6 days after Max request, query...

[#1]

Hi there.
Firstly I'd like to say how happy I am with the service I've received from Plusnet, and how pleased I am to find this support forum.
Ok, onto my query: I requested to be "maxed" about 6 days ago and have been powering my router down & back up at least once a day since then. Each time I do this I run a speed test but the results are always very similar each time - should I see some fluctuations in the results throughout the 10-day "testing" period?
Here are some figures from my router, I'm not too sure of their significance and would be greatful if someone could give me an idea of how good/bad they are and how they may affect my "max" upgrade attempt :
Actual Data Rate
Up Stream
288 (Kbps.)
Down Stream
2272 (Kbps.)

Operation Data

Noise Margin
31 dB Upstream
  22 dB Downstream

Attenuation
22 dB Upstream
19 dB Downstream
Many thanks.

[#2]

1st, you are not on max yet. You should be told when the upgrade is completed and your sync rates will go up!
2nd your downstream Noise Margin appears to be lower than I would expect for a Line attenuation of 19dB so what speeds you will get is difficult to determine.

[#3]

Many thanks for the swift replies.
I checked "My questions" earlier today and saw the following response re my upgrade request (which, incidentally, is showing as "closed"), so I think the wheel's are in motion:
"We acknowledge your request to be regraded to DSLMax as a priority and will endeavour to submit your order ASAP.
Regards
Customer Support"
I also saw another "Question topic" listed in "My Questions"  that I'm unsure about. It is dated the day after my upgrade request and I have no idea what it is in relation to! Any ideas(?):
"Generic Surf Component status was set to active using My Control Panel."
Thanks again for the replies!

[#4]

Ahh, the wonders of MSPaint  - here's a diagram of my current setup (master socket is at the top of the diagram):

Perhaps the extensions are too long and/or are poor quality, and I'm not sure how good the filters are either - they are quite old and were very cheap!
Thanks for the setup tips though. I may try connecting the router directly to the master-socket to see if that improves the noise (To access the router to check the noise I'll stick a wireless NIC in my PC to save having to move everything!). If this improves the noise I'll consider replacing the filters and extensions with higher quality ones.

[#5]

Hi there,
Generally having an extension lead before the filtering can lead to a loss in signal.  I say can because it doesn't always but is quite common.  I'd look at having your router pluuged directly into your master socket via a filter if this is at all possible.

[#6]

Quote from: Yadda

I also saw another "Question topic" listed in "My Questions"  that I'm unsure about. It is dated the day after my upgrade request and I have no idea what it is in relation to! Any ideas(?): "Generic Surf Component (ID=08296815) status was set to active using My Control Panel."

I think that just records that you turned on Surf control in your BBYW control panel.  When settings are changed a "closed" ticket like this is often created.  Users do find it being called a "question" confusing when it is an automated response, not something they've asked.  If you get used to thinking of "questions" as "tickets" and ignore phrases like "your question" in the body of the ticket it can be easier to follow the logic.
The diagram you drew shows the telephone/answering machine is filtered twice, which isn't necessary.  However, as has been mentioned having the router on a 10m extension could be troublesome.

[#7]

Thanks again for the replies, and James, thanks for progressing the ticket.
As suggested, I connected my router directly to the master socket and checked the noise margin. It definately improved the downstream figure - fluctuating between 25-27db (up from 20-22 with the extention cable).
Unfortunately it isn't practical for me to leave the router connected to the master socket in it's current location, so I'll have to look into either moving the master socket or investing in some higher quality extention cabling.
Interestingly, when I reverted back to my original setup after the experiment, I made an effort to route the extention cabling away from my power cabling and it seems to have improved things slightly over my original results. Downstream noise margin is now 23-25db.
Whatever I end-up doing, I'm really looking forward to seeing the difference the Max upgrade makes - exiting stuff!
Spraxyt - you're quite right, I now remember making that adjustment in the Control Panel, some kind of P2P filtering iirc. Despite having been with PN for quite some time, it was the first time I'd taken a look around the Control Panel and I didn't associate the "Question" to the adjustment I'd made.
Thanks yet again.

[#8]

Please be ware that you can't just "move your master socket" - that is BT's socket and problems/expenses can/will arise if they find that you have messed with it.  It would be better to find other ways to improve speeds if they are not satisfactory after you have been mad'd. 
If I remember correctly all Max requestes received in the week are passed to BT on a Fri afternoon for action by them the following working week.  i don't know if this is still the case but if it is you can expect to move to max during next week.  The clearest indication of change is when your upstream moves to 448kbps instead of the 288 on the fixed line.

[#9]

Quote from: Yadda

Unfortunately it isn't practical for me to leave the router connected to the master socket in it's current location, so I'll have to look into either moving the master socket or investing in some higher quality extention cabling.

Is this because it's too far away from your PC or for some other reason?
If it's because it's too far away, an alternative solution would be to leave the router at the master socket and extend the Cat5e (ethernet) cabling. 

[#10]

Jazz - unfortunately I'm aware of the situation regarding the BT master socket, and after a quick search on the net I've seen some horrendous figures quoted (by BT) for moving it! A real shame really considering it's apparently a fairly simple task.
Thanks for the Max update info, I'll keep keep an eye on my upstream next week.
Paul_B - Good suggestion however there are a couple of reasons I would rather not have the router there:
a) Due to the non-central location of the room in relation to the rest of the house & garden, wireless performance is low there due to the number of walls & range. (The router's current position is fairly central.)
b) It's a technology-free room (sounds a bit strange, I know!).
Edited to add:
Checked the downstream noise margin again and it's now showing 26db, maybe things will be ok as they are. I'll keep an eye on it and see what speeds I get when i'm "maxed". From my understanding of the process the Max speed is constantly adjusted even after the 10 days, so if I feel it necessary, I can always make improvements afterwards.

[#11]

Crikey, without wanting to bore everyone with constant noise margin updates, my downstream margin has suddenly nose-dived, It's now only 11db (the other readings are unchanged)!
Either this is a particularily noisy time of the day, or someone's twiddling with something!
This seems like a heck of drop compared to earlier. What could be the cause?

[#12]

Well as I’m on a long line (about 4.5 miles from the exchange) I’ve given up worrying about the SNR and only keep an eye on my download speed.
The reason, I use Routerstats to monitor my Linksys WAG354G V1.0 router and the graphs it produces would worry most people on here to death. During the day my SNR will remain around the 6 to 9db mark then as the evening closes in the figures will fluctuate anywhere between -3db and +6db but the router just ‘hangs in there’ and the speed remains constant.
Today for instance due to Plusnet ‘mucking about’ with the load balancers (see service status) we were disconnected twice. So I switched everything off for an hour to give things time to settle. Turning the router back on, we had an SNR of 15db, dropping to 9db within 6 minutes then going back up to 15db then slowly dropping back to 9db over the next 15 minutes. In other words just a normal day for my line.
Oh yes and the speed, 4480 downstream 448 upstream.
And just for info (because the master computer/server is in another room with the router), I have my router connected with a 10 Meter RJ11 extension cable from the router to a single filter plugged into the master socket (old type square), and a DECT cordless phone with three handsets plugged into the other side. This setup has given me the best download speeds so far, exactly the same as plugging the router direct into the master socket. In your case I would extend the router cable rather than the telephone cable.
Regards, P.

[#13]

Thanks for your input, Pendragon, interesting.
I like the suggestion of using a longer rj11 cable instead of a telephone extension cable to span the distance between my master socket and router, and your results are encouraging. After a quick look around the net I found a 10m shielded "high-speed ADSL" male/male RJ11 cable for around £15.
It seems like a good way to go, what's the general view on this?

[#14]

The ‘logic’ for me was this, if you take a normal filter apart you find the router (RJ11 socket) is just connected direct to the pins of the BT style plug the ‘filter part’ separates the analogue voice signal off to the telephone handset (I know, for the technical out there its not quite that simple).
So I figured if I extend the RJ11 cable then I am just extending the two wires direct from my master socket to the router. No ‘bell wire’ and no effective noise pickup on the extension cable. Oh and BTW my cable is standard flat 4 core cable not shielded, I think it came with a very old US cordless phone I ‘acquired’ and never used many years ago.
Regards, P.

[#15]

I think I can safely say that my I've been Maxed! (PN you owe me a screen wipe - when I first saw these figures I was mid-slurp and accidentally spat some coffee at the screen in surprise.) 
Router:
Up Stream
448 (Kbps.)

Down Stream
8128 (Kbps.)
 
Noise Margin
24 dB Upstream
8 dB Downstream

Attenuation
22 dB Upstream
19 dB Downstream
BT Speedteast:
IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM)  8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 4438 kbps

I've also run a couple of download speedtests, the results show very healthy 5.5-6mb/~380kb down/upload speeds and a download I tried was thundering along at around 670KB/sec!!
Later today I'll be picking up a 10m ADSL router cable to replace the rather poor telephone extension lead I'm currently using, so hopefully that'll help the noise margin (I noticed the D/S margin has dropped to 7-8db since being Maxed).
Thanks, this really is a fantastic upgrade!!