Date   : Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:25:36 +0000
From   : mike@... (Mike Tomlinson)
Subject: [OT] ADSL capabilities

In article <4ADB66BF.2000609@...>, Rick Murray <rick@...>
writes

[Following up rather late, I've only just been able to get to read the
list]

>I think half the Slindon exchange 
>was mechanical nonsense

Strowger uniselectors or a crossbar exchange.  I loved watching the
Stowger switches working at my local exchange.  This would have been
about 1985.  Shortly after it was all ripped out and replaced with
System X.

> and half was a really manically heeee-heee-ha-ha 
>over-the-top battery pack.

I remember the battery room at our local exchange.  Huge room, with two
rows of pairs of batteries all wired up to massive bare copper busbars
that ran the length of the room just above head height.  Wouldn't like
to be the one that dropped a tool in there :o)

>> It looks like the line is syncing up at around 4Mbps towards you, but
>> you are being software-throttled to 1Mbps at the ISP.

I think it's more likely that you have paid for an "up to 8MBps"
service, which will negotiate the best speed it can given the line
conditions. 

A 4132Kbps sync sounds reasonable given your line length and attenuation
figures. You could try a BT iPlate (I know you're in France, but it's
all the same) and borrow a few different routers to try.  Some are
better at negotiating a higher sync speed than others.  Changing from a
Siemens router which sync's at about 7052Kbps to a Netgear DG834GT (2
quid on ebay) got me an instant increase to 8032Kbps and it hasn't
changed since.  I'm 2.5kn from the exchange, in an old residential area.

-- 
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