Tweaking your net connection

[Zirax]

Well I have been playing with my net connection over the past couple of days. It all started with totally random disconnects on Sunday, continuing on Monday whereby the router would not hold a connection. Eventually I was raised from an optimised 3db profile to 6, then 9. It was totally random when the disconnects would strike.

So I got busy with tracking down possible improvements to my line. Previously all I could get was 7mb at a push (SnR down to about 0.5).
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php

This site shows which wires to disconnect. I had an old extension that I promptly removed from the master socket and removed the other unused wires. At this point my connection jumped to 7.5mb with a 3db SnR :D Certainly I am less likely to get disconnects now and got .5mb extra.

Worth a shot if you are on a lousy line like mine. :thumbsup: It's about all I will get on this line.

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Edit:- Also, get a DG834GT and apply the DGTeam firmware on it. With the Be box I sync at about 6.4mb. With the Netgear 7.5mb. I can also play with other settings like not allowing ADSL2+ connections as this is rubbish on lines with high attentuation.

[Streeteh]

I'll take a look at that for sure, cheers. I pay for 24mbit but only get 10 :(

[Blighter]

I knew about the filters etc but didn't know that tip about the master box... will take a looksey :D Thanks

[Mark]

Removing unneeded extensions is a very good idea. Removing wires will help a little. Going straight into the test socket and disconnecting everything else (fine if you have a VoIP phone) will help too.

In all cases the best you'll get is about 1Mbps - so 11Mbps out of that 24Mbps connection is possible, but 15Mbps isn't.

Random disconnects are often due to signal noise. Could be as simple as a bird landing on the line. You can avoid these problems if you router or ISP supports setting a 'target SNR margin' (lower = faster, more disconnects, higher = the opposite). Some routers (e.g. Draytek) go the other way and offer a target line speed, which does similar (lower = slower, more stable).

[divine]

Isn't tampering with the box technically illegal? Or does it not involve touching those parts of it?

[Zirax]

Isn't tampering with the box technically illegal? Or does it not involve touching those parts of it?

If you have the older style faceplate then the following may happen:-

The war on terror will pause. Police teams will come and kick your back door in and promptly give you the beating of your life. You will then be thrown in the back of a riot van and driven to the nearest estate with speedbumps to be driven over at speed. Then at the police station you shall meet a man named Hans who wears large rings on all his fingers. Hans is putting on gloves. Hans has a glint in his eye. You will be held on terror charges for 28 days, at which point you will be a Police bitch on your release.

Well, that's how its been described to me :D

What is key to all this, is do not mess it up. Number the wires. For some odd unknown reason my wiring only has 2 and 5 connected from the main BT line :huh: It also uses white/orange on the 2 and 5 connection which breaks all their standards (an engineer must have had an off day in the past). It works, so its fine with me.

Obviously if you start putting in wires in random positions then it may do rather odd things to BT equipment, so don't.

[Joe 90]

whilst i was home for easter i noticed our connection was crap back home.

on Be unlimited, line limited to 8mb, but were getting barely 2mb on the bebox stats.
I switched to the master socket and that got rid of our errors and disconnections, but then i put a filter on the skybox extension and the bebox started to get connections of 7/8mb downstream \o/

pretty much as much as i can do i think there. still some issues with attenuation and stuff on the line, but i believe those to be somewhat out of my control.

[Slinwagh]

Some routers (e.g. Draytek) go the other way and offer a target line speed, which does similar (lower = slower, more stable).

I have a 2820n and you can not adjust the SNR or target speed via the CLI. :angry:

[Mark]

adsl maxdnrate <value>
adsl codinggain <value>

I'm currently only using the former.