First MPUK ADSL Max User

[{BA} Red Plague]

Well I arrived home today and got a nice surprise of a connection speed of 4Mb, up from 1Mb. With standard ADSL I could not go any higher than 1Mb (according to BT) so its nice to see the line can handle it.

I have only been using it for a couple of hours and my fastest download has been 385Kb/ps, which if I am correct is about 4Mb. I think there is still more in it if I can get a good enough server to download from.

The estimates for ADSL max are between 3 and 8 Mb, so I presume those with lines that can handle 2 Mb will get somewhere between 6 and 8.

So for those who are stuck on 512k or 1Mb, theres hope for you yet when this gets fully rolled out.

Thansk to GeeDee for all his work in getting my initial connection and ADSL max sorted.

[{BA} Red Plague]

Was having connection interputs earlier whilst playing Cod2... just noticed that the connection has dropped to 3.2 Mb... seems more stable now.

[Cabe]

apparently it takes a while to "train" the line, once its got it locked its usually GTG.

[bvark]

There are quite a few lines where the target SNR margin has to be adjusted by BT in order to keep the line stable during impulse noise events. I hope they've factored that in to their launch plans.

Retraining is *not* part of normal DSL operation.

[Mastacheif]

my 4mbit does 512kb/s maxed so some speed drop some where

[{BA} Red Plague]

OK its changed again, back to the higher level... gonna try some cod2 to see if its stable.

For anyone who can make sense of some of this, heres what my router is reporting...

Protocol
Operation Mode G.DMT
ADSL State Showtime

Rate
Downstream 4416 kbps
Upstream 448 kbps

SNR
SNR 6 dB

ATEN
ATEN Downstream 52 dB
ATEN Upstream 31 dB

Loop Distance
Loop Distance 10 K ft.

Near end
FEC 0
CRC 780
HEC 344

Far end
FEC 3
CRC 17
HEC 8

Packet Counter
Transmit Packets 26254510
Receive Packets 29688478

[Bonkers]

From what I remember its the attenuation thats the important factor - when ADSL first came out - they wouldnt allow people with + 60db of noise to pass. 52db isnt bad - but its probably one of the reasons you cant get any higher than 4mb - mines about 35ish @ home - on 2mb - so im assuming they will whack me right up to 8mb if/when they upgrade the exchange

[{BA} Red Plague]

Interesting, but the downstream connection keeps changing, and everytime it does I loose connection to a gaming server. Does the condition of your line inside the hosue effect the ATEN at all? The wiring coming into the hosue could do with a clean up (I seen it when lifting the floor boards)... the cable was snapped and seems to be put together by wrappign the cables together and covering them with tape...

I know this is to be expected for a trial service, so I am not complaining.

[GeeDee]

Thanks for the feedback - please keep it coming. :)

With regards to speeds changing, this is the info I have on this that seems relevant:


Maximum Stable Rate (MSR)

The downstream rate adaptive rate will be monitored over the first 10 days of the service to ascertain the Maximum Stable Rate achieved on the line. This will be rounded down to the nearest 0.5Mbit/s (based on steps set on BT BRAS) even if the DSL rate
adapted line rate is slightly higher. This MSR is the highest rate you should expect the service to adapt to under normal conditions, and will be supplied to you on or before day 10 of the
service.

As the Maximum Stable Rate is calculated during the first 10 days of service the End User’s CPE must have been connected during that period and have synced up to the DSLAM at least once (for a period of at least 15 minutes). If this has not been achieved, no Maximum Stable Rate (and associated Fault Threshold Rate) will be set and faults only accepted if the line rate is below 288kbit/s . Attempts will be made, on a rolling 10 day period (ie every tenth day), to set the Maximum Stable Rate if this could not be set initially.

The longer the period that the end user CPE has been synced up to the DSLAM, then the more accurate the Maximum Stable Rate set will be. Those End Users who have not been synced up for extended periods of time to allow us to monitor the performance over different days, and during different times of the day, are likely to have their Maximum Stable Rate changed once this information becomes available.



Rate Adaptation – Things you need to note

1. Rate Adaptive (RA) line rate (speed) is purely the rate which is set up between the DSLAM and the End Users CPE, and should not be confused with the end to end data throughput for IPstream Max services. The throughput during congestion time of Max services operating at lines rates of 2Mbit/s or above will be the same as experienced on the current fixed rate 2Mbit/s products (ie IPstream Home 2000 or IPstream Office 2000), irrespective of the RA line rate set. Throughput issues for Max services operating at lines rates of 2Mbit/s or above shall be dealt with in line with the current available process for IPstream Home 2000. The throughput during congestion time of Max services operating at below 2Mbit/s will be similar (no
worse) to that of current IPstream Home/Office equivalent fixed rate service (ie a line rate adapting to 500K should give a service no worse that the current IPstream 500 equivalent). Throughput issues for Max services operating at lines rates below 2Mbit/s shall be dealt with in the same manner as provided for End User Access options other than Home 2000.

2. A feature of the RA service is that an “End User’s” CPE will be forced to re-train on occasions. This is not a fault, it is a function of Rate Adaptation. Forced (automatic) re-trains of End User’s CPE to the DSLAM occurs when the line no longer supports the
previously set up line rate (ie it is below the noise threshold set for the rate). During the trial, a noise margin of the service will be ascertained which gives a balance of achieving the highest RA line rate but minimises the number of retrains required during normal operation. However a reduction in normal re-training of the CPE (ie End User turning the CPE off, and then later on) will minimise the number of forced re-trains occurring.

3. The End User’s CPE will not automatically re-train when the line improves and can support a higher line rate. Therefore before reporting an end user line rate related problem, it is strongly suggested that a manual re-sync of the CPE is conducted to see if the line can now support a higher line rate.

4. Re-training of the “End Users” CPE (ie modem) will cause a service outage of up 2 minutes (average of 1 minute).

[GeeDee]

Oh - and it would be good if you could run a few speed tests on the ADSL Guide site ( here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp) ) to see how downstream / upstream levels look. :)

[{BA} Red Plague]

They aint looking too hot...

Downstream 1394 Kbps (174.3 KB/sec) 1505 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 389 Kbps (48.6 KB/sec) 420 Kbps (inc. overheads)

I am able to download at 350+ Kb/ps, not sure why the test is showing the connection to be small.

Edit: According to my router, my downstream has dropped again, will retest when it gos back over 4Mb.

[{BA} Red Plague]

Looking slightly better...

Downstream 2341 Kbps (292.6 KB/sec) 2528 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 383 Kbps (47.9 KB/sec) 413 Kbps (inc. overheads)