switching ISP = double in speed --- why?

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Kalaren

93 posts

Master Geek

#57614 19-Feb-2010 02:30

I used to work for Telecom Broadband, so I have a little bit of knowledge in the way the system works and whats available etc. Now in my old house in Sandringham, Auckland I used to get around 2-3mbit, right up until Telecom upgraded the local exchange, which caused speed to jump to 6-7mbit. Pretty sweet.

It was my understanding that the upgrade was to make the exchange equipment ADSL2 capable. (I got the info from work) I assumed that the new speed was all that could be achieved due to factors such as distance, modem quality etc - certainly not the line profile (as I'd actually looked at it from work to make sure there were no silly limitations).

Just last week, the current tenants of my old house, using the same modem and cables etc - switched from Telecom to Vodafone. Bam, 19mbit with 1mbit upload. What. The. Fajitas.

Now to my knowledge the only reason for this happening would be that Vodafones exchange equipment at that particular echange is ADSL2 capable, and Telecoms is not. If this is the case then I wonder about the 5mbit telecom connection in my new house and whether switching ISPS could improve it too.

The only other reason I can think of is that Telecoms equipment, while capable of ADSL2.. is just not set to do it... or something. Seems odd tho, because there are certainly many Telecom connections out there getting ADSL2 speeds, and have been for some time now.

If anyone has any light to shed I'd appreciate it. Also if there is some amazing miracle information source where I can discover if I'd get ADSL2 speeds in my new house with a different ISP then I'd love to hear about it.

uktuatara

149 posts

Master Geek

#300269 19-Feb-2010 07:30

If Telecom upgraded the exchange to be ADSL2+ compatible, then depending on what type of modem you have you would need to change the way the modem is connecting to the exchange (DSL modulation).

For example my modem can connect in ADSL1, ADSL2 and ADSL2+ (plus a few other random ones) if I keep my modem set at ADSL1 I will never achieve more than ADSL1 speeds no matter what is in the exhcnage or what Telecom / Vodafone have their systems set to.

You also have to consider if an ISP upgrades its equipment but doesnt change your profile on your 'connection' at the exchange, you could still be limited to ADSL1 speeds.

So when the old tenants moved to Vodafone I imagine that the port at the exchange was re-provisioned and at that stage the profile was updated, they would have worked through the modem settings to switch acorss to Vodafone and also made sure it was running at ADSL2 settings.

As far as your new place,

1. Check www.telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps and make sure youre in the right zone for ADSL2+
2. Check that your modem is configured to ADSL2 connection settings
3. Check that your ISP has provisioned you as ADSL2+ (you can check this with a call to the helpdesk)

cyril7

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#300272 19-Feb-2010 08:23

One would presume that you are now on the Red network (which Sandringham is) and a new connection so full steam, where as on your old Telecom connection was either still on ADSL1 gear or profiled down to ADSL2.

What was the modem.

Cyril

Paulthagerous

698 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#300283 19-Feb-2010 08:54

uktuatara:
2. Check that your modem is configured to ADSL2 connection settings

Before this, check that your modem can actually do ADSL2+, or it may be hard to configure it!

Kalaren

93 posts

Master Geek

#300423 19-Feb-2010 15:27

Thanks for the responses,

The modem was/is a Thomson TG585 - it was definitely set for ADSL2 before the change.

It must have been the profile as suggested - altho I do remember having that checked while I was working at Telecom and it was indeed on adsl2. Perhaps I was mistaken.

According to that handy map I am indeed in an ADSL2 capable area, and since I have the same modem as my old flatmates there really is no reason I wouldn't be getting ADSL2 speeds here. I guess I'll have to call Manila and see if I can get anywhere :)

uktuatara

149 posts

Master Geek

#300439 19-Feb-2010 16:04

also check in with the troubleshooter at www.adslgeek.com, if you throw in your settings from the modem like attenuation ect it will spit out some probable causes.

Ragnor

8223 posts

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#300441 19-Feb-2010 16:10

Two possibles reasons could be:

- The port the line was connected to before the change might have had a fault or some other problem. I think that can usually be resolved by getting a port reset done for the line.

- The profile for their connection to the exchange was set incorrectly to one of the profiles that limit speed to improve reliablity (used for bad wiring and rural connections etc).

For your new place.........

1: Can you post the line stats from your modem (line attenuation, signal to noise ratio etc)?
2: Do you have a rough idea of how far away from the exchange you are?

Noise on the line and distance affect what sort of sync speed you can achieve quite a lot, quality of the internal house wiring too.

Kalaren

93 posts

Master Geek

#300448 19-Feb-2010 16:23

Allright just got off the phone with Telecom. They changed my profile and I now have 6mbit instead of 5 - lol. Apparently I am 2.5km from the exchange, so even tho I'm on ADSL2 the distance kills the really nice speeds some people see.

here's some modem stat copypasta:

Uptime: 0 days, 0:11:15

DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 945 / 6.316

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0,00 / 0,00

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12,0 / 19,0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 18,0 / 34,5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 14,0 / 12,5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 11 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 150

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 1

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 1

Still, seems odd to me that my old place, which is 1.9-2km from the exchange is now getting such huge speeds and I cant ><

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uktuatara

149 posts

Master Geek

#300453 19-Feb-2010 16:34

Check this graph on speed vs distance http://www.tpg.com.au/dslam/faq.php

Kalaren

93 posts

Master Geek

#300461 19-Feb-2010 16:48

Yep my speeds make sense - altho my old place still seems abnormally high, according to that graph they should only be getting 15mbit max. Maybe something else changed there that I'm not aware of.

Mental note - check distance to exchange when picking next house!

edit: just to be clear - vodafone definitely are using the same technology as telecom to deliver their broadband yeah? I mean it can only be ADSL2 cant it?

cyril7

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#300472 19-Feb-2010 17:46

Hi, the graph in the above link is based on 6dB Noise margin, Voda and Orcon run their DSLAMs like that, Telecom however run 12dB, so you things max out at around 18Mb/s rather than 22-24Mb/s.

As a guide a job I was on yestereday was around 2.5km from the exchange based on simple road trip , modem reported 34dB(on Telecom DSLAM), was syncing at 12-13Mb/s once house wiring was sorted.

Cheers
Cyril

Ragnor

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#300555 20-Feb-2010 18:03

Kalaren: Yep my speeds make sense - altho my old place still seems abnormally high, according to that graph they should only be getting 15mbit max. Maybe something else changed there that I'm not aware of.

Mental note - check distance to exchange when picking next house!

edit: just to be clear - vodafone definitely are using the same technology as telecom to deliver their broadband yeah? I mean it can only be ADSL2 cant it?

On http://telecomwholesale.co.nz/maps is your area scheduled to get a cabinet, the detail is in the panel on the right side.

In terms of improving your sync speed there's a few things you can look at your place, improving the internal house phone wiring and getting a master splitter installed to isolate the jack used for ADSL from the rest of the phone wiring.