Noise Margin all over the place and low sync

[#1]

For quite some time I've had quite a stable connection syncing around 5400 with an average NM of 6.
For a few days last week I synced at 5888 and actually attained a profile of 5000.
Didn't last long
Gradually the NM has crept up and is now reaching 15 and I have re-synced at 3776 although for most of last night and today the NM was mainly between 9 & 12 and was syncing around 4200.
Something must be upsetting the stability of the line as it has happened with two Thompsons and well as the Netgear I'm currently using.
The router is plugged into the master socket via the XTE-2005 master faceplate.
I suppose the NM could be reset again but, surely, the issues would re-appear some time again.
The line is fed via an overhead cable - not sure if that is important and there are no other electrical items close to the router.

[#2]

Just rang CS and explained the above issue.
I was told to leave things as they are for 72 hours and the NM will drop. It was suggested that the NM increased due to numerous disconnects on the 12 (that was the day I was swapping routers) but how come I synced at 5888 with a NM of 6 which was stable for a few days then re-synced at around 5400 where it stayed for a further few days before the NM increased to where it is now?
Perhaps I just don't fully understand how the NM works but if the NM increases to the point where sync drops is that not an indication of a problem somewhere on the line?
Currently the NM is 14 but it was 16 a few minutes ago.
Any advice or help would be appreciated.

[#3]

HI Mav,
The first thing you have to remember is that noise margins are there so that you don't get connection drops. I do realise that it has been better but if it goes up it doesn't necessarily mean there's a fault. Obviously noise has been detected but this could come from anywhere. The first thing I would do is plug into your test socket. I've seen many specially designed faceplates fail dismally, although this may not be the cause.
Jojo

[#4]

Tonight for the first time in a very long while connectivity has seemed very sluggish. SItes are taking much longer to appear and also, some never actually seem to quite 'get there' with the rotating circle constantly showing in a FireFox tab even though the page appears to be intact.
I have run a few speedtest.net tests all with similar results as below:
Also run a BT test:
This is a long way off from the 5000 profile I had a couple of days ago.

[#5]

Oops, I modified my last post rather than post new so I re-iterate what was said.
I have connected the router through a new filter into the master socket both with and without the phone connected and have also done a quiet test which appeared to be OK.
I am still syncing low at 3776 and the NM is oscillating between 13 & 15.

[#6]

What's your throughput speed like today compared to the synch speed?

[#7]

Speed test more reflective of the current profile, 3000.
But I'm still concerned that it's 2000 down on last week and 1500 down on what is has been for some months

[#8]

Hi Mav,
Still seeing a number of disconnections in your logs here, but they're all showing as user request so either the router is disconnecting after seeing a noise increase or someone's disconnecting it 😕
Not really sure what to suggest there other than the usual master socket checks, if they've made no difference then it could possibly be a line fault or possibly an issue with the router.

[#9]

Hi Matt
I rebooted several times yesterday and once or twice today but, as the NM hasn't changed I've decided not to do that again.
I've still got both a Thomson v7 and v8 routers. I had problems with the v8 before so I'll give the v7 a try to rule out a router issue.
Won't be able to do that till much later this evening so will most probably do it early tomorrow afternoon and post back results then.

[#10]

Hi Mav,
I think it would probably be best to go to the broadband faults checker and look to raising a fault.
Jojo

[#11]

Hi Jojo.
I'm not at home at present. Do you think I should try the Thompson first or go straight to the Fault Checker when I get home later?
I've remotely checked the NM and it was still running between 13 and 15.

[#12]

The fault checker should advise you to check the router anyway, so whichever way round is easiest

[#13]

Could'nt do anything re Fault Checker till Sunday. Yesterday I received a reply to the fault ticket :

Quote

I have now had the opportunity to test your line regarding the problem you have raised and can see that this is quite stable. However, the SNR setting is quite high and as a result this is pushing your connection speed to the exchange (known as sync) down and ultimately resulting in the slower than expected speeds. As such I have now submitted a request to our suppliers to reset the line settings and this will now take around 4 hours to complete. Once this process has had an opportunity to complete we would ask that you perform a single restart of your router by powering the router down for a few moments and then back on. Following this please leave your router connected for at least 72 hours without a reset and the speed should then be restored automatically over a 10 day period

4 hours would have taken me to 7pm so I left it till this morning.
However, I checked the router's stats before powering it down and it was syncing at 5696 - there was no indication of when this re-sync happened as the uptime showed the last time I had rebooted which was a few days ago.
I powered down the router for a few moments and it is now synced at 6080. Att: 47 NM: 6.
BT Speedtest gives me a profile of 4500 as below. If it stays synced at 6080 then the profile should rise to 5000.
Currently the PN profile is still 3000.
Bearing in mind the issues I've had should I just wait for the PN profile to catch up or can someone nudge it for me.
I hope this remains stable with the NM at 6 but I'll keep an eye on it.
Edit: Fault ticket #41978890 should any of the team need to see it.

[#14]

HI Mav,
I'll take a look at that now for you.
Jojo

[#15]

OK, I've just changed the profile on your account to 4500 so you should see that soon. Just need to wait for the DLM to pick up the new sync rate.