At what point is Broadband not broadband?

kwikbreaks

macman wrote: »

But based on a 6Mbps estimate, should it not have synched even initially at more than 0.44Mbps?

We've no idea what it syncs at because he hasn't posted the stats yet. "Checked my speed" means absolutely nothing of any value. Until the stats get posted you can suggest anything as the cause - shall I start..

Sunspots
Alien craft creating a variable orgone energy field
Spaghetti used for line instead of copper
Somebody standing on the wire.

spike7451

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Do Orange do DLM?

Yes,they do.Caused a lot of problems & the Hindian call centers often used that as an excuse.

bod1467 wrote: »

Horange use BT IPStream (they've stopped doing LLU), and since BT use DLM then I guess Orange do too.

Not quite correct,Orange have moved the majority of their customers off LLU to BT W.B.C (or Cen21)
Some of the customers are on BT IPStream Max tho.
(I worked for Orange earlier this year providing 2nd line support on a temp contract while they were moving customers onto WBC)

bod1467

You're right. I was speaking from the perspective of my own exchange which does not have WBC. However I thought WBC still used DLM for profiling?

spike7451

bod1467 wrote: »

You're right. I was speaking from the perspective of my own exchange which does not have WBC. However I thought WBC still used DLM for profiling?

Ah right,Sorry.
Aye it does.One thing that we found out at Orange was when customers were moved to WBC,quite often the routers they were using were causing the problem,even Oranges own routers were causing problems.

Manix

Hi, OP here. I'm overwhelmed by the responses to this thread - I really appreciate it. I didn't realise there was so much that could be investigated.

Regarding the speed test, I'm doing it using speedtest.net. If there is a better way, I'd be interested in hearing it. After 3 days, I've had a couple of 2Mbs download readings (and the Router stats below show a Synch of 5.2Mb - which sounds good to me). Uploading speed is now "normal". But still getting a lot of .4 / .5 MB download readings in the evening. Suggesting it might just be congestion from my neighbourhood.

Additionally, web page loading seems okay, but downloading files is dismal. A 24Mb driver file from the Canon website took about 30 minutes to download, and replicating my Lotus Notes mailfile is also dismal. I work from home, and do all my work through a corporate VPN, so wondering if there is some kind of shaping on encrypted traffic. Something else for me to test.

My Router stats are below. Looks like it is synching at a good speed.

System Up Time 62:09:47
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 12031 13252 0 553 1334 01:07:20
LAN 10M/100M 89336 0 0 42 0 62:09:28
WLAN 11M/54M/150M 1293327 926371 0 4135 922 62:09:31

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 5272 Kbps 1156 Kbps
Line Attenuation 42.3 dB 24.9 dB
Noise Margin 3.2 dB 5.8 dB

Quiet Line test was fine. No noise, popping etc.

Thanks again for your assistance!

kwikbreaks

Your upstream sync speed rules out your being on IPstream so you are probably on the old Orange LLU kit which I think BT took over. I really haven't followed the Orange story as they are not an ISP I'd consider so I'm not certain about that. I suppose it could also be the newer BT ADSL2+ product - I don't know anything about that as I ditched ADSL in favour of cable before it started being rolled out. If you check the BT tester http://speedtester.bt.com/ it should give you your profile if you are on a BT product.

The noise margin is quite low (default is normally 6dB). That may or may not be important - if you see connection drops or high error counts (which you haven't posted so may not be shown) then it is important.

Speedtest.net is usually reliable - try the London server that certainly is.

I'd say that if you reliably get good speeds off peak and very variable speeds at peak times it's a pretty sure sign of congestion. Very few ISPs penalise VPN traffic - that's another reason people use them for P2P apart from anonymity.

How long have you been with Orange? Are you still within any Get out of Jail Free period they may offer? If so then I'd suggest you bale out and find a better ISP.

F_T_Buyer

My broadband (O2) has been totally slow since the weekend - I'm getting 0.3mbps - usually get 1.7.

Infact, this website keeps timing out - It's a joke.

It's not my PC, or anything like that - I've checked it all.

Gordon_Hose

O2 fault? Have you called them?

F_T_Buyer

I will if it isn't sorted by the weekend - however it works fine in the day (like now). To be honest it's a good reason to turn my laptop off in the evenings.

ChiefGrasscutter

bod1467 wrote: »

You're right. I was speaking from the perspective of my own exchange which does not have WBC. However I thought WBC still used DLM for profiling?

The profiling seems to work differently on 21Cn from those on 20CN
On 21CN the profile is set at 88.2% of the sync speed instantanously.
on 20CN it's the old system of the profile reacting to changes in sync eventually once the change has been maintained for.. is it 72 hours.