By Adam Turner
Are you sure you're getting the most from your copper line?
For all the talk of the National Broadband Network, the reality is that most Australian homes will be at the mercy of the copper DSL network for at least a few years yet. ADSL2+ has a theoretical maximum download speed of 20 megabits per second (Mbps), which is not too shabby, but you'll only see those speeds if you live next door to your telephone exchange. Many homes would be lucky to sustain a third of those speeds, and it's easy to forget that some people would give their right arm for a solid and reliable 1 or 2 Mbps at home.
Australia's residental DSL broadband speeds are pot luck.Credit: Glenn Hunt
Of course "reliable" is the key word here. It's possible to push your DSL connection to the max, but this comes at the expense of reliability. Push too far and your internet connection becomes unreliable, dropping out as the modem loses DSL synchronisation with your internet service provider (ISP). Of course the condition of the copper network is in flux, so it's worth occasionally revisiting your DSL settings to see if you can squeeze a little more from your phone line.
There are two main ways to tweak your DSL speeds. One is to ask your ISP to change your "DSL profile". There should be several high-speed, low latency, standard and high-reliability DSL profiles to choose from, depending on the condition of your phone line and what's most important to you. The other way to tweak your DSL speeds is to change the settings in your broadband modem, adjusting variables such as the signal to noise ratio tolerance.
Of course your mileage may vary when it comes to asking your ISP about things like DSL profiles. Some consumer-grade ISPs find it easier to treat their customers like idiots and are reluctant to talk about performance issues beyond "have you tried turning it off and on again". Their attitude is that if it's working at all you should be grateful. Other ISPs are prepared to acknowledge that some customers understand these issues and their tech support team will work with you to find the best DSL settings for your connection.
When I moved house a few years ago I was forced to forgo Optus cable in favour of DSL, stuck more than 3 kilometres from my local telephone exchange. I signed up with Internode and I've always been very happy with the tech support – you're not treated like a child once it's clear that you know what you're talking about.
I had a few connection troubles when I first moved in but, after installing a central DSL filter and working with Internode tech support, I managed to achieve a reliable 6 Mbps via ADSL2+ with about 800 kilobits per second (Kbps) uploads. Not exactly lightning fast speeds, but faster and more reliable than I was getting on the default settings. They are DSL line sync speeds, not real world download speeds which are a little lower. As a rule of thumb, real world download speeds would be about 1 Mbps slower via speedtest.net.
Everything ran pretty smoothly until about two months ago when it all went haywire. One weekend my FritzBox 7390 started losing DSL every 15 minutes like clockwork, even though I hadn't changed any settings. It started to settle down the next day but after I spoke to Internode tech support they dialled me back to a more conservative DSL profile. Now I was only getting 3.2 Mbps line sync but at least it was reliable.
Since then I've been working hard to get to the bottom of the issue and find a way to reliably crank up my DSL speeds again. Internode confirmed that there wasn't a line fault, but unfortunately subsequent support emails were disappointing. When I asked about changing my DSL profile again, I received a cut n' paste "have you tried unplugging your fax machine" response. Not exactly helpful and rather uncharacteristic for Internode, so I decided to call them late one night.
"Angus from tech support" is my new best friend and our chats have been very enlightening. He was brilliant, listening to my concerns and talking me through the various DSL profile options. Rather than putting me straight back up to my initial high-speed profile, we decided to go up one notch at a time. Switching to the next standard profile saw my DSL sync speed jump from 3.2 Mbps to 4.2 Mbps.
Angus rang me back the next day to check everything was going well and we decided to go back up to my previous high-speed DSL profile. Speeds jumped again to 5.2 Mbps, but unfortunately the regular dropouts returned – every 15 minutes like clockwork. To be fair, high-speed DSL profiles are generally reserved for people close to their telephone exchange with a good line, but we experimented with one when I first moved in and it was reliable for several years. Had I never asked, I wouldn't know that my connection was capable of going much past 3 Mbps.
Thankfully Angus showed me how to change my DSL profile myself using Internode's online toolbox, but we also talked about the DSL settings in my FritzBox router. Rather than changing the DSL profile and falling back to 4.2 Mbps, I eased back on the signal to noise ratio setting on the router. By dropping one notch I got it sitting on a reliable 4.9 Mbps. It's a far cry from fibre but a big step up from 3.2 Mbps. With a few more late night tweaks I managed to get a stable 5.4 Mbps on a high-speed profile by adjusting the signal to noise ratio on my modem.
Sadly the next morning it was syncing at 3 Mbps and I couldn't get it past 4 Mbps – perhaps due to the rain or perhaps due to the extra traffic and noise on the network during the day. Unfortunately that's the nature of copper, but I'm stuck with it for now so I'm doing the best I can.
So what's the moral of the story? Don't be afraid to talk to your ISP about tweaking your DSL settings. Also check out the settings on your modem. It requires patience to find the right balance, but if it all goes pear-shaped you can always go back to your old settings. Of course the copper network is a fickle beast, so what is stable one day might not be the next.
Have you run into DSL problems? How did you fix them?
Follow up post: Wi-Fi woes - is your home a dead zone?
Read more posts from Adam Turner's Gadgets on the Go blog.