PDA

View Full Version : Power levels and effects


Roughy
21-03-2006, 22:46
from what ive understood this board is limited to a specific isp (NTL), but its one of the few cable boards that remain active, and the question at hand is relative to both hands.

i pay for 5/5mbit. the downstream is fine, the upload...varies from 200kB/s to 450kB/s, and i have reached the full 600kB/s once or twice, for an hour or so.

my isp naturally didnt have a clue what was going on, and eventually just told me to go find another isp (not an option). so i just let it pass, as 450kB/s was good enough in most cases. this was a few months ago.

Recently, the speed seems to have dropped permanently to under 200kB/s, which is simply not acceptable. In a search for anything to confront my isp with, i eventually stumbled onto the statistics page (192.168.100.1), and after a few hours of research i understood the basis of it.

my Received Signal Strenght resides anywhere between 11 and 15 dBmv

my Return path power level usually sticks to 23dBmV, but has gone down to about 20dBmV once or twice (only started checking this regularly a few days ago so..).

knowing that this alone wouldnt be enough to make my isp do anything (theyre *******s..just something i have to face), i started comparing statistics to other people living around here.

the 2 first i talked to couldnt even access the stats page (its jumpy for me as well), the third person, that lives on the same street as me (150m away) had a Received Signal Strength of -3dBmV, and a Return path signal power of 39,2dBmV.

from what ive been able to collect, the max limit is -/+ 10, any more and you will experience connection problems. Usually -10 or more seems to involve dropped packets and an overall slow connection, while +10 (couldnt find many, the one in question had 12dBmV) mentioned slow upstream.

my downstream is perfect. I have never had any problems with it at all, however my upload usually doesnt reach more than 1/3rd of what im paying for.

just to try and be certain about this, is there anything that points to that dBmV over +10 will mainly affect the upload, and have no noticable effect on other internet usage?

thx in advance.

Graham M
21-03-2006, 22:49
Roughy, :welcome: to the Board! Firstly what ISP are you with as different figures can be safe with different ISPs?

Roughy
21-03-2006, 23:18
Downstream Receive Power: Ideally +/- 3dBmV, cause for concern at around +/- 8dBmV, different modems handle the higher and lower levels differently however I'd expect to see service degredation at that point.

my isp is Grimstad Kabel Tv (Grimstad Cable Tv). its a small local isp, reseller of Song networks.

Located in Norway btw...*bed time*