Poor speed/disconnects/crackles

[SimonCarbon]

I'm after a little help: I've been having erratic broadband performance for some time now but over the last week the frustration has increased because the router seems to be dropping the connection.

I was convinced it was a line problem but have been put off contacting BT Openreach in case they charge me 130 quid. There are a lot of crackles on the line but when I plug a wired phone into the master socket (old type without removable faceplate/test socket) it is way better which is what has put me off calling Openreach.

I bought a new ADSL filter today in desperation and fitted it a couple of hours ago and so far performance is better but only getting about 4.5 downstream instead of the 7 it can be on a good day. No actual disconnects yet though. Here are the stats from the Wireless 2 box in case someone can help me from these:

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 1:42:25
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,183 / 5,530
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 20.0 / 36.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 7.5 / 14.5
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 22 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 11 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 13 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 9 / 33,417
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 9 / 480
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 622,243 / 443


Thanks in advance for any help on this.

[Saturday]

Because of your previous noise issues your downstream noise margin is up at 14.5db rather than somewhere around the default 6db - this is what is limiting your downstream speed.

Reboot your router (power off then power on) and see if the downstream noise margin goes back to 6db. If it does, and it should, your downstream will be back to normal.

However, looking at your CRC errors even with that whopping noise margin, you've still got a bit of a noise problem. Fix it and with your attenuation you should be getting 10+meg. Won't be easy though as you obviously have old wiring plus an old style master socket and BT would charge you to fix it. There are some things you could do DIY but they're not straightforward.

[SimonCarbon]

Thanks for your advice. I'll try and get BT to come out and investigate the noisy line problem. Any idea how much they would charge to change my master socket to a modern one? I believe I can't do this myself as it is illegal?

[Saturday]

If your wiring problem is clearly impacting either voice or fax calls then BT will not usually charge for any work needed to remedy this. Even then it is a risk though as it seems to be down to the individual engineer to decide whether the work should be free or not. If it is only broadband that is affected then it will definitely be chargeable. Expect to have to pay £150+ for a new socket and associated wiring.

As you say, legally you can't touch anything from the backplate of your master socket outwards. This does mean however that you can legitimately add a new master off the old master and run new wiring off it. Depending on your problem this could help a lot or make no difference e.g. the problem may lie in the exchange side of your circuit.

Alternatively you may know a friendly BT engineer who'd look at it for you. I've even known people approach engineers outside the local exchange to ask a "favour".

Ultimately, you need to decide how badly your problem is affecting your connection and how far you are prepared to go to fix it.

What was the affect of rebooting the router?

[SimonCarbon]

I re-booted the router and it was still the same.

However, from lunchtime today onwards speeds have been back up to 7Mb and every time I check the phone there's no crackles. Maybe something somewhere has been fixed? Or will it come back to haunt me - I dunno yet! There have been a lot of Openreach vans a couple of streets away lately.

Thanks again for the help.

Here's the latest stats:

Link Information

Uptime: 0 days, 10:40:25

DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,213 / 8,188

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 20.0 / 36.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.5 / 3.0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 63 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 84 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 143 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 201 / 575,099

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 201 / 137

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 629,862 / 88

[Saturday]

Those stats aren't too bad now.

Your downstream noise margin has dropped as it should - maybe a bit too low so keep an eye on it. Rebooting the router again early evening will probably set it for the right amount to carry through the daily cycle. CRC errors are fine particularly considering that low noise margin.