Fusion FTTN (U-Verse) Speeds and Sync.

[reiter]

Hi, all.

I just got switched over a couple days ago from Fusion DSL (deprecated, I guess) to Fusion FTTN (re-sold U-Verse). Other than AT&T's database being wrong about my line state, and needing a second AT&T tech to do some outside wire maintenance, the install went pretty well.

I was up and running by the evening, even including configuring "IP Passthrough" on the Arris NVG599 to allow my custom router to do all the heavy lifting. No issues there.

Several days in, I'm looking at modem sync speeds of ~55000/7500 (Down/Up), but most speedtests I run indicate actual xfer rates of more like 18000-21000 down, 6000 up. Obviously, these speeds are higher than the poor performance I had on DSL, but less than half of what I know FTTN is capable of.

(FYI, I'm in the LA metro area.)

I know this is very preliminary information I'm supplying, but do any folks have some advice for where I should start looking for issues? What am I missing? Is this not, in fact, an issue? (I'd be surprised if FTTN is supposed to be "this slow".)

Thanks in advance!


Cheers,
--jwr.

[pockyken007]

FTTN x1 runs around 25 mbps down and 2-3 up if memory serves me correctly and FTTN x2 ( bonded ) runs 50-55 mbps down and around 5-5.5 up . Now mind that also depends on distance from VRAD and quality of internal copper wiring .

[miken]

Several days in, I'm looking at modem sync speeds of ~55000/7500 (Down/Up), but most speedtests I run indicate actual xfer rates of more like 18000-21000 down, 6000 up. Obviously, these speeds are higher than the poor performance I had on DSL, but less than half of what I know FTTN is capable of.

Are you speedtesting over wireless or Ethernet?

Speedtests themselves aren't usually the best indicator of available bandwidth and I usually only advise using them to test wireless signal strength. Modem sync rate is the number you are looking for, as that's the actual connection rate between your network and the back end network.

[reiter]

Thanks for those replies, folks.

For the wireless vs. wired question, I've run the tests (both Sonic's and DSLReports') on both network segments. My wireless performance is fairly good, so I don't think it's bottlenecking. I can appreciate, though, that the "correct" number to look at is sync.

Still don't know how to troubleshoot the latency (40-60 ms) or the "true" speed.

As for bonded, X1, X2, etc...when I ordered the upgrade to my old Fusion DSL (which became "Fusion X1" with the recent price increase), it was referred to as "Fusion FTTN" in all the service emails, and AT&T installed the service. Now, when I look in my "Member Tools" area on sonic.net, in the "Upgrade or Downgrade Service" area, it says that my current service is "Fusion FTTN X2".

Also - and perhaps importantly, I only have a single pair of copper tied down at my NID. If it's supposed to be a bonded pair, shouldn't I have two? Or, does the bonding happen upstream, and the 55000 sync indicate all is well?

Thanks, again!


Cheers,
--jwr.

[dherr]

Single vs double pair is up to AT&T. If they get a good enough sync rate on a single pair then they can decided to provision of that one pair for the Sonic "X2" offering.

With (X1 or X2) Sonic FTTN (AT&T U-verse resold) you actually *don't* really learn as much from the gateway sync rate since the real limit is based on the profile that is applied to you by AT&T. I have X1 and my sync is:

User Rate (down/up) 32219 kbs / 5047 kbs
Max User Rate (down/up) 53680 kbs / 11504 kbs

Since I am only paying for "X1" my profile gets me a very consistent 22 - 23 Mbit down and 1.8 - 2.0 Mbit up.

Now, the interesting thing is that every now and then I get about 5 Mbit up after a reset. It seems that this will last until the next reset which are mostly due to the rare power outage or more often me messing with my setup, adding a passthru router or removing it. The downside to the 5 Mbit periods are that the VOIP phone line gets dropouts if I max out the upload usage while on the phone. When I am in normal mode the phone will suffer much less from saturated outbound.

The key point is that my gateway reported sync rate does not fluctuate hardly at all regardless of what my speed tests show. I know of no way to show what the profile is doing without a speed test.

If you have not yet power cycled the AT&T gateway then do that to see if gets you up the normal "X2" speed.

[sonic guest]

You're probably misinterpreting your modem stats. Post a screenshot from your modem and your MPOE. FTTN X1 only gives you 2Mbps up.

[dherr]

If that is to me, I am 100% sure that I have single pair X1 service. I do get 2Mbps up when things are working normally.

AT&T FTTN service is delivered over a connection that as able to give more speed than they are contracting for. Sometimes computers make mistakes and in my case this has lead to my X1 line running at 5Mbps up.

Note that this is not a case of speed testing over VPN which can give false readings due to compression.

[reiter]

If the request for modem stats was for me, here is a snapshot of the "broadband" page of the NVG599's diagnostics:



...and a speedtest done around the same time:



I'm getting the impression more and more that this seems to all be correct, but I'm still surprised at the ~20Mbit I'm getting vs. the ~50Mbit that Sonic asked me to pay for.

Also, my network latency for certain activities (games, page loads, etc.) "seems" to be worse than before. I'm not even sure where to begin asking about that.

Thanks for all the continued suggestions and feedback.


Cheers,
--jwr.

[sonic guest]

That is interesting. Looks like you qualify for single-pair VDSL2 to provide 50 Mbps instead of normally a 2-pair bonded connection. Your FEC errors are autocorrected so they shouldn't have a significant impact on your speed. But the other stats like SN margin and line attenuation seem suspect. Your download margin is 9.2 dB but my connection is 20.8 (higher is better); your download line attenuation is 40.1 while mine is just 18.0 (lower is better). My max download rate is 53680 Kbps. It's possible you're on a higher-frequency VDSL2 profile.

I haven't read the other replies in this thread but you may want to connect your modem directly into your MPOE/NID and take a look at the stats again so as to take your internal wiring out of the equation to see if there is any improvement. Use a good cable (preferably a short one--AT&T likes to provide long green-colored ones) for connecting the MPOE/NID to your modem.