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Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Wuz
Rising Star
Posts: 141
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

I was on a 1mb metronet fixed speed product which was on almost no notice but changed to Plusnet max and got a little bit faster.
This slowed down and last August I took Jamesah's advice and bought an iplate which brought it back up to about 1mb again.
My service has slowed down again. I have signed up a neighbour who is 4 houses further from the exchange and he gets just below 1mb.
I checked the BT site and sometimes it says I can't get Broadband and other times it says 1mb. My postcode result says 3mb but that is probably because they have been working on the wiring in the village including the manhole outside my hous! The postcode covers a mile although I am towards the exchange end of this mile so should have 2 mb!!
The current router stats show
   
System Up Time 482:59:17
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 1455193 1340981 0 114 768 482:57:36
LAN 10M/100M 28012 0 0 5 0 482:59:09
WLAN 11M/54M 1382569 1484809 0 798 128 482:59:00

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 736 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 57.0 db 30.0 db
Noise Margin 15.2 db 17.0 db
I have changed one filter but no difference but there are two unused extension points without filters. Is this OK? The router is a Netgear 834g v4 in the master socket with iplate. Is there any way of easily telling if a filter is duff?
The phone wire goes to a pole in the road which has ivy beyond the BT box and  near to the light at the top. I expect the manhole under the road is pretty damp as it is almost below the level of a small stream on the other side of the road.
I intend to sign up as the service is still a lot better than pre Broadband when I used Freeserve, BT and Tesco and rarely had more than 10kb and the service dropped at least 3 times an evening. What happens if I sign up for a year and service drops below the current speeds back to almost or below dialup speed?  Any other info needed?
Wuz
73 REPLIES 73
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Frankly with a line that bad I would recommend going back to a 1Mb fixed speed product if you can.
The only way you are going to get to 1Mb ipRate with your line is to reduce the noise margin to about 9dB which may well be unsustainable so self defeating as the automatic systems will bounce it back up again.
One option would be to get a Netgear DG834G v4 where you can reduce the noise margin yourself from 15dB to 10dB
jelv
Seasoned Hero
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Quote from: Wuz
The router is a Netgear 834g v4
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
Oldjim
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Must read more carefully - repeat 50 times  Embarrassed
Anotherone
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

I didn't think the line was that bad, target SNRM has gone to 15dB but it should be possible to sort all that if the line is stable. I'll come back and post a bit more in a minute (might be able to aim for a 2.5M profile).
Oldjim
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

The point I was trying (badly) to make was that to get an ipRate of 1000kbps he would need a stable sync rate in excess of 1152kbps and I am not sure that will be possible.
James
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

I would also suggest moving back to a fixed 1Mbps service.
If it's never really been quicker than 1Mbps and the fixed 1Mbps service gave just that, then it seems like a sensible suggestion to go back to the old service.
Would be worth using the DMT tool to try forcing the SNR down to see what sort of results it gives though.
maranello
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

I would try to get your line sorted. With an attenuation of 57dB you should expect to get better than 1 Mbps, my connection runs reliably at 1.5 to 2 Mbps with a 63db attenuation, thanks to Plusnet persevering with BTw/Openreach to get the line tested, the exchange equipment replaced, and my target SNR margin reduced to 6dB. You may find that if you get a new router as part of the new contract this could improve the line speed, and you'll also get a new microfilter or two in case your existing filters have deteriorated.
My other car isn't a Ferrari
Wuz
Rising Star
Posts: 141
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Oldjim,
I have been in the loft to check as I thought I had typed v3 as I had a lot of wine last night!! Then been reading ADSL2+ Modem Wireless
Router DG834G Reference Manual (most of which was above my head) trying to find how to change the noise margin and failed to find it.
Jameseh,
As I don't know what DMT was I have just googled DMT tool and found  "The DMT TOOL v 8.07 now works with the DG834GT, DG834PN and the DG834N (it should work with the DG834v4 as well but i have no means of veryifying this) the website is here www.dmt.de"; Is this the version I need.
Wuz
James
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Hi Wus,
The DMT Tool should work with the 834v4.
There's a useful guide on setting it up here:
http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/DMTv7.htm
Wuz
Rising Star
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Thanks,
I will read it all have lunch and then give it a go and report back.
Wuz
James
Grafter
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Lunch sounds like a good idea Smiley
As has been mentioned, we can send you a new rotuer and filter if you commit to another 12 months with us.  There's a chance it's just your router/filters failing.
Oldjim
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Note that you need version 8.07
To assist I can provide a copy of the ini file for setting it up.
It may also be necessary to enable debug mode on the router - this link does it http://192.168.0.1/setup.cgi?todo=debug
Anotherone
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Hi Wuz,
I wasn't going to mention the DMT just yet, I was in the middle of doing a post for you when it got lost in amongst the outage problems and subsequent issues last night.
Whilst you can force the SNRM down with DMT, you still need a stable line to keep your profile up.
Maranello has posted his experiences and he's quite right, hopefully your problems will be more easily solved.
First suggestion I was going to make was do a re-boot daytime (not near sunrise/sunset) nowish would be good BUT without DMT. Note the router ADSL stats immediately after the re-boot - Connection Speed, Line Attenuation, Noise Margin Downstream & Up, and post them here. This will confirm 2 things, your Target SNRM, and compared to your previous stats posted confirm no immediate obvious major line issues.
Now the more tricky bit.
Have a listen to your phone line - Can you hear or have you heard any crackling or other variable noises - Yes, then if you have a DECT phone, replace it with a corded phone and check again. If still yes, plug into the test socket (behind) the i-plate via a filter and check again. If still yes, swap filter and try again. If no, possible faulty filter. If still yes, then phone your line provider faults (151 if BT) whilst the noise is there, do NOT use any auto testing, go direct to an adviser, get them to confirm they can hear the noise and log it and log it as intermittent. Do NOT mention broadband (you could get the run around), you might want to mention that you are plugged into the test socket and so eliminating any internal "stuff".
As you have done a filter swap once already with no difference it is highly unlikely you have any faulty filters, especially if the filter you swaped was one that had hardly/never been used. Filters can fail but normally through use not just age (except with some very cheap ones!)
If you have no noise on the line, great, you're off to a good start.
Whilst James offer of a router for 12months is good, I would hold off on that just at the moment for 2 reasons (sorry James!). First, I believe the routers they are currently sending out are not compatible with any version of DMT and I don't think they have any means of forcing a Target SNRM, but maybe a bright spark who has one can confirm that specific point. As I've already said I don't think you have faulty filters, and as yet no evidence you have a router problem, but I'll come to that. Part2 to follow.
Oldjim
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Re: Should I go for the new years contract if might slow down to dialup speed?

Confirm the Plusnet router is not compatible with DMT