Best BT Openreach ADSL faceplate?

[#1]

Sorry. Was distracted by my naughty stop out cat last night. He returned....eventually.
I'm on the Unlimited deal. Do quite a bit of streaming, some online gaming and the odd "download" 😉

[#2]

I'd use  this comparison tool http://usergroup.plus.net/prodcomp2.php ; Select Plusnet Unlimited in the LH box and Pro Add-on in the RH box and see if you think the differences in priorities is worth it for your usage, possibly not.
I think you will be billed for the Pro Add-on pro-rata until the end of your billing period (perhaps someone form DCT can confirm), so probably see whether it does make any difference. I'm still a bit puzzled as to why your ping was so bad previously with no interleaving.
You might want to consider having your Upstream uncapped for faster upstream speed. It doesn't cost anything, it usually takes 24hrs to uncap or to cap again if you decide it's a problem as rarely it can cause line instability.

[#3]

Thanks.
Think I'll reactivate it as may benefit slightly (cancelled it but its on till the end of this mth).
Ping increased this morning according to the Speedtester on my iPhone. Now 40ms 😕

[#4]

Ah, don't rely on tests from devices like that, results can be highly variable dependant on the wireless connection at the time and whether there is any interference, as well as the device itself.
It's always best to run speed tests and ping check via an Ethernet connection from a computer. Don't rely on the ping test result from the first stage of the BT speedtester either, that can be variable depending on the load/congestion on the tester. Use pingtest.net or for quick reliable checks from a Cmd prompt <ping ntp.plus.net>   without the <> signs. If you can run that at some point and post the full stats when you do/have done just to see if anything odd is going on.
The Pro Add-on shouldn't have caused a line reset or drop in PPP yesterday, so I've asked if a DCT member could have a look to see what happened, as the Target SNRM shouldn't have gone up either.

[#5]

Thanks for that.
I'll try a speedtest connected via ethernet at some point. Its no worse than it was before the change in filters (poss 200k better on speed) but why my SNR has gone up I don't know. Lower is better???

[#6]

The last disconnection show that it was disconnected manually.
The SNR profile has been sat at 6 and has not changed, although on re-syncs the downstream noise has fluctuated below 6dB (See Screenshot)

[#7]

Thanks for that Chris, yes, the last disconnect should have been manual. Hmm, have to keep an eye on that SNRM then.

[#8]

What's a good SNR then? What would cause it to fluctuate?

[#9]

It's an SNR Margin that's the significant factor, and the whole thing is a slightly tricky concept to get to grips with. As the name implies, it's the Margin between the actual SNR (signal to noise ratio) and the SNR that is needed for a particular speed. If the Margin goes to zero (or below) then the signal to noise ratio is affected and the signal can start to get lost in the noise. This is when at worst, there is a loss of sync, at best a lot of errors.
The Margin will vary throughout 24hrs as noise/interference conditions vary and how much noise or interference affects a line depends on it's quality in simple terms, and length can be a factor. Noise/interference is usually worse at night, the main source being Medium Wave radio transmissions which travel a lot further after dark and so there is significantly more stronger signals and ADSL uses similar frequencies.
All sorts of other electrical interference can have an effect from fluorescent lighting or any form of discharge lighting eg.street lights to some types of electric motors, thermostats switching, television sets, a wide range of electronic devices that use Switch Mode Power Supplies and so on.
Not all devices do give interference, depends on quality of design, whether faulty etc. etc. and not all lines will be vulnerable to interference.
When a line that is already synced starts picking up interference/noise the SNRM will reduce. This is because, in the presence of noise less bits will be available to carry the data, so the margin reduces. If a lot of noise is present before synchronisation you will end up with a slower speed - this is because the exchange DLM sets a Target SNR Margin and therefore less bits will be allocated in the first place.
The Target SNRM can be set in 3dB steps by DLM, it starts at 6dB. On 21CN, if a line is good quality DLM can lower it to 3dB if the line is stable. If a line suffers a lot of noise and sync drops, DLM will eventually raise the Target in an attempt to get a line stable, and you end up with a slower speed.
I hope you've managed to follow that, if not, ask away.
If you can post the full stats tonight (whilst its dark) it may give us an idea of how much noise your line is picking up.

[#10]

Here you go.


DSL Connection
Link Information
Uptime: 1 day, 4:30:27
DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 443 / 6,903
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]: 272.85 / 1.49
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.9 / 0.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 27.0 / 49.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 20.5 / 5.4
System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----
Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 2 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): -
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 5,089 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 34 / 17,044
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 11 / 27,217

[#11]

That only appears to be a slight reduction in SNRM, just keep an eye on it. Your error levels are much better anyway.
Keep an ear open for any noise of the phone line as well.
How are you finding the actual usage of the connection, is Streaming OK for example?

[#12]

Thanks.
General use is fine. It's just that I've had speeds of 6.7 - 6.8 before and now I max out at 5.6 😞

[#13]

Your current sync speed (Bandwidth down) will give you a profile of 6.08 and Current Line speed (eventually) of 6.0, so you should be doing a touch better than 5.6 using a wired connection.
Your Target SNRM needs to come down to 3dB to get the best Sync speed if your line is stable enough and errors low enough.
I think it's a case of monitor for a few days. In particular keep an eye on that SNRM periodically. If you see it go up a bit when you switch any electrical/electronic equipment off, it could be interference involved.
Was it the vDSL/xDSL filter plate that you got in the end, so your modem/router is plugged into the top socket? You didn't connect any wiring to the terminals on the top LHS of the plate did you, just the back of the front plate?

[#14]

I got the standard NTE5 Openreach plug in ADSL filter on the end. There are just 2 wires connected to the master socket then the filter just plugged inti that.

[#15]

Do you mean wires to an extension socket? If so those wires being Blue+white trace on terminal 2 and White+blue trace on terminal 5 then I assume?