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View Full Version : Need help- slow 10 mb East London


lawsy1
01-12-2009, 20:40
Hello to everyone and sorry that my first post is a cry for help.

I am trying to help out my dad. He has been struggling for about 2 months now with speeds as low as dial up and very short periods of about 3.5 mb.

I have tried connecting the PC straight to the modem. I have adjusted the pc to maximise its settings and still no luck.

I finally after reading some good tips on this forum checked the status.

It seems he has -8.5 on downstream with a snr of approx 26.

Upstream is 42 so all seems well.

I believe this must be the problem but getting this explained over the phone has been a challenge for him.

Just as a sanity check he generally does not drop out completely , but an initial surge on speed test will quickly degenerate to very low speeds.

He is also concerned that we moved the equipment. He was very ill a couple of years back and we took the modem downstairs prior to him having a wireless router. We therefore moved the cables ourselves. I have checked all the cables and they all seem true, so i cant see it being that. Also nothing has been moved since then. So a failure as far as i can see is outside.

Have we done something wrong that may invalidate the support. If so we are willing to pay to put it right, but i am still of the opinion it is Virgins end.

We have also posted on the support newsgroup. Do you get a response via email , or directly on the newsgroup.

My final act will be to camp out at his house for a day and do the calling myself. It is quite hard for him as the internet really provides him some escape through the day.

Again, sorry for this plea as i would hope to support others prior to taking help. Hopefully i can assist others later.

Any help appreciated.

Lawsy

moaningmags
01-12-2009, 20:47
If he has an SNR of 26 that needs correcting as it's too low.

Sephiroth
01-12-2009, 20:53
Hello to everyone and sorry that my first post is a cry for help.

I am trying to help out my dad. He has been struggling for about 2 months now with speeds as low as dial up and very short periods of about 3.5 mb.

I have tried connecting the PC straight to the modem. I have adjusted the pc to maximise its settings and still no luck.

I finally after reading some good tips on this forum checked the status.

It seems he has -8.5 on downstream with a snr of approx 26.
[Sephiroth]: As per Moaningmags here's your problem. The SNR should be above 35dB and 26 dB is too low to get you a stable service.

One other point, I hope this has nothing to do with other problems reported in East Lonson (Leyton)

Upstream is 42 so all seems well.

I believe this must be the problem but getting this explained over the phone has been a challenge for him.

Just as a sanity check he generally does not drop out completely , but an initial surge on speed test will quickly degenerate to very low speeds.

He is also concerned that we moved the equipment. He was very ill a couple of years back and we took the modem downstairs prior to him having a wireless router. We therefore moved the cables ourselves. I have checked all the cables and they all seem true, so i cant see it being that. Also nothing has been moved since then. So a failure as far as i can see is outside.
[Sephiroth]: Did you lengthen the coax cable? Does it have extra joints? Is it RG6 grade? A long cable and extra joints means several dB atennuation. Also I presume everything is properly screwed in (modem) and nothing is kinked or exposed.

The acid test here is to have the cable modem close to the wall box with a shortish coax lead. PC directly connected to the modem and the trsts and stats repeated.

The only sound way to serve a person sited away from the VM wall socket is via a router (also situated adjacent the modem) and then using wireless or a longish run of cat-5e or cat-6 ethernet cable to the PC.
Have we done something wrong that may invalidate the support. If so we are willing to pay to put it right, but i am still of the opinion it is Virgins end.

We have also posted on the support newsgroup. Do you get a response via email , or directly on the newsgroup.

My final act will be to camp out at his house for a day and do the calling myself. It is quite hard for him as the internet really provides him some escape through the day.

Again, sorry for this plea as i would hope to support others prior to taking help. Hopefully i can assist others later.

Any help appreciated.

Lawsy

lawsy1
01-12-2009, 21:01
Thanks for replies.

The alteration to the cable did not add anything. We basically undone the attenuator from the box on the wall upstairs. Pulled the cable back through the wall. Drillied a new hole downstairs, put the cable back through , reattached the attenuator and added a short length (approx 500mm ) of CT 100 cable with a new F plug (screw on type).

If anything we shortened the route.

Have we done anything against the rules by doing this ?

As i said we done this with the ebst intentions and it has worked for several years with a perfect service.

Cheers

Lawsy

Sephiroth
01-12-2009, 21:14
If it shas worked perfectly then either it's damaged or there's a VM problem. Why not put the 500mm cable directly to the modem from your wall box and see what SNR you get? That'll rule out or confirm an external problem.

lawsy1
01-12-2009, 21:17
Thanks Sephiroth,

Done that and the signals were the same.

Ok, think it is time for an engineer.

Just can someone confirm if they will have a problem with the alterations?

Thanks

Lawsy

Sephiroth
01-12-2009, 21:23
Who knows what they won't have a problem with. It'll just be a raised eyebrow if anything IMO. Anyway, the engineer might want only to test it out directly at the wall socket and not round the house with an extension piece.

Good luck.