ADSL Problems...

I live in the sticks and felt content with my miserly 512kbps ADSL
service.

However... when my ISP offered to regrade my service following BT
reworking my exchange I jumped at the chance of 'up to 8Mbps'.

Unfortunately whilst it goes faster it's as flakey as anything.

It seems that when the linespeed is above about 3Mbps that the link
keeps dropping and needing to renegotiate.

There was a ten day 'stability period' following installation which I
*thought* was meant to establish the maximum reliable speed that the
line can operate at and then cap the service at this.

Now... when I called my ISP (Nildram) they denied this was the case and
said that the service would always go at the highest speed negotiated
between the TA and the exchange. Their position was that the problems
are because I've got the TA connected to the mastersocket via an
extension. I don't accept this is the cause of the problem (but accept
that the few dB of loss it may insert won't help things).

So... is it possible for my ISP to request that BT limit the linespeed
on my link to, say, 2.5kbps?

Failing that, is it possible for the link to be 'regraded' to a 'fixed'
2Mbps service?

It's getting irritating to the point that I'm on the verge of asking to
be switched back to 512kbps...

Any advise gratefully accepted; especially if it comes from someone with
either:

a) Specific experience in this area.
b) A sense of humour.

 

My mate who lives in a major city has exactly the same problem with
UKOnline. AFAIK the 8mb network is on EasyNet and just wasn't ready
when they started to roll it out. In his case it has stabilised and he
can now get a decent 4mb connection but in his case 8mb is a pipedream
for now.

 

so have you checked the obvious stuff :

router firmware
re-make all connections on phone line
swap micro filters and check all phones are plugged into filters
possibly re-route / eliminate extra extension wiring..

I had problems when I got upgraded to 2Mb, but it's fine at the moment
( fingers crossed )

FWIW
Pipex are being very unhelpful about upgrading me to the full line
speed, they say the delay is BT's fault. However I got a call from a
sales person the other day offering a quick upgrade if I bought their
money saving telephone service.. hmm cheers Pipex, good to know you're
looking after your loyal customers..

get real, this is UKRM ;-)

 

At the margin, it might be the problem though, and you should certainly try
to eliminate it.

I've heard tales of people swapping one make of phone extension for another
(e.g. B&Q vs Homebase) and the problem going away. Getting 8Mb/s out of
ADSL is pushing the technology fairly hard, and it doesn't take much for
things to start going awry (dodgy manufacturing, kinks in the cable, cable
runs through an area where there's lots of interference...)

Don't know how it works for BT but it certainly should be - we were able to
do it for our (LLU) customers with just a simple config change and a restart
of the CPE.

Same as above, I suspect this would be a simple config change

I would -

1. Try eliminating the extension line as the source of the problem by
plugging your modem into the master socket, if possible
2. If this works, consider recabling, or maybe siting your modem at the
master socket and using wi-fi or CAT5 to make the hop to where you'd rather
keep your PC.
3. If this doesn't work, call the ISP, tell them that you still have the same
problem despite eliminating the extension, and see what they do.

You could, of course, jump straight to step 3, but since you need to jump
through the relevant CRM hoops you'll need to *tell* them that you've tried
step 1 to no avail. To save further faffing, it might be worth telling them
that you've tried a couple of different DSL modems, too ...

 

Thanks, I was hoping I'd get this sort of advise.

The problem is that my BT termination point was on a wall that I knocked
down some years ago. It's now in the attic space and accessing it is a
right PITA.

I've got CAT5 wired from my office to the roofspace so I could put the
DSL Modem in the roof but then if I need to reset it the only method is
turning the mains power off for the whole of upstairs.

I suspect that I may well have to end up doing this...

 

Errmmmm mine only works from the master socket now. Seems that the old
internal extension wires I had cannot support high-speed traffic.
Nildram may be right for once.

 

You could connect the router to the mains through an X10 plug, and then
control it from a PC, but that's getting silly ...

 

I'm with Nildram, and took up their offer of a free upgrade to MaxDSL.
This took place about 6 weeks ago. The downside is that I now get
disconnected once or twice most days (computer on about 16 hours a
day). The upside is that I was on 512K (with a line allegedly not
capable of 1 M) whereas now I get 1.8M when things are quiet, so on
balance I'm happy.

I have an extension upstairs, but have just got a new computer with
wireless router so I may, when I get a tuit, unplug the network lead I
set it up on and go wireless, plugging in the router downstairs in the
master socket. What stops me, apart from sloth, is that my impression
(from lurking on the ADSLGuide message boards) is that a better
connection in the house may improve the speed slightly but is unlikely
to improve the reliability of the connection. This is, of course,
secondhand so may well be bollocks.