Speed issue - 4Mb - Glasgow [Archive]

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EssDee

27-11-2006, 20:30

Hi

I am in the Glasgow area on 4Mb connection. My typical speed test shows (for the past couple of weeks)

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 20:23:03 UTC

1st 512K took 31141 ms = 16.4 KB/sec, approx 135 Kbps, 0.13 Mbps
2nd 512K took 32375 ms = 15.8 KB/sec, approx 130 Kbps, 0.13 Mbps
3rd 512K took 39813 ms = 12.9 KB/sec, approx 106 Kbps, 0.1 Mbps
4th 512K took 33328 ms = 15.4 KB/sec, approx 127 Kbps, 0.12 Mbps

Overall Average Speed = approx 125 Kbps, 0.12 Mbps

and my modem levels (ntl 100 modem) are

Downstream Receive Power Level : 5.24 dBmvDownstream SNR : 29.83 dBUpstream Transmit Power Level : 44.00 dBmv

I'd appreciate any advice on these figures. The sticky on signal levels indicates that 256QAM demands SNR of 33dB, so could this be the problem? I have checked that the modem is configured for 4Mb.

TIA

Cheers

dcclanuk

27-11-2006, 21:01

i am on 10mb in NW London, and the speed test doesnt even load:disturbd::o:

liam_mcf

27-11-2006, 21:47

im in Glasgow to mate! On 10MB and had problems for a couple of weeks. Couple of phone calls to customer service and they deny anything is wrong! :td:

happytraveller

28-11-2006, 13:23

I'm in Glw too and my speeds have been very poor over the last couple of weeks. In fact, my connection has been dropping off completely, especially last week. Incidentally, I also loose all my cable TV channels when this happens.
If my connection drops off and on quickly in succesion, my TV channels pixelate or disappear. If my broadband connection goes completely, so do my TV channels. It's worse when it rains, and as it's been raining here for 1 month, I suspect the incoming cable to my property, or the cab has become waterlogged.
After many calls to faults, I have an engineer coming on Friday. Well maybe two engineers, as I had to report both faults seperately to several different people in India an the UK. They tell me there is no way to group faults across the various platforms and book one engineer to fix them all. The only way is to book seperate engineers.

Good luck in getting your speed issue fixed.

happytraveller.

Octimon

28-11-2006, 13:57

I am also in Glasgow on 4Mb and the speed for the last few weeks has been diabolically slow at times. Again, CS deny anything is wrong

Zee

28-11-2006, 14:01

happytraveller

28-11-2006, 14:16

NTL's service page has no problem in the Glasgow area and hasn't done in a while. The nearest known issue/planned maintenance is in Luton, which is unlikely to affect the Glasgow/Renfrew area. Although, you never know!!

happytraveller.

EssDee

28-11-2006, 19:15

An update.

Called BB support (India) and a very helpful lady diagnosed a problematic cable modem. Engineer coming on Saturday to swap it out.

I am well aware that there can be 'issues' when calling support, but I can only praise them on this occasion. I am a network manager and I have come across a lot worse on many occasions. Credit where credit is due.

Thanks for your comments in this thread.

Cheers

---------- Post added at 19:15 ---------- Previous post was at 19:09 ----------

Have just done some new speed tests. Now getting around 2.5 - 3Mb! Looks like the diagnostics have beat my modem into submission!!

EssDee

02-12-2006, 09:52

Ok, test just before modem swap

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2006/12/33.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

and test just after

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2006/12/34.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

:tu:

No difference, eh!!

Think it's time to have those ntl100 modems banished (unless of course mine was just faulty........)

Incidentally I now have a 250 modem.

dcclanuk

02-12-2006, 15:21

Check the service status page to see if your area, or an area close to yours is having any sort of problems:

http://www.ntl-isp.ntl.com/ServiceStatus/

To the person saying the speed test wont load, open it using Internet Explorer and make sure there is no popup blocker installed

It works in the day time. Just wont load in the night time!

Surely nothing wrong at my end?

edit: by "load" i mean the results box stays blank!

thetitletrack

04-12-2006, 20:55

I am in Glasgow also, connected to the Renfrew exchange. I have a completely intermittent connection which has persisted for weeks. Clearly there's no point in calling India since they asked me my name four times and then asked me to speak English.

Anyone know of any local issue in Glasgow area these days?

EssDee

04-12-2006, 21:23

foxprorawks

04-12-2006, 22:14

Do you have an ntl100 modem? Swapping mine solved the problem. I've seen some postings indicating a problem with these with the modulation now used on the network. As I've mentioned before mine may just have been faulty........

Cheers

I'm on 10Mb, had the same speed problem above and had my ntl100 swapped out for an ntl250 as well. My connection has never been faster.

thetitletrack

04-12-2006, 23:50

I'm on 10Mb, had the same speed problem above and had my ntl100 swapped out for an ntl250 as well. My connection has never been faster.

Thanks guys, but it's actually an NTL 250 I have as well. I'm on a 10Mb connection, the PC is a little old but in good condition (2GHz AMD Athlon, 768Mb SDRAM, top spec ATI graphics for this chipset, etc. I can run Battlefield 2 with no problems on medium graphics settings, so it's in good nick.

It's really frustrating that I'm paying for the service but it's getting to the point where I'm getting kicked out of online games and I keep getting fails while surfing on three different browsers (Opera, IE6 & Firefox). This leaves me having to refresh and hope for the best or completely close the browser, empty the cache and hope that starting again will load the page. Sometimes it does, sometimes not.

The worst thing is trying to stream music or videos online. Completely fails half the time, the other half is akin to dial up buffering rates if you know what I mean...however, confusingly, trying to download a large file from a reputable source is fine. It's more the general surfing that's underperforming.

This is a recent installation, but I'm not so sure on how to figure out what the problem is, apart from traceroutes and the like - of course it's not specific and happens all the time, so my ability to figure it out isn't quite up to scratch. I have no problems with the modem, the lights are green and solid, but switching it off and on does really do anything for the consistency of the connection.

I've checked the browser, configured with and without the firewall (XP built in), router (Belkin G+, wired, brand new) and antivirus (AVG Pro). I've also checked XP (Pro) for errors, it doesn't seem to be the case and hasn't ever been before.

I don't have any other NTL services. It does seem there is a problem with the Renfrew exchange up here, but for the sake of further confirmation I'd be happy to hear from anyone who could help with more advanced testing of my configuration and line. If anyone could let me know how to display the modem configuration, voltages etc that I sometimes see, then I'll certainly do that if it helps. Any info on local problems that my be affecting this would explain a lot as well.

I'd rather not phone NTL again, their CS is just rubbish. A guy from India asked me to speak English - I mean, what's that about?

For now I've just got to grin and bear it. But 6 weeks or so of this is getting kinda frustrating.

---------- Post added at 23:50 ---------- Previous post was at 22:49 ----------

Cable Modem Downstream Downstream Lock : Locked Downstream Channel Id : 30 Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz Downstream Modulation : QAM256 Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4 Downstream Receive Power Level : -6.0 dBmV Downstream SNR : 36.8 dB

Cable Modem Upstream Upstream Lock : Locked Upstream Channel ID : 1 Upstream Frequency : 33600000 Hz Upstream Modulation : QPSK Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec Upstream transmit Power Level : 55.0 dBmV Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

A little too close for comfort, if I'm honest, but I can't claim to know more than the basics.

Bill C

05-12-2006, 07:06

Thanks guys, but it's actually an NTL 250 I have as well. I'm on a 10Mb connection, the PC is a little old but in good condition (2GHz AMD Athlon, 768Mb SDRAM, top spec ATI graphics for this chipset, etc. I can run Battlefield 2 with no problems on medium graphics settings, so it's in good nick.

It's really frustrating that I'm paying for the service but it's getting to the point where I'm getting kicked out of online games and I keep getting fails while surfing on three different browsers (Opera, IE6 & Firefox). This leaves me having to refresh and hope for the best or completely close the browser, empty the cache and hope that starting again will load the page. Sometimes it does, sometimes not.

The worst thing is trying to stream music or videos online. Completely fails half the time, the other half is akin to dial up buffering rates if you know what I mean...however, confusingly, trying to download a large file from a reputable source is fine. It's more the general surfing that's underperforming.

This is a recent installation, but I'm not so sure on how to figure out what the problem is, apart from traceroutes and the like - of course it's not specific and happens all the time, so my ability to figure it out isn't quite up to scratch. I have no problems with the modem, the lights are green and solid, but switching it off and on does really do anything for the consistency of the connection.

I've checked the browser, configured with and without the firewall (XP built in), router (Belkin G+, wired, brand new) and antivirus (AVG Pro). I've also checked XP (Pro) for errors, it doesn't seem to be the case and hasn't ever been before.

I don't have any other NTL services. It does seem there is a problem with the Renfrew exchange up here, but for the sake of further confirmation I'd be happy to hear from anyone who could help with more advanced testing of my configuration and line. If anyone could let me know how to display the modem configuration, voltages etc that I sometimes see, then I'll certainly do that if it helps. Any info on local problems that my be affecting this would explain a lot as well.

I'd rather not phone NTL again, their CS is just rubbish. A guy from India asked me to speak English - I mean, what's that about?

For now I've just got to grin and bear it. But 6 weeks or so of this is getting kinda frustrating.

---------- Post added at 23:50 ---------- Previous post was at 22:49 ----------

Cable Modem Downstream Downstream Lock : Locked Downstream Channel Id : 30 Downstream Frequency : 402750000 Hz Downstream Modulation : QAM256 Downstream Symbol Rate : 5360.537 Ksym/sec Downstream Interleave Depth : taps32Increment4 Downstream Receive Power Level : -6.0 dBmV Downstream SNR : 36.8 dB

Cable Modem Upstream Upstream Lock : Locked Upstream Channel ID : 1 Upstream Frequency : 33600000 Hz Upstream Modulation : QPSK Upstream Symbol Rate : 2560 Ksym/sec Upstream transmit Power Level : 55.0 dBmV Upstream Mini-Slot Size : 2

A little too close for comfort, if I'm honest, but I can't claim to know more than the basics.

Your upstream transmit level is to high. You need a engineer out to get that lower.

r00t

05-12-2006, 10:09

Yep I'm with Bill C on this mate.
Now if this were one of the Motorola or Scientific-Atlanta series this would be easy.

I'll google from more info on a the NTL 250

thetitletrack

05-12-2006, 14:02

Could you explain that a little further? I know from one of the sticky posts that the figure is not right, but I don't know what that specifically means and how it affects the signal.

I'd like to understand what's happening before I call NTL, as it's a lottery that I get through to someone who's more inclined to listen to what I have to say.

Thanks.

Martin

r00t

05-12-2006, 15:00

Bill C

05-12-2006, 15:23

Imagine a radio thats just off station mate.
I see from the sticky what Bill is getting at, and to be honest here I'm blueyonder.
So Bill, thetitletrack's 55dBmV a little high but the levels for BY are 34-56 dBmV, also
downstream freq for BY is 331000000. Just looking for some education on this mate. :)

Max upstream level should be no more than 55dBmv on a ambit modem.

If its close or above then the modem is having to shout at the top of its voice to be heard at the ubr.

So you need a engineer out to adjust the amount of signal coming into the house so that the modem does not have to shout so much. There could be other reason for the bad signal but generally its down to a reduction in signal strength and moving you up a tap in the cab should fix it. :)

thetitletrack

05-12-2006, 15:28

Max upstream level should be no more than 55dBmv on a ambit modem.

If its close or above then the modem is having to shout at the top of its voice to be heard at the ubr.

So you need a engineer out to adjust the amount of signal coming into the house so that the modem does not have to shout so much. There could be other reason for the bad signal but generally its down to a reduction in signal strength and moving you up a tap in the cab should fix it. :)

Cheers mate, thanks for the heads up. I'll relay this to TS and see if I can coerce an engineers' visit.