4mb DSL in ADSL2+ mode

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zeck

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Hi,

Today I decided to do some research if my line supports 10mb dsl. From doing the line test on telkom website it states that my maximum attainable speed 4mbs. But after having a look at broadbandstats.co.za my exchange on a number 011453 **** is 10mb enabled. Further to test this I set my modem to ADSL2+, before it was just set to auto.

Can someone please shed some light if it is worth calling up telkom and try to go up to 10mb dsl.
The router I use is a netgear n300 wireless adsl2+.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4096 kbps 511 kbps
Line Attenuation 9.5 db 2.9 db
Noise Margin 13.3 db 28.4 db

Thanks in advance

Art
 
I doubt it with that SNR. Call them anyway & see how far you get (They can set it at something between 4 & 10).
 
There is something wrong with your line, your Noise Margin should be much higher with that low attenuation on the downstream.

My attenuation is 15db and my Noise Margin was around 30db when I was on 4Mb
 
grim said:
There is something wrong with your line, your Noise Margin should be much higher with that low attenuation on the downstream.

My attenuation is 15db and my Noise Margin was around 30db when I was on 4Mb
Click to expand...

Sorry I haven't properly read the sticky about the SNR and attenuation. From what I see on my side it seems to be quite good except the strangely high upstream noise margin. Maybe someone can give me a quick run down? :)

I'll try to reset it in the meantime.
 
Yea after having a quick look at the attenuation that I get and the location of the exchange on the broadbandstats its definitely not right. That edenvale exchange is about 4-5km away from me.
 
zeck said:
Yea after having a quick look at the attenuation that I get and the location of the exchange on the broadbandstats its definitely not right. That edenvale exchange is about 4-5km away from me.
Click to expand...
At 4km you probably wouldn't hit 4mb even.
 
The downstream line attenuation is typically related to about 14dB/km, which would imply that you're less than 1km away from the DSLAM/exchange.

The higher the SNR/noise margin, the better. You need at least 6dB SNR margin to connect at all. I usually recommend that people downgrade their line speed until they hit like 10-12dB SNR margins - so you're in the clear according to your ADSL modem stats.

Your upstream noise margin doesn't look that great when compared with your upstream one.

When you connect using ADSL2+ mode, then your DSLAM most likely supports 10Mbps, however it could be that they don't have enough bandwidth for everyone to run at 10Mbps, which is probably why you can only go up to 4Mbps. IMO this is a wise decision from Telkom to keep people at lower speeds if the DSLAM/exchange cannot handle the load!
So if you currently have low latencies and good throughput on your 4Mbps line, then be glad that Telkom doesn't just upgrade people in your area!
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
At the moment I'm experiencing full 4mb speeds and the latencies are also not bad. Pada I think you are absolutely right and that the exchange itself can't support everyone on 10mbps. The reason for me wanting to go 10 or higher is that my folks enjoy streaming foreign TV channels which are not available here in SA.
I will explore my upstream SNR further as I do play some FPS games and occasional I experience a second or two of some crazy lag.
 
Your SNR could be low because of your modem , try a none netgear modem , and see if it improves.
 
The higher your SNR margin the better, the lower the attenuation the better.

So you're upstream is fine, it's the downstream that doesn't add up.

Here's my stats on my 10Mb line:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Link Rate 10015 Kbps 1023 Kbps
Line Attenuation 15.0 dB 10.0 dB
Noise Margin 18.1 dB 6.1 dB

Now as heretic said, it could be the router, you say you have the Netgear N300 ADSL2+ router, is it the DGN2200?

I've generally seen very good stats on the DGN2200

Pada here's one for you, my downstream attenuation went down 1.5db when I replaced my old DGN2000 with a new DGN3700v2 last month.:wtf:
 
grim said:
The higher your SNR margin the better, the lower the attenuation the better.

So you're upstream is fine, it's the downstream that doesn't add up.

Here's my stats on my 10Mb line:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Link Rate 10015 Kbps 1023 Kbps
Line Attenuation 15.0 dB 10.0 dB
Noise Margin 18.1 dB 6.1 dB

Now as heretic said, it could be the router, you say you have the Netgear N300 ADSL2+ router, is it the DGN2200?

I've generally seen very good stats on the DGN2200

Pada here's one for you, my downstream attenuation went down 1.5db when I replaced my old DGN2000 with a new DGN3700v2 last month.:wtf:
Click to expand...

How much extra noise margin could I gain by switching routers? My upstream syncs at .9mb because I am about 1db short... could I see an adequate gain by trying a better router? I have the standard Belkin Telkom router atm.
 
Think you'll find Pada has the answer to this one, Telkom have decided that's what you'll get for the time being. My exchange is 10Mb capable, my stats are good but Telkom will only give me 6Mbps and won't entertain attempting anything higher.

It's a strange situation where Telkom let some exchanges become congested (even prior to the upgrades) but are pro-active with others. There's so many 6Mb and 8Mb users around these speeds should be listed as SA standards.
 
Yes, I'm using a dgn2200. I just got off the phone with telkom after couple of hours bashing my head with them and with no results. Right now I think there is a throttle on the exchange as Pada said to provide good service for everyone else in the area. Some said the exchange does support 10mbps and then when they try to get me to the relevant department I end up with '4mbps maximum at this time' answer.
Still syncing at adsl2+
 
jackshiels said:
How much extra noise margin could I gain by switching routers? My upstream syncs at .9mb because I am about 1db short... could I see an adequate gain by trying a better router? I have the standard Belkin Telkom router atm.
Click to expand...

If you can get hold of a TP-Link, D-Link or Netgear router to test with without buying one first you might see some gains or losses depending on how good the Belkin is, I've never seen/used a Belkin before so can't really say that it's guaranteed that you'll see an improvement.
 
grim said:
If you can get hold of a TP-Link, D-Link or Netgear router to test
Click to expand...
Almost all consumer grade ADSL modems/routers these days are built from a few common ADSL chipsets. There are differences in performance (& stats reporting) between them depending on which DSLAM (chipset) they are mated to.

So a better comparison would be between the chipsets available (i.e. figure out which make/models use which chipsets). For me modems/routers using the Broadcom chipsets are the best at handling long/noisy lines with most of the DSLAMs Telkom use.
 
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