.

The only dropout that I've been aware of was the upgrade/regrade of the broadband package and probably lasted only a matter of minutes. Generally its been fairly reliable compared with the problems others face judging by this forum. Of course there may have been other dropouts that caused odd lockups on my PC's (my Apple Mac seems generally unaffected) but its difficult to pinpoint this.

I do have a new spare BT2700 that I could swap out with thats unused to see if it helps although it will have the same firmware as its the same age. I also have a static ip address and VoIP with extensive custom firewall settings - inconveinient but not insurmountable!

So . . . should I try a swap out?

Roger B

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

Alun — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:26:27 GMT

Hi Roger,

I would suggest to swap out the router if possible to see if that resolves the issue.

If this does not work you would need to contact the technical helpdesk to get it looked at again as I would appear that the line has not been the most stable, causing the line to slow.

Re: Upgrade to 'up to 20mb' network

reab — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:01:44 GMT

Thank Alun,

I've swapped out the hub and it gave the same results almost immediately. Before I attempt to contact the technical helpdesk perhaps you can help with the fact that the hub management shows two different settings.

In settings>broadband in shows rate cap 8701kbps

and in Diagnostics>DSL downstream Rate Cap 24384kbps

Is there a difference?

Roger B