Acceptable broadband stats

[andygo]

I am trying to get some sense from BT re my broadband coonection. In November the speed was sawful, complained to BT and it was immediately up to a regular 12mb download. Over recent weeks its gone down to 3mb, which isn't good when i'm paying for 'up to 20mb'. The latest thing is they tell me my noise (db) are to blame. I am about 2k from the exchange, the engineer has been round and he tells me the line is excellent and shouls easily support 12mb. At the mo, even though my DSL comnnection speed is 6652 (and has been for several days) I am downloading at about 3500. BT tell me that they dont consider it a fault as long as i am getting over 3mb. Gits.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 6652 kbps 883 kbps
Line Attenuation 29 db 8.5 db
Noise Margin 12 db 10 db

Any comments on those stats?

[agent006]

Mine:

Downstream Rate: 8367 kbps
Upstream Rate: 999 kbps
Downstream Margin: 6 db
Upstream Margin: 6 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 40 db
Upstream Line Attenuation: 10 db

I presume you've tried all the usual things. Connect directly to the master socket with one of the fancy ADSL faceplates etc. I lose 4mbps or so on my phone extension (stats above) compared to master socket.

[philthy]

Up to 20 meg? Yeah right, you are syncing at 6.6 mbs. You won't get more than that, until you sync at a higher rate. You should however see at least 5-6mb/s download speed.

Try this:
http://speedtest.net/

Your problems probably start with a B, and end with a T though. In my experience.

Edited because reading it back, it sounds like I'm having a pop at you. I'm not, I'm pointing out the "up to" bit of the adverts we all see.

Edited by philthy on Monday 1st March 20:27

[andygo]

The BT rep I spoke to today said 6bd was their target and I used to have 6db up but it has gone up to 12db recently. But then, googling around, it appears that higher is better!

Its all a black art, but I have a feeling I am being mugged...

[philthy]

andygo said:

The BT rep I spoke to today said 6bd was their target and I used to have 6db up but it has gone up to 12db recently. But then, googling around, it appears that higher is better!

Its all a black art, but I have a feeling I am being mugged...

The higher the figure in the signal/noise ratio, the better.
I suspect you may be slightly confused, as a 6db s/n ratio won't support even 512kb/s.
I have seen a problem at an office I used to work in, where the snr hovered at about 8-9db. Occasionally, it would drop, for whatever reason (solar activity/electrical noise/dodgy connection down the line somewhere), and it would drop the sync.
2K from the exchange should fly !

[andygo]

It should fly! The Openreach bloke they have sent round twice now told me he wished he had as good line stats as mine at his house!

[philthy]

andygo said:

It should fly! The Openreach bloke they have sent round twice now told me he wished he had as good line stats as mine at his house!

Being fair, the engineers tell it like it is. It's a pity they can't get customer "service" to do the same.
If the line is good, check your filter/s and router. If it is still up and down, ditch BT for an ISP that provides.

[FourWheelDrift]

When I was with BT I had a time where my connection dropped from 3mb to 300k, (checked on speedtest.net) I contacted BT support the non-Brit at the other end said he would try the BT test (controlled my PC). Clearly didn't have a clue what he was talking about as his test showed my line could support 6mb but the test results clearly showed 300k. Yet he was telling me there was nothing wrong I was getting 6mb, he didn't know the different between potential line speed and actual speed. I even showed him the speedtest.net site which he has never heard of and because it had an advert at the top said it was probably dodgy.

[FamilyGuy]

Here's mine from BT on their "up to 8Mb":-

ADSL Link/Downstream/Upstream
Connection Speed/3168 kbps/448 kbps
Line Attenuation/39 db/13.5 db
Noise Margin/8 db/19 db

(sorry, couldn't see how to format a table....)

I've never seen over 4Mb, I'm plugged into a master socket and I'm under a mile from the exchange... I can't see how switching to another provider would help as no other ISPs have equipment in my exchange according to http://www.samknows.com/broadband/

[headcase]

I too pay for upto 8 meg and have never seen it abive 2.5. I have cable coming round in 2 weeks.

[_Deano]

yeah baby!
[/URL]

Edited by _Deano on Monday 1st March 22:22

[Who me ?]

To be fair , I've seen BT putting in fibre to try and get the network up to date , but that's sadly years behind Virgin .My house is/was rated by BT as no more than 3mb ,before I moved (soley on financial grounds) ,now I get 6-10 mb + phone line + unlimited calls at half what BT wanted - so no contest

[DonnyMac]

_Deano said:

yeah baby!

Wireless, but still -

[andygo]

|Well bt say my line (according to their web based estimate is good for 8mb, but the exchange is 20mb enabled.

[RussellG]

I noticed a few weeks ago that my bt adsl had started to sync at 6652 and was gettig about half that in through put. when I checked the router log I was getting loads of random disconnects and reconnects for a week or two. I left the router connected to the master socket for a day & noticed that my speed didnt improve but the disconnect problem was cured in the router logs.

I replaced the internal house wiring and disconnected the unused bell wires from sockets in the house this has solved my problems and after a week my stats are as below

adslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: ShowtimeRetrain Reason: 8000
Channel: FAST, Upstream rate = 1099 Kbps, Downstream rate = 13653 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: ADSL2+
Channel: Fast
Trellis: U:ON /D:ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 4.1 6.2
Attn(dB): 34.5 17.7
Pwr(dBm): 0.0 12.5
Max(Kbps): 15120 1112
Rate (Kbps): 13653 1099

Edited by RussellG on Monday 1st March 23:20

[WorAl]

ETA What's good, what's bad?

Edited by WorAl on Sunday 28th March 19:58

[bonsai]

WorAl said:

ETA What's good, what's bad?

Edited by WorAl on Sunday 28th March 19:58

For BT that's pretty good really, will let you stream iPlayer et al without any problems at all.

You could potentially get double that if your local exchange has been opened up to other broadband providers and you want to pay a bit more - I presume since it's BT it's part of a line rental/calls package.

[magpie215]

seems ok

[Mobile Chicane]

Hopeless and there's no satellite / cable option here either:

[Sheets Tabuer]

This is my Virgin up to 20MB ADSL