Download speed up during 'open questions', down again when closed

[#1]

I tried to find the history but wasn't able to get much info. I can look into that again later.
I'm happy to do a reset the line whenever Mick is ready.

[#2]

Hi Kevin and Tony. Apologies for not being very prompt at keep coming back here in recent days. It isn't that I'm not bothered, it's just everyday life getting in the way. Having just read through the most recent posts I'm struggling a little with the technical terms again for what Kevin still sees as errors with my service. I seem to recall when I asked what an SNRM reset was, I was told that was re-starting the 'learning' process to assess what my line can handle. That's fine, I don't have a problem understanding the principal of that. But now apparently I've got a 'high' SNRM? I'm not sure what that means. I am also not sure what is meant by the 'radius' or 'CLT', though I note that both terms have been applied to the graph that has been produced in this post, the same sort of thing that I see from my technical support feedback when I log into my Plusnet account.
What I can tell you is that since the moment I did my original stat readings early on in this post, where I moved the router closer to the phone socket and plugged it (via a filter) directly into the 'test' socket, with the face plate removed, I've not touched it, not powered it down, not disconnected the phone line nor put the face plate back on. Everything is as it was, in a slightly untidy jury-rigged state. The only changes I WANT to make are to put the face plate back, plug into the main socket, and run a home made mains extension from a power socket, go under the carpet, round a door frame and behind a book case where the router now sits close to the BT box, but because I've got to pull carpets up and move a hi fi system to do that, it will only happen at a weekend.
I have stopped regularly logging into the Technicolor Gateway to check my router's 'event history' but discovered on Monday night there was no history whatsoever, even though I've not turned anything off or disconnected anything. I am not sure if this is the history plusnettony was referring to.
If there is still something amiss with my line then it must be something more intrinsic in the supply line, since my DSL cable (and not my Ethernet cable, quite right!) is straight into the test socket.
Cheers,
Mick

[#3]

21/3/15 at 12.52pm is when I sent a post saying I'd moved my router to the BT test socket. Shortly after sending the post I would have powered down just once more simply to make a slightly neater power connection to a mains 3-pin socket using a different extension lead to that which I used for the stats tests. It's been like that ever since, I've not touched it. Five minutes ago I logged into the Gateway and found that at around 10.50am this morning the router was 'linestate down' again for a minute or two. I wasn't making use of it at the time so didn't notice. (This post has just gone onto 'page three' but I wrote a reply that appears at the bottom of 'page 2').
Mick.

[#4]

Hi Mick,
Do not worry to much about the terms CRT and I use to progress matters, it is a recognised short hand to discuss diagnostics and tests.
CLT  is Copper Line Test which delivers really useful information about the quality of your line, it is likely to be the cause of the 3 minute disconnection this morning.
A radius plot is a visual representation of the PPP session (radius connection) history.
The normal level for SNRM is 6dB. The higher it is the slower the synch and the lower it is the faster the synch rate.  A reset will set the target back to 6dB and the line will enter a 10 day training mode to work out what is the optimal setting for your line, given the changes you've made.  Tony needs you to confirm that you are content to try this. In your current setup it will show just how fast your line will run with stability.
As for getting the face plate reinstated, we need to look at the extension wiring first.  How may wires and what colours are connected to the back of the face plate?  It might be possible to get nearly the same synch rate back at your extension socket.  I really need to reread the whole of this thread, but I am rather busy presently.  I can may be review it on Thursday.
Kevin

[#5]

Yes that's fine Kevin (regarding the review on Thursday) I am grateful for your help and advice. Regarding my extension, it is an external one, if you like. One I put in, run to the telephone via a splitter originally plugged into the 'Main' BT socket. Now that same splitter is plugged into the phone outlet of a DSL filter, which is currently plugged into the 'Test' socket. The BT face plate came away with no wires attached. When that goes back, it just goes straight into the 'Test' socket, no complications. I could very easily replace the BT face plate any time and put all the wires/DSL filter back and see how we go from there. My pulling my carpet off the grippers, taking my hi fi system out of the corner of the room, running a mains extension under the carpet to power the router and putting everything back will take a little longer but won't affect the BT line.
I am going to try to upload some photos I just took with my phone to see if that helps clarify my current set up. You will see how I am not really content to leave the router powered from a cable reel that goes around a door frame! The router will stay in its current location. It used to be on a telephone table near the front door of the house, sharing space with the telephone. This is when it ran through the phone extension. Prior to that the router was upstairs in a spare room (my computer room when I had a desk computer) and that was connected via a DIY phone extension too. I was on O2 like this for 3 or 4 years but had no smart TV demanding better download speeds then.
The telephone extensions will not be used for the router from this point onwards.
I hate to have to admit this, but when I checked the BT wires coming into the house last week (the little box outside with the slide off lid, full of dead spiders) the outer sheath to the cables that went from the box, under the front door step was cracked, probably deterioration from UV damage. I taped it up with PVC insulation tape to help keep water out. The inner cores looked okay to me with intact insulation.
Cheers,
Mick

[#6]

Cheers Mick,
That saves me rereading the thread, that 'from the front' form of phone extension is never going to deliver what you need for good ADSL.  If you wanted to, replacing that extension wire with good quality twisted pair cable attached to the back of the face plate, ought to provide decent performance at the other location.
Tony needs you to explicitly state that you are content for him to do a SNRM reset on the line.
Kevin

[#7]

Should I put the BT box back together first, before requesting the SNRM reset, or will that mess up the progress made so far by my disconnecting the DSL lead to do this?

[#8]

As long as the modem/router and filter are at the master socket and not an extension you can put it back.

[#9]

Quote from: Anotherone

As long as the modem/router and filter are at the master socket and not an extension you can put it back.

Okay thanks. I will look at it tonight as it is near to work time now. If everything looks okay following the reconnection, I will request the SNRM reset.

[#10]

I've put the BT face plate back - took seconds. I've just done a quick broadband speed test and the interruption doesn't seem to have affected anything, which for anyone on here who knows what is what, must be what they'd expect! 
I am thinking now that I may as well postpone asking for an SNRM reset until I've extended my mains lead to the router, which will involve turning the router off for a while; I hopefully intend to complete this task this coming weekend.
Mick.

[#11]

Mick,
Tha choice Is yours, but turning the router off, whilst doing the work and turning it on again once is not going to be detrimental to a SNRM reset / training.  It is repeatedly trashing the connection (say 5+ times an hour) that causes issues.
Kevin

[#12]

Mick, if you'd rather have the modem/router at a different spot rather than the master socket, it's not difficult to install an extension socket to the correct standard which won't adversely affect performance. Bear in mind my previous comment was based on using plug-in telephone extension leads which are usually the cause of problems.
If you want to install one at some point, just say so and I'll let you know what's needed and how to do it.
The only other comment I didn't have time to make previously was that the time of day that you connect and get sync can affect the sync speed that you get. This is very dependant  on the general performance of your line and how it behaves as general noise increases after dark. Generally speaking you tend to get the best sync speed reconnecting in daylight hours, around the middle of the day is usually a good bet.
But one other thing, Kevin (& previous engineers) mentioned about the possibility of the Exchange DLM being upset by frequent disconnects. There is a method of doing "Graceful" Disconnects that help to reduce the chances of this occurring. So when doing work on your connection which involves loss of power and hence /or loss of sync use the following method -
Log in to the Modem/Router, in the Internet box, click Disconnect to drop the PPP Internet session (this is not the sync), wait about a minute and then power down the Modem/Router. After about another minute you can unplug it from the line
Make whatever changes (if any) you want, but stay offline for at least 10 minutes. When you re-connect and power up, you may need to Login to the Modem/Router and click Connect to establish a new PPP session.
Don't do this more than 5 times in an hour, then leave it for the rest of the day. This method is to help stop the Exchange DLM from thinking your sync loss was a dropped connection..
HTH.

[#13]

Wow. Who knew? Well I didn't. What a procedure to disconnect when all I thought you did was pull the plug out!  I have seen the 'disconnect' link when I've logged into the Technicolor Gateway but I haven't thought about it that much, other than a quizzical "wonder why that's there?" I will follow your suggestions when the time comes, probably (hopefully) on Saturday the 4th.
As for the positioning of my router, I think I may as well stick with my current plan. The only reason I didn't put it near the phone socket in the past is because of the lack of a nearby power supply. When it was upstairs, it was on the end of the same phone line as I used to have a 56k dial up modem. The router worked, and compared to what I'd been used to was super quick, so I saw no need to worry. It is fairly recently that the router came downstairs to sit with the telephone on the end of another plug-in phone extension - again, it was near a power supply. The router interfered with my cordless telephone though - one reason (among several) why I used to be in the habit of turning it off when I wasn't using it. Even at 2.4Mbps I could still watch BBC iPlayer on my smart TV, and the TV is the reason I brought the router downstairs (for a better wi fi signal). But if I go on YouTube on the TV, increasingly videos are in HD, plus there are now a few channels streamed over the internet on Freeview, and at 2.4Mbps the TV can't cope with that. Plus my original query was about the broadband dropping out while I was using it, both on the TV and PC, and once I saw the speed go up following that query, and then come down again, that is what led me to where I am now.
If I want to hide cables I've got less carpet to disturb by running a mains cable to the router where it is now, than if I put it back at the end of the hall near the phone.
Why BT put the main box in the hall under the stairs, near the living room, with no nearby 13 amp sockets is a mystery to me. The phone line enters the house under the front door step and then a cable runs under the carpets, around the bottom of the stairs, under the stair well and to the wall dividing the hall from the living room. A common place to site a telephone is at the bottom of the stairs, near the front door, where mine is. That would be the logical place for a BT main box, right where the line enters the house. And there is a power socket there too. Instead when I moved here (many years ago) I had to run my 'broadband incompatible' telephone extension back to the front door! The box placement was convenient though for running a line upstairs.
No Easter holidays for me, just the normal weekend, hence why I am replying to this late Friday evening! 
Question - If my upload and download speeds are currently better than I was previously experiencing, what purpose does the SNRM reset serve?
Mick

[#14]

Mick,
A SNRM reset will deliver an even better DS synch speed.
Kevin

[#15]

Good morning. After a busy Good Friday and Easter Monday I've finally got time to come back to this forum and say that late on Sunday I managed to complete my secret hidden power supply lead to my router's new location, under the stairs near the BT main phone connection socket, and everything appears to be rather lovely, as Stephen Fry might say. Neat installation, and my broadband speeds still look good using the quick Uswitch speed tester. I did the controlled router shutdown as suggested by Anotherone (HTH) and on rebooting it connected straight back up to the internet by itself.
So now I guess I need the SNRM reset. Do I just say so here and now? Or do I do it through my Plusnet account on the still open (just) question from the most recent trouble shooter I opened?
Cheers,
Mick.