AOL Suck, Which ISP next?

[Naaiif]

Yeh so AOL suck. Crappy 4mb download speeds max, 0.3mb upload speed, and that's on a good day. Sometimes i randomly have to reboot my router and play pick n' mix with AOL's server, sometimes i get 2mb bacj, sometimes 3, and if i'm really lucky 4mb! Lucky me!

So i'm sick and tired of it all, been with them about 4-5 years, and they've always been terrible tbh but i've just put up with it. So where to next guys? I've heard good things about Be, but my area is a problem. I live 2.10km from my exchange, and i can get up to 7 providers:

Be, Sky, Bulldog, Orange, AOL, TalkTalk and Virgin Media.

I tried the availability checker on Be's website, and they said they can provide me with 8mb. Where as AOL currently do 4mb. Sky said 3.5 mb, Bulldog said 3mb, and i didn't bother with the others.

So how can Be provide me with 8mb, where as the others can only do 4? I'm a bit miffed that the max i can get is 8mb tbh, my mate gets 18mb from be and he lives 2km away from a different exchange. Why is my case so different?

My only other choice is Virgin Media, who can provide me with 20mb. But have you seen the bandwidth throttling they do? They've got a whole chart on their website, and every scummy chav around here has Virgin Media, so I'm going to be sharing the streets bandwidth with those clowns, downloading their chris brown songs off limewire and all that jazz. I'm a big downloader myself, and i can't take that kind of throttling, so i guess Be are my only option.

Also i've heard on here that Be's supplied router sucks, so will i have to buy a new one? Mehhh, anyway thanks for listening.

 

[Naaiif]

Yeh it looks like Be are the only sane choice to go with. Uk Online said i can only get 3mb.

Why is my area so poor? What do they have against Birmingham?

Damn it. Well it's either go to Be or stay with AOHell. Might as well get bethere, even if i don't get 8mb.

 

[Naaiif]

So basically i'm screwed either way.

Great.

I don't think the length of the line is a problem, like i said my mate lives the same distance from a different exchange and he's fine. Obviously my line is some sort of poor excuse for copper.

God damn it, do you know of any way I can improve this situation somehow? Oh and i'll probably still go for Be, after all, it'll improve my upload speeds to 1.3mb, and hopefully my online games will be smoother.

 

[Naaiif]

Be* estimated my line at around 3 - 4mb, I happily sit just below 8mb.

Post your line stats. Can determine a few things.

Ooooh, now that's promising. You've made me happy. I guess what I'll do is, I'll order the Be Value package which is 8mb max, and if i get lower than 8mb, well i'll just stay on that.

BUT if i get the full 8mb most of the time, i'll see about upgrading to 24mb, and maybe i'll get a little more.

 

[Naaiif]

So the 8mb package isn't adsl 2+? Meaning i need to go for the 24mb package in order to get speeds of 8mb or more?

Ahhh it's only £4 a month more anyway.

 

[Naaiif]

The 8Mb package may or may not be on ADSL2+ (it could be G.DMT or, more likely, ADSL2+ just "capped" to 8Mbps). Either way it won't go any faster than 8 meg unless you pay Be to upgrade to the full 24Mbps package. Got those router stats handy?

Router stats? You mean my router? Or Be's provided router?

I just shot them an email asking whether their "Up To 8mb" option uses the same adsl 2+ technology as the other packages.

 

[Naaiif]

Indeed. Try http://192.168.1.1 http://192.168.0.1 and http://192.168.1.254 - one of those will likely lead you to your modem/router's config page showing your connection stats. It's a block of text containing figures such as downstream/upstream connection speed (in kbps), SNR (or Signal or Noise), Attenuation and so on. Like this:

[B]Statistics[/B] [B]
Downstream[/B] [B]Upstream[/B]
[B]Line Rate[/B] 20703 Kbps 1023 Kbps
[B]Noise Margin[/B] 3.1 dB 7.0 dB
[B]Line Attenuation[/B] 22.5 dB 11.1 dB
[B]Output Power[/B] 1.6 dBm 12.8 dBm

Yes i know of my router page, and regularly have to reboot it to get better downstream speeds from aol's server.

Here's the only line details i know of on the "Router Status" page.

ADSL Firmware Version 4.01.02.00
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 3232 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 448 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38

There's no line attenuation, or output power stats though. Can't find them anywhere. I'm on a netgear dg834g by the way.

 

[Naaiif]

Oh nice, thanks. Didn't see that button there. IT says:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 3776 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 43 db 14.5 db
Noise Margin 7 db 26 db

That good or bad?

 

[Naaiif]

It means your line's actually ~4km long (assuming it's made of copper) and you almost certainly wouldn't get 8Mbps from Be.

What? No!

How do you know that from my settings?

 

[Naaiif]

I'm starting to think my whole BT set up is horrendously screwed up. God damn.

 

[Naaiif]

Looks like i'm gonna have to take a look at that Ring Wire tomorrow. See if it can improve anything.

 

[Naaiif]

Right. Swifty55, i tried that test socket.

I plugged into my BT master socket downstairs and got the same 4mb with the same lame attenuation. BUT then i unscrewed the cover thing off the master socket, and plugged in my line into the test socket, connected to the router through the laptop and BAM i get 6mb instead of 4mb. Which would fall in line with your nice useful little graph there.

So i'm getting 4mb in the master socket, but 6mb in the TEST socket on the master socket. I'm guessing the test socket bypasses that ring wire thing? So the next step, is to disconnect this ring wire thing?

I need help doing this guys. I took a quick look before i put everything back in it's place, and i saw 3 wires. One going into terminal 2, one into terminal 5, and this other orange one in the middle somewhere in either 3 or 4.

I assume this is the ring wire? What do i do? Pull on it? Cut it?

 

[Naaiif]

Yes! I did it! I pulled out the orange wire and i'm getting 5.7mb instead of 3.8mb!

Granted i get the full 6mb, bout 300kb faster when i plug it in downstairs into the master socket, but i'll take a 300kb loss when i plug it in upstairs!

I can't believe a silly little wire has screwed me out of almost 2mb for all these years!

Thanks guys! And by the way, what do you reckon i'll see on be/02 if i get 6mb on AOL on ADSL1?

 

[Naaiif]

Great news You'll nearly always lose a little speed by using an extension, especially if it isn't a hard-wired one. Don't forget though, you've been regularly re-syncing (reconnecting) with the exchange over the course of this thread. The DSLAM may think your line's a little unstable hence it's capped you down a little. Don't disconnect again now you have your speeds back, and in a day or two you will see it rise again. Enjoy

Oh and as for ADSL2+ it's hard to say mate. Longer lines are unpredictable. You might see quite a nice rise, or it may barely rise at all and be unstable. Maybe ADSL2 (without the +) might be better. Who knows? There's only one way to really find out!

Hmmm, well i think i'll go ADSL2+ with bethere and test it out anyway, if there's no increase in download speed then it'll be worth it for the increased upload anyway.

Also this bt line was put in about 20 years ago. Do you think that has something to do with the noise rates and attenuation? My exchange is on the same road as the one i play 5-a-side football on, and that's a 5 minute drive away! It seems a bit preposterous that my line attenuation is 45db, maybe because it's 20 years old it's filled with aluminium? Or the copper has wore away over the years?

Sorry if i sound like an idiot but i have no clue about these things, i'm just taking wild guesses.

The small increase in download speed relative to your increase in sync rate should balance out in a few days.
If you check your IP profile via the BT Speedtest (instructions in sticky) you'll probably find it hasn't changed much, if at all, but it will increase provided you stay connected.

So the longer you stay connected the faster and more consistent your speed will be? And there's me thinking it was the other way round :S

 

[Naaiif]

Oh and this ring wire thing, i removed it in the master socket to great effect, but i haven't touched the extension the actual router is connected to upstairs. Would this have a ring wire in too? Should i rip it out or do i need it because it's an extension?

Thanks guys you've been a great help.

 

[Naaiif]

I dont get AOL at all either!

At the moment im measuring 6Mb DL and 363 kbps UL.

However give it until around 6pm onwards untill 10.30pm ish my internet will be anything under 1Mb...

Yeh my gaming pings are all over the place as well. I can't get good pings from either Counter-strike 1.6 or CS Source.

It's never under 40 anyway, but every 2 minutes or so it might spike from 45 to about 85, and then back down again. So annoying in a game which is so heavily reliant on a good stable connection.

I'm thinking of switching to Virgin Media.