Broadband Speed Doubling

[Gosh]

With all the talk of speed doubling can anyone explain the attached results?

isptest.jpg

Seems like Digiweb are concentrating on Metro high-speed while Business customers on the DSL-Pro are just being taken for a ride (slow one at that). I'm on a 24:1 4MB package and the above results are quite common during the day, come 6pm and it's even worse - constant DSL disconnects. Unable to get connection yesterday (Sunday) until around 3pm in the afternoon.

[Sean]

Going by your frequent DSL disconnects, it seems more like an issue with your phoneline than the broadband in your area, such as a faulty or missing DSL splitter or filter.

To start with, have a look at the DSL line information on our DSL modem/router. On the ZyXEL box, this information can be found by going into the Maintenance section > Diagnostic > DSL Line. Check the noise margin levels reported for both the upstream and downstream. From what I recall, anything below 6dB is usually a sign that the DSL line is too noisy for the package you are on and may lead to drop-outs.

Next, check the physical link speeds. On the ZyXEL box, this can be displayed by going into the Maintenance section > System Status > Show Statistics. For your connection, the WAN link should be 384k upstream and 4096k downstream. If you get anything below these figures, then there is a problem with the phone line.

If you are getting decent upstream and downstream noise margins and the correct upstream and downstream links, then you will need to speak with Digiweb about the issue. Otherwise, you will need to try determining what may be causing problems with the phone line. The first thing I would suggest in this case is unplugging all equipment used on the same line as your DSL modem including the DSL filter, reboot the DSL modem and check these figures. If the issue clears up, then try re-adding the components one by one to find the culprit. I have already been to a few places where they had regular drop-outs only to find out they had some phone or extension used without a DSL filter, e.g. a Sky box, phone in the garage, etc.

One other thing worth mentioning is to check your quota usage here. Digiweb are known to restrict the available speed if one goes over their allowance over the past 30 days.

The following is what I currently get on my Digiweb 3Mb DSL link and so far I have got very similar results with every test I've performed since I changed from BT last April. You'll get this info by clicking the Advanced info at the end of the speedtest. In this screen, ensure the upstream packet loss is no greater than 1%:

[Gosh]

Sean,

Thanks for the reply. I reported a fault with Digiweb last Wednesday - 10 minutes after posting yesterday I lost both the phone line and broadband so Eircom were obviously looking at the problem. After an hour or so it returned and I ran a few speed tests and got download speeds of 2.84 - 3.1 Mbps. Now this morning this is what I get

isptest_2.jpg

From the router diagnostics I get the following

noise margin upstream: 18 db
output power downstream: 19 db
attenuation upstream: 24 db

this has always been the case and I an nowhere near any of the Digiweb quotas. Have tried all of the things you suggested about disconnecting and connecting anything sharing the same line as the router.

In 2006 I had exactly the same problems starting around April or May, all Digiweb did was to inform Eircom there was a fault and when Eircom said there was no problem on the line I was basically told to cancel when I started questioning capacity in the area (I'm on the Birr, Co. Offaly exchange) as there was nothing they could do (they did refund 1 months payment). It isn't only 2006 and now that I have experienced these problems but as of last week I have decided to switch to Eircom and have received a letter this morning saying this will be done this Friday so I'll wait to see next week if there's an improvement and post speed tests.

Ran another speed test just after posting this reply

isptest_3.jpg

Another thing that just came to mind - I said in my first post that I didn't get a connection until around 3pm on Sunday last - coincidently who was visiting the town at 4pm that day with most of the town out to greet him (and thus not using their broadband connection) - Brian Cowen himself !!

[Sean]

Hopefully with some luck, you'll see an improvement with the change, however, I have a fair feeling that it is more of an issue with the exchange than your provider. Also just note that even if no one is at home downloading, many of the bandwidth hogs may still have a large queue of files in the process of downloading via BitTorrent, eMule, etc. On the other hand, Eircom is slow in upgrading its exchanges as up until recently, Ballybofey apparently had a major bandwidth shortage.

Could you report the downstream noise margin to see what it gives (different page to the upstream info)? Going by the upstream noise margin info you posted, your uplink is better than what I'm getting here, but I'm curious to see what your downstream noise margin statistics are to check these.

[Gosh]

Upstream

noise margin upstream: 21 db
output power downstream: 19 db
attenuation upstream: 25 db


Downstream

noise margin downstream: 10 db
output power upstream: 1 db
attenuation downstream: 42 db

Was on to Digiweb yesterday around 6.45pm and whilst on the phone to the support agent I saw the router drop 4 times in about 6 minutes. Fault was cleared on line by Eircom on Monday. Yesterday was one of the worst days - dropped about 20 times during the day.

I found a ZyXel router that Digiweb had replaced the last time I was having big problems so I decided to change back to this one. It stayed connected for well over an hour and then the problem started again but not as frequently. BTW in 4 years with Digiweb I am on my 4th router. Might explain the DSL synch problems but not the cr@p speeds.

[Sean]

Going by your downstream, your DSL modem has only 10dB of margin between the signal and the line noise which is still above 6dB where problems tend to occur, however, I've seen someone with a 5dB noise margin using an Eircom router that was getting 4Mb without any problem (they had Eircom as their DSL service). Now that you are changing back to Eircom, you should get an Eircom DSL modem shortly, which hopefully will give better luck maintaining a better connection. Hopefully it will improve the speed also. Unfortunately, with such a small margin, you will unlikely get much improvement in speed once the DSL speed-increases take place.