Low Noise margin - problem?

[Bry]

Hi, I have been looking at my router stats lately which are:

Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed : 7808 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation: 37 db 10.5 db
Noise Margin: 6 db 25 db

since i never seem to be downloading at over 4mb, except early in the mroning (4-5am). On further investigation i believe this to be my ISP throttling (eclipse who use Tiscali )

However, i noticed i have a very low downstream noise margin 6 db. Which i am concerned about. After a bit of research i have learned this could cause frequent disconnects and other problems. At the moment I am usign a Netgear Dg834GT Router and have zero disconnects. But, i am thinking of getting a wireless router soon when i move to BE and do not want my low noise margin to be a problem.

I had ADSL fitted soon after it was released and had a BT engineer come round and install it.
He fitted a proper faceplate and wired it up in the living room (the master socket is in the hallway near the door).

I have tried the following in order to increase my Noise Margin:

Already using proper face socket
Tried plugging router directly into the facesocket instead of the extension - this made zero difference.
Tried rebooting router several times to see if my sync rate would decrease and noise margin increase - it did not change. Sometimes I might sync as low as 6900 but my noise margin again does not change and I merely believe this to be the time of day (i.e. how busy the ISP is) as to what i Sync at.

Is there any other way I can improve my Noise margin. The reason being 2 days ago in the bad weather I had a disconnect (extremly rare) which never happens unless there is soemthing wrong with my ISP. And when I checked my stats my Nosie margin was 3 db So obviously it was affected by the bad weather.

 

[tolien]

Your SNR margin isn't a problem, especially if your connection doesn't drop out.

Your sync rate has nothing to do with your ISP, and a rate adaptive service is designed to run at the lowest SNR margin it can get away with. The "advice" that an SNR margin of around 6dB will lead to frequent disconnects is utter crap.

 

[IAmATeaf]

As pointed above you are worrying over nothing. ADSL Max using an adaptive range which is governed by how reliable and strong your connection is. If the line can keep a stable connection at a 6db SNR margin then there's no problem, the margin will automatically increase if you start to have problems.

You're also getting good connection rates, I have the same router stats except my upstream line att is 11db and the highest I've ever managed to sync is around 6400 bps.

 

[CurlyWhirly]

Your SNR margin isn't a problem, especially if your connection doesn't drop out.

Your sync rate has nothing to do with your ISP, and a rate adaptive service is designed to run at the lowest SNR margin it can get away with. The "advice" that an SNR margin of around 6dB will lead to frequent disconnects is utter crap.

Agreed.

My SNR margin is at 6 dB through the day but falls to only 3 or 4 dB in the evenings and I rarely get problems on a 4000 Kbps sync on a 54 dB attenuated line.

 

[IAmATeaf]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that if your connection becomes unstable then the SNR margin will automatically rise but obviously at the cost of the sync speed.

 

[Bry]

Ok sounds good. thanks for the information people, I thought mine was a little low but, i guess it doesnt matter