DLM - Only 6 Days ?

[Ratchet]

My O2 broadband was connected up on 4th Feb and I got the line status email from O2 yesterday (10th Feb). Does this mean my DLM period has now finished ? The pre-install estimate was 11 Meg so I decided to go for the Premium package but the email tells me that my line can only handle 8 Meg (although I rebooted the router today and it is syncing at 9192 / 1192). My Dilema is - drop down to Standard and lose out on the 3 free months or stay on Premium for the extra texts / AV licenses. Costs in the first year would work out roughly the same so I'll probably just stay on Premium.

[Saturday]

O2's DLM lasts from just a couple of days to up to 10 days. If you've had the email then that would indicate that it has finished. To be honest, what we are calling DLM is in reality only a fairly simple line check over an extended period. O2 don't call it DLM, they call it what it is, a line check. If they thought you could get 11meg before connection then it could well be that you need to do a little work on your wiring - then you'd probably get it.

Odd that they thought you might only want Standard rather than Premium - a meg is a meg (with apologies to Terry/Time Gentlemen Please).

[Ratchet]

Originally Posted by Saturday

If they thought you could get 11meg before connection then it could well be that you need to do a little work on your wiring - then you'd probably get it.

I'm already straight into the master socket using a BT branded ADSL faceplate. Is there anything else to take into consideration ?

I might take it off and check the wiring at the back for anything obvious.

[Saturday]

What is your attenuation, sync and noise margin? They would give an indication of what might be possible - though if you're plugged directly into a master filtered faceplate it sounds like any noise is in your BT line.

[Ratchet]

Here are my stats after a reboot around 8 o'clock last night.

Uptime: 0 days, 19:04:24

DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,200 / 9,118

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

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

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 23.0 / 42.5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 6.5 / 8.0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM

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

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

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

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 57 / 208,979

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 57 / 320

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 62 / 232

The line attenuation on the downlink is higher than it ever was with Sky (was constantly 41.0). Is this likely to be down to changes in hardware at my end or theirs ?

[Saturday]

Different routers will report the attenuation differently so the 1.5db change could be accounted for by that.

With an attenuation of 42.5db the maximum possible sync is ~10meg so you're not far off that. Your noise margin was a shade above default at the time you took those stats and I'd expect if you rebooted at a quiet time of day (line noise-wise) you'd see that 10meg.

I doubt there's anything you could easily do (or get done) which would get you higher speed than you currently have.

[Ratchet]

Originally Posted by Saturday

I doubt there's anything you could easily do (or get done) which would get you higher speed than you currently have.

OK, thanks for all your help. I'm still going to check the wiring behind the socket just in case and will also have a go with a reflashed Sky router.

[Saturday]

Definitely worth a try. Some people report better speeds with the Netgear.

[Ratchet]

Just checked the wiring of the BT master socket and it's fine. Reflashed my old Sky router and hooked it up. Even though the attenuation has gone up (now 43.0db / 6.7db) it's syncing at a higher rate - 9521. I'll reboot tomorrow morning to see if I can get an even higher sync.

I'm still puzzled about the attenuation though, this same router had a constant rate of 41.0db with Sky. Of course I was ADSL2 with Sky not ADSL2+, would this account for the difference in attenuation ?

[Saturday]

Yes, the ADSL mode will make a difference to the attenuation reading as it is dependent on the frequency being measured. Typically ADSL2+ will read 3-4db more than G.DMT (aka ADSL1).

I doubt you were on ADSL2 with Sky as they only offer G.DMT or ADSL2+. If you were on ADSL2 then that's very odd and probably a router issue rather than a Sky issue.

Don't get too excited by the increase in sync. I doubt it's the router, more likely just a change in current line noise levels (varies through the day which means sync will too following a reboot). Of course, could be the router. Just hard to tell.