Curious about some technical stats on my connection

[SaskJohnny]

I have SaskTel Max service.. (IPTV/High Speed Internet).. I've been having issues with the Internet (speed being a big issue) and, through some other forums, saw a lot of people talking about the following information from their modems.. I'm wondering if anyone can suggest to me what these numbers SHOULD be...

DSL Connection Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol: G.DMT2+ Annex A
Downstream Rate: 15327 kbps
Upstream Rate: 636 kbps
Channel: Interleaved
Current Noise Margin: 14.9 dB (Downstream) 8.2 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 11.6 dB (Downstream) 0.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 14.5 dBm (Downstream) 10.9 dBm (Upstream)

I am specifically referring to the Noise Margin/Attenuation/Output Power, etc.. I noticed that no one in other forums/etc had numbers like 0.0 on their 'attenuation' and I suppose that's bad..

I tried to 'google' information on what these numbers SHOULD be like, but just ended up on board after board of old posts..

Thanks ahead of time to those that can give me a little insight

[Tikker]

DSL Down Up
Current Rate: 5984 kbs 640 kbs
Max Rate: 12400 kbs 1220 kbs
Current Connection:
Current Noise Margin: 18.0 dB 12.0 dB
Current Attenuation: 9.7 dB 6.0 dB
Current Output Power: 1.3 dBm -1.4 dBm

that's from my modem

your Upstream attenuation looks broken, and your output power maybe a bit high. I'd guess there's an inside cabling, or bad modem involved

[SaskJohnny]

A SaskTel tech said the same thing (could be wiring).. They booked a guy to come look at it today... but as is the case with these companies sometimes.. They decided the customer wasn't important.. and haven't shown up.. (They were booked for between 9am and Noon. It's now about 10 minutes to 5pm.. and multiple calls to them have accomplished nothing.

At this rate (I've had other issues already with them) I will cancel and absolutely refuse to pay any 'cancellation' as they haven't lived up to their end of things.

HOPEFULLY it gets looked at though and I can forget about it all and just continue on

[SaskJohnny]

After more calls.. and finally having a manager call me back, etc.. I finally was able to get a bit of action. Turns out there was a miscommunication on their part between the people who book the calls and the ones who actually dispatch them and no one was dispatched.. (However, you would think that they would have looked into that after multiple calls)..

A manager called a worker and had him come over.. I think it was around 6:30 - 7:00 .. and he 'fiddled' around for a bit.. He said everything was fine.. (though HOW he said it was/is an issue to me as he had the personality of a dead skunk.. and more or less kept telling us we didn't know what we were talking about.. and of course.. just pushed things around.. knocking over our stuff on the desks.. without care, etc.. bah)..

But anyway.. after saying nothing was wrong.. he installed a new gateway.. and the numbers came up much better after. There were still a few issues last night.. but from my understanding it was actually SaskTel Internet problems all over.. not just here..

So.. it APPEARS things are ok.. Mind you.. for the second or third time in a week, my PVR has had to have a reboot because the software crashes on a regular basis.. but.. that's a whole different story.. heh.

Guess Access wasn't so bad after all

[Tikker]

the PVRs are still a work in progress

the one thing in mind when dealing with MAX is that since it's pretty much bleeding edge, a lot of the hardware is custom developed for sasktel, and it's not always 100% first time around

[SaskJohnny]

Yeah.. I've come to think that way over the past few days.. Realizing that there are bound to be errors that pop up in 'real world use' that hadn't been found in testing, etc.. and, like you say.. with it being very new, there are bound to be 'issues' that require working out, etc.

I've had the PVR 'crash' (I've decided to call it the 'white screen of death' because when it decides not to do it's think, I generally get a white screen and have to 're-boot' the box and let it re-load, etc).. three or four times already.. BUT I also have realized that the logo spinning when one makes a menu choice.. is the Windows logo.. SO... Hehe.. as everyone knows, it will be prone to some crashes (heh.. just kidding).

I'm learning to understand a bit more about the system and how things work, etc.. and have also had the chance to have another SaskTel person contact me with further information to help me understand various things (such as how bandwidth is reserved for each box/internet, etc)... SO.. I am less 'upset' about things.

Thanks to people for their thoughts/opinions/etc.

[recneps77]

Not sure if you got your answer on the #'s...
But I'll say it anyway

The attenuation is how 'loud' the modem has to be in order to be 'heard' and get its signal across.
Transmit power is a similar idea.
Signal to noise (SNR) is the ratio of good signal to bad noise.
The higher the ratio, the better your connection.
Now I'm pretty sure 0.0 attenuation would be an error, however judging by the rest of your stats, it could be possible.
For perspective, here's my modem stats, which are... decent. They could be much better (yours are excellent, btw). Considering the stats you have, your upload is quite low. Since you're on ADSL2+ you should get at least 800 (thats what I have on 'old' ADSL)

DSL Connection Details
DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol: G.DMT Annex A
Downstream Rate: 5056 kbps
Upstream Rate: 800 kbps
Channel: Fast
Current Noise Margin: 16.0 dB (Downstream), 15.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 35.3 dB (Downstream), 19.0 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 19.6 dBm (Downstream), 11.9 dBm (Upstream)

[Tikker]

nope, 0 upstream attentuation is broken

[SaskJohnny]

OK.. So, here is where my confusion comes in. I have had a couple of repairmen in... A replacement to the gateway/modem.. work done on the wiring, etc etc.. and still.. the stats remain the same. The attenuation still says 0. In most cases, things are working (to an extent).. so it baffles me that I have stats that are so wacky (well, the 0 appears to be very wrong at least).

Overall, the whole package seems to not entirely be worth the trouble it has been (between earlier Internet issues.. Constant problems with the PVR's (already have had a replacement show the same issues at the first).. etc etc..

BUT, one thing I can certainly say is that, while they have not been perfect in fixing it.. They sure have put a lot of work into it at no extra cost to me.. so that's a plus. (Since they charge you up the 'wazoo' when they need to fix something inside on the regular phone!).

Anyway, my reason for posting.. I am curious what the Attenuation is even... Is it a number I should be concerned about?

[Tikker]

attenuation is a measurement of signal loss

in laymans terms, it's an indicator of how far away from the DSLAM you are

the lower the better
zero is a possibility, but it's really not something you should see in the wild

all the other numbers look just fine, so I wouldn't really worry about it a huge amount