High SNR Margin caused by Asus DSL AC68u

[#1]

Hi, 1st time poster so be gentle .

I had a problem about 3 weeks ago with loss of Broadband. I had a visit from Openreach engineer who found the overhead cable fixed into the connection box on the house had fell out leaving them exposed. He stripped back and reconnected to the drop cable running around the house. Tested the line and said I had 80mbs at the socket in my house.

I decided at this point to purchase a new Asus DSL AC68U modem router (reading lots of posts on here and numerous other forums not a wise choice). it did connect at 80mb but over the next few days kept dropping speed with interleaving at increasing depths each evening. The SNR Margin also increased from 5.2 to over 7. The margin was also moving around and was never stable and could vary by as much as 1db.

At this point I bit the bullet and purchased a Draytek Vigor 130 (BT approved modem) running on the WAN port of the Asus. This has now been running for 4 days very stable at only 60mb as I think the line has been reduced in speed by the dreaded DLM all I can get now is 60mb. This has not moved since using the Draytek, my ping is better dropped to 11 from 20. There has been no further drops or resync.

I am now below the guarenteed speed so I called support. Got told to do what they tell everyone remove the front of the socket and use the test point with a filter. I didn't really want to do this as it would show as a disconnect but did it anyway as I know support need to eliminate prolems with the socket.

Now I have a reliable connection but at a reduced speed ( I am only 100m from the cab) will my speed return or will I now be locked at this rate?

Can I request a DLM reset or is this not possible. Can I demand a reset even if Ihave to pay for a Openreach engineer. There is still a possibility that the drop cable is damaged as the house was renovated recently and the cable is original 1960s.

Plusnet agree that the connection is now below the guarenteed figure and still have an open question not answered.

Sorry for the long post

[#2]

Copy of BT Advanced Test

It looks like I have been Banded as IP Profile 61.69.

Does this mean that I can never go above this anymore or will it reset to a higher profile now I appear to have a stable connection with the new modem?

Advance Test
Download Test
Download speed achieved during the test was 58.09 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 40 - 61.69 Mbps
IP Profile for your line is 61.69 Mbps
58.09 Mbps
61.69 Mbps
Upload Test
Upload speed achieved during the test was 20.44 Mbps
IP Profile for your line is 20 Mbps

[#3]

Hi @Stein
What are the modem stats including the signal to noise margin?
If the errors are low DLM should remove banding if the line is banded but the time frame is anybodies guess.
A GEA test would identify if the line is banded, perhaps a PN staff member like @Gandalf would oblige?
Regards
Richard

[#4]

@Stein 

Don't confuse your IP profile with banding. The IP profile is automatically set to a bit below your sync speed. If the sync speed increases then the profile should follow it. Banding limits the sync speed. What we need to see is as @RichardB  says is a GEA test as this will show banding. If it is banded then Plusnet can request a reset. Therefore Plusnet staffer assistance is required,

[#5]

Thanks for the replies.

I am reluctant to touch the new Vigor 130 modem incase I cause a disconnect and its set up in bridge mode connected to the Asus. Its in a different subnet 192.168.2.1 against the router in 192.168.1.1. I can't find away to set this in the router to give access to the GUI.

I could ethernet direct to the modem but I want to minimise the chance of disconnect. Its been running since late Friday afternoon and i already disconnected once on Sunday night to access the test point on the openreach socket.

I did get a GEA on sunday and was told there was no banding set on my line. Thanks for the clarification on banding and IP Profile.

I have an open question on my problem and its now just 48 hours with no reply. I did notice that i have been given the right to terminate my contract as its currently below minimum, of course I do not want to do that being a plusnet customer for 8 years with 2 plus net moblies and BT sport app.

I will be guided by you guys.

Is it that I should wait about 10 days to see if my line recovers and take it from there if nothing improves?

Regards

[#6]

Disconnecting the router from the modem or disconnecting the PPPoE session with Plusnet will not upset DLM.
The modem will stay in synch with the fibre cab.
DLM will only be influenced by the error rate between the modem and the fibre cabinet. All lines have error rates.
The line statistics would provide useful information.

[#7]

Below are the details from my Vigor 130. I am 100 meters from the cab are those SNR's way high ?

Regards

LAN Status	Primary DNS:	8.8.8.8	Secondary DNS:		8.8.4.4
IP Address	TX Packets	RX Packets
192.168.2.1	68663751	94944255

VDSL2 Information      (VDSL2 Firmware Version:   576D17_A/B/C )

Profile	State	UP Speed	Down Speed	SNR Upstream	SNR Downstream
17A	SHOWTIME	19999 (Kbps)	66997 (Kbps)	11 (dB)	11 (dB)

[#8]

Mangaged to get detailed info from modem

Thanks

> vdsl status

---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
Running Mode : 17A State : SHOWTIME
DS Actual Rate : 66997000 bps US Actual Rate : 19999000 bps
DS Attainable Rate : 85129988 bps US Attainable Rate : 33276000 bps
DS Path Mode : Fast US Path Mode : Fast
DS Interleave Depth : 1 US Interleave Depth : 1
NE Current Attenuation : 11 dB Cur SNR Margin : 11 dB
DS actual PSD : 0. 4 dB US actual PSD : 12. 6 dB
NE CRC Count : 0 FE CRC Count : 43447
NE ES Count : 0 FE ES Count : 12442
Xdsl Reset Times : 0 Xdsl Link Times : 3
ITU Version[0] : fe004452 ITU Version[1] : 41590000
VDSL Firmware Version : 05-07-06-0D-01-07 [with Vectoring support]
Power Management Mode : DSL_G997_PMS_L0
Test Mode : DISABLE
-------------------------------- ATU-C Info ---------------------------------
Far Current Attenuation : 13 dB Far SNR Margin : 15 dB
CO ITU Version[0] : b5004244 CO ITU Version[1] : 434da4a1
DSLAM CHIPSET VENDOR : < BDCM >
>

[#9]

More Details, connection time is just over 100 hours

Thanks

> vdsl status more

---------------------- ATU-R Info (hw: annex A, f/w: annex A/B/C) -----------
Near End Far End Note
Trellis : 1 1
Bitswap : 1 1
ReTxEnable : 0 1
VirtualNoise : 0 0
20BitSupport : 0 0
LatencyPath : 0 0
LOS : 4 0
LOF : 0 0
LPR : 0 2
LOM : 0 0
SosSuccess : 0 0
NCD : 0 0
LCD : 0 0
FECS : 0 11996535 (seconds)
ES : 0 12444 (seconds)
SES : 0 599 (seconds)
LOSS : 0 0 (seconds)
UAS : 32 8826 (seconds)
HECError : 0 0
CRC : 0 43449
RsCorrection : 0 0
INP : 0 215 (symbols)
InterleaveDelay : 0 19 (1/100 ms)
NFEC : 254 32
RFEC : 16 16
LSYMB : 5374 16
INTLVBLOCK : 127 32
AELEM : 0 ----

[#10]

@Stein  The elevated downstream SNRM clearly shows that your line is banded at 66997Mbps. You will have to ask Plusnet to request a DLM reset. I am surprised Plusnet have said you could leave without them trying to improve your speed. Their GEA test would have an out of date profile (about 13 days usually) so that may not have shown the banding.

Your modem stats look good, although I have some difficulty with interpreting them, I think some of the data relating to Near end and Far end are incorrectly swapped over. I am more familiar with Broadcom chipset devices such as my Huawei HG612. You have retransmission (re-tx or G.Inp) on downstream and showing no errors but I can't determine from the stats if it is low or high re-tx. Low is better because it gives a higher IP profile about 97% of sync speed. High re-tx is about 92% of sync speed which looking at your IP profile appears to be what you have. 

Every time I see posts on here with ASUS DSL-AC68U mentioned I think, that is not good. the modem in that device has caused so many problems, it doesn't seem to work at all well with VDSL in the UK. However you have done the right thing by using it it as a router with an external modem.

The first thing to do is to get banding sorted out then see how your speed improves. Should be able to get 80Mbs.😊

[#11]

Thanks for the reply.

I always have 80mb download before the wicked Asus DSl AC68U was running, I have read just about every post on every forum I can find, some of them are hundreds of posts. This is what prompted me to use the separate Vigor 130.

I still have an open question from Sunday, marked as awaiting reply from support. This is when they told me I wasn't banded. I get a little frustrated, i do manage to keep calm on the outside, followed by few screams after finishing on the phone. I would rather avoid talking to support if possible. The modem has been connected since Friday and I wake every morning to check for improved sync. So far not a thing.

Do I call back now or wait. Maybe I should take a chill pill and get on the phone.....

Cheers

[#12]

@Stein  I am not sure if you will get far with first line support, you could ask if they have heard of a DLM reset, it shouldn't involve sending out an engineer. Plusnet can request it directly from Openreach or BT Wholesale, not sure which.

If you have an open ticket could you reply saying you a believe your line is banded so a DLM reset is required.

Otherwise if a staff member sees your posts here they should be able to help but they are thin on the ground.🙄

[#13]

Hi,

Did manage to get a response from support (Gavin) who looked at the data and agreed that we have a problem. He tried to reset the line but as there is a open fault it wont reset and he needs to talk to whoever is working on it. said he will call me back within the hour.

Still not resolved but its nice to know something is happening, as hadn't had any feedback Sunday.

Cheers

[#14]

Oh well,

3 hours later just a text " I am still waiting for a response from the faults team - I will provide an update as soon as I can"

Better than nothing I don't feel fobbed off, which is a good thing  

[#15]

24 hours and still nothing. 100m from the cab and a SNR Margin 11dB can't be right. I'm either stuck because of using the asus or I have noise on my line.

I could tweek my SNR myself but I don't want to jeopardise my line returning to normal. (kicking DLM into action)

Any advice?