[TelstraClear] Is really what I can expect from ADSL2+ ? Anything I can do to improve it

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tasteywheat

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#89048 25-Aug-2011 20:22

I've recently moved from Bexley to Northcode/papanui. I was on telstra cable and it was good. Now I have to use ADSL as cable isn't available in my area so I stayed with Telstra after they did a check and said that my expected speed should be +- 12Mb/s.

From everything that I've researched the 12Mb/s is not unrealistic. But I struggle to make 4Mb/s, in fact I've only ever hit 4Mb/s once. Most of the time it's around 3.5 and drops sometimes to only 1.6

I'm curious as to what other people are getting it would especially helpful if you happen to be on the same exchange.

I've been told that the maximum I can expect is 5Mb/s. Is there anything that I can do to test this, I've already tried unplugging devices so that only on the modem was connected to the phone line.

To be honest this has got me disillusioned to some extent.

Connection information
---------------------------------
Connection: Maximum speed broadband - 25G cap
Suburb: Northcote/Papanui
Exchange: PUI/Exchange
Router/Modem: RTA1320
ISP: Telstra

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#512072 25-Aug-2011 20:24

What are your modem line stats?

wjw

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#512108 25-Aug-2011 21:03

Papanui / Nortcote looks to have already been cabinetised, so you should be good. You can check what you 'should' be connected to here:

www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps

simcore

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#512420 26-Aug-2011 12:38

johnr: What are your modem line stats?

What John said! And do you know if you have interleaving requested as off? that can help boost your speeds by a bit typically.

Can ask some people to take a look for you if you can provide some further details along with your account number/phone number via DM.

tasteywheat

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#512531 26-Aug-2011 14:51

Here my line stats, these correspond with the speed test that was taken. I.E These are the line stats when the speed test was done

cyril7

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#512544 26-Aug-2011 15:05

Ok 31dB should be good for 10-12Mb/s but as you can see you are only getting just over 5Mb/s, so next step tell us about the phone sockets and devices in your house, are all phones/fax/Sky boxs etc that are connected via filters? How many sockets and how many connected devices are there.

Is there an alarm system that is connected to the phone line (might not be monitored but if its connected to the line then its potentially an issue).

Try disconnect everything in teh house except the modem, what the line stats then.

Cyril

tasteywheat

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#512578 26-Aug-2011 16:11

I have a total of 3 sockets in the house of which only one is used and both the phone and modem are connected to this socket via a filter.

Nothing else is connected to any of the other jacks in the house. I do have an alarm but I don't know if its connected to the phone line as I've only just moved (any ideas on how I can check this ? )

I'll do isolation and socket test over the weekend and post the results here.

cyril7

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#512584 26-Aug-2011 16:18

Hi, based on what you have said I doubt a simple isolation test will change things, you would get more value by going to the demarc and disconnecting all the house wiring and connecting directly to the inbound line.

Cyril

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Gbowering

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#512598 26-Aug-2011 16:49

Hi tasteywheat.

If you have no luck sorting this out, PM with your account and contact details and I'll see what the tech team here say.

Cheers, Gary

tasteywheat

14 posts

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#513810 30-Aug-2011 10:15

I figured I'd put all the images at the end.
So after some time testing yesterday cyril7 was correct. The isolation tests did not lead to any break throughs.
See images Socket 1, Socket 2 and socket 3.

What did lead to a break through was tracing the wiring. I open the individual sockets to see how they were wired
House Wiring

.
Socket 3 looked to be poorly wired with the pcb breakout looking broken and the wires that were connected looked poorly connected. Not needing a phone in the kitchen and knowing the alarm isn't monitored I disconnected Socket 3. This doubled my attainable rate on socket 2 but speed test showed that I was no only getting 2Mb/s. After disconnecting the link between Socket 1 and Socket 2 there was still no improvement.
I snipped the wires a little to give clean end and reseated them still no improvement.

Finally I just gave up and reconnected everything how it was except for Socket 3 which I left disconnected.

I decided to do one more speed test but this time I thought I'd try speedtest.net and not the Telstra christchurch one located through customer zone and to my surprise I got +- 7.5 Mb/s.
I tested the speed again this morning using telstra's speed test and it to gave me +- 7.5 Mb/s

For completeness here are the isolation tests

networkn

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#513813 30-Aug-2011 10:23

Telstras connections are locked at 5Mbit.

cyril7

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#513815 30-Aug-2011 10:28

Telstras connections are locked at 5Mbit.

So that does not explain the 7.7Mb/s in one of the tests.

Can I suggest that you locate the point that the green and blue lines in your diagram connect and disconnect the green one so the line does not have a dual stub (ie split in two), then repeat the test at Socket 1.

Cyril

networkn

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#513816 30-Aug-2011 10:32

cyril: I believe they use BW management which means it could momentarily burst beyond 5Mbit, but he would never get more than 5Mbit overall. My father in law's connection was the same. I suggest he calls Telstra and finds out about the plan he is on.

tasteywheat

14 posts

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#513869 30-Aug-2011 11:47

I thought I'd post again just to give my view on where I think it all failed to the point where I was getting rather disillusioned.

Prior to posting in this forum I hadn't had ADSL before. I didn't know the in and outs of the in-home troubleshooting. I'm a software developer who has at least been trained in cisco CCNA courses ( I was a network major ... funny how things work out ) so I'd like to think that I'm not a completely clueless. I can read through technology standards and RFC's and understand them.

Yes, the problem was/still is my wiring and I acknowledge that.

Here are the facts as I know them:
1. ADSL is not cable and it was going to be slower
2. We were told to expect +- 12Mb/s after a check was done on our house location.
3. I told Telstra support that I thought there was a problem with the wiring in the house
4. I'd just moved in so didn't really know how the wires were configured

Now having been through the whole process with the benefit of hind sight the following questions arise.
Specific to my situation:
---------------------------
- How did the maximum of 5 Mb/s come into being when all information provided on internet a spec and in forums to, states that based on my anttenuation it should be higher ? I was told (I don't really know) this was a result of a technician checking the line from the exchange to my house. Working in IT I knew this to be wrong ... and clearly it was.
- Why didn't anyone listen to me when I said every call that I thought there was a problem with my house wiring. I said that from the start but was never told of any options as how I can get it checked or sorted by a qualified technician.

More general:
----------------
- At what (point if there is one) is broadband considered to be working correctly for adsl2 as it varies based on location and technology ?
- If you are providing a service of maximum speed broadband at what point do you draw the line with regard to ensuring that the customer gets it exactly that (some form of measures would be good here i.e maybe for adsl2+ you can have an anttenuation (db)/ speed chart). Maximum speed broadband is badly defined.
- If house wiring isn't a teleco's responsiblity fix/test then can't they at least forward you on to a professional who can.
- If you pay the line maintenance fee then where does that leave you in reagrd to problematic house wiring ?

I think the problem wasn't well managed at all. In some cases people on the phone didn't even update my support ticket with all the information, so I just ended up with people repeating the same process back to me instead of proceding forward on solving the problem. It then got to the point where I was told that 5Mb/s is good for adsl2+ and that is the maximum I can ever expect. So seeing as I was getting that the problem was solved.

Working in software I can see why house wiring isn't supported, people can mess with it. As a software developer if software doesn't work properly due to enviroment, we tell them to contact their IT company to change the enviroment if they can't do it them selves or guide them through if it's simple enough to explain on the phone.

I've never had such a problem with telstra support but, that said I never really had a problem with cable so there wasn't a need to call them.

From a technical side it's great that I've identified all or part of the problem and the increase speed is more inline with what I'd expect +- 100% increase in todays world of streaming in websites it makes a big difference.

From a customer side I'm disappointed it feels like someone sold me a broken car and then tried to tell me there was nothing wrong with it.

tasteywheat

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#513877 30-Aug-2011 11:57

Cyril that sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a go

Gbowering

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#513909 30-Aug-2011 13:19

networkn: Telstras connections are locked at 5Mbit.

Hi networkn,

This is incorrect. The theortical speed for ADSL2+ is 24Mbps. Real-world considerations impact on a customers' actual ADSL2+ speed.

Cheers, Gary

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