Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Just goes to show some of the techs that come out know their stuff.

Glad you're sorted.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Yup, I have been monitoring it all day. There have been peaks and a few slowdowns. I will only really be able to tell during the week. As this is when I suffered the most.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

I used to have a linkys wrt54g when I was on 20mbit. When I upgraded to 50mbit they gave me one of those Netgear routers which I didn't even want to try. I went out and bought a linksys wrt150n and it works brilliantly

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Sigh, getting T3 timouts all the time now. Since he came round and left, I have had 34. Which of course is causing my connection to cease.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

What do you mean by causing the connection to cease? I was under the impression t3's dont cause you to lose connection. If you ignore the error logs etc hows the connection been?

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

It causes my pages to timeout when loading and my download speed will suddenly drop.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

T3's on their own don't mean a thing without the logfile to be able to see a possible reason for them. The U/s and D/s stats would also help.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

There'll usually be an upstream reason (like congestion or impairment) for web pages to take a long time to load. Poor upstream also screws downstream because Acks and the like can't get through.

T3s are more usually caused by upstream issues.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Thanks, it has been my upstream that has been the issue since I moved here. I am thinking that a complete cable rewire is in order. I think they are trying to break my will in terms of complaining. I mean it is not as if I EVER miss a bill. I also on the VIP package, so paying top dollar. Even when they offer me credits, I tell them I do not want it but just my speeds sorted! Yet I am almost force fed it in order to get me off the line by the Indian call centres.

Surely it can't be much to ask for consitent speeds. It is work ing fine as I type, but earlier on I was struggling to get over 2.5. The cable guy who tested my connection said I do have an upstream issue as without the HDU unit I am getting 56, with I am getting 51.25.

I am posting here to get help on how to push this on further. I will give the tech his due, he did everything I asked. But the trouble is it is impossible to show him in the evenings when my connection goes to crap. I did take a load of pictures as proof. There was defo an issue with the router, as my upload is spot on. Just my speeds crap out all the time, I am averaging about 3.5 most of the time, which is not acceptable.

Sepiroth, what do I need to do to convince them to rewire the house?

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Whats your SNR?

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

His SNR from an earlier post is 36.17 - that's DS of course.

The high US power arises because the CMTS can't properly communicate with the CM and so the CM steps up power until the CMTS can communicate properly. Ideally Risco's US power should be below 50 dBmv (IMO) and if higher (but below 55) needs to be steady or else he'll have problems as described.

As to re-wiring in the house. The coax is a common medium for US & DS. So they put in a reverse HDU at the original install . Somewhat unusual. How many TV set top boxes (like V+) do you have?

Could you please describe the wiring starting at what's inside your wall box and ending at the cable modem. Which end/port of the HDU goes to the modem? Is there any attenuator attached anywhere? Which model/make HDU have you got?

There are several potential factors that determine the power levels, including but not limited to:

1 Distance to your home from the street cabinet
2 Tap connected in the street cab (attenuation setting)
3 Number and condition (equalisation) of the line amplifiers in the street
4 Condition of the tap providing the drop cable to your home
5 The number of splitters in line
6 The length of internal coax cable in the home

So re-wiring your home means what to you? What is the scope you think is needed?

Let's say you are (like me) 300 m from the street cabinet. I have 3 STBs and 1 CM. An STB splitter is on the outside wall box that disperses to 2 rooms via the outside wall. The cable goes through the wall. There is another splitter - one to an STB and one to the CM. There are no boosters or HDUs. I get the following CM stats on a good cable service:

Downstream Receive Power Level : 1.8 dBmV
Downstream SNR : 37.6 dB

Upstream transmit Power Level : 37.0 dBmV

So, compare your gaff with mine in terms of the parameters I've provided and we can try to move forward from there.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Wow, nice detailed post. I will let you know tmoz!

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Hi Sepiroth, ok not sure what exactly you mean so here goes!

The comes in through the front bedroom. It is from a gray box outside, which has a cover held on by just a screw stopping it falling off! I opened it as it was easy to use, it has a single Tratec splitter in there, and some weird what looks like phone wire with an orange bobble bit on the end. Once inside the house it immediately hits a splitter for my mates room for his TV. It is then wired through his room to mine, which then hits the HDU made by Tratec FDU-61.

The box cover in my mates room is of the old Telewest broadband style lol. But as it is a cover, do not think it has anything to do with it?

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

A simple way to eliminate the internal wiring as the issue is to attack the wiring a bit and connect your modem directly to the incoming feed as soon as it gets to the house and see how the power levels are there.

See if you can do that, get shot of splitter, etc, and see how you are going. If there's a single splitter and a coax run in place you should see about 5dB higher incoming power and a transmit power drop of a similar level.

The engineer should have plugged your modem in to the incoming feed to your home to eliminate the internal wiring as an issue.

If still marginal chances are that it's just how the network is set up, might not be any tap options where you are and the network is lined up for a higher transmit power than your drop and splits can do.

Re: Just got 50mb Broadband - Signal levels ok?
 

Thanks for the tip, got some very interesting results. This is a direct feed from the wall inside. No splitters, seems my DBmV levels are too high or am I mistaken?

I should add that my speeds were still crappy.