What kind of dl speeds should I expect?

[vsp]

I've been hassling with AT&T and sonic for two solid weeks over my fusion service being horrendously unstable and much slower than it should be. Finally, after being out here four times in two weeks, AT&T replaced my telegraph-era NID with the 20th century style of a plastic box with a door and crimp connections. I used to have a metal plate with two brass bolt that wires were connected to. This was on their FIFTH visit to my house, mind you--every one of which I had to be here to meet them. I'll never figure out what took them so long to finally fix that.

Anyway, I'm now fairly stable and have good speeds at the cap of 5M/1M. I think I should be able to get more speed out it. Far as I know I'm 4000 feet from the CO.

My modem reports:
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 5784 kbps 1019 kbps
Line Attenuation 39.1 db 21.7 db
Noise Margin 5.2 db 13.1 db

In my efforts to fix the endless issues with dropped synch and horrible speeds I have replaced the lines from the NID with new CAT5, the phone (new panasonic) and the modem (new netgear), so I am convinced my IM system is solid. I'm uncertain of distance, but I think it's something like 3/4 mile or so.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Every time I talk to sonic, the tech is unfailingly helpful and polite, but issues do not get resolved and get passed off on me, even though I am convinced (and the new NID confirms in my mind) that my end of the system is reasonably up to snuff. AT&T has had something different to say every one of the four previous times they've been out here. So, is there someone smart out there who can tell me if I'm truly as fast as I'm going to get or if there's room for improvement.

I really don't want to go to Comcast but I'm tired of hearing everyone in the house complaining about the DSL service.

[thulsa_doom]

If that 4000ft estimate is correct and that line attenuation reading is accurate, I'd expect to be able to squeeze a bit more speed out than you're reporting. Get hold of us in technical support and we'll take a closer look. There might be a bridged tap or other disturber on the line that's getting in your way. I'm assuming here that your modem is synchronizing using the ADSL2+ protocol, not just ADSL or ADSL2, right?

[kerry]

Expect terrible speeds and terrible service and expect to pay 70 dollars to sonic in the end for retrieving their outdated and obsolete equipment.

[clairet]

Are you using an AT&T 2wire modem? A lot of times the splitter that it came with causes havoc on Fusion lines. Try removing the splitter and see if that helps. Since your internal wiring is fairly new, here are a few things that could be happening with your external wiring.

1) Noise (maybe from a nearby T1 or poor insulation)
2) Wiring damage (bad splice, short on the line)
3) Problems with the drop line (especially in bad weather or when it's windy)
4) Bridge taps (old copper wiring that hangs down and causes a reflection point that can cause problems with DSL)
5) Problems at the central office
6) Bad F1/F2

Also, your lines may still be capped when it was unstable. Sometimes techs cap your line to ensure stability until a problem is fixed. You may want to make sure your line is not currently capped at a lower speed than it can handle.

About AT&T, what they find depends on what we open the ticket for. If you have intermittent connectivity and they test the line when it is working normally, they will likely mark no trouble found. Lastly, about the 4000 foot distance, if that is from our prequalification, there is a chance that could be wrong. You may want to ask the tech if this is the distance that AT&T shows in their system. There shouldn't be a huge difference but even a 1000 foot difference can greatly affect your speed.