Broadband my way pro / line profile

[#1]

I'm not convinced Jim. As this is the 585v7, we've seen these strange levels of FEC's on a few others now, also the data tranfer entries of 0.00 has been seen several times.
The rest of the stats seem fine, the sync speed (bandwidth down) is v.good for that line.
As the recent exchange VP status has been green, I suspect the throughput issues are related to some of the network problems a number of us have seen at various times, especially peak times.
How long have you been connected to PN gingle? Are you a Gamer ? (noted your interest in ping times).

[#2]

Thanks for the input chaps.
Been with PN since March.
I am a gamer. Not much FPS stuff, but a lot of sim racing, so yeah, ping is important - that's why I opted for the pro package. DL speeds are not that important to me, although less than 600kbps is a bit disappointing when I'm supposedly on the best package.
I did just do the speedtest again, and it hit 1500kbps, so that is much better. It just seems to vary a lot, but with the variance going downwards / slower.

[#3]

There appears to be strange things happening that no-one seems to have nailed down yet. Try a few PN speedtester checks at off peak times. If you are ever about at 3-4 am sort of time, that may give a good indication of the available max.speed. Try the pings as well. Not always guaranteed to work best as sometime bits of networks (PN and BT) are taken down for maintenance reasons etc.
Jim mentioned about the FEC errors. This seems to be an event noticed by several people with 585v7's. Don't know if it's just a strange reporting bug or a real bug that is affecting performance. If you have another modem/router around or could borrow one that may be useful later (not going to suggest it now).
With the ping times, can you open a cmd/dos box and ping bbc.co.uk (no www) and post the results.

[#4]

Yes Anotherone, the variance is why I made my initial post, to confirm that I was on the right package, as I know the other packages have slower speeds at different times of the day. I'm still interested in finding out / asking if this double check can be done. I can live with slower speeds if it's caused by traffic, external influences etc. I just don't like the idea of paying for the wrong service.
I just pinged BBC (8pm -ish). Seems quite healthy: Min 39ms / Max 78ms / Avg 50ms
I don't have another modem currently. I'm not very trech savvy with such things either.
Thanks for the input so far

[#5]

If it says in the member centre that you are on Pro, you will be - it's an auto configured thing as I understand it. If you are not getting the right traffic management there will be more than you affected and there seems to be network problems of some sort or other at the moment.
With those ping times you must have still got Interleaving on then? You need it turned off for good pings for gaming.
Post back here that you want it off (if you do) and James Bailey may well pick it up tomorrow.

[#6]

Hi gingle,
I'll have a look at this in the morning for you, see if I can confirm if your line is interleaved or not. If it's a longer line (usually a slower speed) then it might be worth keeping it on as it does keep a line stable, but if not then we can turn it off for you if you like. I'll confirm it for you in the morning.

[#7]

Thanks guys
According to my account, interleaving is on. I hadn't requested it be turned off, as I understand it can further instability, and cannot be turned back on.
How severe can the instability be, and how does it affect your connection generally? If I have a rubbish line anyway, I don't want to make it worse.

[#8]

Hi Gingle,
As long as we don't place an order to remove interleaving so that it comples on a Friday, we can get it turned back on again within a day, so it wouldn't be a long period of instability if you'd like to try it.

[#9]

Hi Gingle,
can I make it very clear that there doesn't appear to be any evidence that you have a rubbish or unstable line.
In fact I said in reply #15 that your stats were v.good for your line. It is only your throughput speeds that seem (like a number off us at the moment) to be all over the place. So unless you've suddenly started noticing sync drops and your profile is going all over the place which you've not posted about, then I'd give turning interleaving off a try. It's not the end of the world, you can get it turned on again if it doesn't work out.

[#10]

Pro and the legacy product PAYG which I am on get the same traffic prioritisation. See http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,76055.0.html

[#11]

Jameseh, I'll be willing to try with interleaving off then, and do some gaming to test it out. Would you be able to give me a time frame and contact  in case I need to change back? And is this still assuming I don't have a very long line as mentioned by Orbrey?? (how do I find this out?)
Anotherone, yeah I see my PN status and modem / router details show I should have good throughput, but the speedtests show otherwise unfortunately.
Again, what real evidence would I see if interleaving 'off' destabilises my connection?
Jelv - I read that thread. Whooosh

[#12]

Morning Gingle.
I've placed an order (1-R9X3FT) to remove interleaving from your line.  This will complete on Monday.
If you have any problems, shoult up on here and I'll get it turned back on for you.

[#13]

Thanks a lot for your help
I'll post my findings / request to get turned back on if necessary in this thread.
Just to be sure though - if turning off interleaving does cause instability, what kind of problems should I be looking for? It would be nice to know what to look out for, especially as I don't even know what interleaving does

[#14]

Kitz published an excellent article Interleaving Explained here. Essentially it is associated with improving transmission error correction capability so that fewer packets need to be retransmitted to achieve a correct data stream. This helps to improve throughput and reduce the risk of sync being lost.
Turning it off should not change the rate at which errors due to bursts of noise occur, but the impact of such error can be much more significant; potentially many more packets needing retransmission (reduced throughput) and more instances of loss of sync. This is often referred to as line instability. The DLM/DSLAM might compensate for this by increasing target SNR margin which could reduce sync speed.
As explained on Kitz's article a major benefit of having interleaving off is 20ms (perhaps more) reduction in latency.

[#15]

Hi gingle.
spraxyt has pointed you in the direction of the excellent kitz site, if you have the ability to come to grips with technical stuff, it's a good read. Considering the level of CRC errors on your line from your previous stats, I don't expect any problems whatsoever from 'instability'.
You are not on a very long line, it is a longish line, about 3.9Km from the exchange, this info derived from the DS attenuation. ASBO DOG has a slightly longer line, and he does not have any problems with his, except those associated with the ADSL2+ trial that he's on! If he doesn't spot this thread, pop onto the Gamers board and have a chat with him there.