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This is more an open question help/ideas please

St3
Aspiring Champion
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Registered: ‎13-07-2012

This is more an open question help/ideas please

Id like to hear the views of the community here on the following e-mail my mum got about her connection. She and myself ar unsure if we should go for this slight improvement or not. Read below and give me an idea on what you think as we would like to try better her connection but if it means taking a chance and making it worse then maybe not.... catch 22 i suppose.... but what do you guys/girls think ?
Quote
 I have checked your line and can see that your current estimate is as follows:

Our test indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 1.5Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 500Kbps and 2.5Mbps.

I can also see that we are able to move your service to ADSL2+ which may increase your speed slightly:

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 1Mbps and 3.5Mbps.

Before we place an order we need to make you aware that an improvement in service is not guaranteed and once the change is made we cannot re-provide your line on the ADSL network.

Once a change to ADSL2+ takes place your line will enter a 10 day training period. During this time you may experience drops in connection and variations in speed whilst the line establishes it's best operating speed.

Please confirm you wish to proceed and we will place an order to upgrade your line to ADSL2+. Please be aware orders can take 5 to 7 days to complete.  

This mail came from a plusnet advisor, we have no issue with what they say, just not sure what steps to take .... hmmmmm
13 REPLIES 13
MJN
Pro
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

Based solely on my own experience I'd say stay well away. The transition to ADSL2+ for me has caused nothing but trouble - unstable connection, regular resyncs, etc.
A fault report has been raised and so if that finds and resolves anything I will of course amend and update this view accordingly.
It is good you have the option though; I didn't and only discovered what had happened once I noticed my connection stumbling around like a drunk.
Mathew
ejs
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

Interesting mixed messages from Plusnet.
There's the obligatory ADSL2+ vs ADSL1 graph.
Without seeing any ADSL line stats we won't know if 1.5 Mbit is the best you're likely to get on ADSL1, and in my experience that BT estimate is based on your current speed i.e. if you are getting 1.5 Mbit and that is a terrible speed for your line, the "estimate" will still say 1.5 Mbit.
St3
Aspiring Champion
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

When she first joined plusnet she got speeds of 1.2 meg but over time this has dropped shes been with plusnet well over 15 months now, this month has been the poorest with her struggling to get more than 400Kbps.
Ive actully ordered her a new router ( tp link ) like mine just to see if this has any affect.
Zap
Grafter
Posts: 284
Registered: ‎22-11-2007

Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

When I moved it was dire and I even lost all connection for 10 days while BT got their knickers in a twist.
But the heroes at Plusnet sorted this by sending me one of their Routers and they were then able to tweak the line to get around 13gb out of it which is great.
I had already bought an ADSL2 router but it seems that there are issues with some ADSL2 routers.
So my advice is expect a bumpy ride but get support from Plusnet when things go wrong.
Chances are that speeds are relative so if you have a poor speed now then you will be on the low end of speeds after the change but if you can fix what is slowing it down you can get good speeds.
Use this think to check your current speed profile
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed
The statement "ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 1Mbps and 3.5Mbps." is not good, what is suggests is that they have reason to believe you will not get good speeds
If you live in an old estate or have an old house then you may have wiring issues, if they are in your home you pay otherwise BT will fix them in their own good time.
A friend of mine did have area issues and it turned out to be the cable between his house and the exchange or the local green box, they used some kind of cable sharing and after they ripped that out he was able to get fibre at 35mbs.  A different supplier like Sky or Talk Talk will put it their own kit, you can use their sites to check what they estimate your speed to be which will tell you if they think there is an issue with your area, just know that if you put your phone number into TalkTalk they force you to take a call from their call centre.
Coming from the product you are on is going to be a huge improvement
You might want to investigate your exchange at
www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search ;
&
www.kitz.co.uk
St3
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

its in a newrly build but its kinda out in the sticks :S
spraxyt
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

How far are you away from your mum's in case support should be needed?
Despite what the paperwork says it's unlikely the router would connect using ADSL2+, the higher frequencies with that protocol are unlikely to contribute to bandwidth so connection would fall back to ADSL2. (This is normal, not indicative of a problem - it's just a consequence of being a long way from the exchange.)
I think a look at the router stats is desirable before deciding. Speeds reducing suggest line problems have caused the DLM to raise target noise margin - does the connection have a history of dropping or high error rates?
David
JamesM
Grafter
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Registered: ‎24-06-2009

Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

If your Mum doesn't need the extra speed Ste, I would stay well clear. I have been with Plusnet (Free-online) for nearly 14 years. I have only really had a problem since I moved to ADSL2. It's not a serious problem but my sync is not as high as most sites say it should be. I am also very apprehensive about doing a resync with ADSL2 as sometimes I can drop 3Mb and it takes months to go back up again.
My Mum was moved automatically to ADSL2 and everytime I go and check her router stats, it allways says uptime is less then 12 hours, which means the line drops probably every night. My mum isn't that bothered becasue all she does is e-mail and surf the web but her sync is around 12000 and speed around 7Mb to 9Mb. So if your mums connection drops everynight on ADSL2 then her speed would be dire.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

I would ask to be moved to 21CN, if she isn't already on it, but on ADSL1
This will give faster IP profile changes but non of the downsides
Note that on my line with an attenuation of 51dB I get better speeds on ADSL1 than I did on ADSL2
If she is already on 21CN ADSL1 then I would say no thanks
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

@ukste
Give me a shout if you need any orders placing to change the service for you.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
jelv
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

At some stage BT are going to decommission the 20CN equipment in exchanges with 21CN. If you decide to go for the upgrade Jim's suggestion of going straight to ADSL1 over 21CN looks sensible (I think this may be what PN would do anyway for a very long line).
As spraxyt says, if you could post the full router stats we'd have a better picture.
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)
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St3
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

ill nip upto me mums later on and post the details, really greatful to everyone for there advice Smiley
St3
Aspiring Champion
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Registered: ‎13-07-2012

Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

ok guys ive just installed a new router TP-link adsl2+ ( td- w8960n ) at my mums, this router is same as the one i use so ik now its half decent. i should have ran a speedtest before switching routers really, but ive just ran a test and 3 times i got more or less what you see below.

The above speeds are fine for now, lets hope they either stay that way or improve in time Smiley
Here is more details from the router, take a look and see if you think its all ok!
Mode: ADSL_G.dmt
Traffic Type: ATM
Status: Up
Link Power State: L0 
 
  Downstream Upstream
Line Coding(Trellis): On On
SNR Margin (0.1 dB): 146 200
Attenuation (0.1 dB): 610 305
Output Power (0.1 dBm): 166 123
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 2176 1040
 
  Path 0  Path 1 
  Downstream Upstream Downstream Upstream
Rate (Kbps): 1888 448 0 0
 
K (number of bytes in DMT frame): 60 15 0 0
R (number of check bytes in RS code word): 16 16 0 0
S (RS code word size in DMT frame): 2.00 8.00 0.0 0.0
D (interleaver depth): 16 4 0 0
Delay (msec): 8.00 8.00 0.0 0.0
INP (DMT symbol): 0.94 0.13 0.0 0.0
 
Super Frames: 41181 41179 0 0
Super Frame Errors: 0 0 0 0
RS Words: 1400166 349018 0 0
RS Correctable Errors: 154137 0 0 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors: 318 0 0 0
 
HEC Errors: 0 13 0 0
OCD Errors: 3 0 0 0
LCD Errors: 0 0 0 0
Total Cells: 3116903 0 0 0
Data Cells: 295112 0 0 0
Bit Errors: 0 0 0 0

  Total ES: 10 0
Total SES: 0 0
Total UAS: 10 10

St3
Aspiring Champion
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Re: This is more an open question help/ideas please

Pinging bbc.co.uk [212.58.241.131] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 212.58.241.131: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=246
Reply from 212.58.241.131: bytes=32 time=68ms TTL=246
Reply from 212.58.241.131: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=246
Reply from 212.58.241.131: bytes=32 time=50ms TTL=246
Ping statistics for 212.58.241.131:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 50ms, Maximum = 68ms, Average = 57ms