ADSL 2+ Questions

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DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#86639 11-Jul-2011 01:31

Hey everyone!
I was upgraded to ADSL 2+ (finally!) and it has been great. But not without its complications of course!

Not sure why (and I've called Telecom three times about this) but when I was switched, I realised that my router was showing that interleaving was back on, rather than off as I requested. So I requested it off and Telecom swore black and blue that interleaving was definitely 100% turned "OFF"...guaranteed.

My router says:

Line coding: "Trellis ON" Rather than "Fast Path"
Interleave Depth: "1" rather than "0"

I used to ping Telecom at 9ms off peak and 12ms on peak on ADSL 1 and now it has jumped back to its original 25 to 45 ms depending on the time of day.

I also have a question regarding the speed I should be getting.

My router says:

Attainable Rate: Down: 23644 Up: 1288

Rate (Kbps): Down: 21557 Up: 1241

Yet when I do a speed test directly to Telecom (off-peak) I get about 15Mbps to 17Mbps.
Now, I am assuming that the "Attainable Rate" is the absolute maximum I could ever get and the "Rate" is what I am getting to my router? So that would lead me to believe I am 4Mbps short. Nobody else is on the network and nothing else is running. My computer is also very well spec'd. Multi-threaded downloads max out at 2.3MB/s

If I am wrong (which I may very well be) please set me straight! :) The guy at Telecom said that the line test he did to my router was the fastest he had ever seen. I'm not sure whether or not to believe him, since I think he just wanted me off the phone :D Should I be counting myself lucky?

Thanks for your help!

kingjj

1728 posts

Uber Geek

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#491926 11-Jul-2011 10:58

Those stats are great and the download speed is about as high as you can expect in real world situations. Just because your line rate is high does not mean you will actually be able to download at that speed. There are network constraints further up the network that will affect your download speed.

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DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#491937 11-Jul-2011 11:04

kingjj: Those stats are great and the download speed is about as high as you can expect in real world situations. Just because your line rate is high does not mean you will actually be able to download at that speed. There are network constraints further up the network that will affect your download speed.

Thanks! I am very impressed with the download speed. It is so much better over ADSL 1. The jump from 6.5Mb/s to 17.8Mb/s is insane :D

Any idea about why my router is telling me my connection is interleaved when it actually isn't?

Cheers :)

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#491947 11-Jul-2011 11:17

Attainable rate is estimated theoretical value based on the line stats, rate is the actual rate your modem and the line card have worked out. Real world throughput will vary on a number of factors (congestion, where the server is etc) no real problem there.

Residential broadband is a shared network best effort service, not dedicated guaranteed bandwidth (you wouldn't like the price of that).

Regarding interleaving, I have run into a problem before where Telecom's system that the CSR's use thought interleaving was off when it was clearly on. I solved it by using the online contact form. It seems if you use the email us form often your message may get picked up by spare level 2 techs which getts around the useless level 1 CSR's.

With the online contact form you can also attach screenshot the line status showing interleaving is on and of a tracert to a local server which I think helps.

http://telecom.custhelp.com/app/ask

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#491971 11-Jul-2011 12:03

Thanks for the information Ragnor! Very helpful.

I will contact Telecom and attach a screen shot so there is no more confusion. If my router is reporting interleaving, my line "must" be interleaved, right? Is there any chance my router could be telling me porkies?

I'm guessing its the CSR's as well.
When I said "D-Link says the information I am reading to you is received from the ISP, its not a fault at my router."

Telecom said "So, David. When you Say "ISP"....What exactly do you mean?"

...It made my day.

Kraven

710 posts

Ultimate Geek

#492008 11-Jul-2011 12:41

As far as I know, an Interleave Depth of 1 indicates that interleaving is OFF.

If interleaving was on, the Interleave Depth would be something like 160 or 192.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#492037 11-Jul-2011 13:16

Kraven: As far as I know, an Interleave Depth of 1 indicates that interleaving is OFF.

If interleaving was on, the Interleave Depth would be something like 160 or 192.

It was at "0" when I was on ADSL 1 (I assume representing OFF) Line coding also read as "Fast Path" which is now "Trellis ON" which is what it was before I turned interleaving off on ADSL 1.

I never saw numbers as high as 160 or 192. Only ever 1 and 0.

But I could be wrong.

Kraven

710 posts

Ultimate Geek

#492062 11-Jul-2011 14:10

DravidDavid: It was at "0" when I was on ADSL 1 (I assume representing OFF) Line coding also read as "Fast Path" which is now "Trellis ON" which is what it was before I turned interleaving off on ADSL 1.

I never saw numbers as high as 160 or 192. Only ever 1 and 0.

I noticed the exact same thing when my home connection went to ADSL2+ so I can only assume it's a different line coding method used in ADSL vs ADSL2+.

All of the ADSL2+ connections I have seen that have interleaving turned off, the Interleave Depth has always been 1.

These are just observations, I'm no expert on the technology.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#492069 11-Jul-2011 14:19

Thanks for your reply, Kraven. Maybe you are right, I'm no expert either. I'm sure others have ADSL 2+ with interleaving off. Maybe they will be able to say the same thing as you.

I don't want to be going around in circles with Telecom for nothing, haha! All I noticed was my ping got higher and my router changed what it was telling me before.

Ragnor

8085 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#492269 12-Jul-2011 02:46

I remembered something about this, I think it's related to the use of the newer Ikanos line cards.

At home and I also have interleave depth of 1 now, probably since the cabinet went in down the road, pinging www.geekzone.co.nz is still 12ms for me.

DravidDavid

1907 posts

Uber Geek

#492303 12-Jul-2011 08:48

I was reading earlier this morning and apparently all ADSL 2+ lines are interleaved to some degree, but so small you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

My line will still be "Fast Path" but the router is interpreting the connection wrong. Apparently this can be fixed with a simple firmware update.

My ping is definitely higher than before. It was an average of 8 - 10 ms and now its 25 - 32 ms. I thought it would be lower once I switched! But the increase in speed in enormous, so I am happy :)

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated.

rattewisday

201 posts

Master Geek

#492310 12-Jul-2011 09:02

I have interleaving switched off and it shows as Line Coding=Trellis On, interleave depth=1 in my modem. Getting a 10ms ping to geekzone.