My 'up to 20 mbs broadband' has slowly deteriorated to half speed

[reab]

Seems that the forum doesn't work correctly with Explorer 9 so posted text in reply below using Firefox 4

[MHC]

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@phileast67 wrote:

If only I could get anywhere near those speeds - tonights download speed = 16Kb/s - this is not what I signed up for for my business.....looked to move to Infinity but apparently no plans to upgrade the exchange (haven't even brought it out of the dark ages yet). 

R's

Phil 

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If you really are as low as 16kbps then you need to report that as a fault.

Even with high contention and peak usage you should not be anywhere near that.

What speed is your router currently sync'ed at?

[reab]

Oh dear Phil, I feel bad about moaning about my little problem now but hey ho . . !

Sent an email to business broadband support, received an automated response and they did phone me as promised.

However . . . they agreed I should receive somewhere between 4.5 - 12mbits and I'm currently on 7.5mbits and so is within the service window.

I am, according to the BT hub management software rate capped at 8689kbs. How do I get this back to the 20/22mbs that I had previously managed to get set? Someone must be able to reset my profile or whatever is required.

Support person was friendly and as helpfull as they could be but his computer was god and had to be believed so he denied any rate cap at all - after all, his computer wouldn't lie, would it!

Any help appreciated

Roger B

[MHC]

Roger,

Going from memory, the 8689kbps figure is not actually set but a figure that the modem calculates.

Can you give your full line stats?   That may tell a bit more about what you should be seeing ...

You also appear not to have read the PM I sent through to you

[reab]

OK thanks MHC,

Missed the PM but I'm looking at it now.

Some figures taken from the router manager:

Current DSL Connection:   
                        Down              Up

Rate:                8685 kbs          1048 kbs
Max Rate:          8849 kbs         1278 kbs
Noise Margin:     15.4 dB8.6 dB
Attenuation:     36.5 dB18.2 dB
Output Power:  20.6 dBm  -31.0 dBm

Protocol:         G.DMT2+ Annex A
Channel:         Fast

DSLAM Vendor Information Country: {46336} Vendor: {TSTC} Specific: {4101 }
ATM PVC:0/38

Rate Cap:  8849 kbs
Attenuation @ 300kHz:36.5 dB
Uncanceled Echo:-21.2 dB Ok
VCXO Frequency Offset:13.3 ppm Ok
Final Receive Gain:17.9 dB Ok
Impulse Noise Comp. Tones:0 Ok
Excessive Impulse Noise:0 Ok

This rate cap was changed once before without me touching the modem, maybe BT can talk to it remotely? and I'm sure it was set to above 20mbs. Not happy about the attenuation figure - maybe thats where the problem is, I'm sure it used to be lower? In any case if its capped at just above my operating speed it seems a little too close and may be another clue?

Next time I'll do a screenshot when I can get it back to a reasonable speed!

All help appreciated.

Roger B

[reab]

Well, looking at other peoples values for line attentuation/noise margin and having gone direct into the master socket with no difference, I conclude that there is a line fault causing this issue. One phone, one router and one filter is all thats on the line, even the new master socket and extesion were installed by BT !

Called BT (this is business broadband on a residential line) who did a line check and stated that the line is fine even though I impressed on the agent that its a broadband problem caused by a line fault!!! A line check seems to be a rather simple affair.

So . . . booked an engineers callout for tomorrow after a difference of opinion with a supervisor about a possible call out charge as I'm not satisfied with the line check response.

I'll update this when the engineer has called (and the problem simply and quickly resolved) with the details.

Still don't know why the profile cap remains the same!

Roger B

[JohnE]

I understand that this may come as no surprise but I concur with the helpdesk on this, reab.

These numbers:

Noise Margin:     15.4 dB8.6 dB
Attenuation:     36.5 dB18.2 dB
Output Power:  20.6 dBm  -31.0 dBm

Indicate that you should be able to sustain a stable connection in the 3-5MBps range.  If your profile is continually dropping it is likely that it's due to instability external to the phone line or possibly a pattern of usage which may affect how your connection profile is calculated.  Obviously, we'll know more after your engineer visit.

[reab]

Trouble is even BT agree that the line should quite stably support up to probably 12mbs - which is exactly what I had for around 5-6 months or more. I would reiterate, with no change in my working practice's or hardware the speed dropped over the course of a few weeks to the current 8mbs which again is quite stable but never the less sunstantially lower.

On a previous thread I found that I had the following stats:

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

Something has changed, the line attentuation and the rate cap. This is held either in the router or a BT database and can therefore be reset - it was after all reset once before because thats how I acheived the higher rate cap after the bulk exchange upgrade fiasco!

WORSE.

BT arranged to send an engineer to sort the residential line out yesterday between 1pm-6pm. As usual waited in, no one turned up, no one phoned but when I checked the call status online in the evening it had been apparently been fixed, closed and confirmed as OK by me!

Actual wording:

"This fault is now closed and we confirmed with you that you were happy with the repair within the last seven days."

I'll give it a few days to see if the speed increases before re-opening the call and complaining, I'm sorry to say that BT could certainly learn lessons from other utilitiy companies on customer relations.

[JohnE]

reab, please allow me to explain once again.  Your rate will depend on the stability of the line.  The line's stability is affected by the quality of the phone line.  If your phone line's characteristics change or if you have a fault on the line, BT Wholesale's systems will reduce the line speed until stability is achieved.  Once a line fault is resolved, it will take a little time for your line to recalculate the maximum stable rate.  In your particular case, you will need to ensure that the fault on the phone line is actually resolved.

The BT which provides your phone line is an entirely seperate entity from BT Business Broadband who provide you with broadband service.  It is arranged this way for compliance with the Competition Act.  Furthermore, your telephone line is Residential, you will need to check with them that this fault is completely resolved.  The questions are fairly simple: Do you have dial tone?  Is there noise?  Is the line particularly quiet (low gain)?

Speed profiles do get stuck, however and if this is the case after you have had the fault on the phone line resolved, you will need to contact us: Contact Us

[MHC]

I believe that the "Rate Cap" figure you see is locally generated in the modem/router and not informatioin from the DSLAM.

The BT DLM may have applied a low IP profile which will reduce throughput, but it will not cap the sync speed - your sync speed is dependent on te line characteristics at a specific point in time.

If you want additional impartial assisatnace, I have suggested a forum where there will be plenty of assistance available.

[JohnE]

The "Rate Cap" figures reported by reab's router diagnostics appears to be 24Mbps which is correct for the ADSL2+ service.