Power levels for 50mb, recent installation

[Shad0r]

Hi everyone

I had the 50mb service installed on Monday after previously being on 20mb. After leaving it alone for a few days to 'settle' the best I'm getting from Virgins speed test site/utility is about 35mbps (any time of day). When the engineer was here we managed 44mbps.

Would someone be able to confirm if my levels are ok before I give CS a quick call?

Upstream: 37.75 dBmV
Downstream: 9.15/9.27/9.26 dBmV

Cheers :)

[Pushkar]

Download looks dodgy, but which way are you connected - try using wired connection and see if you get near 50mb.

[Shad0r]

Thanks, I'm actually not using the Virgin router, the modem is hooked up over ethernet to a Netgear FVS338. There was an issue with this particular router a long time ago that limited throughput to about 15mbps, but this has been fixed for some time and I'd like to believe that the fact I've seen 44mbps coming through the router rules it out as a potential problem.

The modem is reporting 100mbps full duplex as well, possibly worth noting.

Cheers :)

[ro53ben]

Thanks, I'm actually not using the Virgin router, the modem is hooked up over ethernet to a Netgear FVS338. There was an issue with this particular router a long time ago that limited throughput to about 15mbps, but this has been fixed for some time and I'd like to believe that the fact I've seen 44mbps coming through the router rules it out as a potential problem.

The modem is reporting 100mbps full duplex as well, possibly worth noting.

Cheers :)

I'm guessing you've actually seen 44Mbps through the switch, this has nothing really to do with WAN throughput.

Have you seen 44Mbps from WAN port to LAN?

[Shad0r]

The Virgin speed test runs in a web browser, on a PC, without caching. So yes, I would class that as a valid WAN to LAN throughput test, clearly demonstrating the infrastructure is capable of more than 35mbps ;)

We have the following configuration:

Virgin Modem -> Netgear FVS338 router -> Netgear FS726T switch -> workstations & Netgear WG102 WiFi AP

Anyway, is the general consensus that the power levels could do with a tweak? Are they really that crucial in seeing maximum speed from the 50mb service? The upstream bandwidth is a good 1.7mbps.

Before you ask, my testing has been with a single PC (all ports on the switch disabled bar the router and the workstation being tested) with minimal network traffic.

[ro53ben]

I don't think upstream is generally much to worry about. 1.6megs is slow slow slow, even DSL can do that upstream. Even the worst of links should manage the full upstream.


Downstream: 9.15/9.27/9.26 dBmV


My figures there were around 10 after install and I had connection issues. The network engineers came out and tweaked it to -2.05 -2.45 -2.43 -1.9 which is much better and I now have a stable connection. It's been rock solid, but slow downstream, since they left. It was slow AND unstable before though, so this is an improvement.

I'm told the levels for 50meg should be minus 7.0 to plus 7.0, yours is outside of that and could use a tweak. I doubt it will change your throughput though.

[Peter_]

Thanks, I'm actually not using the Virgin router, the modem is hooked up over ethernet to a Netgear FVS338. There was an issue with this particular router a long time ago that limited throughput to about 15mbps, but this has been fixed for some time and I'd like to believe that the fact I've seen 44mbps coming through the router rules it out as a potential problem.

The modem is reporting 100mbps full duplex as well, possibly worth noting.

Cheers :)
If you ring Tech Support they will require you to have a direct connection to the modem as your router is 3rd party kit and therefore unsupported.