AOL Suck, Which ISP next?

[Swifty55]

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?

Hey, I'm glad you've go your connection sorted mate, it's these little things that get to you when using ADSL.

Tbh, I would recommend the move to O2/Be* as their service is miles better. You might see an increase of 1-3mb, even more depending mate, but the 1.2mb upload is worth it in my opinion.

But, if you like gaming I'd suggest Be* with Fastpath enabled, as I don't know if O2 offer fastpath yet. Unless someone corrects me otherwise?

So, now it's decision time!

 

[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

 

[tolien]

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

Almost - if you stay connected at the same speed or reconnect at the same or higher speed, your IP profile will settle down.
If your sync rate fluctuates wildly, the IP profile will drop to match the lowest sync rate and you'll likely find the DLM kicks in and increases your target SNR margin and/or enabled interleaving in an attempt to reduce the fluctuation.

Er? You didn't say anything about IP profiles and it's got nothing to do with the DSLAM...

 

[Rainmaker]

Er? You didn't say anything about IP profiles and it's got nothing to do with the DSLAM...

Almost my entire 1st paragraph was about waiting for his IP profile to come back up. DSLAM is just habit from having LLU. Only joshing anyway mate, no harm done

 

[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.

 

[tolien]

Try it and see. Worst case, it won't make any difference.

Almost my entire 1st paragraph was about waiting for his IP profile to come back up. DSLAM is just habit from having LLU. Only joshing anyway mate, no harm done

What? A DSLAM's a totally different thing - there's one there with BT Wholesale too, or you wouldn't have an ADSL service.

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

None of that has anything to do with IP profile; resynching won't in itself reduce IP profile and your IP profile is not reduced because "the DSLAM may think your line's a little unstable"...

 

[Rainmaker]

None of that has anything to do with IP profile; resynching won't in itself reduce IP profile and your IP profile is not reduced because "the DSLAM may think your line's a little unstable"...

Fair enough mate, I've not been on ipstream in donkeys. When I was with ADSL24 James told me that any resyncs, especially fairly frequent ones, would cause the BRAS profile system (is that RAMBO?) to think your line was unstable and chop your profile. I'm off to read up lol

 

[tolien]

You've got things a bit mixed up - as I said before, if you lose synchronisation often enough the DLM (RAMBO) may kick in. It'll increase your target SNR margin and/or enable interleaving.

Separately there are IP/BRAS profiles - these follow your sync rate in 500kbps or 250kbps steps. A single low sync event won't drag your IP profile down, but staying connected at a reduced sync rate will.

This is pretty much all laid out in the sticky.

 

[PyroboyUK]

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...

 

[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.