Slow ADSL2+ on Spark - is this correct?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Slow ADSL2+ on Spark - is this correct?

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#177616 9-Aug-2015 11:28

Hi Folks,

We've recently moved home and have significantly slower internet than in our old property - despite only moving 350m down the road (both properties in Sandringham, Auckland).

We used to get approx. 13Mbps down on speedtest.net at our old house - and we're only getting approx. 6Mbps in the new place.

I've been under the house and installed a master filter and got about a 20% bump in download speed (was approx. 5Mbps beforehand) - which is less than the increase I was hoping for.

My router stats are as follows - is 6Mbps the best I can hope for - or is something else going wrong past my internal phone line wiring:

DSL Modulation ITU G.992.5(ADSL2PLUS)
ANNEX Mode ANNEX A
SNR Down 10.6 dB
SNR Up 13.9 dB
Line Attenuation Down 32.9 dB
Line Attenuation Up 18.3 dB
Path Mode FastPath
Data Rate Down 7482 kbps
Data Rate Up 913 kbps
MAX Rate Down 8312 kbps
MAX Rate Up 909 kbps
POWER Down 18.6 dbm
POWER Up 11.3 dbm
CRC Down 0
CRC Up 0

ISP is Spark.

Thanks in advance for any help/advise you can provide.

Dave

PeterReader

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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1361461 9-Aug-2015 11:28

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

These links are referral codes: Sharesies | Mighty Ape

Jedsdad

120 posts

Master Geek

#1361474 9-Aug-2015 11:40

That is a high line attenuation both down and up.
It may well be you are being fed off a different cabinet now as well.

I also suggest you ask your neighbours on both sides what they get on their Line Rates and attenuation before delving too much into the house wiring.
If they are similar then there wont be much you can do about it.

If they are a lot better then it may be house wiring or possibly a faulty cable pair or jumper in the cabinet, though I dont see any CRC errors at all.
Do you have another modem you can borrow to try as well.

DarkShadow

1647 posts

Uber Geek

#1361480 9-Aug-2015 12:02

You might very well have moved from a cabinet area to an exchange area, that would explain the sync speed difference. Go to https://www.chorus.co.nz/maps and type in both your new and old address and tell us what it says.

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1361481 9-Aug-2015 12:08

Thanks for both your responses.

Neither neighbour seems particularly computer literate but I will ask if they have slow internet. I thought the line attenuation was quite high - but was hoping that I'd be able to squeeze closer to 10Mbps out of it?

I do have a trusty old vigor 120 laying about somewhere - so will dig that out and see if I can get any improvement once the kids have gone to bed tonight.

The chorus site has this to say about both properties:

Old House
NETWORK CAPABILITY

Broadband > 10 Mbps

New House
NETWORK CAPABILITY

Broadband > 10 Mbps

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1361969 10-Aug-2015 11:20

I checked the vigor 120 last night and broadly get the same numbers.

This site:

http://www.speedguide.net/dsl_speed_calc.php

suggests I should be able to get max speed of 13177kbps on ADSL2+ with the line attenuation figures I have - is it just wishful thinking that I could get somewhere near that speed?

With current speeds I'm struggling to use Netflix and Lightbox - and I REALLY hope I don't have to wait until June 2019 - when Chorus tell me fiber will be installed by - to be able to start using those services again!

Again, many thanks in advance for any help you may be able to offer.

Jase2985

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#1362005 10-Aug-2015 12:05

dont go off the speed guide :) its wishful thinking as it doesn't take into account a number of factors.

do you know how far you are from the exchange/cabinet? i see you have put in a master filter, did you change any of the house wiring while you were there? how did you connect the master filter up?

have you tried connected the modem to the incoming line thus eliminating your home wiring?

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1362034 10-Aug-2015 12:35

Gah, stupid wishful thinking getting my hopes up!

I'm not sure how far from an exchange/cabinet I am - is there anyway to tell?

I didn't make any changes to my internal wiring other than installing the master filter.

I installed the master filter into the ETP box and then connected that to a single run of cat5e of approx. 10m with a new RJ12 junction box on the other end.

I then plugged my modem directly into the RJ12 junction box. The modem synced OK and I have dial tone on the other phone jacks so I assume I wired up the filter OK.

I haven't attempted to connect the modem directly - although I thought the master filter install was basically doing just this?

I suppose what I'd like to know is whether I should bother ringing the Spark call center to attempt to improve my speeds - or if it's a case of "it is what it is" - and waiting for fiber to come available in my area.

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Jase2985

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#1362050 10-Aug-2015 12:58

use the chorus map and this map http://gis.geek.nz/infrastructure.html

work out your area from the chorus map, and then work out where the cabinet is inside said area, if there is no cabinet in said area you are connected to an exchange, so you would need to google to find where that is.

spark wont help with respect to your speeds, they are still with in the acceptable limits.

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1362061 10-Aug-2015 13:11

I appear to be JUST outside of cabinet range - so presumably connected to an exchange somewhere in the middle of the the intersections of mt albert and dominion rds:

Acceptable limits! they've obviously never tried to watch netflix on a 5Mbps connection :-)

*sigh*

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1362067 10-Aug-2015 13:17

OK - so I've found the exchange - Google maps tells me the distance between the two addresses is between 1.3km (shortest walking route) and 1.7km (longest walking route).

Jase2985

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#1362077 10-Aug-2015 13:28

yep exchange fed, and walking router isn't always the cable route. they can go funny routes

Saplam

20 posts

Geek

#1362087 10-Aug-2015 13:58

Cheers for your help.

Oh well - looks like it falls into the "it is what it is" camp.

Bummer - I hadn't bothered to resub to Sky at our new place - was planning to just use netflix and lightbox - might have to rethink this strategy now...