Connection and Speed Problems

[DTC]

Wow!  Well removing the bellwire certainly does make a big difference to the connection speed - see the router stats below after having made the change.  It is too early to tell if the connection problems (i.e. dropping the connection) have also been cured, but I will post again at the end of the week to confirm the status.

DSL Connection   

Link Information
           
Uptime:    0 days, 14:05:45
Modulation:    G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    448 / 6,944
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:    13.72 / 243.28
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:    10.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:    10.0 / 29.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:    26.0 / 15.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):    TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):    0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 33
CRC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
Line Profile:    Interleaved

Other things I noticed after removing the bellwire:

The 'quite line' test is now completely silent.

The SN Margin and connection speed graphs in RouterStatsLite were practically constant since the router was re-started (connection speed was constant, just a few tiny 'blips' on the SN Margin line).

The number of errors is hugely reduced.  The last check I did before the bellwire change, there were over 68000 downstream CRC errors which had occured in only a couple of hours.  Now there have been none at all for 14 hours and only 33 FEC errors in the same period.

The thing that hasn't changed is the SN Margin - it's been solidly around 15.5 even after removing the bellwire (and was about the same before that).  Would you expect this to come down over the next few days as the exchange adjusts to the improvements or is it something I need to contact the Moderators about to get a specific setting made/reset on the line?

Thanks again.

Cheers,
Dave.

[imjolly]

amazing what removing  1 wire can do to yur connection.  just stay connected and should sort itself out probably a few disconnections by router before getting probably an even better connection speed.

[DTC]

Well, although the bellwire surgery seems to have done wonders for my connection speed, the problem of regular disconnections does not seem to have improved.

There seems to be two sorts of 'disconnection'.  Looking at the 'Uptime' information from the router, it is clear that the connection is being lost occasionally, but is automatically re-connected (or whatever the correct expression is...!!!).  However, sometimes the connection is not restored and when I come to the computer the usual Phone and Internet lights are out.  If I just leave the router in this state (e.g. overnight) nothing happens (i.e it doesn't clear the problem on its own).  When the router gets in this state it is usually sufficient to just 'Restart' the router (it doesn't need a 'Reset') and then select 'Connect' in the Home Hub web page.

The noise margin seems to be consistently around 15.0 - it goes up to 17.0 and occasionally down to 14.0 - but 15.0 or 15.5 is the 'favourite' value.

Our phone line comes from a telegraph pole on the opposite side of our road - and the top of the pole is partly covered by tree branches of a nearby tree.   Last week when it was very windy for several days, I notice that the error counts were very high (hundreds of thousands) - could the tree branches hitting the phone wire be the cause of these errors - and if it was, would BT be likely to do anything about it?

I re-ran the BT Speedtester today and got the results shown below.  The dowload speed looks very low - certainly compared to what the router (and RouterStats Lite) were reporting at the same time.  Does it make sense that the measured speed is lower than the IP Profile stated?  I also tried a number of other Broadband speed tests and they were fairly consistent in reporting download speeds of between 5300 and 5400.

Any further ideas as to what I could try to now to try and track down the cause of the disconnections?

Thursday 2nd June

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.

	Download Speed
	2444 Kbps

0 Kbps

7150 Kbps Max Achievable Speed

 Download speedachieved during the test was - 2444 Kbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speedsis 2000-7150 Kbps.
 IP Profile for your line is - 5533 Kbps
The throughput of Best Efforts (BE) classes achieved during the test is - 4.83:19.84:75.34 (SBE:NBE:PBE)
These figures represent the ratio while sententiously passing Sub BE, Normal BE and Priority BE marked traffic.

The results of this test will vary depending on the way your ISP has decided to use these traffic classes.

DSL Connection   

Link Information
           
Uptime:    0 days, 0:58:59
Modulation:    G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:    448 / 6,272
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:    1.70 / 30.30
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:    12.5 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:    10.5 / 29.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:    11.0 / 14.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):    TMMB / IFTN
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):    0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 5
CRC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):    0 / 0
Line Profile:    Interleaved

Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:38:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:39:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:39:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:39:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:39:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:40:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:40:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:40:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:40:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:41:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:41:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:41:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:41:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:42:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:42:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:42:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:42:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:43:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:43:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:43:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:43:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:44:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:44:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:44:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:44:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:45:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:45:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:45:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:45:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:46:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:46:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:46:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:46:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:47:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:47:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:47:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:47:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:48:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:48:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:48:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:48:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:49:04,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:49:19,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:49:34,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272
Thu 02 Jun 2011  09:49:49,    Noise Margin= 14.5, Sync Speed= 6272

[imjolly]

tree branches constantly rocking the line could easily cause noise on your line.  It's the owner of the tree who need to cut the branches not BT - so might be difficult.

your connection is farbetter but your noise margin is still high at 14 .5 and will still come down with I would expect a further improvement in connection speed.

the good thing is your profile is on the new system so it changes as your speed change so no 3/5 day wait.  It is correct for your current speed

[DTC]

Thanks as always for the quick reply.

How about the disconnection problem - any ideas on that?  Or do you think it is still too early to be drawing any conclusions on this and I still need to wait for things to 'settle down'...?

Cheers,

Dave.

[imjolly]

probably another day or so to see if it settles and if not then will be mods for assistance