Problem with "upto 8meg" connection

[spiney]

It's starting to sound like intermittent electrical interference .....

Not necessarily in your house, could just possibly - though unlikely - be anywhere along the telephone line.

Just a suggestion, is it possible to keep modem connected and produce a time-log of speed variation? Might help with tracing the problem ......

 

[Oily]

Does your modem have any ethernet ports. You could hard wire your connection as a temporary test.

Yes it does,can you tell me how to do it

thanks for all your help

 

[jimbo]

Yes it does,can you tell me how to do it

thanks for all your help

Just plug an ethernet (Cat5) patch lead into one of the ports one end and the other into the RJ45 network socket on your computer. The lead should be 'straight through' not 'cross over'. Maybe you could borrow one to try. You could even do it via USB if the modem has a port. Quite often the software disc that comes with modems will take you through these connections. Once the IP address is established then you should be online via whichever connection you've used and there won't be any 'outside' interference. Then you can see if any problems disappear.

 

[spiney]

Hang on, there's several things here ....

1) As mentioned, the ASDL connection is point-to-point. The modems at either end - if properly working - should automatically negotiate the highest possible line speed for your telephone line.

2) Then there's the in-home router network, ethernet, whether coax or cat5 or wireless, whatever .....

3) Then there's various "tweaks" for maximising TCP/IP throughput.

These all act independently, although your "management software" might co-ordinate them, possibly leading to the discussed problems.

What your ISP supplier seems to be saying is that it's the ASDL connection which is dropping back, ie actually your telephone line connection and not any part of router network or TCP settings.

If you can monitor the ASDL connection directly, then that should tell you the line speed, which I assume was done above. If there's a problem with the routers or TCP/IP, or the ISP supplier line contention, the then this would slow down the Internet data transfer, but it should not directly affect the ASDL settings.

Can you re-install the modem software, using "default settings", which should ensure that your modem automatically uses the highest possible speed?

 

[jimbo]

The reason I suggested using a wired connection was in case there was a problem with WEP and 10 ppl were sitting outside surfing off the WLAN

 

[spiney]

hmmm .... then can Oily tell us if he's passworded the connection?

Without further details, I suppose it is via wireless routers?

Help, this is getting far too complicated, hope the "bloke in a van" arrives soon!

 

[Oily]

hmmm .... then can Oily tell us if he's passworded the connection?

Without further details, I suppose it is via wireless routers?

Help, this is getting far too complicated, hope the "bloke in a van" arrives soon!

The wireless network is password protected
This is all getting to complicated and way beyond me
I've tried everything at my end that i can possible do,anyone fancy coming round and having a go;)

 

[spiney]

From what you've said, it does sound most likely to be the ASDL line part, in which case that needs investigating, and you just have to wait till the cavalry arrives ....

Jimbo's suggestion is certainly a possibility!

 

[Oily]

The reason I suggested using a wired connection was in case there was a problem with WEP and 10 ppl were sitting outside surfing off the WLAN

Aaaah,i wondered why all those cars were outside my house O-Ha O-Ha

 

[Oily]

Here are the stats from my router:

Mode: G.DMT
Type: Interleave
Line Coding: Trellis On
Status: No Defect

Total ES: 30
Total SES: 0
Total UAS: 10

Downstream Upstream
SNR Margin (d: 12.5 21.0
Attenuation (d: 40.0 21.5
Output Power (dBm): 12.1 19.8
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 8032 1092
Rate (Kbps): 7456 448
K (number of bytes in DMT frame): 234 15
R (number of check bytes in RS code word): 16 16
S (RS code word size in DMT frame): 1 8
D (interleaver depth): 32 4

Super Frames: 5225703 5225701
Super Frame Errors: 35 4
RS Words: 355347855 44418458
RS Correctable Errors: 28937 120
RS Uncorrectable Errors: 344 N/A
HEC Errors: 29 0
OCD Errors: 0 0
LCD Errors: 0 0
ES Errors 0 0

I'm hoping it will stay this way,as i understand it,it will alter itself

 

[spiney]

Oily, as I read it that's your ADSL modem - not the Ethernet router bit - and it seems to be working at almost the full 8MB/s with little difficulty.

The mystery deepens .......

 

[Oily]

I'm scratching my head aswell
Any ideas??

 

[jimbo]

I'm scratching my head aswell
Any ideas??

Yep, get a cable and ...............!

 

[BarMoo]

[edit] Jesus, another long post, LOL.

Answer, your provider couldn't give a shit. There was a backlog/streetworks/morons in the way. Most likely your provider bought up some DSL cards for the exchange on the cheap: to find that only DSL2-DSLAM cards/systems can handle 8-24+meg anyway. DSL goes up to 6meg at a push.

Whatever, your upload and download speeds are dictated by a finger press at the exchange, depending on what you have signed-up for. Don't have the link anymore, but look into DSLAM on the net. Very clever and small.

Sounds like BS doesn't it. Its not. Telephone lines are telephone lines and if your phone works - so should DSL. DSL2+ is even more robust that plain DSL. The only fact that remains true - is that distance to exchange (or Thames Water) will affect speed.

I had exactly the same 'speed' problem (2meg went to 1meg). A phonecall to service, a five minute (on the phone) test of line and an IP test- everything confirmed as normal. Nothing happened at my end.

Day after ...... Oh, lookey here - its 2meg.

I can confirm that it was as simple as them not bothering to re-assign my new tariff speed. How do I know? Its Germany. Make a complaint before 16:00hrs and usually its back the day after with German early-bird efficiency. Let's just say, it was 2meg by the time I woke up.

For two months I thought I was on the new tariff. Only found out when I started messing with the router software. Doh!

OT ... Deutsche Telekom have been installing these highly complex connection boxes on the street recently. These are so techno they have powered ventilation Quite funny walking past one of these groaning things on a sunny day.

I reckon the Gerries are installing the new generation IP infrastructure - ahead of BT (who have said they are doing it) ;-)

P.S. Your router should report your subscribed up/down speeds.

 

[spiney]

Well, ADSL uses phone lines originally designed only for audio frequencies, and a 8 MB/s connection can be iffy, but it certainly shouldn't vary like this.

I thought Oily was expecting an engineer visit?

You might try the adsl forums: http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/ .

also see: www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/cisintwk/ito_doc/adsl.htm .

 

[BGonaSTICK]

Was thinking about making the switch from my (rock solid) 2M connection to the equally priced up-to-8M connection from the same provider. The online checker predicted speeds of up to 3.5M (though I can't say I have much faith in that!).

Won't bother now

Someone explained to me once about the three classes (for class read quality/speed) of cabling/connection at the (I think) roadside cabinet and how it was pot luck which of the three you were assigned.

OK, so I could go faster or pay a bit less, but reliability is very important to me and I really don't need any extra grief in my life!

 

[spiney]

The maximum atainable speed depends on high frequency attenuation, which is a function of both phone line wire thickness and distance from phone exchange.

As with all modems, the ADSL ones at either end "negotiate", and test the maximum possible line speed, then "drop back a bit" to ensure a reliable connection. Once they've done that, the connection should be fairly stable, it might vary slightly, but shouldn't go up and down like a yoyo!