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33 Messages

Saturday, August 30th, 2014 7:10 PM

AT&T Elite download speed increased from 6mbps to 8mbps

My AT&T Elite tier download speed was increased on August 27, 2014 from 6mbps to 8mbps [Download SyncRate (kbps) 8190]. All my speed test results using TestMy.net are stable an consisitent using different servers using various download file sizes from 12MB to 200MB with a 0-1% variance beginning to end over the entire download.

 

AT&T Uverse Tier 2 Tech Support in the Arizona call center told me that they may be improving the ADSL2+ Tier Packages for users. He also told me that he was not aware of any bulletins or information at this time.

 

As of yesterday 8/29 at 2:00pm through today 8/30 at 2:00pm CST the wait times for tech support have increased to 10-30 minutes.

 

Is anyone else on the forums noticing this, has experienced a speed bump or have any information?

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

 

Expert

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20.4K Messages

10 years ago


@RRS1947 wrote:

@baseballisback wrote:

I also have the "elite" speed.  I just got a 7.3, but have previously noticed that it does go over from time to time.


I'm curious baseballisback. What are you seeing since the speed increase as your SN Margin day, evening and night?

 

Thanks,

 

Rob


Pretty sure @baseballisback has VDSL2 Uverse HSI like me and the noise margin is the same 24 hrs/day like mine is at 22db. 

 

Pretty much a situation for those of you on ADSL2+ IPDSLAM internet past the VDSL2 distance. 😉

 

Chris
__________________________________________________________

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems) or
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I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

Mentor

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33 Messages

10 years ago


@RRS1947 wrote:

Addendum:

 

I was concerned from the beginning of the appearance of the 8190kbps increase by my low Downstream Signal to Noise Margin during the day of 8.1-8.4 .

 

I, for evaluation purposes, monitored it closely 8/29, 8/30 and 8/31 during the evening and night window of 7pm to 12am. The S/N Margin dropped to 6.0+-. I experienced several link drops/loss of sync. Edit: On 8/31 during the same period loss of sync and link drops were occuring every 5 to 10 mintues; to numerous to count.

 

I have come to understand that any value lower than 10db was to be of concern and lower than 6db would cause signal drops due to sync loss.

 

With the 6Mbps Downstream Sync Rate and my S/N Margin was always between 13db-14db with no sync loss/line drop.

 

Since my distance to the central office (2Km) or the guage and age/condition of the copper wire outside my house to the central office will not be changed, reducing my downstream sync rate back to 6Mbps is what I believe my only option. The wire and distance is the weakess link in the entire connection.

 

A stable connection is more important to me than a faster speed. The only advantage in my situation to the 2Mbps increase was being able to use the Netflix 1080p HD 5800kbps stream. The 1080p HD 4300kbps stream works well with 6Mbps and with no subjective visual difference or sync loss.

 

Any feedback and/or comments would be appreciated.

 

Rob

__________________

 

Update 8/31/2014 4:42pm CST

 

I was on the phone with one tech who assured me he was a Tier Level 2 for one hour. He said he was totally unaware of a 8190kbps increase to the Elite up to 6 mbps to 8mbps. I was disconnected, waited 20 minutes for him to callback then after no call. I called back to a real Tier level 2 tech, who said the previous tech closed my case which was opened on 8/28. She noted many FEC errors over the past four evenings She reopened the case with a new case number that refers back to my previous case which was opened on 8/28. She also noted that she was unaware of 8mbps increase to any Elite 6mbps users. She also noted that she sees my Downstream Sync Rate of 8190kbps and S/N Margin of 8.1db.

 

I was told by the field supervisor Friday 8/29 when I called him and described the issue in detail that if anyone in tech support wanted to send out a tech to decline and call him back. He also noted that several of his field techs had seen the exact 8190kbps increase and were puzzeled.

 

I have left a message with my local field supervisor to call me Tuesday 9/2, who will send out the tech who is exteremly familiar with my connection from the NVG510 to the central office.

 

 


Update 9/4/2014 1130am

 

The AT&T Field Tech called me yesterday. I briefly and succinctly gave him my observations and data since the Downstream Sync Rate was increased to 8190kbps on 8/27-8/28. He said everyone on the edge or beyond the maximum distance from their central office (there are only three CO's located in my hometown) with ADSL2+ was experiencing the same issue. Without coming to my house he changed my port back to the Downstream Sync Rate of 6013kbps and double checked my line stats for issues. He then came to my house and we discussed the phenomenon. The SN Margin immediately went back to 13.4 to 14. Last night between 7pm to 12am it went no lower than 12.5. Netflix streamed the 1080p HD 4300kbps flawlessly. No sync loss/line drops. CRC Errors are 0. FEC Errors 396. Compare to my Broadband Status earlier in this thread on August 30th.

 

He noted that the real world data; distance from the CO, copper wire conditions and customer's preferred  Downstream Sync Rate is rarely a factor when a decision is made to change ports for what Corporate decides is better for the subscriber.

 

As I posted earlier in this thread "New and Improved" is a tried and true marketing tool. Also a faster speed is meaningless without stability.

 

Rob

 

ACE - Professor

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7.6K Messages

10 years ago

I just got 7.14 down.

Mentor

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33 Messages

10 years ago

 

 

Appling the below to my particular situation (ADSL2+) with the 2Mbps increase and a SN Margin of 8.4 at it's best the following may be old news to some, interesting to some, and downright irritating to others. However it has been helpful to me and colleagues in applying Ockham's razor to various situations. The below quoted information is not by me in origin or did I author it. I do not have the original sources and authors of this information. Though I believe it is a combination of information from DSLReports, Kitz, and Speedguide.net.

 

_________________________________________

 

"Signal to Noise Margin:

 

Noise margin (in circuits) is the amount of noise that a circuit can withstand. Noise margins are generally defined so that positive values ensure proper operation, and negative margins result in compromised operation, or perhaps outright failure The choices the DSL modem make can also be either conservative, where the modem chooses to allocate fewer bits per bin than it possibly could, a choice which makes for a slower connection, or less conservative in which more bits per bin are chosen in which case there is a greater risk case of error should future signal-to-noise ratios deteriorate to the point where the bits-per-bin allocations chosen are too high to cope with the greater noise present. This conservatism, involving a choice of using fewer bits per bin as a safeguard against future noise increases, is reported as the signal-to-noise ratio margin or SNR margin. The telephone exchange can indicate a suggested SNR margin to the customer's DSL modem when it initially connects, and the modem may make its bits-per-bin allocation plan accordingly. A high SNR margin will mean a reduced maximum throughput, but greater reliability and stability of the connection. A low SNR margin will mean high speeds, provided the noise level does not increase too much; otherwise, the connection will have to be dropped and renegotiated (resynced). ADSL2+ can better accommodate such circumstances, offering a feature termed seamless rate adaptation (SRA), which can accommodate changes in total link capacity with less disruption to communications."

 

_________________________________________

 

"SN Margin:

 

Higher numbers represent cleaner signals, with less noise. In some instances interleaving can help raise the noise margin to an acceptable level.

 

6dB or below noise margin is bad, it will experience no synch or intermittent synch problems

7dB-10dB is fair but does not leave much room for variances in conditions

11dB-20dB is good with little or no synch problems (if no large variation)

20dB-28dB is excellent

29dB or above is outstanding"

_________________________________________

 

"Line Attenuation:

 

Measure of how much the signal has degraded between the DSLAM and the modem. Maximum signal loss recommendation is usually about 60dB. One of the biggest factors affecting line attenuation is distance from the DSLAM. Generally speaking, bigger distances mean higher attenuation. The lower the dB the better for this measurement.

 

20dB and below is outstanding

20dB-30dB is excellent

30dB-40dB is very good 40dB-50dB is good

50dB-60dB is poor and may experience connectivity issues

60dB or above is bad and will experience connectivity issues" _________________________________________

Professor

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3.9K Messages

9 years ago

I was downloading a big file (5 gb) last week, and I have a usage app on my system to keep track of data usage on my fast express 6 mbps legacy DSL connection, and while most of the time, my max line speed is way short of the 6 mb speed limit, during the download, the throughput showed as high as 14 mbps.

I figured the app was just misreading the data flow, but now, I am starting to wonder if at&t just might be allowing faster than advertised connection speeds.

Technicaly, my modem CAN support up to 20 mbps connections (adsl2+ modem) but the line is only 6mbps.

Great if true...  and it's not really a bad thing if the customer actualy gets a bit more than what they paid for.

One can dream anyways.

Tutor

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12 Messages

8 years ago

Interesting. My max download sync rate when installed a year ago was 7192bps and was consistently getting 6.6 Mbps. But in October my line sync rate went up to 8192 and was getting download speeds of 7.6Mps. Now just yesterday I get att digital phone and I noticed I'm back down to 7192 sync rate. Did they suddenly notice it was too high? Or also it has been hot the last 2 days and my line attenuation went up to 37.5. Maybe it could not hold sync at that length? Who knows? Should I call tech support to dial me up?
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