Quick advice for a new, and so far very happy, PlusNet customer!

[#1]

Morning guys.
Firstly, let me apologise for my lack of knowledge in this area, my previous BB connections have, at best, been half a meg, or one meg restricted purely on physical location, and therefore little troubleshooting or improvement has been needed/desired,  it is only now that I have moved house that I believe I have the potential to get some decent download speeds!
Plusnet activated my account yesterday, and I am aware of this 'training period' that my connection enters into when things kick off, but I could do with understanding this a little bit more. From the off, my router was synced at 7616Kbps DS and 448Kbps US. Great! However using various web based speed testers I find that my max download speed is more like 1.6-1.7 meg. Is this part of the training process, or I am I wrong in assuming that just because my router has synced at 7616Kbps I should expect download speeds og 5 or 6 meg plus? Or are there other factors, such as my phone line which will be dragging this speed down?
Once again guys, apologies for the lack of knowledge, this isn't an area I have had much oppourtunity to play about with in the past, but don't be afraid to speak in big words! I've attatched a screenshot from my router, which btw I am using on a wired connection - as apposed to wireless - and from to speed tests I performed last night and this morning.
TIA
James

[#2]

This is fairly normal to start with.
I believe that Plusnet/BT fairly consistently start off new accounts with a 2 meg "IP Profile" during the training session.  This will be limiting your throughput .
If you run a BT Speedtest and also compare it with your IP profile set here I would guess they are both reading around  2Mbps
What should happen is that, as long as your connection is stable, within 3 days the IP Profile should raise in accordance with your line sync.
It does look like you're on a fairly good line.  If it is stable, then after the 10-day training period I would raise a ticket asking for Interleaving to be turned off, which should give you the full 8128k sync.
You may also need to tune your MTU/RWIN to get the maximum out of your line, but this will need to be done after your IP Profile and Sync speed have settled down (after the 10 day training period :))
Hope that helps
B.

[#3]

Thanks Barry
That does make some sense, as I have stumbled accross this little gem of info:

Quote

Broadband Remote Access Server Profile (BRAS) The BRAS profile is responsible for regulating the maximum throughput (data rate) you will receive on your Max DSL service. Initially this is set to 2Mbps (if the line rate is above 2272kbps), but it will increase if your line can support higher speeds than this. The first data rate increase should take place within 75 minutes of your receiving Max service. Your BRAS profile however, changes only when a stable connection has been made for a period of time; this may be up to 3 days in some cases. The BRAS Profile will also drop should the line rate decrease significantly. See Blip Logic for more information. Dynamic Line Management (DLM) Dynamic Line Management (or DLM) is the collective term for the automated BT systems that log information about your line's performance and processes that are used to stabilise the line. DLM uses the information it gathers about disconnections and reconnections to establish what speeds are likely to be most stable for your particular line. It may also determine that interleaving should be activated on your line if not already present. It should be noted that frequently restarting your router or modem may be interpreted by the DLM as a problem and may subsequently reduce the controlled line rate.

Which does seem to fit my current scenario perfectly. Also I am very suprised and very pleased to see how much documentation is available to us users directly from plusnet - and big plus!
The link you sent me for my 'IP Profile' just shows:

Quote

Your High-speed Broadband Service Your current broadband speed is Not Set Kbps

I am possibly guessing that this could be due to the fact that my connection was due to be activated on tues, but when I noticed a sync speed yesterday I rang plusnet and very helpful dood activated my account early?
Thanks
James

[#4]

Yep - I would suspect that Plusnet haven't received a 'Delta Report' on your line from BT yet.
Other than that, yes - this is exactly your scenario.
B.

[#5]

Cool. Well I shall keep a watchful eye and post back when I see an uplift! Fingers crossed!
Thanks
James

[#6]

Just to let you know, the 10 days is slightly longer in your case.
The 10 days can only start from when the needed circuit referances are available in full. As your account has been activated prior to the normal activation date, a scenario has occured in that you get a couple of days added on whilst the normal order completes.
We also have the situation in that there is nothing we can do if a fault occurs on your service before the order completes.

[#7]

Hmmm.. just been looking at the system logs for my router, which appears to be 'disconnecting due to a period of inactivity'. It seems to have done that 4 or 5 times today, we've been out shopping and didnt leave any PCs switched on. I can't see anyway in the settings to extend the 'keep alive' to more than 300 seconds, and having just done another speed test we're currently running at about 800Kbps!!! That's a drop of 1 meg in 12 hours. I am assuming my router disconnecting and re connecting is being seen as a poor connection?
Any suggestions or help? The router is a cr@p dlink one ive borrowed from my dad to get us up and running, am saving up for a wireless router, and the config options are pretty lame to be honest. I do have a Speedtouch 330 USB modem from a few years ago, which is still working. Is it worth me connecting that up and leaving my laptop on for the next couple of weeks?
James

[#8]

I've just had a quick look over your account and can see that BT haven't set an IP profile yet for your line. I've aligned the profile our side to the generic 2000 one.

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I can't see anyway in the settings to extend the 'keep alive' to more than 300 seconds

Try setting it to 0, that should stop it timing out at all.

[#9]

Cheers Chris
Will try that when I get in from work tonight, did just try remoting in to my laptop from work without success so i'm assuming it's dropped the flipping connection again!
If I run the BT test that Barry pointed me to yesterday It comes up with an IP profile of 2Meg, so i'm guessing this is just because BT haven't sent you the info for my line yet. Thanks for sorting that for me though, tis appreciated.
James

[#10]

If the BT Profile is still 2Mbps this is a good sign - it means that the disconnections aren't being interpreted by the exchange as being problematic.  (In fact, it's likely that any sort of "idle timeout" setting in a router will disconnect the connection with the exchange "cleanly" to prevent this being an issue)
B.

[#11]

Now that I like the sound of! Crossing my fingers, although quite difficult to type, and will run the BT chcker when I get in later, praying it'l still show 2Mbps!

[#12]

UPDATE: The BT Speedtester still shows my IP profile at 2000 Mbps - good news!

[#13]

Yes - that's good news.
I suspect your 800K speed test the other day was related to your exchange contention being Red, as per your other thread.
Contention can kick in at busy times if your exchange is red, but BT are usually fairly on-the-ball at upgrading capacity.
Just need to wait another day or so and hopefully your profile will bump itself up to it's expected level
B.

[#14]

Quote from: Chris

Quote I can't see anyway in the settings to extend the 'keep alive' to more than 300 seconds Try setting it to 0, that should stop it timing out at all.

Thanks Chris, applied this setting last night when I got in from work and then rebooted the router just to make sure (I can never tell with this DLink thing if its applied the new settings or not) anyways, it connected at about half 6 last night and has not dropped connection yet! Thanks for that, have jotted it on the inside of the box for when the router goes back to my dad next month!
Just need to wait for my IP Profile to rise now..... 

[#15]

Quote from: jamessealey

(I can never tell with this DLink thing if its applied the new settings or not)

They can be sneaky devils for that!
Tools (Tab at top) > System Commands > Save All
Unless you do that, the chances are just applied to the running image, but as soon as you power off the router, the settings revert to the last 'Save All' version.
I suspect you've discovered this already due to your comment, but might be helpful for others.