ADSL2 Question

uncle dick

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I've been with Virgin Media for years and they're reasonably ok so, before Xmas, I asked them to remove the 8mb/s cap from my line. They said they'd done it but no difference my end so I called again. 'Our fault' they said we hadn't changed you over but it's all done now.

Fast forward 3 months and everything's exactly the same. I have a Draytek 2710n router which, when set to multi-mode operation, syncs on G.DMT (Std ADSL) with a download rate of 8064000. If I force the router to any of the ADSL2 modes it just won't handshake.

My SNR is around 10dB and Loop att. approx 23dB which everyone tells me should allow sync at 11-13mb.

These line stats are 100% reliable and I've tried plugging the router directly into the BT 'test' socket. Nothing makes any difference to the sync speed.

BTW, others in my neighbourhood - some on Virgin - are getting Speedtest results around 11.5mb. My Speedtest stats are normally 45ms ping and 6-7mb.

Anybody any ideas what's going on?

Dick

ps Virgin say my speed is in the acceptable range of 6 to 18 mb so they won't do anything further. Thanks!
 
I think that in the case of telephone line based broad band, the figures the providers give are 'extremely optimistic'. Hence their 'acceptable' speed limits. It really often is down to how far you are from the telephone exchange.

Plugging into the 'BT Test Socket' in the house merely tells you that the problem is NOT with the house internal telephone wiring. It is possible you have a poor connection outside the house though.

I don't know enough about your ADSL setup to make an intelligent comment about the performance. We certainly don't get anywhere near the maximum quoted download speeds. The telecom company should give you a 100MB file to download to get a proper accurate measure of download speed.

You should also try to measure the maximum download speed at different times of the day. It is unlikely that it will be constant during the 24h period as other user demand will influence performance.

Cable does promise higher realistic download speeds on a consistent basis though.

Grey Beard
 
Virgin ADSL is not very good. I took it up after moving from an area where I had Virgin cable. Their customer service is appalling.

Check your LLU options at samknows - if they cover your area I recommend you switch to Be*/O2
 
The only LLU operators at our exchange are Sky, Talk Talk, and Tiscali. AFAIK, none of these have particularly good reputations. I just can't get my head around why nothing changed when they supposedly removed the 8mb cap. Why won't it sync on ADSL2?

I appreciate that real life performance varies with network load etc. but my sync speed is always at the 'up to 8mb' limit - i.e. it's too consistent.

I'm convinced that it's either a setting in the router or something in the exchange which hasn't been enabled.

If I don't get any joy soon I'll start looking for another ISP (one with customer service) like Fast or Zen. Any thoughts?
 
If you decide to change isp I can vouch for Zen. The customer service at Zen is hard to beat. I've been with them a few years now and hardly ever had a dropped connection. The odd couple of problems I have had were quickly resolved by the excellent tech support staff. Try telling an operator at some of the others that your running Linux and they will probably have to hang up cause it's not on the script.

Oh and I just got word from Zen today that my download allowance has been doubled to 100Gb.
 
uncle dick said:
The only LLU operators at our exchange are Sky, Talk Talk, and Tiscali. AFAIK, none of these have particularly good reputations. I just can't get my head around why nothing changed when they supposedly removed the 8mb cap. Why won't it sync on ADSL2?

I appreciate that real life performance varies with network load etc. but my sync speed is always at the 'up to 8mb' limit - i.e. it's too consistent.

I'm convinced that it's either a setting in the router or something in the exchange which hasn't been enabled.

If I don't get any joy soon I'll start looking for another ISP (one with customer service) like Fast or Zen. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

If Virgin don't have LLU in your exchange then they will be using the shonkiest hardware that BT lease to them.

If you only have the LLU options listed above then buy on price. Each will be just as useless as the rest but at least the financial pain will be lower. Alternatively, as my sister found, living in a village on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, the best bet was going with BT as the price isn't to bad and there is only one supplier to negotiate with when things don't work as promised.
 
I went on Sky's website to see what the LLU options were and they offered me 4.6mb:eek:

Talk Talk won't let you test your line / options unless you agree to them calling you to discuss. Don't think I'll be going there either.

Is it worth calling BT?
 
If you're on ADSL2+ already, there would probably be no benefit to moving to (another) LLU operator as they use the same technology. It's very common for the change from ADSL1 to ADSL2+ to result in small, zero or even negative speed improvements depending on distance from the exchange: in fact responsible ISPs (like Zen) advise not bothering to move to ADSL2+ (i.e. from "up to 8Mb/s" to "up to 24 Mb/s") if you are more than 3km from the exchange.

I agree that a company like Zen will take any questions you have about the service more seriously than most but you might just have to wait for Fibre to the Cabinet. One thing: there can be a training period for new lines and lines recently converted to ADSL2+ so you do need to leave the router alone for a week or so to get the most out of the line.

It won't make you feel any better but our speed went from 6 to 17.5Mb/s when the local Exchange was upgraded....but then, we're just 1km distant (and with Zen). There is a "luck of the draw" element with the copper pair...some are better than others.
 
I'm around 1500m from the exchange so you'd expect some gain. My brother, who lives about the same distance away, went from 7 to 12mb when he signed up for a new Virgin contract.

He's paying less than 25 quid a month for line rental, unlimited internet and calls so I thought I'd phone and ask for the same. 'Best deal we can do is £43 pm' :eek:
 
On personal experience I'd give Plusnet (part of BT) or BT a try. You never know, they might have the fibre t'cabinet option available for which I'm paying £16 through Plusnet.

Previous speed was 6mb on O2 LLU (long way from exchange) and then the same on Plusnet. 0.2mb upload. :(

Now getting 37mb down and 1.58mb up. Marvellous. :thumb2

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][/URL]
 
Are you using Kaspersky 2010 on your machine?

Reason I ask is there was a problem with this version limiting your speed upgrading to 2011 will cure it. I believe you can download 2011 and reapply your current licence.
 
zzr1100d1 said:
Are you using Kaspersky 2010 on your machine?

Reason I ask is there was a problem with this version limiting your speed upgrading to 2011 will cure it. I believe you can download 2011 and reapply your current licence.
Click to expand...

That's just the kind of fix I was looking for but I'm actually using MSE. thanks anyway - good call:thumb
 
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