A dire choice of broadband providers in my new place :(

qpop

Yes, which is strange, and contrary to all the information I'd had previously. I suppose there's a chance I'm connected to a different exchange, which is unlikely as I'm something like 700metres from the exchange mentioned above. (I'm not complaining either way!!)

deklan99

Xilo/Uno supply packages from at least three wholesalers - BT, CPW and C&W(Bulldog). Whilst the BT gear in your exchange isn't adsl2+ enabled the C&W and CPW LLU gear will be hence the apparent disparity in what Samknows tells you. It only reports the status of BT's gear.

Short_Seller

deklann99 explains it well ... LLU's all have ADSL2+ equipement , which greatly opens up the choice/ speeds when BT haven't upgraded their exchange to 21cn

Its always a bonus when speeds better than expected How the line now after the training period?

Cheers

qpop

No training period due to not BT Wholesale hardware. Line's great! 9dB SNR profile, very few line errors, 13/14mbps gives 1.75MB/s usable download, low ping (seems to avg. 35-45ms on gaming), no throttling. It helps that I have a solid modem/router setup, but I have no complaints with the broadband. I had a couple of queries for the Xilo team who got back to me quickly and were helpful (although there was little they could actually do) - The biggest issue I have is that I'd really like to lower the SNR profile of the line but their reseller (Bulldog/C&W) won't allow them to. That being said 13 out of a theoretical 16mbps (highest speed they offer on this package) is a fair amount and meets my requirements.

Short_Seller

You could lower your SNR via your Zoom router telnet ?

cheers

qpop

I've been trying that. It's bizarre; the ADSL connects and the modem reads the lower SNR margin (e.g. at around 4-5dB on downstream the max line speed is about 18mbps and the sync speed is 18mbps) - but any kind of speed testing (speedtest.net, downloading a large file from the likes of filesonic) is still giving bang on 13.5mbps. Xilo support have told me that there is no soft/hard limit on the line, and in fact if I was downloading at 24mbps no one would complain (even though the line is 16mbps max package) - it's just that they won't provide support if someone was d/ling at 23mbps and now only 20mbps.

Anyway, not entirely sure why I can't download any faster than 13.5mbps - even with a lower SNR and supposedly (according to ADSL modem) higher sync speed.

Short_Seller

So the Zoom is syncing at 18meg, but your losing speed somwhere along the route between the modem-> to router-> to PC ?

qpop

Well that is the situation, in theory, but I don't believe it. I will do a bit more error checking tonight by virtue of plugging straight into the router. But I don't understand how it could be happening.

"You are approximately 0 metres from the exchange. Note that this is the straight line distance - the actual cable length will be longer!" - says Sam Knows.
So we're sat on top of it! Apparently. Actually, having looked at the map we're more like 600metres away down a single road, so lets not worry about line length for the moment.
The flat is 4 years old = new and "sensible " BT wiring (i.e. no ring wire) - but for that matter I've taken the faceplate off the NTE5 socket and plugged straight into test socket, so no concerns about ring-wire feedback.
So far so good, right.

Bridge modem connected and "apparently" syncing at 18mbps, and no error reports on the ADSL stats page.
100mbps ethernet carries signal to a D-Link DIR-615 D4 with DD-WRT software installed. Connected to this is a printer by ethernet (100mbps I presume) and 4 devices or so by wireless (most N). My Dell laptop is connecting to the router at 72mbps (due to the wireless drivers limiting the bandwidth where interference is detected on the wide band, go figure)

The wireless signal is fine and 72mbps, assuming 50% efficiency given the close proximity of other RF transmitters (block of flats, go figure!) there should be 0 issues in achieving 20mbps whatsoever.

I've also speed-tested on my gfs macbook aluminium - also wireless N draft, also connected at 72mbps.

So wheres the 5mbps or so going???

*sigh*...

Short_Seller

It would help narrow things down if your put through increases when hard wired into the Master. (Nte5->Modem->PC)

Some ususal issues include ( applogies if teaching to suck eggs)
Incorrect MTU's / RWINs settings LLU http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/MTU.htm
Wifi channel overlap, so http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/ is a very useful tool for finding the lowest conjested / same type of encrypted overlap.
Mixing wifi, N's with g's ect .
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/30664-5-ways-to-fix-slow-80211n-speed

Cheers

qpop

To address the issues:

MTU'S / RWINs - looked into this, discounted. 1492 is the max MTU setting allowable on the PPPox protocols (afaik), and the windows size should be find for any real life bandwidth scenarios. Infact Xilo recommend MTU 1432. I believe the MTU settings on the (fairly advanced) network card in my Dell are auto/scaling. Either way the fact that I am getting the same throughput on all the PCs leads me to believe this shouldn't be an issue.

Wifi channel overlap - This is possibly a real issue, but it wouldn't cause a consistently slower web connection. I've delved into inSSIDer and other tools, and my router is by far the strongest signal on the channels it is on, unfortunately all channels are taken to some extent.

N/G/B mix wifi is actually handled very well by DD-WRT. UNFORTUNATELY due to a stupid inconsistency on the router model I have, the Ralink (poor chipset manufacturer by all accounts) hardware won't allow 150/300mbps wide-band when interference is picked up. I've spent 3 days meddling and I can basically roll back to an older version of DD-WRT (which drops the PPPoE connection every 2-10 hours) or use the latest version with no dropouts but max utilisable wifi 72mbps.

Even so, I will wire up directly to modem this evening (although will have to teach myself how to setup a PPPoA/E connection in Windows) to see if that makes any difference. I really can't see how DD-WRT would limit an 18mbps to 13mbps but leave a 13mbps connection "clean". There is no QoS setup anywhere across the network, so that's not the culprit. It really is thoroughly confusing.

I think that the 9db SNR is somehow "hard-limited" by C&W OR the telnet changes I'm making to the Zoom ADSL aren't really changing anything, just the display. But this doesn't explain the reported higher sync level.

Definately an odd situation.