topic Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs in Archive

Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 08:00:11 GMT

All I can say currently is absolutely wonderful!

After my hopes of getting it today going downhill with the engineer being late, I can finally say I have Infinity that currently works wonderfully.

I'm currently using BT's equipment, that is the OR modem and Business Hub 3. I have a Cisco 887VA which does VDSL2 directly (can connect direct to VDSL2 master socket) and/or PPPoE (if I connect to the OR modem instead of direct), but at this stage I think I'd be best to leave it all alone for around 10 days to ensure the line settles without me disrupting it.

Please read my third post for an update.

Re: Got Infinity 2, odd upload though.

Ixel — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 17:08:26 GMT

I've now managed to get my IP profiles (http://i.imgur.com/oAMUx.png).

The upload speed is definitely wierd, it's roughly half my achieveable upload speed. Any suggestions (other than me unlocking the modem later this evening at which point I can get more detailed statistics)?

Re: Got Infinity 2, odd upload though.

Ixel — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 07:58:15 GMT

Another update. Upload seemed to fix itself over night and I get the following average speeds: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1998858123.png

I ran a test on speedtester.bt.com but that produces odd results on the upload still, but I know the upload is definitely not capped now at 10Mbps. I have one other problem though, every 6-12 hours I have to power cycle the BT Openreach Modem (Huawei HG612). I haven't attempted to unlock it as yet I've heard there could be consequences by doing so, as it's Openreach's equipment. If a member could clarify that too I'd be appreciative.

Many thanks.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

knobbster — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 18:56:33 GMT

Nice to see everything is working for you. How's your download and upload speedtest on this?

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 19:47:47 GMT

Power cycling problem hasn't occurred for nearly 16 hours now, I think I've fixed it by simply turning the modem so it's standing on the other side. In other words, the modem is standing on its left side, not its right side, so the ADSL modem cable is at the top and the power cable is at the bottom. Since most heat seems to be generated around the right side of the modem it seems to have solved my power cycling problem, at the moment anyway.

My speeds, latest one I took from speedtest.net this evening: http://speedtest.net/result/1999782221.png

Using JD's auto speed tester app I'm getting around 77.1Mbps down and 17.6Mbps up most of the time. This is my second day and I've only had to contact BT Business once regarding the engineer being later than the 8am-1pm time, and they were very informative and on the ball (they put me on hold, contacted Openreach, who then tried to contact the engineer but found they couldn't and believed he was driving, so left him a message to contact me and them asap), 15 minutes later he rung and was ready to start work at the cabinet! I'm glad I signed up for the business version of Infinity for the support itself, compared to that on the residential version.

I may be testing my Cisco 887VA router which supports VDSL2 up to profile 17a (currently being used). I've been told by some other forum members on other forums that others have tried other modem/router combinations or all-in-one solutions without any problems from BT, though obviously if I had a fault and needed support then I'd have to use the original equipment I was supplied on installation. I'm also going to change the cable from the standard RJ11 cable they supply to my 0.5m shielded twisted pair RJ11 cable.

The engineer and myself were amazed at the speedtest comparing to my estimates, which were 58.5Mbps down and 18Mbps up.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

MHC — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 08:30:41 GMT

You will not get much faster than that ... in either direction.

No real issues, as I undertand it, from using your own modem BUT make sure you keep the original. If you need support that must be available and if you sold it, how much would you be charged for replacing BT owned equipment?

Yes, the modem can get hot, as will parts of third party devices. Mine is screwed to a wall with the cables in from the bottom and runs fine - the ambient temperature in the room has been up to 35 degrees recently. Just check to see that the bottom is marked 3B - the latest version that deals with overheating

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 08:52:51 GMT

Another update. I've switched to using my Cisco 887VA router, after taking nearly two hours to get it to authenticate (configuring Cisco routers isn't as easy as a Netgear or Draytek, but worth it in my view). It has currently replaced the BT OR Modem and Business Hub. In the speed test the Cisco 887VA gets around 1Mbps better speed on both download and upload.

My speedtest results from last night: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2000145414.png

My line statistics from the Cisco 887VA: http://pastebin.com/7BkCyWH1

And finally in JD's auto speed tester I now get an average speed of:

- Download: 76.4Mbps

- Upload: 19.2Mbps

Also the modem does have 3B on the bottom. I haven't tested my ADSLNation 0.5m RJ11 cable which is shielded and twisted pair as I noticed the wires each end are slightly different to that of the standard one BT supplied. The two middle wires are inversed each end on the ADSLNation cable, where on the BT supplied one they match in the same place both ends.

Any views on the statistics?

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

MHC — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:08:44 GMT

Try the cable ... it will (should) not make a difference.

The improved speed could just be down to the time at which you sync'd. On ADSL2+ for example, it was possible to get 2Mbps increase on downstream by syncing late morning/early afternoon rather than during the night.

It would be good to compare teh BT supplied and Cisco from similar times off day.

Look at Max Attainable, Attenuation and SNR in all UP and DOWN bands - D1 D2 D3 U0 U1 U2 U3 and Sync speed.

Then do a speed test.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 12:18:36 GMT

Ok, I'll try the OR Modem/Hub combination again tonight at the same time I roughly did the Cisco sync last night and reply with results when I have them. I'll probably try the cable another 12-24 hours I've done the OR modem comparison against my Cisco, as I don't want to trigger DLM.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:10:01 GMT

Interestingly the cable has made it slightly worse. I've lost about 1dB on the overall Noise Margin for the DL when connecting the cable, and I did check the line stats just before changing the cables over, allowing 10 minutes to pass before reconnecting the other cable so as to minimise the chance of DLM thinking it was a line error, but more of a power failure instead.

Current line stats with my cable (not BT's supplied one basically): http://pastebin.com/dfE3ZBVQ (First paste had some odd results, a firmware bug?)

Speedtest.net results this morning (about the same as usual):

If anyone notices anything else different, that's interesting, feel free to reply. I'll leave the line to settle for another 24 hours or so then switch back to the original cable.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

MHC — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 09:51:41 GMT

CRC errors on your orignal look a little high and also they are starting to appear on te latest screenshot. Keep an eye on them.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:15:57 GMT

Ok, not sure how I could go about reducing them though. I've performed a quiet line test using an analog phone and I can't hear any buzzing, crackling or popping, so I can't report to BT that I have a line fault necessarily. Fortunately DLM hasn't kicked in any interleaving or speed reductions as a result of a slightly higher than normal CRC errors.

Talking of that. What range would you say the CRC errors should be in a typical day?

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

MHC — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:30:51 GMT

CRC errors come about becasue of corrupted data - such as when noise hits the line and a set of tones cannot be demopdulated correctly.

What can you do ? Very little except ensure that there are no electrical noise generating items close to the phone line and modem.

On a typical day? A difficult question to answer as every situation is different.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 11:37:00 GMT

I see. Well in about 24 hours I'll swap the cable back, unless this cable for some reason produces significantly less errors in the same timeframe as the other cable, but I have a feeling the original cable supplied by BT somehow performed a slight bit better.

I'll keep an eye on CRC errors, as well as other parameters of the line such as interleaving depth, noise margins and attenuations, sync speed, etc. So long as I get good throughput (which I am), a good ping (which I am again) and no DLM interference then I'm more than happy. One thing that's still pending, and up to me to figure out of course, is setting up the static IP's on the Cisco router, but that's another challenge I'll work on soon :P.

Thanks for your help so far.

Re: Got Infinity 2 but have to power cycle modem every 6-12 hrs

Ixel — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:34:29 GMT

The test is over. I would say that the CRC errors occur mostly over night, after midnight, at a much higher rate compared to during the day. I've switched back to the BT supplied RJ11 cable which immediately provides me with the original results I had, e.g. around a 103000kbits/s DS attainable rate. I'm guessing the shorter, shielded and twisted pair RJ11 cable can't handle a very small area of the higher frequencies hence the slightly lower attainable rate on the DS.