Line Speed Hell

[#1]

Yes, Sky has LLU in the Northwich exchange, so I'd pretty much go with that.
I have already done all the disconnect everything, and connect to master test socket. No difference.
Are you able to help?
Incidentally, any thoughts on my issue with the Linksys WAG54GX? It connects and I get Showtime (which your helpdesk confirm), but no DNS lookups work.
RichK

[#2]

Is it set to get DNS servers automatically? If so, which ones does it get?
Also are there DNS servers set in your network connection properties?

[#3]

The WAG54 reports 212.159.6.10 and .9, and serves these out via DHCP to my PC. When I do ipconfig /all on my PC, it shows the same DNS addresses that the router has.
(Getting the WAG54 online is really only now an "of interest" query - the main thing is getting my link working properly with the Thomson box - which connects and DNS's OK... just slowly ... or rather very much slower than it should. I only turned to trying the WAG after 3 months of hell... so its not the WAG that has introduced the main fault.)
Cheers, RichK

[#4]

Matt. Any further investigation on my basic linespeed? When I last checked the stats there had been no further Loss of Framing, or Loss of Signal, for the last 3 days.
Latest stats:
Uptime: 3 days, 23:01:50
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 2,240
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 27.0 / 49.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 17.0 / 12.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 12 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 1 / 10,109
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 3,175
All the LoS, and LoF, were in the first 5 hours.
You said: "BTs line management tends to be a little more severe than the majority of LLU providers". Is there any way to override these settings to get me back to something approaching reasonable?
Cheers, RichK

[#5]

Well there's a couple of things we could try - we could move you on to ADSL1 on 21CN, which uses the 21CN DLM system (faster reacting than the older one on ADSL Max) or we could restart the training period in the hope that the line stabilises with a lower SNR than 12dB which is what it's at currently. Both should make a difference to the line, it's your call

[#6]

I think given that we know for sure it isnt going to give ADSL 2 speeds, then if you think the switch to ADSL1 over 21CN is going to be more helpful, then lets go for that.
Retraining of itself may just keep the same situation Ive had so far.
Our exchange is scheduled for FTTC sometime in the next 18 months. Does that affect your recommendation at all?
Cheers, RichK

[#7]

I think it's well worth a go, I don't think the FTTC will change that as 18 months is quite a while (though if it's enabled soon jump into the trial forum and give Dave a heads up :)).
If you're still happy to go ahead post back and I'll get the order placed today for you.

[#8]

Yup. Let's get this rolling.
Cheers, RichK

[#9]

Placed - should be done next week I think.

[#10]

Coming back to this now.
Line was changed just before I went on holiday, then I have given it a month to stabilise. These are my current results:
Uptime: 8 days, 9:46:34
DSL Type: G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 192 / 2,624
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 11.5 / 18.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 28.0 / 47.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 9.0 / 11.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 180 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 16 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 19 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 2 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 61 / 9,291
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 20 / 2,189
Upload rate? What upload rate.
Download same as it ever was.... except on Sky Broadband where I got 2x this speed. When I use speedtest.net, I come out with the same 1.83Mb/sec I have always had with PlusNet. Sky used to give me 3.8+.
I used to play several online games - just not possible with these data rates.
Ive now been "with" PlusNet for 5+ months, and I regret moving and signing up for 12mths every single day.
Is my only hope to wait for FTTC in my area? Or should I switch back to Sky?
My 70mph Sky car now does 35mph with PlusNet. Am I happy? NO WAY.
Given I am precisely 1 mile from my exchange and have previously had 4mb on this line, have not changed my equipment (except to PlusNet router), this is 100% A FAULTY LINE. Whose fault? So far, its not looking good for PlusNet. It is an infrastructure fault that I DID NOT HAVE with Sky.
Matt - please escalate this for resolution.

[#11]

PS. Latest results from BT Speedtest
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1668 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2624 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 192 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 9.35:26.98:63.67 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.
The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.
------------------------
"The acceptable range of speed is 400-2000Kbps" is not acceptable when it used to be 4000 only 6 months ago. Go figure.
Its not as though my house has got up and moved an extra 3 miles away.

[#12]

Matt, Mand
Has this been escalated?
Further question: given I am 1 mile from my exchange, what data rates would you *expect* from your experience. To me 1.83Mbps says "end of the line rural", rather than 1 mile from exchange. (Bearing in mind I used to get 3.8Mbps 6 months ago.)
Does that info say "line fault", since the connections and equipment at my end has not changed (other than the PlusNet Thomson router)?

[#13]

A further BT Speedtest before 4pm to avoid contention.
Download speedachieved during the test was - 1697 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2624 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 192 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 2000 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 11.31:23.28:65.41 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.
The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.
I'll do another late tonight, to have my 3 tests before raising a fault.

[#14]

Hi RichK,
I'll happily investigate this for you but I'm afraid we need a fault raising first - if you could do this at http://faults.plus.net we'll be able to pick this up for you.

[#15]

Fault raised. Hopefully I can see some positive result from this.
RichK