Line Attenuation help?

lucernarian

2 dB attenuation would suggest you could feasibly get on your roof and throw stones at the exchange building, this is why I cannot get over eircom saying that your line can't handle more. How can they say this?!

antocann

there a pic i made , shows my house , parent house and exchange i think lol

lucernarian

If you drag the streetview "man" to where the p in "parent's house" is then you may see a glimpse of the exchange. It's a typical exchange for villages across ireland.

antocann

here it is on google maps street view

http://maps.google.ie/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Forge+Hill,+Strokestown&aq=1&sll=53.401034,-8.307638&sspn=7.419766,26.784668&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Forge+Hill,+Strokestown,+County+Roscommon&ll=53.78042,-8.103383&spn=0.007176,0.026157&z=16&layer=c&cbll=53.780454,-8.103673&panoid=ydKZ03qNn9KjjkWqr1cpsg&cbp=12,44.78,,1,-1.42

antocann

just when i taught they finaly sorted it out , i get an email saying upgraded ect ....
go any check my stats and iv bein upgraded to wat look like 3 and a half mb instead of the 7 mb package

lucernarian

Go ahead there and give us the stats for curiousity! 3 and a half sounds a strange one.

antocann

from router
Speed: 3776 kbps /384 kbps


and every time i run a speed test it dont go over 3.10 mb

lucernarian

Speed isn't enough, sure you already said what speed you were getting:)

Could you post the attenuation and signal margin stats for us?

antocann

theve changed it again now , and said its syncing at 7mb , cant see it myself to be honest

lucernarian

Those line stats are utterly different from the first stats you posted! Is that on a different line?!

Something's really not right here. Could you restart the modem and tell us if the statistics have changed??

Also, could disconnect any filters that are plugged into the same socket as the modem and make sure the modem is connected directly to the socket with just the standard 6ft cable?

Finally, can you confirm with eircom that you are indeed connected to the Strokestown exchange?

antocann

nope im on the same line , since theve been upping the speed they have realy change

iv already tried with out filters ect , no change .

router speed says im on 4 mb , wich eircom are sayin im on 7

Sponge Bob

Borrow a modem off someone else and see what it does. The exchange location is correct!

thefinalstage

Port issue?

antocann

i have 2 modems here , have me ma's one aswell
and no difference

Solair

That seems very odd indeed.

Try these steps:

Remove all the internal wiring from the line if you can. If it's a new-build house, you should be able to do this by just removing the faceplate from the eircom socket and plugging your modem and a splitter into the socket behind the plate.

If it's older, just open the first socket and remove the wiring that is going to extension sockets.

These days, people use DECT cordless phones for pretty much everything so it's really not necessary to have umpteen phone sockets.

If you have a Sky Box or anything like that e.g. fax, etc make sure that it is connected via a DSL filter. Every device on the line other than the DSL modem should be behind a filter.

Assuming all that is OK.

Plug in a wired phone (not a cordless). Press any key on the phone to silence the dial tone. Listen very carefully and see if you can hear a crackle or a 50Hz (low frequency) buzz on the line.

If you do, ring 1901 and tell them that you keep getting an intermittent crackle on the line and that it is making it hard to hear callers. Stick to your guns until they sort the line out.

It sounds to me like you've either got

a) an internal wiring problem causing line noise
or
b) there's some kind of a problem at a junction box or connection point outside which is causing interference.

Either way, you'll have to sort it out to get a decent speed.

antocann

Solair wrote: »

That seems very odd indeed.

Try these steps:

Remove all the internal wiring from the line if you can. If it's a new-build house, you should be able to do this by just removing the faceplate from the eircom socket and plugging your modem and a splitter into the socket behind the plate.

If it's older, just open the first socket and remove the wiring that is going to extension sockets.

These days, people use DECT cordless phones for pretty much everything so it's really not necessary to have umpteen phone sockets.

If you have a Sky Box or anything like that e.g. fax, etc make sure that it is connected via a DSL filter. Every device on the line other than the DSL modem should be behind a filter.

Assuming all that is OK.

Plug in a wired phone (not a cordless). Press any key on the phone to silence the dial tone. Listen very carefully and see if you can hear a crackle or a 50Hz (low frequency) buzz on the line.

If you do, ring 1901 and tell them that you keep getting an intermittent crackle on the line and that it is making it hard to hear callers. Stick to your guns until they sort the line out.

It sounds to me like you've either got

a) an internal wiring problem causing line noise
or
b) there's some kind of a problem at a junction box or connection point outside which is causing interference.

Either way, you'll have to sort it out to get a decent speed.

checked line wen it was installed all was grand , only installed about 2 weeks ago , new wire ect ......

but looking at my router settings ,
shoudnt it say on that , 7xxxkbs or sumthing if i am on a 7mb speed

antocann

oh forgot to put , after being told that its syncing at 7mb
it changes again to this

lucernarian

Thanks for that second set of stats, it answered a couple more questions which I was about to ask:)

Apparently your line is running as fast as it can handle. Attenuation on a line is not supposed to change, that's why I'm confused. Your line has basically become 4 kilometres longer since you started this thread! The modem is reporting that the line is over 4km long, and your line speed of a bit over 4 megs would support that...

I have no suggestions for what you can do other than ruling out any internal wiring problems beyond any doubt, and to find a linesman when they're outside your house again. Streetview suggests they often park outside there. Tell them eircom has limited your line to 4 mbps because your line is apparently too long(even if it's not strictly true). Of course, they'll point out the exchange from your front door and then you can ask nicely or offer them a few quid or show them the router stats and then maybe they'll have a look at something in the exchange or any joins in the cable from your house to it.

As you're still getting a moderately fast eircom connection and those stats suggest nothing wrong (except that there is a hidden 4 km of wire in the footpath outside your house!) you may struggle to get eircom tech support to do something. Linesmen are friendly enough and it shouldn't be hard to get one being where you are:D Try that first at least.

Btw there's no interference problem, the only issue (and a pretty big issue at that) is the apparent length of the line or else a mistake with wiring in the exchange or an issue with the DSLAM's line card power output limits being set wrong or something unusual like that.

antocann

thanks for all your help ,
im prob best to leave it now ,

thanks for your help , you made me keep pushing them to get this far , from a line that i was told no way on earth could handle more than 2mb

shall i drop them an email queryying about how close to the exchange i am and the 4km line ?

also any idea why my stats changed since my speed was increased?

Sponge Bob

Have you tried without filter, ie plugging modem straight into phone socket?

The filter is what makes the phone work, not the modem.

notahappycamper

Key your phone no. into this line checker: http://www.eircom.net/broadband/?EGPage=ConBB

When you get the result look at the address bar (www.) not where they tell you what "package is suitable for you and look out for where it says: "Res&lineSpeed=xxxx" where "xxxx" will be a no. divide this no. by 1024 and that will be the amount in MB that your line will be capable of it may well even be capable of much more.

It's what they call the prequal amount or pre-qualification amount which is there way of telling you what the max. the line is capable of.

BArra

notahappycamper wrote: »

Key your phone no. into this line checker: http://www.eircom.net/broadband/?EGPage=ConBB

When you get the result look at the address bar (www.) not where they tell you what "package is suitable for you and look out for where it says: "Res&lineSpeed=xxxx" where "xxxx" will be a no. divide this no. by 1024 and that will be the amount in MB that your line will be capable of it may well even be capable of much more.

It's what they call the prequal amount or pre-qualification amount which is there way of telling you what the max. the line is capable of.

well spotted, it works

gives slightly under what im currently getting, but its close enough allright

antocann

notahappycamper wrote: »

Key your phone no. into this line checker: http://www.eircom.net/broadband/?EGPage=ConBB

When you get the result look at the address bar (www.) not where they tell you what "package is suitable for you and look out for where it says: "Res&lineSpeed=xxxx" where "xxxx" will be a no. divide this no. by 1024 and that will be the amount in MB that your line will be capable of it may well even be capable of much more.

It's what they call the prequal amount or pre-qualification amount which is there way of telling you what the max. the line is capable of.

done that and it gave me 6

also checked router setting today , and speed has droped on it to 3mbs , when it was on nearly 5 yesterday
stats


speed test


also thanks to every one for there input

Sponge Bob

Well it does and doesn't, my line show a max well under what it does right now

lucernarian

The thing is, the stats look completely normal! A line with 50dB attenuation would expect around 4mb/s tops. The million dollar question which only an eircom linesman can answer is why the signal is 0.005% as strong as it should be when it only has to go from the exchange to a house around the corner!

This sort of issue is always best sorted by cutting out the customer service middleman and having a chat with a local linesman. Otherwise, a good response can be had by writing to media outlets, TDs, ComReg, some director or other in eircom and demanding action etc. I prefer the 5 minute chat approach:D More often than not they'll know what's happened after a quick inspection. Giving you a different wire pair on a different cable or else swapping wires in the exchange could solve this issue in a matter of minutes.

There is nothing more that antocann can do with the phone wiring or equipment in his house. This can only be sorted by eircom staff.

antocann

heres an image of the exchange i took from my house ,

the 4km of line is buggin me but , my bb speed is alot better than the 1.sumthing mb i was first gething and the foul mothed eircom reps on the phone stating i coudnt get any faster ,

my speed is well over doubled since then so im not to bad with keeping what i got

Solair

The only explanation for those line stats is that is not your exchange. Is there any possibility that you are on a different exchange. Even though it's visible from your garden, it's quite possible that for whatever wiring reasons, your line terminates on a different exchange a few KM away. The wiring isn't just radial from the exchanges.

The only way you could really figure it out is a formal complaint to eircom. I'd suggest that you start by posting on their own forum on boards.ie

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1293

Also, if you happen to see any Eircom engineers wandering about, perhaps you could ask them directly.

lucernarian

I looked into that possibility Solair but the exchange boundary maps from eircom suggest that antocann is more than 5km from even the nearest boundary. The attenuation is not high enough for that to be possible. And eircom wouldn't bother installing a small fibre-fed cabinet in a rural town and then run copper cables for 4km to it when they could use 200 metres of wire to connect to the original exchange...

yuloni

This post has been deleted.

antocann

Condi wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

checked that and exchange is strokestown