Should a VDSL2 cabinet improve ADSL2 performance?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Should a VDSL2 cabinet improve ADSL2 performance?

samnorr

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#111573 7-Nov-2012 17:55

I live in Clarks Beach area, and am supposedly covered by a new VDSL2 cabinet (WAF/A) installed in September (according to Chorus Service Availability Tool), but my Telecom broadband speed is still dismal, as it has been since moving here around 3 years ago.

As you can see below, my speeds are pretty useless, and that's not even the slowest it gets. In the past couple of months (maybe somehow related to the cabinet install?), the modem has been dropping the connection several times during the day, sometimes reconnecting with a download speed as low as 70 kbit/s. I am often forced to sit there restarting the modem over and over until it connects at an acceptable speed (download speed never gets above around 550kbit/s).

It seems obvious from my speed and attenuation that I'm still being connected to the exchange a few kilometers away. I was under the impression that even though I would need to switch plan and modem to use VDSL2, the cabinet would still include ADSL2 equipment as well. Is this correct? Surely VDSL2 wouldn't be offered in an area that can't even achieve normal ADSL performance? I emailed Chorus and simply got told that the cabinet upgrade doesn't mean I will be automatically upgraded to VDSL, which I already knew.

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#713670 7-Nov-2012 18:01

If your specific address returns a VDSL2 cabinet in the Chorus SAT then I'm about 90% confident that the issue is your internal wiring. Do you have a splitter installed?

johnr

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#713683 7-Nov-2012 18:03

What basic fault checking have you done?

samnorr

34 posts

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#713686 7-Nov-2012 18:09

I don't think so. The house is rented so I suppose getting one installed would be up to the landlord.

I did contact Telecom earlier in the year and they said the speed was normal for the area, but that was before the cabinet upgrade.

johnr

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#713687 7-Nov-2012 18:11

No way it's up to the landlord to get one installed!

Have you done an isolation test or any type of basic fault checking? There must be 100s of thread on Geekzone going over basic fault checking and isolation

samnorr

34 posts

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#713690 7-Nov-2012 18:13

johnr: What basic fault checking have you done?

I have replaced the modem and tried using different jacks and filters, as well as contacting Telecom as I said above.

johnr

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#713692 7-Nov-2012 18:17

If you have a major wiring fault using different jack points is not going to help!

Look up the user here on Geekzone coffeebaron and spend a few $$$ on getting the house wiring checked first and a master splitter installed

samnorr

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#713700 7-Nov-2012 18:25

This is literally what I was told the last time I contacted Telecom:

Further checks on other premises in the area confirm that its simply a case of slow Broadband speeds for your area, installing a splitter is not going to change things.

As I said, this was back in February before the cabinet was installed. Surely even if the wiring was bad at least some improvement would be seen after a new cabinet?

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johnr

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#713703 7-Nov-2012 18:32

As above get the house wiring checked / sorted out first

cyril7

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#713727 7-Nov-2012 19:19

Hi, 78dB downstream attenuation indicates there is a major issue, either a fault in your or the street wiring or if its correct 5.5km from the DSLAM port that you are connected to.

I like the others would strongly suggest you get your house wiring checked before making any other judgement.

Cyril

samnorr

34 posts

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#713749 7-Nov-2012 19:38

cyril7: Hi, 78dB downstream attenuation indicates there is a major issue, either a fault in your or the street wiring or if its correct 5.5km from the DSLAM port that you are connected to.

That seems like the correct distance to the exchange, which I believe is located in Waiau Pa around 5km away. So why would I still be connected to the exchange 2 months after the local cabinet was installed?

The cabinet was originally scheduled for January this year, and the SAT showed it had been completed for like a month before it was updated to show September. I thought maybe it had been delayed yet again, which was why I just emailed Chorus today and was told "Based on your address, VDSL upgrade was completed in September 2012". Whether or not that person just used the SAT to get that info himself I don't know.

Behodar

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#713766 7-Nov-2012 20:05

It does say somewhere that there can be a delay of up to three months between installation and effect.

sbiddle

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#713768 7-Nov-2012 20:08

Of the cabinet is in place a Chorus prequalification should show a pretty good estimate of your attenuation and speed at your place. Any ISP can do this for you with yuur address or ASID.

samnorr

34 posts

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#713790 7-Nov-2012 20:34

From the Chorus SAT webpage:

Dates provided are when end users are expected to benefit from upgrades. This may be up to 90 days after our equipment installation dates.

Maybe I will try asking Telecom to do another check then. But just for clarification on my original question - a VDSL2 cabinet should definitely include ADSL2 equipment also? My response from Chorus kind of made it sound like I would need a VDSL2 plan to see any benefit from the cabinet.

plambrechtsen

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#713811 7-Nov-2012 20:56

samnorr: From the Chorus SAT webpage:

Dates provided are when end users are expected to benefit from upgrades. This may be up to 90 days after our equipment installation dates.

Maybe I will try asking Telecom to do another check then. But just for clarification on my original question - a VDSL2 cabinet should definitely include ADSL2 equipment also? My response from Chorus kind of made it sound like I would need a VDSL2 plan to see any benefit from the cabinet.

Ahh I see you asked this question back in Feb... :)

Just a heads up on this, I still don't think the cabinet has been installed and I've just pinged the Chorus guys again to get back to me when it has been commissioned.

In theory it should be here... But of course this Street View photo is out of date, when I spoke with someone else who lives in the area he told me it wasn't much different to when the photo was taken (ie No Cabinet in place yet). It should of look like this... or better yet like this since Chorus would have finished.

Feel free to email me at pl at telecom dot co dot nz and I will add you onto the list with the other guy who is wanting to know when WAF/A gets commissioned.

coffeebaron

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#717342 14-Nov-2012 20:11

Looking at the latest Excel sheet from the Chorus website is says:

WAF WAIAU_PA WAF/A 07WAF2C N 5 Q2

Which is quarter 2, year 5!

That's along way off.

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