Whirlpool

I have been experiencing slow speeds from the start with my naked adsl service. I never expected to get a great connection, considering my area, but thought that I should at least get the equivalent of a 1500k line speed. What I am getting is basically the equivalent of a 512k speed. I have made daily calls to iinet support since the service was connected earlier in the week, and we have tried various things but dont seem to be getting any better. My line specs the last few times have been as follows:

459kbps down/629kbps up
856 down/336 up
416 down/640 down
352 down/544 up
615 down/935 up

I have a Linksys ag310 modem/router, and live in south sydney. According to adsl2exchanges.com.au these are my distances to my local exchange (Miranda)

Line of Sight: 3347 m
Estimated Cable: 4016 m
Estimated Attenuation: 56
Estimated Maximum Speed: 2000

iinet have told me the reason for my poor speed is my distance from the exchange, and told me I was more than 5km according to their line test. I have also tried changing from 'multimode' to 'g.dmt' numerous times according to their instruction, but on average seem to get the better speeds in 'multimode'. They have also lodged a fault with telstra that came up no fault, and boosted my plan to thrillseeker. I have no other outlets in the house, just the one connected for the dsl connection, and no filters.

These are my current status settings:

DSL Status: Up
DSL Modulation Mode: ADSL2+
DSL Path Mode: INTERLEAVED
Downstream Rate: 615 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 935 Kbps
Downstream Margin: 7 db
Upstream Margin: 6 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 53
Upstream Line Attenuation: 34
Downstream Transmit Power: 0
Upstream Transmit Power: 0

Can anyone help offer me some suggestions to improve my speed? Or give me advice on what I can do to get iinet to look into the problem further? I am happy to give more status specs.

Thankyou in advance

glenb83 writes...

Downstream Rate: 615 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 935 Kbps
Downstream Margin: 7 db
Upstream Margin: 6 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 53
Upstream Line Attenuation: 34

There's something wrong there. Is there anything else that could still be on the line. Do you have a filter on the modem?

CJ writes...

There's something wrong there. Is there anything else that could still be on the line. Do you have a filter on the modem?

This is the only thing on the line, and no filter to the modem. This is what I dont understand

Plug a phone in and listen for any line noise. If there is call iiNet.

Have you had your internal wiring inspected or tried different phone points in the house?

I will try plugging a phone in and see.

I havent had the wiring inspected, and there are no other outlets in the house. Who would I get to inspect the wiring?

Frey writes...

Plug a phone in and listen for any line noise. If there is call iiNet.

I just plugged in a phone and the line seemed clean, no noise....

glenb83 writes...

DSL Modulation Mode: ADSL2+

Change modulation to G.DMT, should see a marked increase in stability and possibly speed. Also, judging on your location I daresay the line quality is pretty r/s, so you'd be squeezing it for any decent kind of speed.

Definately check for correct filtering, home alarms e.t.c and change to G.DMT.

Ye Olde X of Clontarf writes...

Change modulation to G.DMT, should see a marked increase in stability and possibly speed. Also, judging on your location I daresay the line quality is pretty r/s, so you'd be squeezing it for any decent kind of speed.

Definately check for correct filtering, home alarms e.t.c and change to G.DMT.

Since changing to g.dmt, my figures have been more stable, but considerably lower. This is what happened when iinet asked me to do the same too. This is definately the only other thing connected to this line too. These are the current figures:

DSL Status: Up
DSL Modulation Mode: GDMT
DSL Path Mode: INTERLEAVED
Downstream Rate: 320 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 576 Kbps
Downstream Margin: 7 db
Upstream Margin: 8 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 50
Upstream Line Attenuation: 31
Downstream Transmit Power: 0
Upstream Transmit Power: 0

Any other suggestions would be great.

After talking to iinet for the 4th time about the speed problems, I have been told that there is nothing that can be done because of my distance from the exchange. When I asked them what my distance was, I was told that they were not allowed to release that information, even though I am the owner of the line and paying for the service.

So does this mean I am stuck with line speeds like what I am currently on (352Kbps down/480Kbps up)?

If so, why did iinet activate the service if it is barely better than a 256k plan? How can I use a naked plan with voip on speeds like that. If I am on the phone and click on a website, I cant make out what is being said from the other person. Is this really the end, am I stuck with these poor speeds? I am willing to try whatever it takes to improve the service. Is there an iinet representative here who may be willing to look at my case further? I must say that I am not impressed so far.

glenb83 writes...

So does this mean I am stuck with line speeds like what I am currently on (352Kbps down/480Kbps up)?

No. Escalate it.

Your distance from the exchange is reflected in the downstream attenuation figure and there is no way that your current synch speed correlates to 53db. 4000kbps is a reasonable expectation on those figures.

That said, one thing you could try at your end is another modem. Is there one available? It would rule out one more possibility.

glenb83 writes...

When I asked them what my distance was, I was told that they were not allowed to release that information, even though I am the owner of the line and paying for the service.

Not quite true, as Telstra normally owns the phone line and you pay them a monthly rental through your phone provider to access it. The line length information comes from a Telstra Wholesale database (LOLO) that iiNet have access to, but have signed NDA's that prevent them from releasing that information to customers. Another option is to ask for a SELT test that can provide an estimate of line distance, but your modem's attenuation figure is usually just as accurate.

If so, why did iinet activate the service if it is barely better than a 256k plan?

If the line wasn't capable of the minimum speed (1536/256), it shouldn't have been provisioned in the first place. You need to prove its not an issue at your end (modem, domestic wiring etc), then escalate the call through their complaints process after that.

Factory reset your modem and check line stats before you setup anything.

Slick007 writes...

Factory reset your modem and check line stats before you setup anything.

Factory reset isn't going to change the speeds that he syncs at.

Igneous writes...

but have signed NDA's that prevent them from releasing that information to customers.

That's the thing – iiNet is Telstra Wholesales customer not you. TW is allowing its customers to view/use the cable records.

Thankyou for your replies and for clarifying a few things. I will test the line with another modem and see what the speeds are (the only other modem I have is a standard adsl modem with no voip, but I will try it first just for testing).

I also feel that if I wasnt going to get a 1500k plan at minimum, then the service should not have been activated.

The website link that Igneous posted shows the order of complaint handling, what is the process of escalating my complaint? Do I simply call and tell the support person who answers that I want my problem escalated?

glenb83 writes...

I also feel that if I wasnt going to get a 1500k plan at minimum, then the service should not have been activated.

And how do you expect them to know before you sign up?

Trying a different modem may be the best bet.

Frey writes...

And how do you expect them to know before you sign up?

I suspect that they would have had to have run line tests before disconnecting the pstn service, and had a fair understanding of the sorts of speeds I would get at this point.

I will try another modem and see what speeds I get, at the moment after my last reboot, the settings are as follows:

DSL Status: Up
DSL Modulation Mode: ADSL2
DSL Path Mode: INTERLEAVED
Downstream Rate: 900 Kbps
Upstream Rate: 320 Kbps
Downstream Margin: 7 db
Upstream Margin: 7 db
Downstream Line Attenuation: 49
Upstream Line Attenuation: 33
Downstream Transmit Power: 0
Upstream Transmit Power: 0

These are the best speeds I have had yet, and am afraid to lose them if I change the modem. I did try a different modem with no such luck earlier in the week, but I will try it out tonight though and see what happens.

glenb83 writes...

I suspect that they would have had to have run line tests before disconnecting the pstn service, and had a fair understanding of the sorts of speeds I would get at this point.

All there is that they can base your predicted speeds on is the theoretical db/km based on your cable records. Which is a best case scenario. It doesn't allow or factor in the quality of the line.

glenb83 writes...

When I asked them what my distance was, I was told that they were not allowed to release that information, even though I am the owner of the line and paying for the service.

If TPG have ADSL2+ at your exchange try this link for speed check by distance from the exchange it will give you some averages to work with for you specific case

http://www.tpg.com.au/maps/

Your attenuation is pretty high so anything better than 1.5mb connect is a bonus.

Rendog writes...

If TPG have ADSL2+ at your exchange try this link for speed check by distance from the exchange it will give you some averages to work with for you specific case

http://www.tpg.com.au/maps/

wont work, no pstn service to pull cable records for

best it could do is a guess, and as cables can at times run 3 times the line of sight... there could be absolutely no similarity to the cable length

on to previous posts...
true, iinet cannot legally tell you how long the TELSTRA records say your cable is...

they can however do a SELT if you call them, and tell you this result (single ended line test.. bounce a signal down the line and look at the results.)
one of the results it gives is line length (time taken X speed of light/2)
and there is nothing stopping them telling you this number at all.
note: you cannot call them on voip to do this, as your modem will have to be unplugged from the line, so as to not interrupt the test...

so call them and ask for a SELT, for your own piece of mind about cable length :o]

as per speed.. sad news here is that you may not be able to get 1500 kilobits if it is as long as it may be.

if you think it should not have been provisioned... have a look at internode, who have recently announced they will provision naked dsl at up to 7.5 kilometres!