Strange Stats & Connection

[JayAce]

Hi all.... New here but this place seems to be the fountain of knowledge!!

I've had Max connected as of 2nd Jan and was enjoying a healthy ~15000kbps sync speed and a very reliable 1.2-1.3Mbps download speed for the first few days with no blips, glitches or drops.

After 2 days of solid connection I really have been hammering the line lately (full speed downloading for maybe 12-16hrs a day) and just these past couple days the sync speed has started to drop.

I have just got these results from my Netgear Router:

Router Status
Firmware Version V2.02.44
ADSL Port
MAC Address x
IP Address ---
Network Type PPPoA
IP Subnet Mask ---
Gateway IP Address ---
Domain Name Server ---
LAN Port
MAC Address x
IP Address 192.168.0.1
DHCP On
IP Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
Modem
ADSL Firmware Version 7.03.01.66
Modem Status Connected
DownStream Connection Speed 10237 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 412 kbps
VPI 0
VCI 38
Wireless Port
Name (SSID) x
Region Europe
Channel 11
Wireless AP Enabled
Broadcast Name Enabled

System Up Time: 00:09:13
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 1818 2893 0 986 4558 00:07:35
LAN 100M/Full 3179 2978 0 4565 1259 00:09:08
WLAN 11M/54M 480 0 0 262 0 00:08:56
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 10237 kbps 412 kbps
Line Attenuation 36 db 20 db
Noise Margin 7 db 2147483647 db


Now what the hell is wrong with that upload noise margin???

I'm at a bit of a loss to be honest whats going on


Anyways, I read a few posts so decided to have a look at my physical connections and found that I have a rather odd setup for phone sockets. Basically I have 2 sockets which sit one on top of the other..... A twin socket on top and a standard BT master below.

The BT master is dead, so dial tone from the front port and none from the test port either. The top socket works on both ports. Now I popped the faceplate off the top socket and it has 2 wires (orange) going, both connect to each port (2 & 5 IIRC) then both wires head down into the master where they immediately go back into the phone cable. The master socket is hooked up onto 2 different wires (green).

Is this normal?? Well.... Not normal, but is it ok??

What's the advantage of having the master socket hooked up?? Should I swap it round??

A while ago there was 2 phone lines connected here, but now it's just the one and the other line (which used to connect into the master) is now redundant and completely dead.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

[Smithy99]

It sounds like the line that was disconnected had an extension socket off it which has now been connected to the other working line so the old master is now just being used as a terminal block to koin them.

BRIAN!!!!!! (he knows all about this sort of stuff) BRIAN!!!!!

It may be worth connecting the master up as the true master so that you are able to use the test socket and then fit a filtered faceplate.

That aside, the problem you are having at the momoent may just be DLM trying to negotiate the best connection for your line, it is running on all new installations at the moment and can take a couple of week to complete.

[Saturday]

Now what the hell is wrong with that upload noise margin???

That's the router being unable to report the correct upstream noise margin as it has dropped to zero then below. You can't have a negative noise margin figure so the router throws a wobbly.

Why has it dropped? Because the background noise on your line has increased greatly since the router synced with the exchange. Rebooting the router should clear the odd reading.

However, then there's the issue of why has the upstream margin changed so badly (and not the downstream which is more usual)? Hard to say but upstream noise margin/sync issues are generally linked to a filtering problem as upstream uses the lowest part of the available bandwidth just above that used for voice.

So, you have a line problem. Could be the odd wiring set up you describe, could be a missing or dodgy filter. Could be other things too so you'll have to eliminate potential causes one by one until you find what it is.

DLM will be running as you've only been connected 10 days but that won't be the cause of the issue you're having. It will be trying to adjust your connection to your line condition though so if you want to end up with a good speed you need to sort the problem out.

[JayAce]

Thanks for the replies guys!!

This line has been supporting an 8mb ADSL line happily for the past couple years and at the switchover of the ADSL2+ it was also fine... However to eliminate the possibility I have swapped to a microfilter which sky supplied now and still have teh same bizarre results.

Also there are no landline phones connected to this line whatsoever, is it ESSENTIAL to have a master socket?? As of right now the active line in my home comes straight in on the drop line and connects to points 2 & 5 (orange wires) of this double slave/extension socket.... The master socket is completely redundant and I could just rip it off teh wall with no affect on the broadband!! lol

Bit concerned to be honest at this noise margin so I think I best give Sky a call :-(