ADSL speed sucks. Do I have any options?

Prophet

Prophet

Prophet

Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2004
Posts
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Location
Notts
My ADSL is limited to 1Mbit due to a dodgy phone line from my house. The SNR is just within the 1Mbit limit! There's no cable as they missed my estate out so I'm stuck with something that relies on a phone line.

Currently I'm with Freedom to Surf which is OK but I really want more speed as topping out at just over 100K/sec is pretty poor, especially for an IT geek like me!

So, do I have any options? Are there other ADSL services that are more forgiving of a nasty SNR. ADSL2?

TIA :)
 
Orange Peel said:
Draytek Vigor 2600
Click to expand...

Well, you won't get a much better router than that. I used one for many years before I moved to Be* and it was rock solid and reliable.

How far as you from the telephone exchange?
 
Selekt0r said:
Well, you won't get a much better router than that. I used one for many years before I moved to Be* and it was rock solid and reliable.

How far as you from the telephone exchange?
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I mapped it out as about 1.5K following the path of the roads.
 
1.5K shouldn't be a problem so the actual cabling might be bad. I'm that sort of distance from the exchange and my 2600 synced (sank?) at over 7Mb/s although I'm still on a 2Mb service. Do you know if the cabling is copper or if you're unlucky enough to be in one of the few areas that still have aluminium?

I don't think it'll matter who you use as your ISP as the signalling stuff is all done by the same equipment in the exchange before it gets to the ISP's servers.
 
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First thing to do is check your router details and enter them here:

http://www2.farina1.com/adsl/default.aspx

Next, check your internal wiring. http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/lowSNR.htm

Check filters, check the master socket and disconnect the ring wire (if it's connected). If your router is connected on a long run of extension cable then try connecting the router on a short cable to the phone socket and using a long piece of CAT5/5e cable back to your PC instead.

It's not the physical distance between your house and the exchange that counts, it's the route of the phone line. You may be 10m's from an exchange but your line goes the long way round and ends up being 5km long.

The condition of the line also affects the speed as you know. If it's really poor (noise/hiss/crackles) then it may be worth reporting the line as faulty and seeing if BT can find any faults.
 
Zico said:
If it's really poor (noise/hiss/crackles) then it may be worth reporting the line as faulty and seeing if BT can find any faults.
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Frankly, if there is any audible noise on your voice line (do a "quiet test" using 17070) then get BT out to look at your line. They won't do anything at all if you complain of low ADSL speeds, but if you get noise on the line then they are obliged to investigate/resolve it.
 
Snapshot said:
1.5K shouldn't be a problem so the actual cabling might be bad. I'm that sort of distance from the exchange and my 2600 synced (sank?) at over 7Mb/s although I'm still on a 2Mb service. Do you know if the cabling is copper or if you're unlucky enough to be in one of the few areas that still have aluminium?

I don't think it'll matter who you use as your ISP as the signalling stuff is all done by the same equipment in the exchange before it gets to the ISP's servers.
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I believe its a copper line to the house. Just a very poor one!
 
Zico said:
/snip
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Current Line Sync (connection) speed in Kilo bits per second (Kbps)
1152000
Downstream Line Attenuation (dB)
62.5
Noise Margin, sometimes referred to as Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
13.5

We estimate that if using a rate adaptive up to 8Mbps service your maximum line speed will be:8128Kbps

If you are on a Max product, that uses the IP Profile system (sometimes called BRAS Data Rate) if you maintain the above line speed for 3 days or more your IP Profile would be set to: 7.15Mbps

If your service provider uses ADSL2+ we estimate you may manage line speeds of:8128Kbps

With ADSL2+ the maximum IP throughput is likely to be around: 7193Kbps




The phone line is quiet with no noise etc :(
 
No chance of getting any higher (stable) speed as it stands with those stats, but the guestimator result is interesting.

You could always try getting another line installed in the hope it'll be better than your original, then cancel the original if the new line is better.

Not sure how much that would set you back though.

edit:

Have you tried at the master socket using the test port behind the bottom half of the face plate (new style)? If it's the old style try disconnecting any extensions connected to the master socket.
 
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DId you mention the moden you are using? A Broadcom chipset can do wonders for a line Netgear 834N or the Speedtouch 780WL
 
Orange Peel said:
Current Line Sync (connection) speed in Kilo bits per second (Kbps)
1152000
Downstream Line Attenuation (dB)
62.5
Noise Margin, sometimes referred to as Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)
13.5
Click to expand...

As you've mentioned in your first post you are on a fixed 1mb connection in which case the line sync would be 1152 instead of 1152000 :).

It would seem you are on a rather long line and with the right sync speed in the checker your results would be:

BT MAX
Upto: 1861Kbps
IP Profile: 1.5Mbps

ADSL2+: 2203Kbps
ADSL2+ Throughput: 1950Kbps

Regarding ADSL2+, the results are a bit redundant to you at the moment considering most ADSL2+ ISPs won't take you on as a customer due to the long line length. There isn't much benefit to having ADSL2+ beyond ~3.5km anyway. Depending on what BT Wholesale do with the 21CN (21st Century Network) then you're pretty much stuck with what you have for the near future.

I'm in a similar situation myself (1mb fixed, ~61db Down Att. ~15db SNR).

Phil99 said:
No chance of getting any higher (stable) speed as it stands with those stats, but the guestimator result is interesting.
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He has just got the sync speed wrong in the checker, see above.
 
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Zico said:
He has just got the sync speed wrong in the checker, see above.
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Ah, I misinterpreted his post, I thought the values were what he got from his router and the estimates were from the BT phone line checker :o
 
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