750Kbps a new stable rate?

[#1]

My broadband speed varies between .5Mb and 1.5Mb always before today changing  in steps of .5Mb. Today I just noticed a 750Kbps stable rate however. This is a welcome change for me if the step increase/decrease has changed is this the case permanently? Does anyone now anything about this in more detail ?
  Peter.

[#2]

Stable rate is the wrong term. It's IP Profile, and yes there are now some new steps at 250kbps intervals.
Have a read here

[#3]

Thanks for confirming the extra 250Kbps steps. Stable rate from the page you quoted seems to the next lower step on this scale based on a users IP Profile so it would seem to be more relevant for actual usage, especially for users some distance from an exchange where a 250 Kbps change actually means something.
  Peter.

[#4]

Hi Peter,
Use of the expression Stable Rate causes confusion because of the term "Max Stable Rate" which is a misnomer. This page is a good read and explains the terminology quite well.
I was wondering why you were seeing such varations in your speed. Your sync speed should be more stable. Do you know how to access your router  stats?
Regards,
Chris.

[#5]

Hello Chris,
I tend to put the variation down to weather it seems quickest in a dry spell. Is a .5Mb to 1.5Mb range unusually wide?
Router stats are
Path Mode  Interleaved
 
Ds Rate (Kbps)  1152
Us Rate (Kbps)  448
DS Margin (dB)  11
US Margin (dB)  18
DS Line Attenuation (dB)  57
US Line Attenuation (dB)  31
 
CRC Rx Fast  0
CRC Tx Fast  0
CRC Rx Interleaved  832
CRC Tx Interleaved  21
Just reset the router and got this a modest boost but it may not last long -
Path Mode  Interleaved
 
Ds Rate (Kbps)  1312
Us Rate (Kbps)  448
DS Margin (dB)  9
US Margin (dB)  17
DS Line Attenuation (dB)  57
US Line Attenuation (dB)  31
CRC Rx Fast  0
CRC Tx Fast  0
CRC Rx Interleaved  0
CRC Tx Interleaved  5

  Peter.

[#6]

Not unusually wide, but avoidably wide unless you have particular noise problems.
I'm guessing you leave your router on, if you need to re-sync the best time is usually daylight am. but this will also depend on local conditions.
From your re-boot it looks a though you have a target SNRM (the DS Margin) set by the exchange at 9dB. (The default is 6). This could be because in the past you have dropped your connection repeatedly in a very short time interval (some say >5 per hour) eg. power dips, disturbances from lightning etc. or it is just unstable at 6dB (too much noise).
I assume you've disconnected the bell wire if you have extension wiring or are using a filtered faceplate etc. to minimise the pickup of noise etc.
If you monitor those router stats, when you see an increase in the SNRM by at least a dB and it is stable for more than a few minutes, a re-boot may be worth while to help crank up your sync speed. (eg. it was 11 db just before your last reboot).
I would tend to avoid re-booting in the evening or after dark unless you are desperate, eg. having dropped to a very low sync, as things tend to be very much noisier then and less stable. HTH.
Regards,
Chris.

[#7]

Yes I do leave the router on.
I have very long extension leads as well and not disconnected the bell wire either. Good news though, simplified the extensions ie replaced two cables with a single longer run and had another improvement, unless its a fluke change of course but the DS Margin is down to 8 which looks good, these are the best I have seen for a while, getting close to 2Mb even.
Just waiting for the stable rate to catch up now, thanks Chris.
  Peter.
Ds Rate (Kbps)  2016
Us Rate (Kbps)  448
DS Margin (dB)  8
US Margin (dB)  18
DS Line Attenuation (dB)  58
US Line Attenuation (dB)  31
 

[#8]

Quote from: Peter

I have very long extension leads as well and not disconnected the bell wire either.

I have found that disconnecting the bell wire is single biggest improvement on attenuation/SNRM that can be achieved - unless you have the latest type of NTE5 type master sockets which contain a bell wire filter.

[#9]

Personally I'd recomend a single central filter, preferably the faceplate type as they're supposed to be slightly better than the plugin ones. That's a high attenuation and you may be able to improve it a bit.
In my experience filtering at the master gets you a noticable sync rate improvement, though you might get similar results with the bell wire trick.
Incidentally how many extensions do you have?

[#10]

Any idea what DS synch speed you get with the router next to the NTE5 master socket and plugged into the NTE5's internal socket?
If you get significantly better speed or noise margins, it might be with trying:
- better cable from router to NTE5, or
- locating your router near the NTE5 and using wireless, or
- ditto but using Cat 5  cable from router to PC

[#11]

It goes without saying that any extension wiring should be to Cat5e (twisted pair) or better standard, whether using filtered faceplates or not. This minimises interference pickup. As has been suggested, if you can locate the router at the NTE5 then using a filtered faceplate may be worth considering. Also unless you NEED wireless, I'd stick to wired. Wireless comes with it's own problems and with weaker signals you may see reductions in throughput speed.
Filtered faceplates are most beneficial if you have several phone extensions where you will never use your router and you can locate you router at the NTE5, otherwise if you want to plug your router in at an extension, make sure the wiring is twisted pair (Cat5e ideally) standard. Also, if you need longish extension leads, better to have a long extension lead from router to network card (which is a Cat5e/6 cable), than a long lead from socket to modem/router.
Your (DS) attenuation is quite high because you are a long way from the exchange
and unless you have terrible internal wiring (bad joints/poor wiring) you won't be able to improve on it in any significant way. The baseline is what you can get from you Master Linebox Test socket (ie. with everything else disconnected).
Noise margin figures can be tricky to interpret and just because the figure is lower than it was before doesn't automatically mean any improvement, it might mean there is more noise at that time.
Hope that all helps,
Regards,
Chris.