Chipped Modems

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Chipped Modems

thetom777

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#76711 5-Feb-2011 04:01

Recently I've been hearing about chipped modems which is basically flashing a custom firmware to your modem which somehow allows you to set the speed at which you get internet.

I thought internet speed was controlled at the ISP end?
possible to do it on Xtra Broadband?

sbiddle

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#435574 5-Feb-2011 07:38

Speed is controlled by the ISP.

I've never heard of the term "chipped" modems before, but running custom firmware such as dd-wrt on a router is pretty common.

Napster

202 posts

Master Geek

#435575 5-Feb-2011 07:50

You talking about DMT Tools that works with some modem chipsets?

It allows you to adjust the targed SNRM (Signal to Noise Ratio Margin) for you line. This will inturn change the sync rate of your line to adjust to the new SNRM you have set.

Currently Telecom set the Target SNRM to 12dB for ADSL through to ADSL2+.

Here is a link the the website which you can download the tool and see if it works with your modem.

http://dmt.mhilfe.de/

More info on what this tool does and how to use it.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/DMTv8.htm

Hope this helps :)

Also i know you can flash some Netgear modems with a modded firmware which can allow SNR tweaking as well.

http://dgteam.ilbello.com/index.php

sbiddle

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#435591 5-Feb-2011 08:52

But just be aware your speed could be low for various reasons, including high attenuation caused by poor internal house cabling, assuming you don't have a master filter.

Changing the noise margin can result in an extremely unstable connection if your line is not up to scratch, and Telecom set a 12dB margin to try and compensate for the poor quality of wiring inside many homes.

thetom777

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#435617 5-Feb-2011 11:00

After doing more research it doesn't work with ADSL. Only cable modems. Ty for the links etc and the help. Increases speed but also majorly illegal because it basically steals others internet my Mac address spoofing so your ISP thinks you are someone who is paying for speed

hamish225

1418 posts

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#435639 5-Feb-2011 13:06

i dont see how your stealing others internet?

you pay for it and its your connection.

my modem syncs to my cabinet at 20Mbps but i only ever get max of 18Mbps, not sure why but my first thought is that that's all the bandwidth the cabinet has available to it mostly because the other 250 odd broadband connections are using it too?

so increcing your sync rate wont nesseserally make your internet faster.

someone want to explain how it works? lol

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

raytaylor

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#435734 5-Feb-2011 19:57

Yes i was going to say thats all based on cable modems - some people have been arrested for it in the USA. This applies on cable networks where the speed is programmed and controlled by the CPE cable modem rather than throttled at the ISP's router.

It is basically a routing rule in the cable modem and they have managed to get to the admin managment interface of the modem in some cases through SSH or telnet and other cases have been through the web interface.

This is different to NZ where we have usage based billing where you are billed by the byte instead of by the speed. Our ISP's would rather you have the faster connection if you are on a FS/FS line so they can sell you more gigabytes to burn through.

Ray Taylor

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raytaylor

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#435737 5-Feb-2011 20:05

Your modem will train or sync at a maximum attainable speed. This is calculated based on conditions such as line quality, noise from other dsl lines running in the same bundle as your line, and the telecoms signal to noise ratio goals.

Then as your modem runs, there are ATM overheads and retransmits from temporary noise that will cause your modem to dynamically slow down based on other factors. So its typical to train at 20mbit and recieve an auctual throughput of 16mb+

Ray Taylor

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