So, I'm an IT geek for many years now, though the deep and subtle technicalities of Fibre elude me somewhat.
I had an Asus DSL-AC68U that was often... troublesome... and finally decided to just switch off wireless intermittently.
My wife and I both work from home often, so we need reliability of WiFi and otherwise.
So, a new router was in order. I tried several (Asus AC88U, Netgear Nighthawk X4S, TP Link AC2800) but has ended up settling on the Draytek 2860.
I have had issues with latency variation and being dropped to Interleaved with the Asus and the extensive diagnostics and settings available with the Draytek were just too tempting to pass up, even given the cost and the complexity. Also being able to wall mount in the 'right' orientation is great...
Anyway, I don't know what about 80% of the settings do, but the important ones I have a handle on... I think... I would greatly appreciate some help with them, just to make sure I'm in the best starting position.
1) I have a working connection, but it's slower than before. I have read that trying different routers (I've tried 4 today) could have the 'system' (somewhere) thinking I'm 'in distress' and setting lower speeds? Do I need to just wait a couple of days for things to settle?
2) I updated to the latest firmware, 3.8.4.6_VT4, but I noted the previous ended _BT. Should I have stuck with that?
3) Are my settings correct/best?
PPPoE / PPPoA
Modem Settings (for ADSL only)
Multi-PVC channel
Channel 1
VPI
VCI
Encapsulating Type
Protocol
Modulation
Multimode
PPPoE Pass-through
For Wired LAN2
For Wireless LAN
WAN Connection Detection
Mode
MTU
1492 (Max:1500)
Load Balance Mode:
WAN 1
Enable:
Display Name:
Plusnet
Physical Mode:
VDSL2
DSL Mode:
VDSL2 only
DSL Modem Code:
Line Speed(Kbps):
DownLink
UpLink
VLAN Tag insertion(ADSL):
Tag value:
(0~4095)
Priority:
(0~7)
VLAN Tag insertion(VDSL2):
Tag value:
(0~4095)
Priority:
(0~7)
Active Mode:
Load Balance:
4) Are my stats ok?
ATU-R Information
Type:
VDSL2
Hardware:
Annex A
Firmware:
05-07-09-0F-01-07
Power Mngt Mode:
DSL_G997_PMS_L0
Line State:
SHOWTIME
Running Mode:
17A
Vendor ID:
b5004946 544e0000
ATU-C Information
Vendor ID:
b5004244 434da48c [BDCM]
Line Statistics
Downstream
Upstream
Actual Rate
62355
Kbps
19854
Kbps
Attainable Rate
98410
Kbps
39772
Kbps
Path Mode
Interleave
Interleave
Interleave Depth
1361
505
Actual PSD
7. 2
dB
13. 1
dB
Near End
Far End
Trellis
ON
ON
Bitswap
ON
OFF
ReTx
0
0
SNR Margin
11
dB
13
dB
Attenuation
13
dB
14
dB
CRC
0
47972
FECS
1315
s
747270
s
ES
0
s
40692
s
SES
0
s
15
s
LOSS
0
s
0
s
UAS
31
s
11757
s
HEC Errors
0
0
RS Corrections
0
0
LOS Failure
0
0
LOF Failure
0
0
LPR Failure
0
0
NCD Failure
0
0
LCD Failure
0
0
NFEC
42
57
RFEC
16
16
LYSMB
8064
21776
5) What is a Web DSL Modem Code Upgrade and do I need one? I seem to have 2 available also... AnnexA_579f17_573f01 and AnnexA_573807_571701
6) With my previous router (Asus DSL-AC98U) I could do things like enable/disable Bitswap, SRA, G.INP, G.vector, Stability adjustment. The Draytek doesn't seem to have this, though it has a thousand other things. G.INP is something that is enabled by the ISP though? So having is 'enabled' on the Asus did nothing? Made it portentially fail? So this isn't a setting at router level that's needed?
Thanks for anyone that's read this far! Lots of probably useless info, sorry. Any help and advice is greatly appreciated.
The Draytek is reporting SNR margin of 11dB which is much higher than usual 6dB value, which would cause the downstream speed to drop from 80 mbps to current 64 mbps..
To confirm whether DLM (Dynamic Line Management) has kicked in and raised the SNR, you could revert back to another router you tested where you saw significantly higher speeds and lower SNR margin on downstream. If the speed remains low, then DLM has probably applied a higher SNR Margin on your line due to your 'box swapping' activities.
I recall reading somewhere DLM needs to see at least 15 days of 'uninterrupted' service, before it considers whether to make changes to the line to perhaps improve the speed. This rule is not set in stone though. Otherwise, you can call Plusnet and they can send a request to Openreach to reset the line.
Unless there is another forum user with Draytek router experience, I think you may need to post on Draytek or kitz user forums for advice about settings.
G.INP is enabled on all Huawei FTTC cabinets. I think some work is still required on ECI FTTC cabinets
Looks like you may be connected to a Huawei cabinet, as the Vendor ID shows BDCM.
A quick google suggests Draytek 2860 model supports G.INP.
I presume you eliminated possibility that your internal phone wiring and other phone devices is responsible for causing your latency issues. eg. is your router plugged into an Openreach VDSL filtered face plate etc.
ex-Plusnet (ADSL, FTTC) 2008-2023. now BT (FTTP) 2023-
I'm pretty sure the downstream drop is a result of messing with routers. When I went back to the original it was still reduced.
I followed instructions at Draytek on "Checking if Vectoring or G.INP / G.998.4 is active on your VDSL2 line" and it says to use: -
> vdsl status more
which gets me: -
...
ReTxEnable : 0 0 ...
And the article says:-
"The ReTxEnable setting relates to G.998.4 support, if the value is "1" then it is active on the line. 0 (zero) indicates that it is not active. The right hand column is downstream (your received data) and the left hand is upstream"
So it looks like my cabinet doesn't have G.INP?
As for internal wiring: I spent years eradicating problems when I had ADSL. I've had the whole line and master socket replaced so that now there's just a couple of meters of cable from where it hits the house to the box then a few meters of shielded cable to a splitter/filter then a meter shielded to my router. It's been checked by Bright Sparks engineers and passed flying colours maybe three times over the last few years. I've jumped through those hoops so many times. I'm pretty sure it's a line/exchange/service thing.
Potted history: History of disconnects on ADSL. Much work done but no resolution over 8 years. Got VDSL Oct 2016. All lovely until April 2017. Lots of latency variation and speed variation. Exchange equipment fix in July. Still have latency variation but speed good. Now, new router...
15 days to settle? Good grief. So too late to return the router by the time I find out... Better call Plusnet on Monday...
As Browni said G.INP will for sure still be enabled at the cab, but it's been disabled on your line due to the swapping of the various routers and it can take time for it to be enabled again, when it's up to DLM some see it back in 3-5 days others a couple of weeks some even more.
Hopefully all the router swapping hasn't forced DLM to enable banding to the line that can be a real pain I would ask for a GEA test and check the Line profile if it states 0.128M-80M then the line isn't banded and one less thing to worry about.
Are you sure it's the DLM doing this? Whenever I've had DLM intervene it's been between 1am and 6 am. May be worth installing the BT firmware when you get a chance.
I installed that firmware straight away. I'm not certain it's the DLM, no. The connection does come back very quickly, so maybe the router is just trying different settings... But I didn't think a router could switch interleaved/fastpath?
The graphs looks like I've had 4 brief disconnects recently - you can see where the first changed me to Fastpath (base ping drops to less than 10! And there's 3 more very brief 'packet loss' spikes at the other disconnects: 8pm, 10pm and 10am.
Not wanting to conflate issues and confuse, but does anyone know if the constant latency spikes are normal? It gets worse under load (8pm yesterday was Netflix watching) but all the other time is web browsing or gaming (which is next to no quantity of data) and still there is the frequent variation.
10 to 50ms isn't terrible, you'd think, but with gaming, the fact that it is varying so badly, not the actual maximum values, causes big problems...
I'm sure I've seen other people's graphs showing the stats flat as a pancake unless loaded... And I never had latency variation issues before April (and was installed in October).
Turned out there was a problem at the exchange and they eventually (months...) fixed it with new hardware.
Was fine for months and now I'm getting regular disconnects... This technology just does not seem to work reliably. I've had problem off and on for 10 years now with various providers. *sigh*
The graphs looks like I've had 4 brief disconnects recently - you can see where the first changed me to Fastpath (base ping drops to less than 10! And there's 3 more very brief 'packet loss' spikes at the other disconnects: 8pm, 10pm and 10am.