New LLU Customer

[pekingprawn]

Hello all, been reading the forum for a while, just signed up today, some good work going on here top job folks.

Just got my LLU line (Sky Max / Unlimited) up yesterday and had a look at my stats this morning. Speed seems a bit weird? Unless they trial / change the line profile?

Going on my stats, what sort of speed should i be expecting? I'm only 750m from my exchange according to SamKnows and i've got my router hooked up to the test socket to avoid any ring circuit speed / quality issues.

Router Statistics
System Up Time: 12:52:43
Port Status TxPkts RxPkts Collisions Tx B/s Rx B/s Up Time
WAN PPPoA 239366 386692 0 0 0 12:51:38
LAN 15 0 0 0 0 12:52:43
WLAN 391567 243232 0 0 0 12:52:16
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4096 kbps 512 kbps
Line Attenuation 26.0 db 15.5 db
Noise Margin 19.2 db 14.0 db
Poll Interval: (secs)

Any help or advice appreciated!

Cheers

Scott

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

that attenuation would suggest a line longer than your straight line distance, more like 1KM, but you should see about 14-16Mbps once DLM (read the last paragraph of your welcome letter, you'll see why you're on 4Mbps to start ) has run it's course...just leave the router on in your master socket and you should be fine

[pekingprawn]

Ha! Maximum Sky predicted was 4Mbit and the maximum samknows predicted was 5Mbit!

Now that i look at the figures my attenuation is awesome so lets hope it gets cranked up over the next while!

Thanks dude

[pekingprawn]

Small update:

I thought i'd give Sky a quick email to suggest giving DLM a kickstart so my line could begin adapting to the optimum speed.

They emailed back suggesting my line was showing as capable of 16.2Mbit and that they've started the DLM at a speed of 13.4Mbit so over the next few days it will try and attain a speed of nearer 16 Mbit if the connection remains stable.

Great news and great customer support!

I replied saying thank you and asked if a fastpath profile or max delays 8 value would reduce ping times for gaming. They got back almost right away to suggest leaving it on interleaved for the purpose of attaining a better max rate and they have set my profile to max delays 8 instead.

So 13.4Mbit and going upwards with ping times of less than 15ms to the gaming servers!

Good job Sky! One very happy new customer so far, with everything from ordering Sky HD+ to Broadband tweaking.

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

You're not meant to email them during DLM and they're not meant to change it until DLM has finished so you've both been a bit naughty there...and again, your letter says it can take 72hrs to start DLM

And Sky have never used or offered fastpath

[pekingprawn]

My DLM hadnt started, i merely suggested instead of starting it at 4 that they started it at something alot nearer to the max potential rate, to cut down the time DLM takes overall.

I also suggested they start it right away, as there was a small date of activation mixup, so to reduce waiting times for the full fat product.

I've read elsewhere Sky do potentially have fastpath profiling but it reduces max downstream speeds and causes reliablity issues for customers so they dont offer it generally. Either way im sure the max delays setting has done just as good a job as a fastpath profile would for pings, but this is taken from an email from Sky...

"Thank you for your mail, I have made the adjustments to your line as requested, he path you have chosen may adversely affect your maximum speed, so I have simply reduced your max delays to 8. If you still require a switch to fastpath, please simply reply to this mail and it will be done."

Been told my actual line length is actually nearer 1.9 km so i'm very impressed with these speeds!

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

Sky ONLY offer fastpath on Connect customers - not LLU...

As you said, you went live yesterday and DLM can take 72hrs to start so there was no need to call Sky - especially as you were told that it starts at 4Mbps and goes up. You've just possibly dropped someone in it as everything done config wise is recorded and DLM may even go backwards!! There's a reason for DLM to run and it's to train the system to your line...next time, a bit of patience might do the trick

[pekingprawn]

Hmm, perhaps true on the fastpath point but i'm pretty sure DLM doesnt work that way. I'd imagine at 13.2Mbit on my clean line (26db attenuation) the SNR target has still not been reached, so it will continue to up my downstream speed until the SNR target has been attained. DLM would only knock the speed back down if there were errors produced before reaching the SNR target.

Seems to me like they planned starting DLM at 4Mbit very conservatively and starting me at 13.2Mbit just meant the adjustment period is shorter (as it doesnt have to go from 4 to 5 to 6 to 7... etc)

Now if they started DLM and 13.2 downstream was producing errors from the start, then yes DLM would go backwards and find a stable connection and work from there, but thats not the case here, it's rock solid at 13 and its on the way up towards 16 or whenever the best downstream rate has been reached that still satisfies the target SNR...

I'm a network and control systems consultant by trade, the emails that went back and forth with Sky Support were direct and to the point since we both knew what we were talking about, so i'd imagine they wouldnt try and bullsh*t me..

Anyhoo, i'll keep this thread posted with line stats, every morning and evening, will hopefully give some insight into the DLM process for us all

Cheers

[User05]

He is correct on the fastpath bit - he has worked for sky! It basically will show up as the following if that agent was to put you on fastpath:

user                                                old value                                       new value

i.want.to.lose.my.job                               interleave                                       fastpath
i.want.to.lose.my.job                               interleave                                       fastpath

People have been fired for doing this.

Sky used to start users at a high speed, but when instability and complaints rolled in, then they started at low profiles which then move up accordingly to the noise/errors on the line.

Anyway, even though the agent went through procedure, it's cool that you're happy regardless.

[pekingprawn]

haha!

Dont get me wrong though, i dont doubt the fact fastpath is only offered to Connect customers, i just stated i'd read elsewhere that they do have the capability to do it. Understandable that they dont offer it now as policy, im aware of the extra work profile changes can cause for adsl2+ providers

DLM is a pain but it has to be done i guess, im just glad its started closer to the optimum speed because i've got a lot of downloading to do tonight!