DSL speed rates - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: snarkysparky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2017, 05:35:29 pm
content: My DSL line has gone to utter crap. I call and complain and they say that my line is bad and they need to send someone out.But.... Soon as I hand up the phone I am getting speeds better that I pay for. WTF ??So I call back and cancel the technician. Next day it's back to bad. I think they have a bottleneck somewhere and are just trying to appease customers.Oh and I kid you not the sound of keys typing is added to the audio while you interface with the computerized voice recognition system.Does this sound right to you.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2017, 06:47:22 pm
content: Have you checked the speed just after making other calls? It could be that the off-hook condition is temporarly inproving a dodgy connection on the line.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 11, 2017, 07:45:44 pm
content: Clean all the phone sockets on your side of the demarc, and check all the punch down connections your side are in order, the line filters are installed and that the phones are plugged into the phone side, not the DSL side. Drop of contact cleaner on all plugs and sockets on the phones, including the handset ones so there is no poor contact around your side. Modem clean sockets, check the power supply does not have bad caps or a dodgy power connection.Then once this all is done, and if there still is noise on the line then it is a TELCO issue, and tell them that your side is fine, so they should check the demarc side, check the local pole or street box connection ( depends on how your area is if buried or overhead) and that there is no problems in any taps down to the SDLAM side.At work I know almost all the points from the DEMARC to the exchange, and point them at the most likely point around the corner, where there is a massive 3M frame that connects all the area to the exchange 1000 pair PISWA cable, which is almost a century old copper, but pretty much nearly fault free.

author: snarkysparky
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 02:17:48 pm
content: How could they make it better instantly if it were my local wiring.

author: KeepItSimpleStupid
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 11:14:47 pm
content: The house is full of quad wire with a whole bunch of "phone" locations. A splitter at the NID and that point wired to the modem essentially fixes nearly all of the DSL internal wiring issuesOne repair guy came back and said, I just removed 1000' from your connection and brings mm back "the problem", Bugs, insects,rodents, dry rot had really did in a connection."Close to home" or "home" phone issues were bugs and water, The bugs make nests in the jacks and the overhead junction boxes.I had to do "this" once. I took the DSL modem and plugged it into the NID because the telco kept saying it was "my wiring".At some point, "a protector" had died. That wasn't a fault, I was used to trouble-shooting.Your DSL provider typically has you by your "short hairs" because they don't allow you access to much needed info. The number one thing you care about is the "link speed" reported by the modem. That's essentially the link to the DSLAM.You can generally get some idea of the inside Ethernet health by pinging the router with large packets like 8192 long.I operate DSL in bridge mode, so when I ping my public IP from outside of my network, the path doesn't even follow the ATM link and wire link. It stops about 5 miles away in another state. If I ping my public IP address from within my network, I'm traversing the copper and the ATM link.I THINK it's different if my modem obtains the public IP address.DSL can effectively be improved by adding equalizer.The deal where I am is that the copper is 60 years old typically and no one is using it anymore, so you can hope they find a good pair. If fiber is available they won't sell you DSL. I'm grandfathered.The "telco" line test (No DSL) tells them something. There is a 1/2 ringer in the NID, so when they do the test with the inside of the house disconnected, then they can really tell something.I do have a Tempo Sidekick now, so i can do a lot of easy tests. I don't know the test-tone phone numbers, e.g. 1Khz, silent line, line identify, and call back.What line can be emulated. There other number that will tell you where your calling from. Call back can be handled with a cell phone. I also can't disconnect the CO. The silent line can be emulated briefly by dialing a single digit.Internal faults are the pits and that I need to be able to improve. So water and bugs and a nest of a baseboard telco jack. Loose wires.I have TWO junction blocks, bit installed by the telco in the late 60's. Disconnecting 1/2 the phones is easy. So, once you discover leakage, you have to disconnect to find the parallel path. It could be a phone off hook. I have plans to upgrade.Some stuff can get messy without a central demarcation point. Anwsering machines. Fax machines and alarm systems.One DSL problem was due to fiber from the DSLAM. The link speed was full-up. I sometimes have name-server problems, so i switch to a google name server.To help me trouble-shoot DSL problems in bridge mode, I have a second DSL modem set in non-bridge mode that I can easily swap with a low lying place to "plug-in". It was easy until the ceiling keyhole screw holes broke.Eventually, it will be easier when I can push a few buttons to swap the DSL modems.telco is easy to troubleshoot with the right tools. "They" designed it that way. it's important to know how the NID works especially when a filter is involved.Sometimes you need access to the TELCO only side too. In some cases you need those funky telco alligator clips.The splitter is basically a frequency splitter. The like 0 to 100 Hz goes to the phone and above that to a few MHz goes to the DSL line.Remember a max of 3 filters AND with the modem OFF and no filter or splitter, you have a regular POTS line. The DSL modem will usually work if all phones are off the hook, without a splitter or filter. if the filter/splitter is bad you will hear kind of a hiss when you pick up the phone and listen with data traffic.Just like the NID is important, the ability to connect a direct DSL modem is also important. Re-configuring is not worth the trouble. Older modems (e.g. Westel 2200) have real info.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 03:55:05 am
content: Quote from: snarkysparky on April 13, 2017, 02:17:48 pmIf it was your local wiring, then - no - they cannot make it instantly better. The suspicion is that they may prioritise your connection (for a while) to keep you happy enough to not hassle them (for a while). There is always a question on traffic volumes and congestion, but these usually have a correlation with time of day.As also suggested, the simple act of making a call might also "nudge" something to make a better contact - even if for only a short time. Such a phenomenon, however, could occur almost anywhere from your handset to the exchange.The suggestion above to check and clean all connections is one that I strongly suggest you do. It may be a pain, but itmightjust find the real culprit. Even if you don't, it's a comfort to know all is as it should be.I had a neighbour who had problems with his ADSL setup and it turned out that the phone and modem plugs on the ADSL filter had been swapped. I was talking to his ISPs tech as I checked out his phones and when I found this and swapped them, the tech reported an instant and dramatic increase in line performance. I am amazed he was able to get any connection with the way it was.Do the check and clean - and do it properly. If you find a problem, then great - but if you don't and you still have issues, then you can press your case with the telco with much more confidence.

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 04:00:22 am
content: One thing you might want to watch is the signal levels in your DSL modem - it's been long enough that I don't remember what a good level is, or what level is needed for what speeds. But somewhere in the DSL modem there should be a signal strength and signal to noise ratio figure. Like every other semi-rf-type data transmission method, this has to be above a certain level for things to work.

author: ve7xen
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 12:40:14 am
content: It's very unlikely you're somehow being 'prioritized' immediately after you make a call. This is not trivial to implement at the service provider side, and not really worth doing. I would give them the benefit of the doubt that your line conditions are the problem.What they may be doing that 'fixes it immediately' would just be retraining your port or adjusting its sync profile. This might work well for a while, but as the line conditions degrade (due to e.g. moisture ingress on a damp day, voice activity on your line [i.e. poor filtering], crosschannel interference etc.), the modem will train down to a lower sync rate. Even if conditions improve, it's fairly typical for the lower rate to remain unless a full retrain is forced. There are some knobs the ISP can tweak in this regard, but if the line conditions are poor, the symptoms you describe are fairly typical. If you have access to your modem's control panel you should be able to verify this for yourself as the modem will show lots of FEC frames and likely the sync rate will go down.So to me it sounds pretty typical, though sadly these kind of issues can be a real bear to track down.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 02:56:10 am
content: Quote from: Gyro on April 11, 2017, 06:47:22 pm^^^ This ^^^http://www.dslreports.com/faq/11821In electrical engineering this is called a dry circuit and special switches, relays, and sometimes connectors are used to prevent problems. The various connections for the copper telephone wiring can suffer from this if they were improperly done.Many years ago I had this problem with my DSL. I got full speed, 1.5M/384, when the phone was off the hook but 384/128 when the phone was not in use. So I left the phone off the hook for a couple of weeks which the phone company finally noticed encouraging them to fix the problem.

author: Red Squirrel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 03:16:06 am
content: DSL at this time can be spotty due to snow melting etc, there is probably a bad line somewhere leading to your house. Check if your neighbors have issues too it could be a cable and not just your drop.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 18, 2017, 03:21:23 am
content: Have you checked your modem's connection rate in it's configuration page.What's it's log of line quality, signal drops, error counters, Up and Down SNR Margins, Attenuation and Output power?Clear the log & go back a day later to see how the numbers have changes.How far from the Telco central are you? DSL gets crummy after 2km, aDSL fairs a little better.Is you modem connected directly to your phone line entry into your house/apartment?Has the rest of the wiring in the house been isolated by 1 master filter?At my old residence when I had 6m/768k DSL, I was just outside the 2km optimum range and only placing the modem at the entry to my house, then 2 series line filters before the rest of the house gave me a stable rate. Otherwise, randomly, when someone called me, or, I tapped the phone's hook a few times rapidly, this rate would drop and stay low unless I power-cycled the modem.Then, the telco, unknown to me, upgraded my service to 8m/1m since this was the new minimum norm. My throughput connection sucked even though the modem said 8m/768k. I had continuous speed consistency problems until I convince them to lower my service back to 6m/768k. The line signal quality was just on the edge of 8m and the system as a whole just worked much better with the baud cap at 6m instead.Now that I've upgraded to xDSL2, with 15m/10m, thing work so much better, but, I had to move to get this speed.