Am I really on VDSL2..? My speed is still the same as ADSL2

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Am I really on VDSL2..? My speed is still the same as ADSL2

MarkF

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#205550 17-Nov-2016 14:56

I recently went through the upgrade process from ADSL2 to VDSL2 with my current ISP.

The main reason for the upgrade was to get much better upload speed, which I was expecting to improve from around 1mb to at least 5mb+.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a smooth upgrade, it resulted in an initial three day outage followed by a week of very poor performance (like dial up) before it was eventually fixed.

However, the most disappointing thing is that although the modem indicates that I am now on VDSL2, the upload and download speeds that I am getting are exactly the same as they were when I was on the ADSL2 service.

Here are some screenshots from the Fritzbox 7490, which will hopefully shed some light:

According to the Chorus engineer that fixed the fault, I am 1125m from the exchange which is near to the limit for a good VDSL connection.

Given all of the above, is it possible that although I am connected to a VDSL2 service it has automatically dropped down to an ADSL2 connection..?

I contacted my ISP who have already done an extended line test to confirm my line is good for the VDSL service despite the distance from the exchange. They have now logged a new call for Chorus to do further testing and neighbour connection comparisons - unfortunately I don't feel I am getting anywhere fast in terms of getting definitive answers...

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

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#1672892 17-Nov-2016 15:16

According to the Chorus engineer that fixed the fault, I am 1125m from the exchange which is near to the limit for a good VDSL connection.

With a line length of 1125m and a downstream attenuation of 32dB, VDSL is not going to be any faster than ADSL.

That's not a fault - it's the laws of physics.

I am very surprised that they agreed to provide VDSL in the first place.

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Coil

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#1672895 17-Nov-2016 15:21

Like above your on the edge of the limit for VDSL. personally im surprised its working at those speed at that distance.

One thing to make sure of is that your house wiring is up to scratch. Did the tech install a master filter? Do you now have a dedicated VDSL port in your house?

Id be stoked with that speed for the distance.

hio77

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#1672901 17-Nov-2016 15:29

Do you have a master filter installed? that line does not look as clean as it could be.

As identified though Distance is a major factor for you, Sounds like you are in a Urban enviroment where noise on the line will be higher too.

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MarkF

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#1672940 17-Nov-2016 16:29

Thanks for your replies guys,

I was surprised too!

However, I have since found plenty of online postings (mostly overseas) suggesting that VDSL can and does work reliably with connections up to 2km from the cabinet, in which case perhaps the NZ ISP's/ Chorus have set a 1km distance threshold as a way to guarantee quality of service..?

One article of interest I found was on the NZ Truenet website and included this graph of NZ VDSL test results dating back to Nov 2013:

It seems to suggest that VDSL download speed is most greatly affected by distance from the cabinet, with upload speed of 10mb still achievable at 1000m from the cabinet.

I am happy with the 21mb down that I got with ADSL and now get with VDSL, I was mostly hoping to see an improvement in the upload speed from 1mb to perhaps to even 4mb would have been great.

Whats has really surprised me is that my new connection is behaving just like an ADSL2 connection even though according to the ISP and the modem console it is connected to a VDSL2 DSLAM and maintaining a solid and steady connection.

Which lead to the question "am I really on VDSL2" or has my connection automatically failed back to ADSL2 because my line isn't good enough to establish a VDSL connection at all..?

Perhaps with a VDSL2 DSLAM there is some kind of auto negotiation connection process which works out which type of connection your line and equipment can reliably support, then either connects you to VDSL or ADSL depending on the outcome..?

The other thing that made me wonder was the DSL Spectrum chart from my modem compared to that in SamF's post in the VDSL Performance & Tuning forum:

My spectrum chart only has the first block of information which relates to DSL1 / ADSL2+ and DS Band 1, with nothing for VDSL 8b or DS Band 2 - which seems to suggest that my modem isn't using the VDSL spectrum at all..?

MarkF

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#1672943 17-Nov-2016 16:36

Sorry I forgot to mention that I do have a master splitter installed - it's pretty old though, had it put in when I first got ADSL about to avoid having lots of little filters around the house.

Apart from the distance problem, I think my line is quite noisy, probably because the copper line to the exchange is very old.

The internal wiring in the house is all good though, the Chorus engineer confirmed that by doing tests inside the house and at the pole on the street.

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#1672964 17-Nov-2016 17:23

MarkF:

Sorry I forgot to mention that I do have a master splitter installed - it's pretty old though, had it put in when I first got ADSL about to avoid having lots of little filters around the house.

Apart from the distance problem, I think my line is quite noisy, probably because the copper line to the exchange is very old.

The internal wiring in the house is all good though, the Chorus engineer confirmed that by doing tests inside the house and at the pole on the street.

Your old ADSL filter was not designed for VDSL (different frequencies).

There may be some benefit from upgrading to a proper VDSL master filter.

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Batman

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#1672970 17-Nov-2016 17:39

@coffeebaron to the rescue $

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

hio77

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#1673161 17-Nov-2016 21:20

Post a photo of the splitter if possible, if you wish to confirm - Easy way to tell is the VDSL ones have 3 pairs The ADSL ones only have Two.

If chorus checked it though i would hope they could correctly identify an ADSL filter and recognize it is not suitable for VDSL however...

That truenet graph is invalid now considering it was for 997 and chorus now run 998.

the fact that you had 21mbit on ADSL is interesting, Who is your ISP exactly?

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DarkShadow

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#1673350 18-Nov-2016 09:02

MarkF:

Which lead to the question "am I really on VDSL2" or has my connection automatically failed back to ADSL2 because my line isn't good enough to establish a VDSL connection at all..?

Perhaps with a VDSL2 DSLAM there is some kind of auto negotiation connection process which works out which type of connection your line and equipment can reliably support, then either connects you to VDSL or ADSL depending on the outcome..?

There is no such feature. If your port is VDSL it will only connect on VDSL, it won't fallback to ADSL. This is also reinforced by the fact your modem reports it is connecting on VDSL not ADSL.

sbiddle

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#1673492 18-Nov-2016 11:27

Your modem is connected to VDSL2 as your stats show. Your speed is because of a) your distance from the cabinet/exchange and or b) possible ADSL2+ only filter that is impacting performance.

Despite your speed being similar your connection will actually be performing significantly better than ADSL2+ due to it now being over PTM. That whole Truenet report and graphs from earlier are pretty much meaningless since Chorus have changed VDLS2 bandplans since then. The move to 998 from 997 saw a combination of things happen - upstream speeds drop for many people (who typically saw their downstream increase) but for those closer to the cabinet and exchange it meant both upload and download incased significantly.

MarkF

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#1674093 19-Nov-2016 12:15

Thanks for all your replies guys.

After having a look inside the chorus termination box on my house and at the cables coming from the pole on the street, I can confirm that I don't have a filter or splitter at all, in fact it turns out that I have two seperate lines coming in.

When I switched ISP / Telco a while back I also ditched the my voice connection and changed to voip for the home phone, I am guessing they simply disconnected the voice line (redundant pair at the back of the box) and left the connections to my dedicated DSL phone jack.

So the consensus from all the replies is that I am just too far from the exchange / there is too much noise on my line to get any better transfer rates than I did with ADSL2.

It also seems that although the connection does not fail back to ADSL2 and I am definitely on a VDSL2 connection, the speeds I am getting are exactly the same as ADSL2 as my modem is unable to use the use the VDSL spectrum because the signal is too week.

So for the time being I will have to make do with 1mb upload until we get fibre in our street which is planned for 2019.

Thanks for all your help.

Aredwood

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#1674508 20-Nov-2016 12:42

Another possible option - ask your ISP if they offer annex M ADSL. It has a 2mbit upload instead of the usual 1mbit upload.

As for your wiring can you confirm that the working line only goes to the one jackpoint that you plug your modem into. And that there are no branches that go to unused jackpoints. And the cable used is twisted pair cable. And depending on the distance between the modem and the demark point. Maybe move the modem closer to the demark point.

lNomNoml

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#1674519 20-Nov-2016 13:15

I would downgrade back to ADSL from VDSL given the distance to the exchange.

darylblake

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#1674520 20-Nov-2016 13:20

If you have a master filter and some nice wiring, then yeh go back to ADSL. But if you have not got a master filter and good wiring done, then get that done first.

1100 meters is about the max range VDSL will go, so you might find its about the same speed as ADSL.

But i was about 900m from the cabinet and ADSL went about 12mbit and VDSL did about 25mbit.

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#1674530 20-Nov-2016 14:33

darylblake:

If you have a master filter and some nice wiring, then yeh go back to ADSL. But if you have not got a master filter and good wiring done, then get that done first.

1100 meters is about the max range VDSL will go, so you might find its about the same speed as ADSL.

But i was about 900m from the cabinet and ADSL went about 12mbit and VDSL did about 25mbit.

When I was 900m from the cabinet, with a VDSL master filter and with new Cat6 house wiring, I got 12mbps down on ADSL2 and 14mbps on VDSL2 (which cost more).

So I went back to ADSL.

(My downstream attenuation was 19dB - the OP has 32dB, which is a lot worse)

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