What are my options?

[ShdwFlash]

Hey everyone!

I'm sitting with a bit of a puzzle and would appreciate some input. Thanks in advance. First some background...

I recently upgraded from a 384Kbps line to a 4Mbps line with MWeb as my ISP. After upgrading I noticed that the line drops constantly (DSL didn't want to sync) and phoned Telkom who brought down my line speed to 3Mbps. This did work to some degree, but the connection was still dropping every now and again. It's then that I decided to do some investigating + research into why this is happening - something which I should have done first time round, I know. :erm:

I found out that my line attenuation is about 52db downstream and 31db upstream. And my Noise Margin hovered between 0db and 6db downstream. Upstream was 10db and 12 db respectively. As i needed a stable connection to the internet I phoned Telkom and asked them to bring down my line so it sync's at 2Mbps. Now I get the following stats from my router (Mega 100WR2)

Us Rate (Kbps): 512
Ds Rate (Kbps): 2048
US Margin: 13
DS Margin: 9
DS Line Attenuation: 52
US Line Attenuation: 31

As a result of this my connection is now for the most part stable. But the problem is that I pay for a 4Mbps connection and not a 2Mbps connection. I get half of what I pay for! Now I am wondering what my options are to improve my connection - or at least up the connection to 3Mbps.

• Will buying a better or new router increase my noise margin?
• Is there a device I can connect to my phone line to improve the noise margin? (I already use filters on all my phones)
• Is there an ISP that offers uncapped internet (or close to it) at a good price for a 2Mbps connection?
• Based on my line attenuation, is it even possible for me to get 4Mbps? Am I aiming to high?

That's about it for my mini essay. Here's to hoping for some good news.

 

[ChilliGirl]

There is lots that can be said....

First thing telkom will tell you:

the line can do a max of 4mb. we promise a min of 1mb. So you won't get them doing more for you...

 

[Colin62]

I bet more than one member here would be willing to pay half of your MWeb account to be allowed to use the other half of your bandwidth.

Choose wisely...

 

[DUDE!@##$%%]

you can look at Axxess uncapped express + but i think its expensive....

Why not downgrade your line to a 512 and then get an uncapped 512 from Mweb?

EDIT: because then you will get what you pay for...

 

[ShdwFlash]

I bet more than one member here would be willing to pay half of your MWeb account to be allowed to use the other half of your bandwidth.

Choose wisely...

I'm pretty sure that is true, but I'd rather hog all the bandwidth myself.

Besides, I don't think Mweb allows concurrent connections so it will most likely not work. Thanks for the idea. It is something worth considering.

you can look at Axxess uncapped express + but i think its expensive....

Why not downgrade your line to a 512 and then get an uncapped 512 from Mweb?

EDIT: because then you will get what you pay for...

True, but losing over 150KBps in additional downloading speed is quite harsh. I have considered downgrading, but if at all possible I'd rather not.

 

[AcidT]

Have a look at these sites:

Different Routers and Connection speeds
Wikipedia ADSL Details
Line speed according to Downstream Attenuation

These might give you an idea of what your line can be capable of and also have a look at your router as it is one of the first and oldest ones ever used by Telkom. I suggest you look at the Netgear DG834/ DG834G as it is supplied by telkom as well and it works well with a 4MB ADSL service and also supports ADSL2+.

 

[Pada]

There's not much that you can do.

At least you're not losing as much as my office is losing with renting 4Mbps Mweb Business uncapped where we can only use 2Mbps, due to the distance to the DSLAM.

If your line is unstable, you can drop the speed. Otherwise you'll just have to wait till Telkom install a DSLAM close by.

 

[ShdwFlash]

Have a look at these sites:

Different Routers and Connection speeds
Wikipedia ADSL Details
Line speed according to Downstream Attenuation

These might give you an idea of what your line can be capable of and also have a look at your router as it is one of the first and oldest ones ever used by Telkom. I suggest you look at the Netgear DG834/ DG834G as it is supplied by telkom as well and it works well with a 4MB ADSL service and also supports ADSL2+.

Thanks for the info. According to the calculator I am supposed to be able to reach speeds of 4608Kbps if I read it correctly which means that theoretically I can have a 4Mbps line. The info from Wikipedia was also very interesting and gave me a bit of extra insight into all of this. As for the modems I will look into it. I guess it is high time I upgrade that too. But if I get an ADSL2+ modem, will it improve my connection? And how do I check if I am using ADSL or ADSL2+? Is itn something Telkom manages?

There's not much that you can do.

At least you're not losing as much as my office is losing with renting 4Mbps Mweb Business uncapped where we can only use 2Mbps, due to the distance to the DSLAM.

If your line is unstable, you can drop the speed. Otherwise you'll just have to wait till Telkom install a DSLAM close by.

Damn. Sorry to hear about your office. Hope something can be done in the near future. Sadly I think that Telkom won't be upgrading or building an exchange/DSLAM closer to us. In fact, I think I stand a better chance of getting Mweb to charge me half-price because I can't use the 4Mbps offering to its full potential....come to think of it...is that possible? Do I stand a chance at only paying half the price to Mweb? Anyone know?

 

[AcidT]

But if I get an ADSL2+ modem, will it improve my connection? And how do I check if I am using ADSL or ADSL2+? Is itn something Telkom manages?

Your router specs should state if it is ADSL or ADSL2+. The Mega 100WR2 is as far as I have it a normal ADSL router. The Netgear ones is ADSL2+ which is better for the higher ADSL speeds.

 

[ShdwFlash]

Your router specs should state if it is ADSL or ADSL2+. The Mega 100WR2 is as far as I have it a normal ADSL router. The Netgear ones is ADSL2+ which is better for the higher ADSL speeds.

Got it. Thanks. I think I'll definitely invest in this Netgear modem.

 

[Pada]

There are many other ADSL2+ modem/routers that you can get. The brands I'd suggest are D-Link, Cisco/Linksys (quite expensive), Billion and TP-Link.
NetGear routers are OK, but I'm not too fond of their web interface, where you had to use the command-line just to get the router in bridge mode. Maybe this was just specific to the DG834 series?

Currently the cheapest ADSL2+ modem/router with Wireless 802.11n is the Planet ADN-4000 ADSL2+ router for about R500. Of course you'll be able to find cheaper ADSL2+ routers with Wireless 802.11a/b/g (without 802.11n)!
If you don't need wireless, you can get like a D-Link DSL-2500U for less than R300, which has 1x RJ11 (Telephone socket) and 1x RJ45 (LAN cable socket).
For R1000, you should be able to get a router/modem with Gigabit LAN, Wireless N, USB for storage devices and ADSL2+ support.
If you can't find one like that, you can always get an ADSL modem (R300 - eg. D-Link DSL-2500U) and a separate gigabit router + wireless N (R700 - eg. TP-LINK WR1043ND).

The D-Links are pretty simple to configure and they support half-bridge mode, where the router dials 1 PPPoE connection, whilst allowing other LAN devices to dial additional PPPoE accounts.
The only thing I have against D-Link is the stupid South African site that doesn't have the firmware for it, so you'll have to resort to the Russian FTP site to obtain them.

 

[ShdwFlash]

There are many other ADSL2+ modem/routers that you can get. The brands I'd suggest are D-Link, Cisco/Linksys (quite expensive), Billion and TP-Link.
NetGear routers are OK, but I'm not too fond of their web interface, where you had to use the command-line just to get the router in bridge mode. Maybe this was just specific to the DG834 series?

Currently the cheapest ADSL2+ modem/router with Wireless 802.11n is the Planet ADN-4000 ADSL2+ router for about R500. Of course you'll be able to find cheaper ADSL2+ routers with Wireless 802.11a/b/g (without 802.11n)!
If you don't need wireless, you can get like a D-Link DSL-2500U for less than R300, which has 1x RJ11 (Telephone socket) and 1x RJ45 (LAN cable socket).
For R1000, you should be able to get a router/modem with Gigabit LAN, Wireless N, USB for storage devices and ADSL2+ support.
If you can't find one like that, you can always get an ADSL modem (R300 - eg. D-Link DSL-2500U) and a separate gigabit router + wireless N (R700 - eg. TP-LINK WR1043ND).

The D-Links are pretty simple to configure and they support half-bridge mode, where the router dials 1 PPPoE connection, whilst allowing other LAN devices to dial additional PPPoE accounts.
The only thing I have against D-Link is the stupid South African site that doesn't have the firmware for it, so you'll have to resort to the Russian FTP site to obtain them.

Wow! You've given me some serious food for thought.

I actually saw a D-Link router at Chaos Computer Systems for about R1000. It certainly looked pretty impressive. Unfortunately I forgot the model number etc. so I can't list it here, but I'll post the specs when I get them. Although I like the idea of a simple configuration (except maybe for firmware updates in Russian), my primary concern is a robust router/modem that will improve the Noise Margin and my overall connection. I guess it all boils down to my earlier question....will getting a better modem/router with ADSL2+ improve this? If so, I will gladly spend a bit more, but otherwise I'd most likely go for a cheaper but better quality one.

Has anyone solved a DSL Sync issue with a better modem?

 

[Pada]

Routers with better chipsets will give you better SNR, but they can't reduce the Line Attenuation since its a fixed value mainly due to the distance of the line.

I really doubt that buying a new router would improve your SNR by such a big margin that you can get a stable 4Mbps connection though. I'd recommend that you try and borrow someone's router which is as close as it can be to the one you're looking for and see if it does indeed improve the SNR.
I'm unfortunately not clued up which chipsets are the better ones...

 

[Valerion]

Routers with better chipsets will give you better SNR, but they can't reduce the Line Attenuation since its a fixed value mainly due to the distance of the line.

Actually, I've had 2 modems recently. A Billion BiPAC 5200S RC (white device) and a Billion BiPAC 5200S (dark blue device). I had the RC lying around as a spare and put it in when my previous Planet stopped working. I thought it strange that my line attenuation increased from my Planet, but Telkom was working on the line at the time, so I blamed it on that. Had a huge amount of dropped connections, so I eventually borrowed a different modem (the non-RC one). Line attenuation dropped by 18db and I had a stable connection (62db down to 44db). It may be that the two chipsets actually measure the line attenuation differently, or something else in the modems.