FRITZ!Box 7390 fibre upload speed problems

[#1]

Hi all fans of FRITZ!
Several threads recently mentioned a huge drop in upload speed on fibre, with a common pattern being the 7390. Mine has gone from 20Mbps to much less than 1Mbps. There's no common factor on firmware versions; just that it started happening around the same date for everybody.
NB this is not related to the Fibre vs Fibre Extra speed drop which most threads are about. I'm still on the 80/20 fibre product.
A few questions, I think:
1. Has anybody heard back from AVM? I raised a support ticket but it was a bit non-committal.
2. There seem to be PlusNet staff on here with some Fritz experience - has anybody got anything to add?
3. Does anybody know of any wider infrastructure changes that Openreach may have made recently?
This sub-ADSL upload is really hampering my ability to run a VPN...
Thanks all.

[#2]

I received this reply from AVM last week regarding the matter:

Quote

Thank you very much for your enquiry and for contacting the AVM Support. Yes, we have been informed about this behaviour and are investigating the issue. At this stage, we are unable to conclude whether the cause can be solved on behalf of our support. If, for instance, external factors as the cause must be taken into consideration, a solution on our side may not be possible. As far as this issue is reproducible and on our part solvable, we will provide a solution with a forthcoming firmware update for your FRITZ!Box. As the firmware development is a complex process, we are unable to offer a short-term solution. Note: You will be automatically notified as soon as a new FRITZ!OS is available by enabling the Push Service "New FRITZ!OS" (on the user interface of the FRITZ!Box under "System > Push Service").

I then replied if I could send data/diagnostic's and received this reply:

Quote

Thanks a lot for your reply. No, not at the time being. We already have enough information but we will gladly take advantage of your offer if we actually require further data.

Hopefully they have enough information and can fix the issue with a firmware update. I see that on the AVM news, there is a whole new Fritz!OS coming soon, with a revamped GUI.
http://en.avm.de/news/the-latest-news-from-fritz/2015/avm-at-ifa-2015/fritzos-with-a-fresh-new-look-...
I believe it is available in Beta form on the DE site, but obviously not practical running it on a UK release.

[#3]

Thanks again elfish for the sustained solidarity 
It was good to see that response from AVM, which gives me a bit of faith that they might be genuinely looking into it. My response wasn't quite as solid, but I think getting a second report has clearly put more weight to it. I got this:

Quote

Thank you very much for your reply. After the initial investigation of your data, we unfortunately are not able to determine the cause for your reported issue. Therefore at this stage, we are unable to conclude whether the cause can be solved on behalf of our support. If, for instance, external factors as the cause must be taken into consideration, a solution on our side may not be possible. Our detailled analysis will presumably be completed in the next two to three weeks. We will contact you as far as our examination should provide any specific solutions. If no direct assistance is possible from our side, we will have to refer you to a forthcoming firmware update. With our regular updates, we increase the performance scope of our products and improve the interaction with other devices as well as the operation in different scenarios. If our reseach reveals possibilities for optimisation, we will implement these in a future update. Interferences caused by external factors or due to misconfigurations are not always fully captured in the analysis data and can remain undiscovered. We would also gladly receive a reply, should the issue be solved in the meantime. In this case, please report which measures have been taken.

Fingers crossed.
Cheers

[#4]

I have a 7490 running the latest firmware and it isn't affected.

[#5]

As far as I can work out it is only 7390 models on Huawei cabinets.  I'd be interested to know if anyone with this combination has avoided the problem (or anyone with the problem on ECI cabinet.
I too received a similar response from AVM.

[#6]

My 7390 dropped to below 1 meg on the upload on around the 5th Nov!  Defo an BT/OR network upgrade issue as that's around the same date they rolled an update out.
Back on the OR modem/PN router and about to dangle the Fritz of the back as using SIP phones.
Also got a support request in with AVM.  I have 2x 7390's and both are the same regardless of firmware.
They asked for a support txt file dump and some screen grabs which I've sent over.
See what gives I guess???
You can see the upload drop on the attached screen grabs.
Hopefully the firmware in the Fritz is similar to other models and it's a relatively easy fix 
If it's hardware that would be bad 

[#7]

Quote from: Frantic

Back on the OR modem/PN router and about to dangle the Fritz of the back as using SIP phones.

You should be able to set the F!B to 'Connecting to a cable modem' instead of 'Connection to a DSL line' and use it directly with the OR modem, I have heard that you may need to reset it though if changing between DSL and non-DSL mode.

Not found my OR modem yet so just living with the reduced upload for now.
Hopefully the more support requests AVM get the quicker they'll come up with a solution.

[#8]

Quote from: w23

As far as I can work out it is only 7390 models on Huawei cabinets.

Probably doesn't help much, but my 7490 is connected to a Huawei cab.

[#9]

No it doesn't as from reports elsewhere this only affects the 7390 

[#10]

Quote from: w23

Quote from: Frantic Back on the OR modem/PN router and about to dangle the Fritz of the back as using SIP phones. You should be able to set the F!B to 'Connecting to a cable modem' instead of 'Connection to a DSL line' and use it directly with the OR modem, I have heard that you may need to reset it though if changing between DSL and non-DSL mode. Not found my OR modem yet so just living with the reduced upload for now. Hopefully the more support requests AVM get the quicker they'll come up with a solution.

Cheers for that.  Will have another go and see what gives.  I think it's probably the reset I missed!
I was living with it until I looked at our off-site backups.  Sure you get the idea with a bus 80:20...
Earlier this aft I got the same stock text reply from AVM as above -- word for word.
So I sent the email below back to see if it will help?
Willing to be there are lots more people out there who haven't even noticed as it's masked by solid download speeds.
--8x------------------
There seem to be even more people out there who's 7390's no longer work on the BT Network.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=145977
It might be worth a look as ultimately EVERY 7390 will stop working properly on Fibre/VDSL2 on the UK network 

[#11]

I'm really impressed with how many 7390 users have reported the fault to AVM. Keep up the good work 
It feels like some sort of handshaking protocol isn't quite working, doesn't it, given that download bins are being negotiated perfectly still. So likely more software than hardware?

[#12]

I gave up and bought a 7490 (great price and excellent service from an ebay seller in the Netherlands), immediately on connection (after restoring saved settings off my 7390) I now got my fastest ever sync downstream (around 76Mbps) and 19999kbps up.
I've taken a set of dsl diagnostics from the 7490 and added these to my support ticket with AVM to give a direct comparison againt the 7390 stats submitted earlier on the same line and settings, hopefully that will provide them with a bit more to go on.

[#13]

AVM have pulled the 7390 from their products list on the UK website. along with 7390 files on their FTP. It is still listed on the 'Services' page on their website.
I got the 7390 this year and don't want to have to purchase the 7490 or the more basic model with no DECT support (which is what I will probably purchase next, a 3490) this soon after purchase, the 7390 has been solid for me until whatever happened.

[#14]

I think that AVM silently dropped the 7390 from their range (not just UK) a little while ago but I expect support to continue for a reasonable time (including future firmware updates, don't forget they offer 5 year? warranty), it's very possible that the Ikanos Fusiv chipset is being dropped as it doesn't seem to be used in many products.  The 7390 was launched (in Germany) in January 2009 (over 6 years of production).

Just a note, I paid £120 for my 'Brand new in Box' 7490 (+ £10.50 delivery from NL) - significantly less than I originally paid for my 7390.  Using VOIP I'm not paying any call plan (saving £6 per month + any call charges to mobiles at Plusnet rates which used to add up to £several most months) and I've used under £2 in call charges in 3 months using VOIP (www.freevoipdeal.com) - my 'degraded' performance with the 7390 was 'livable with' to be honest but I decided to upgrade as an early Christmas present to myself because the price was good for such a full featured device and it just niggles me having a performance issue even if it doesn't have a major impact on my use of the product/service.

[#15]

It feels like this will come down to economics for AVM. Let's say we class this as a warranty issue - and I think there's good grounds for that - they will assess that cost against several weeks of software engineer time to look into resolution. On a product which is already superseded, as w23 rightly says.
I'll give them another week or so, and then I'll push for a formal warranty claim I think. Surely there's enough evidence on this forum alone that it's a problem with the 7390, rather than people's phone lines or environment. Very sad to see my 7390 go though, if that's the case.
Anybody else considering a warranty claim?