That modem always gave me grief, but I didn't know enough to recognise it at the time. I'd definitely try a new one if Spark says you're supposed to be on ADSL2.
andrewNZ: That modem always gave me grief, but I didn't know enough to recognise it at the time. I'd definitely try a new one if Spark says you're supposed to be on ADSL2.
I feel ya. Definitely time to invest in something a bit more modern.
i seem to recall that modem is one of the ones that is iffy on cabinets (and fine on the older broadcom exchanges, dunno if the exchanges moved to the same chipset as the cabinets though) and adsl2+ doesn't work unless interleaving is disabled on your line.
given the line attenuation you can probably get vdsl. but you can also probably get a 1.5x boost in download speed by getting interleaving disabled. (i think those modems struggle with "fast" adsl2+ connections too)
it shouldn't do any harm if it doesn't help. using a different modem would also work :)
if that fails you may have to upgrade firmware too... if you were on conklin you'd be getting even worse speeds.
but yeah, i'd get telecom to switch interleaving off first and see if it helps. usually happens overnight.
i did some googling, and i noticed a gpforums thread where someone else had similar issues, and someone else was fine on your firmware version, and the problematic user apparently got their connection fixed by upgrading firmware, but the already working user was using your firmware version too, with interleaving off. it's by memory alone about my thinking that it's interleaving related. and that doesn't contradict it, but hard to know :)
my memory also says that on cabinets there was half the sync rate on upload until telecom did some kind of firmware upgrade on the cabinets. (like 400 odd), so exchange to exchange to cabinet made things worse. (this is assuming lantiq ar7 chipset btw, basically the same problems as some old d-links)
apparently wag200gv1 is lantiq, so v2 may be different. it should say what version it is on the bottom.
even if you get adsl2+ going, you may find a 20% sync rate / throughput improvement on download on top of the adsl2+ improvement by moving to a common broadcom chipset modem. (so like 15 megabit with linksys, 18 megabit with tp-link 8960n)
attenuation is often represented strangely too as i recall. and you have lower upload atteunation than i had before shifting to vdsl and getting 40 megabit sync..
Yeah I came across that exact thread in fact while digging around for a fix. The relief of finding someone with the exact same issue/hardware only to find that their solution is of completely no use haha. The modem doesn't make any mention of which version it is unfortunately. All references simply refer to the device as WAG200G.
Live chat with Spark (once I managed to get it working) got me nowhere. Just suggested that I call tech support so I'm going to do that right now (if they're open). I imagine the suggestion will eventually boil down to purchasing a new modem. Though if it is possible to get VDSL at my address then signing up for a 12 month contract would grant me one free of charge. Though I suppose I'll never know until I get a technician out here. Thanks again for all the help folks!
Yeah I came across that exact thread in fact while digging around for a fix. The relief of finding someone with the exact same issue/hardware only to find that their solution is of completely no use haha. The modem doesn't make any mention of which version it is unfortunately. All references simply refer to the device as WAG200G.
Live chat with Spark (once I managed to get it working) got me nowhere. Just suggested that I call tech support so I'm going to do that right now (if they're open). I imagine the suggestion will eventually boil down to purchasing a new modem. Though if it is possible to get VDSL at my address then signing up for a 12 month contract would grant me one free of charge. Though I suppose I'll never know until I get a technician out here. Thanks again for all the help folks!
well you should be able to just ask to have interleaving disabled. at least in the past there was no cost associated with such. it'll reduce your ping regardless of whether it fixes the issue. if it doesn't say a version it usually means it's the first version, it's usually subsequent versions that are labelled properly :)
if you get a tech out then they'll probably issue you a no fault found fee. and it's likely to be the modem rather the connection. do you know someone you can borrow a modem from to test? disabling interleaving doesn't need a tech visit.
Yeah I came across that exact thread in fact while digging around for a fix. The relief of finding someone with the exact same issue/hardware only to find that their solution is of completely no use haha. The modem doesn't make any mention of which version it is unfortunately. All references simply refer to the device as WAG200G.
Live chat with Spark (once I managed to get it working) got me nowhere. Just suggested that I call tech support so I'm going to do that right now (if they're open). I imagine the suggestion will eventually boil down to purchasing a new modem. Though if it is possible to get VDSL at my address then signing up for a 12 month contract would grant me one free of charge. Though I suppose I'll never know until I get a technician out here. Thanks again for all the help folks!
well you should be able to just ask to have interleaving disabled. at least in the past there was no cost associated with such. it'll reduce your ping regardless of whether it fixes the issue. if it doesn't say a version it usually means it's the first version, it's usually subsequent versions that are labelled properly :)
if you get a tech out then they'll probably issue you a no fault found fee. and it's likely to be the problem over the connection. do you know someone you can borrow a modem from to test? disabling interleaving doesn't need a tech visit.
Can definitely borrow another modem, probably should've tried that already. Wasn't aware that I could even request to have interleaving disabled, might inquire over live chat and see if they can make it happen. Any chance of an ELI5 on what interleaving is exactly?
Yeah I came across that exact thread in fact while digging around for a fix. The relief of finding someone with the exact same issue/hardware only to find that their solution is of completely no use haha. The modem doesn't make any mention of which version it is unfortunately. All references simply refer to the device as WAG200G.
Live chat with Spark (once I managed to get it working) got me nowhere. Just suggested that I call tech support so I'm going to do that right now (if they're open). I imagine the suggestion will eventually boil down to purchasing a new modem. Though if it is possible to get VDSL at my address then signing up for a 12 month contract would grant me one free of charge. Though I suppose I'll never know until I get a technician out here. Thanks again for all the help folks!
well you should be able to just ask to have interleaving disabled. at least in the past there was no cost associated with such. it'll reduce your ping regardless of whether it fixes the issue. if it doesn't say a version it usually means it's the first version, it's usually subsequent versions that are labelled properly :)
if you get a tech out then they'll probably issue you a no fault found fee. and it's likely to be the problem over the connection. do you know someone you can borrow a modem from to test? disabling interleaving doesn't need a tech visit.
Can definitely borrow another modem, probably should've tried that already. Wasn't aware that I could even request to have interleaving disabled, might inquire over live chat and see if they can make it happen. Any chance of an ELI5 on what interleaving is exactly?
interleaving is basically delay introduced to bundle multiple packets up together and send redundant information in case some of the information is lost. i don't know how to make it sound simple if i get into any technicalities. it's like raid for the network - some of your data can do missing, but you still receive all the information intact. but it has to wait for more data in order to balance it out.
for more technical description you can read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_error_correction#Interleaving
Cheers mate, interesting stuff. I suppose once I have another modem to test on it will reveal whether or not the WAG200G is the culprit. Assuming it was, would a modem like the one you mentioned earlier be a worthy investment? http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=18755
If I could manage anywhere around the 15mbit down range I'm not sure I would even bother looking into VDSL at this point. Getting ahead of myself anyway. I'll give another modem a crack over the w/e and see what comes up.
Yes it could infact be your modem. They are not all the same even though there are so many out there that say ADSL/ADSL2+ speeds can vary a lot.
I have used a free isp provided modem before, and although it was ADSL2+ I got about 6.7mbps downstream sync. When I tried a better modem. I got 12-14mbps.
See if you can borrow a modem off someone to try it out. If there are people in your area with VDSL then you should be getting a better speed than what you said on ADSL.
Also having a master filter installed would most definitely help as you mentioned you had a few filters on your line? If your ISP says VDSL is available in your area, then when they install it you should get a master filter. Otherwise you will have to pay to have one installed but there are many threads on here where getting a master filter has solved a lot of sync speed issues.
LinksNZ: Cheers mate, interesting stuff. I suppose once I have another modem to test on it will reveal whether or not the WAG200G is the culprit. Assuming it was, would a modem like the one you mentioned earlier be a worthy investment? http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=18755
If I could manage anywhere around the 15mbit down range I'm not sure I would even bother looking into VDSL at this point. Getting ahead of myself anyway. I'll give another modem a crack over the w/e and see what comes up.
well they sync fast. i'm using one. but i don't think i can recommend them anymore really. i've got vdsl+adsl ( dual connections) and the vdsl is much more stable. the adsl modem sometimes gets into funny states and syncs but gets high error count and doesn't get ppp. resyncing a few times fixes it and then it stays stable. but every time there's a power cut or something you don't want to have to screw around getting internet to go again. (i'm using it as backup though)
if you get around 15 megabit i'd just opt for vdsl. it seems more stable generally, not just me but for others too. even if you only get 20/3 with vdsl versus 15/1 with adsl it's likely to perform a lot better.
the 8960v1 seemed a bit more stable, but syncs a bit slower, and runs a bit hotter. i have one of those somewhere too, but i just got another vdsl modem, and going to upgrade the adsl connection to vdsl. even as far as backup connection goes vdsl is better. :) and now days even just doing a skype video call can saturate adsl upload bandwidth on it's own. the problem is, every single broadcom adsl modem i've had has been a little bit unstable. until the cabinets came into play the ar7 chipset modems like yours were definitely stable. where i am now, the stability is good, but in the past i found that it was partially about how fast it could resync when lines conditions changed dramatically. whereas vdsl seems to just cope with whatever line conditions.
if you can't get adsl2, (ie it doesn't work with another modem) then it's likely you can't get vdsl either, and i'd just stick with what you have.
LinksNZ: Cheers mate, interesting stuff. I suppose once I have another modem to test on it will reveal whether or not the WAG200G is the culprit. Assuming it was, would a modem like the one you mentioned earlier be a worthy investment? http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=18755
If I could manage anywhere around the 15mbit down range I'm not sure I would even bother looking into VDSL at this point. Getting ahead of myself anyway. I'll give another modem a crack over the w/e and see what comes up.
well they sync fast. i'm using one. but i don't think i can recommend them anymore really. i've got vdsl+adsl ( dual connections) and the vdsl is much more stable. the adsl modem sometimes gets into funny states and syncs but gets high error count and doesn't get ppp. resyncing a few times fixes it and then it stays stable. but every time there's a power cut or something you don't want to have to screw around getting internet to go again. (i'm using it as backup though)
if you get around 15 megabit i'd just opt for vdsl. it seems more stable generally, not just me but for others too. even if you only get 20/3 with vdsl versus 15/1 with adsl it's likely to perform a lot better.
the 8960v1 seemed a bit more stable, but syncs a bit slower, and runs a bit hotter. i have one of those somewhere too, but i just got another vdsl modem, and going to upgrade the adsl connection to vdsl. even as far as backup connection goes vdsl is better. :) and now days even just doing a skype video call can saturate adsl upload bandwidth on it's own. the problem is, every single broadcom adsl modem i've had has been a little bit unstable. until the cabinets came into play the ar7 chipset modems like yours were definitely stable. where i am now, the stability is good, but in the past i found that it was partially about how fast it could resync when lines conditions changed dramatically. whereas vdsl seems to just cope with whatever line conditions.
if you can't get adsl2, (ie it doesn't work with another modem) then it's likely you can't get vdsl either, and i'd just stick with what you have.
Plenty of things to look into, cheers for all of the advice.
So after getting in contact with Spark via Live chat it turns out that the cabinet I'm connected to has yet to be upgraded and is only capable of ADSL1.
Excerpt from the live chat:
[14:47] Paul: Ah yes, unfortunately the Spring Creek exchange where you're connected hasn't been upgraded yet sadly. I checked on the Chorus maps as well and it's not in the immediate plans for an upgrade but hopefully down the track at some stage
[14:49] You: Well, that's a shame. Guess there's not much I can do about that. On the chorus map there is another cabinet a km or two back towards town and a number of homes which sit inside a >20mb+ zone that I'm just outside by a few hundred metres. Does this cabinet connect to a different exchange?
[14:52] Paul: Ah yes, it does but I've just realised I was mistaken. You're running off a cabinet which also goes back to the Spring creek exchange, not off the main exchange. It's the cabinet which hasn't been upgraded yet and is not in the immediate plans
[14:54] You: Oh well. This pretty much excludes me from any other service besides ADSL1 correct?
[14:55] Paul: Sadly yes, the newer equipment needs to be installed before VDSL becomes available. Fibre is probably a way off at this stage as well
So I suppose that's that. With no immediate plans for upgrades I'm stuck on ADSL1 for the foreseeable future. Honestly if it hasn't been upgraded by now, I don't suspect there's any chance of an upgrade until fibre makes it here... God knows that isn't happening any time soon. Anyway, thanks everyone for chipping in. You were of tremendous help.
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