Home Broadband - v high SNR

[cjwalsh]

We recently installed a new home broadband router from Vodafone, and then were away on holidays for two weeks, during which time the line was activated. On returning from holidays and checking the speed on the new router, it was very low, with lots of errors being reported in the statistics, which leads me to believe the socket I had used to install the router was not great and added a lot of noise to the line. I switched the router to a different socket, and the speeds were a lot better once the handshaking had completed. Looking at the line attenuation figures it looks like the line should be capable of up to ~40 Mbps, but it is maxing out at around 6 Mbps at the moment. I think this is due to the SNR margin being set to a very high 30 dB downstream and 25 dB upstream, which was presumably to deal with the noisy socket. Is there any way to get the SNR margins reduced/reset to the defaults to allow the router to get faster speeds? Or do we just have to wait for the SNR to reduce over time?

[Nabs]

@cjwalsh

I believe when there are issues on a line the exchange will grasually reduce the speed until a stable connection can be achieved. In your case it sounds like 6Mbps was the highest speed it could achieve with a stable connection. 

It you contact the Broadband Customer Service team they should be able to reset the line for you. It should then go through it's 10 day "learning" period at the exchange again and your speed should settle higher.

[cjwalsh]

It looks like it's already adapting to the better connection. The SNR margins are down to 12 dB down and 7 dB up, with corresponding speeds of 35 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, which is a lot better

[Nabs]

@cjwalsh Fantastic! That's much faster than old ADSL connections!

What speeds should you be getting?

[cjwalsh]

I think my theoretical max download is 40-41 Mbps, so getting 35 in reality is pretty good

[Retired-LouiseE]

Hi @cjwalsh

Thank you for posting through the forum. 

The best way forward is to call our team on 08080 034 515 and we will help you further with this. 

Louise

[aadshead]

I'm having issues with slow speeds and what seems like and excessively high SNR Margin.

Router to exchange is synced at 18Mbps. SNR Margin is 22-23dB whereas I understand the target for most ISPs is <10dB. Line attenuation is 16-17dB which I understand is excellent.

ive tried calling Customer Services to get this addressed but I'm struggling to make any headway when talking about SNR Margin and Line Attenuation with them.

Anyone got any suggestions?

[Tash]

Hi @aadshead, so we can look into this further for you please speak with our Broadband team directly through Live Chat or when calling 08080 034 515 between 8am and 11pm, seven days a week.

[aadshead]

Thanks @Natasha. I did speak to them.

They have a very regimented script though which involved requesting resets of the router, WiFi config etc. I appreciate this is appropriate sometimes but not in all cases.

[Nabs]

@Tash this appears to be an issue the regular broadband team are unable to resolve. Is there a route available for @aadshead to reach the highest level of technical support available? They really need to speak to someone with technical knowledge who doesnt follow a script.