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New customer - lower speeds than expected?

MyRomeo
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎27-07-2015

New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Hi all,
I recently moved from Sky to plusnet and my first impressions are very good. No problem with the changeover and ping speeds are much improved over sky.
I have completed my 10 days line training period and the sync speed has sat at 784 up, 9383 down since day one. Attenuation is 22.8 up, 43.0 down. Now when I was on sky this sat at about 40.5db down which give me sync speeds around 11000 down, 1150 up. All with SNR around 5-6dB.
Am I right in thinking this 2.5dB difference is likely caused by the type of ADSL I am set up to use? As in ADSL2 or 2+?
Also my line is very stable, i've ran a low attenuation in the past of around 2.5dB before sky stopped supporting that.
So, two questions, first, can someone check if a different ADSL profile is available for me that would give me that extra speed (I'm more interested in improving the upload as download is quite alright) and also do plusnet support a 3dB profile?
Oh, I know 10mb+ on a 40+dB line is very good, its a brand new line Smiley
Thank you in advance
25 REPLIES 25
MatthewWheeler
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

We can put you on a 3db profile although if the line doesn't like it and starts dropping it could well end back up at 6db.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Matthew Wheeler
 Plusnet Help Team
MyRomeo
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Registered: ‎27-07-2015

Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Thanks Matthew. I may be interested in that. Are you able to check my line and see if your able to get the upload sync speed to increase at all?
Thank you again
Chris
Legend
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Looking at the line stats, I don't think you'd really benefit from a 3db profile. The mean time between errors is 64 seconds, and the line quality is amber. The upload speed at 784 is possibly slightly lower than ideal but the SNR for that is down at 6db, so there isn't much margin for an increase.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
MyRomeo
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Registered: ‎27-07-2015

Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Thanks gents
I've rebooted this morning after 10 days stable and downlink has synced about 200kbos higher but uplink has remained exactly 784kbps despite the max data rate reporting I should be getting 1180kbps. This suggests to me that the upload is being capped somewhere?
Would you please look in to this? I do send quite a lot of data to my website host so a strong upload is very important to me. My previous supplier using the same bt kit was delivering 1100+ just hours before the switchover to plusnet.
Thanks
ejs
Aspiring Hero
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Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Does your modem/router give ADSL stats that include the ADSL mode (ADSL2 or ADSL2+ etc.) and equipment vendor code? I suspect a certain kind of exchange equipment (with the vendor code reported as TSTC) just ends up giving slightly worse upstream speeds, particularly when running ADSL2+ on longer lines.
I assume Sky didn't have their own equipment for LLU at your exchange then.
MyRomeo
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Unfortunately the router (the new plusnet 2704n based one) gives absolutely nothing along them lines at all.
When I was on sky they did have LLU kit but I was able to check speeds after being moved back to the bt kit prior joining plusnet.
ejs
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Apparently there are some more detailed stats available (but not the vendor code) from the expert user mode: http://192.168.1.254/statsadsl.html
There is probably not a lot that can be done about the upstream speed. Setting the ADSL mode of the 2704N to ADSL2 might increase the upstream speed, but also decrease the downstream speed. Yes I know there's no difference in the upstream tones used between ADSL2 and ADSL2+, so on that basis alone it shouldn't make any difference. But in practice, in situations like this with ADSL2+ on long lines, switching to ADSL2 can increase the upstream speed. For lines like this that probably do make some use of the higher ADSL2+ downstream tones, you'd lose some downstream speed by switching to ADSL2.
MyRomeo
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Ejs, I think that switching to adsl2 might be worth a try too. My upload speed flatlined about 8 meg regardless of sync rate but upload should be capable of higher. I don't know if plusnet can switch between Adsl modes?
I would like to try manually switching between adsl2 and 2+ to see if it improves the upstream. I would also like to see what gain, if any, can be had by using a 3db profile.
Can someone at plusnet accommodate these requests?
ejs
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Unfortunately I don't think Plusnet can switch you between ADSL2 and ADSL2+, they can only choose between ADSL1 and ADSL2+. I wouldn't recommend ADSL1, you'd lose too much speed, and upstream probably wouldn't be much more than 800k anyway.
You might be able to choose the mode on the 2704N, but I don't have one and so I'm not familiar with it. There are a few more settings available via: http://192.168.1.254/expert_user.html
MyRomeo
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Thanks again, I've looked on the expert mode page and no such option exists. I'll have to see if one of my old routers can be reconfigured to allow me to manually choose ADSL2.
How come plusnet only have 1 or 2+? That's a bit backward!
ejs
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

It's possible, but not easy, to do extra things with the 2704N by downloading the config, editing it, and uploading it again. See this long thread.
Changing the ADSL mode is only rarely useful and even then will probably only make a minor difference. Usually ADSL2 is selected automatically if the line is too long to make any use of the higher ADSL2+ frequency range, but that does not always happen. Your line is not that long, and probably does make some use of the ADSL2+ range, so you'll lose some downstream speed by switching to anything else. Plusnet can only change what settings BTWholesale offer, I suppose an ADSL2 setting was not considered necessary.
I can't really be certain why your upstream isn't better than what it is, posting the full ADSL stats from http://192.168.1.254/statsadsl.html might be useful.
MyRomeo
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Ok here's the advanced Adsl stuff. I am on adsl2+ so I need to suss a way to force it down to adsl2
ejs
Aspiring Hero
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Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

Considering there are more ES (Errored Seconds) on the upstream than on the downstream, changing the ADSL mode may not be the answer. There could be some kind of noise or issue than affects the upstream worse than the downstream. You could try swapping microfilters or putting in a second microfilter on any telephones or anything else connected to the phone line.
Also:
Dial 17070 and listen to the quiet line test.
Grab a copy of those ADSL stats before and after doing the 17070 ring back test, to see if any of those error counts jump up after receiving a phone call.
MyRomeo
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Registered: ‎27-07-2015

Re: New customer - lower speeds than expected?

I have a filtered face plate fitted bt BT earlier in the year so changing filters isn't an option. I also don't own a wired phone to do the quiet line test.
I've tonight swapped my plusnet router out for a sagemcom 2504 I had lying about and I've disabled ADSL2+ in the router which has seen the upload increase to 1008kbps, thats almost 30% higher sync. Line SNR is quite low tonight so downstream sync has dropped a little but max attainable is still sitting at 9500kbps, actual sync is around 8000 at the moment. i'll have to reboot when the SNR has improved.
Oh, line attenuation has dropped from 42.5dB to 36.5dB, thats a massive change and should help the sync speeds.
So, this 3dB profile... worth a try? My line doesn't follow any estimates. Plusnet estimated me at 1-3.5mb...