Line far worse than my neighbour - same cable on same pole

[#1]

Well Plusnet have answered my ticket - I guess from their answer that I'm stuck at 2 meg then........
We are pleased to be able to inform you that a member of our Customer SupportCentre has now escalated your Question [number 30413913 ]for further investigation. The following comment was added to the QuestionDear Mr Collison,Thank you for your query. It does sound like either your line takes a different route than your neighbour's or is of lower quality. Unfortunately there is nothing we would be able to get BT to do to change this to be honest unless you had a problem of not being able to connect or the line was affecting phone calls, I'm afraid BT would do nothing to lower the attenuation on the line, just to increase the speed I'm afraid. Please do not hesitate to get back in touch online at http://contactus.plus.net or by phone on 0845 140 0200 if we can be of further assistance.

[#2]

Hi Julesandtask,
Regrettably, the response that you have had is a correct one.
If your cabling is routed to the exchange by a different path than your neighbour, I'm afraid that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to have your cabling length shortened.

[#3]

No prob James. Personally I dont believe it is routed any differently as the single large junction cable comes along a line of poles, dropping out a few lines here and there to sporadic properties on its ways from the exchange.
However, I cant prove that to anyone.
I am just biding my time now until I see an openreach engineer nearby (although I work next door to a phone exchange so I guess I can catch one there) and offer them a cash incentive to have a look for me.
Something makes me think that although the exchange is scheduled for 21CN in the next couple of months, it will be a long time before BT run fibre to the cabinet (or pole) out to me and my neighbours.
At least with a bit of Target SNR tweaking (DGTeam firmware) I can get a stable sync above the speed needed for a 2000K IP Profile. I wont be using the Plusnet supplied router as when I tried  that it gave a sync speed of just over 2000 giving me an IP profile of 1750.

[#4]

I suspect that is going to be the best way - hope it works out.
Just as an aside, we've found that the 2wire routers work very well on longer lines so that might be something to have a look on ebay for, though it looks like the router you have is doing a fine job.

[#5]

Thanks Matt,
I had heard two wire routers (like the BT Business Hub) work well on long lines - guess that they have a lot of long overhead lines in the states where 2-wire come from.
Mind you, I think my wife will kill me if I buy another router. I currently have the DG834GT, the new Thomson you guys just sent me, a Belkin f5d7632-4 (gives better sync speed at same SNR than the Netgear but cant tweak the SNR and it doesn't work with DMT) and two Sky branded Sagem F@st2504 (although I have flashed one with the Sagem 2404 firmware so it can be used with any ISP.
The Netgear would allow me to get more out of the line if I tweak the target SNR more. Unfortunately overnight the line noise gets so bad that it would lose sync.
Attached are a couple of router stats graphs for last night. There are four files to get the full picture.
The last one shows my nice stable line this morning but the story is different overnight - especially between 3 and 5 in the morning.
Anyone got any ideas on what would suddenly come into play at that time of day? I dont think its street lighting as they are coming on around 6-7pm this time of year but noise is still Ok at that time.

[#6]

The 2-wire HG2700V (aka BT Business Hub) is generally recognised as a good one on long lines.
What sort of time are you referring to noise wise?

[#7]

Hi James,
Its bad right through the early hours although if you look at the graphs, the lowest is around 05:30 when it drops to about 3.7db (file name ending a). There are peaks and troughs right through the night rather than a drop and then continuously low throughout the night. From around 06:30hrs it picks up nicely.

[#8]

To be honest - I don't think those graphs are that bad.
I take it that the connection itself doesn't actually drop?

[#9]

Providing I dont tweak the daytime SNR too low then it does not drop at night, the Netgear does seem to hold on at fairly low SNR.
I am experimenting as to how low I can set the daytime SNR (and therefore how high I can get sync) without overnight drops. When I set it for 6db during the day the router dropped sync overnight.
I am currently connected at 2880kpbs with a SNR of 8.1db. Hopefully that will not drop so low as to cause a resync overnight and should raise my IP profile to 2500.
Do you think the noise could be mains borne as its seems very spikey. If so, would a mains filter or UPS improve things?
As I seem pretty much stuck with the line characteristics, I am looking at all avenues to get the very best out of what I have.
Thanks for your help
Jules

[#10]

There's other people in here who will be better to ask about the noise variation than me, but yours doesn't look that drastic.
Have you considered a filtered faceplate or an iPlate?

[#11]

I already have a filtered faceplate, and a screened OFC copper router cable with gold plated contacts (cost me £10 for a 2 metre cable!!).
I think I will try a mains conditioner on the supply to the router so at least I can rule out mains borne noise.
Unfortunately next door always turn their router off at night (they're the kind of people that like to turn everything off) so I cant see how theirs is affected overnight.
There is some good new today, the BT systems have uppped my IP profile from 1750 to 2500 - thats making a fair ole difference 

[#12]

Looks like bribing a friendly engineer with tea and biscuits is the best bet
Glad to hear your profile's come up a bit though.

[#13]

Mand, I think you jinxed me.
The attached screenshot is my router dropping the connection unexpectedly. Not sure why as it looks like SNR was only down to about 4.5dB but obviously the router had enough.
Unfortunately now synced at 2400kbps so there goes my 2500k profile - back to 2000 now.

[#14]

I didn't mean to jinx you
May be worth a daytime resync to try and bring speeds back up.

[#15]

Well I still haven' t seen an openreach engineer in the area so unable to get the line played with.
I have however been trying a few more routers.
The best I have found so far is an old Belkin F5D7632-4 which I bought at a boot sale for £3. With no SNR tweaking and straight as I bought it I am getting a sync of 2656. It has also maintained sync overnight at that speed too. I cant help see the iron that a cheap secondhand router with far from the best reviews is giving better performace than a DG834GT with its glowing reviews 
I have an unlocked BT home hub (2-wire 2700HGV) on order from eBay - I will try that once it arrives. Another 200kbps on my stable sync speed and I may get to 2500 profile. Despite still being lower sync than my neighbours, they are just below the threshold for the increase to a 3000 profile so in effect I will then have the same broadband performance as them.
I will report back once the hub arrives
Jules