No phone extensions for increased BB speed?
With all due respect to cricalixwood, I would like to update you on what is happening with me. This is my thread after all 
Having ordered my new "bits" on Monday, I received the shielded cable and filtered faceplate from ADSL Nation on Wednesday. Unfortunately, despite their funny and funky, tell-it-like-it-is, warts-an-all website, the dual outlet secondary faceplate etc ordered from Clarity.it did not arrive till today (Saturday). I know that is (just) within their T&C but when you order something mail order, you want it ASAP. ADSL Nation can do it (and cheaper) so why not Clarity? Rant over.
So I now have the filtered faceplate on the lounge master socket hard wired to the upstairs outlet. All phone extension wiring is now disconnected. Only one cordless phone base plugged into the lounge filtered faceplate.
Before doing all this I was getting a new sync of ~1.6 Mb and actual throughput of ~950Kb after removing the one remaining orange ring wire on the ext 2 socket from which I was connecting using a long phone lead.
Now with the modem plugged straight into the new upstairs ADSL socket I get a sync of ~1.9 Mb but still the same throughput of ~950.
The whole point of doing the hardwiring was to avoid the need to buy a router. Given that I am still using my old Voyager 105 (PlusNet supplied) modem is it likely that actual throughput speed will improve with "training" over time? Or do only routers on 24/7 "train"? I am on DSLMax and the modem stats are now:
Line rate: 2176/544
Data rate: 1952/448
Atten: 59/31.5
SNRM: 6.5/8.5
PN Speedtest: 949/381
BT speedtest profile: 1250k
I have doubled my sync and actual speed with these mods. Is that it or can I do anything else to improve things more?
Having ordered my new "bits" on Monday, I received the shielded cable and filtered faceplate from ADSL Nation on Wednesday. Unfortunately, despite their funny and funky, tell-it-like-it-is, warts-an-all website, the dual outlet secondary faceplate etc ordered from Clarity.it did not arrive till today (Saturday). I know that is (just) within their T&C but when you order something mail order, you want it ASAP. ADSL Nation can do it (and cheaper) so why not Clarity? Rant over.
So I now have the filtered faceplate on the lounge master socket hard wired to the upstairs outlet. All phone extension wiring is now disconnected. Only one cordless phone base plugged into the lounge filtered faceplate.
Before doing all this I was getting a new sync of ~1.6 Mb and actual throughput of ~950Kb after removing the one remaining orange ring wire on the ext 2 socket from which I was connecting using a long phone lead.
Now with the modem plugged straight into the new upstairs ADSL socket I get a sync of ~1.9 Mb but still the same throughput of ~950.
The whole point of doing the hardwiring was to avoid the need to buy a router. Given that I am still using my old Voyager 105 (PlusNet supplied) modem is it likely that actual throughput speed will improve with "training" over time? Or do only routers on 24/7 "train"? I am on DSLMax and the modem stats are now:
Line rate: 2176/544
Data rate: 1952/448
Atten: 59/31.5
SNRM: 6.5/8.5
PN Speedtest: 949/381
BT speedtest profile: 1250k
I have doubled my sync and actual speed with these mods. Is that it or can I do anything else to improve things more?
Quote from: HPsauce Can you borrow a router to try it, or commit to the PlusNet one?
Hi HP
How do you "commit to the PlusNet one"?
They just sell them don't they? And only BT ones at that?
You mentioned "getting a PN free one " previously. I had a look on the portal but couldn't see any free offers for existing customers.
You're right about the attenuation. All over the place. I will keep an eye on it.
Will also try the double filtering and let you know what happens.
Quote How do you "commit to the PlusNet one"?
What product are you on?
If you're on one of the legacy products and move to one of the BBYW products you'll be able to get a new router or wireless router (dependent on which product you choose). You'd only have to pay for the router if you left PN within a year of changing product.
Alternatively, you could ask on here, as HPsauce has suggested, and see if one of the comms guys can fix something up for you!
Edit: typo[edit]
Quote from: HPsauce 2. DECT base station - try double-filtering it (you're bound to have a spare filter now)
@HPsauce
I have done the double filter as suggested and just logged on for first time today. Sync rate down to 1824 but... PN speedtest just given 1228/381
First time ever over 1 Meg!!!!! Is this my modem (Voyager 105) training? Also atten down a bit to 56.5 and SNRM up a bit to 7.5/8.5.
Quote from: Paul03 What product are you on?
If you're on one of the legacy products and move to one of the BBYW products you'll be able to get a new router or wireless router (dependent on which product you choose). You'd only have tpopay for the router if you left PN within a year of changing product.
Alternatively, you could ask on here, as HPsauce has suggested, and see if one of the comms guys can fix something up for you!
@Paul03
I was on BB+ from Aug 2005 but changed to BBYW option 1 in Apr 2007. I have also just taken Home Phone Anytime+.
To keep this as an informal question at the moment, can a moderator or staff member advise what the situation is re "free" routers?
I think some of the variation you're seeing could well be down to the limitations of USB ADSL modems, personally I think they're only suitable for slower fixed-rate connections (e.g. 512K, 1meg or 2 meg). I really would try to get a router - beg, steal or borrow one. 
I'm fairly confident PlusNet will provide one "free" to a loyal customer such as you, just ask them what conditions would apply. NR "free" usually means you pay for shipping - sick squid?
I'm fairly confident PlusNet will provide one "free" to a loyal customer such as you, just ask them what conditions would apply. NR "free" usually means you pay for shipping - sick squid?
Thanks for the tip, HP & Paul. Just got a reply from my ticket and free router available for £6.99 P&P. Strange that I have been given the 12 month contract terms though as I have already been on BBYW for over a year. Not to worry. I could not handle the hassle of changing ISP's right now and, apart from "SpamGate" last year, I find the PlusNet service and price very good. 
I still can't find the fact that existing customers can get a free router anywhere on the portal. Is it actually published anywhere or were you just assuming that, as it is available to new customers, it should be/is available to existing ones too? Or is it in PN's interest to get everyone off "old fashioned, steam-driven" modems and on to funky new modems?
I will let you know if it does anything to improve speeds. And at least it will enable me to sort out my friend's disconnection problems on my "other" thread.
I still can't find the fact that existing customers can get a free router anywhere on the portal. Is it actually published anywhere or were you just assuming that, as it is available to new customers, it should be/is available to existing ones too? Or is it in PN's interest to get everyone off "old fashioned, steam-driven" modems and on to funky new modems?
I will let you know if it does anything to improve speeds. And at least it will enable me to sort out my friend's disconnection problems on my "other" thread.
I don't think that it's mentioned on the Portal. However, it's happened often enough in other threads on this site that we knew you'd get a router.
You're not actually on a twelve month contract per se. You'll only need to pay the cost of the router if you leave within twelve months and not the remainder of your subscription.
You're not actually on a twelve month contract per se. You'll only need to pay the cost of the router if you leave within twelve months and not the remainder of your subscription.
Got my "free" Voyager 210 router this morning so good delivery service from PN
Connected up using ethernet cable with no problems. Took a little while to reconfigure the connection settings for my Outlook Express email accounts but got there in the end using the "Any available" option. Compared with my previous modem stats, attenuation seems to be up a bit and downstream SNRM down a bit. But the big change is SNRM upstream doubled from around 8.5 to 17. Lots of other stats now available none of which means anything to me.
But I don't like the look of those error counts. Also my PN speedtest figures are hardly changed at 949k/381k. Any comments from the Bright Sparks appreciated.
I will of course now leave the connection on for a few days to see if things get "trained" and stats/speed improve. Three to five days isn't it?
Initial stats as follows:
Broadband Line Status
Line Mode G.DMT Line State Show Time
Latency Type Interleave Line Up Time 00:01:47:29
Line Coding Trellis Off Line Up Count 1
Statistics Downstream Upstream
Line Rate 1856 Kbps 448 Kbps
Noise Margin 5.9 dB 17.0 dB
Line Attenuation 63.0 dB 31.5 dB
Output Power 17.5 dBm 11.9 dBm
K (number of bytes in DMT frame) 59 15
R (number of check bytes in RS code word) 16 16
S (RS code word size in DMT frame) 4 8
D (interleaver depth) 4 2
Super Frames 379334 379332
Super Frame Errors 16 0
RS Words 6448686 3224322
RS Correctable Errors 16203 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors 47 0
HEC Errors 13 0
OCD Errors 0 0
LCD Errors 0 0
ES Errors 0 0
Connected up using ethernet cable with no problems. Took a little while to reconfigure the connection settings for my Outlook Express email accounts but got there in the end using the "Any available" option. Compared with my previous modem stats, attenuation seems to be up a bit and downstream SNRM down a bit. But the big change is SNRM upstream doubled from around 8.5 to 17. Lots of other stats now available none of which means anything to me.
But I don't like the look of those error counts. Also my PN speedtest figures are hardly changed at 949k/381k. Any comments from the Bright Sparks appreciated.I will of course now leave the connection on for a few days to see if things get "trained" and stats/speed improve. Three to five days isn't it?
Initial stats as follows:
Broadband Line Status
Line Mode G.DMT Line State Show Time
Latency Type Interleave Line Up Time 00:01:47:29
Line Coding Trellis Off Line Up Count 1
Statistics Downstream Upstream
Line Rate 1856 Kbps 448 Kbps
Noise Margin 5.9 dB 17.0 dB
Line Attenuation 63.0 dB 31.5 dB
Output Power 17.5 dBm 11.9 dBm
K (number of bytes in DMT frame) 59 15
R (number of check bytes in RS code word) 16 16
S (RS code word size in DMT frame) 4 8
D (interleaver depth) 4 2
Super Frames 379334 379332
Super Frame Errors 16 0
RS Words 6448686 3224322
RS Correctable Errors 16203 0
RS Uncorrectable Errors 47 0
HEC Errors 13 0
OCD Errors 0 0
LCD Errors 0 0
ES Errors 0 0
Quote from: HPsauce Similar speed so far, wait and see.
At least it should be a lot stabler and also easier to diagnose problems.
New Voyager 210 has been connected now ever since it arrived so 4 days and 4 hours+ without dropping connection. Only light internet usage over the weekend. Sync (1836/448), Atten (63/31.5) and O/P power (17.5/11.9) have not budged. SNRM has varied from 5.9/17, through 5.2/17 to 4.4/17 and right now 4.1/17.
Been reading up on DSL Max on the PN site and varous other threads re profiles dropping and now totally confused as to whether I should leave the router connected for five days+ or is it better to switch it off and reconnect once a day (say, overnight). Advice please??
Also not sure which way I should want atten and SNRM to move to improve speeds. I seem to have read conflicting comments in various plces about this over the last month or so. Do I want SNRM to be low or high? I thought it was high and mine is dropping
Likewise I thought attenuation should be low but mine is now as high as it ever was with the old modem which once got as low as 40/31.5. Can someone clarify things for me please?