Beta feature: Upload/download speed priority toggle

[dane]

We have rolled a beta tool which will allow customers to toggle their Fusion lines between the standard download-priority (Annex A), and upload-priority (Annex M) modes.

You might choose to toggle upload-priority when you are about to start a really large upload, such as a huge HD video to YouTube or Vimeo, or when you are sending hundreds of high resolution photos from a photo shoot to a client. It would also be useful when making a large initial backup to a service like Crashplan or Mozy. Customers might turn it on before going to turning in for the night to cause an initial to complete more quickly.

But, because the upload-priority setting can slow your download speed by quite a lot, be sure to switch back to download-priority mode when you are finished with your uploading! Please also inform any other users of your connection that download speeds will be impaired while in this mode, so that they do not contact support about download performance.

For more details on Annex M, see: https://wiki.sonic.net/wiki/Annex_M_FAQ

When you switch between the modes, your connection will be briefly interrupted while it re-connects with the new configuration.

A modem which supports Annex M and which is configured to automatically switch between Annex A and Annex M is required for this feature to work. Many modems support this by default, including the standard Sonic.net Fusion equipment.

While we are working on putting this into a permanent IVR, we will be opening it up for beta by way of a temporary number. Customers may call XXX-XXX-XXXX to experiment with the beta tool. In future, this number will stop working, being replaced by an IVR option under 611. This has been launched and is available under option 2 on 6-1-1 - [kgc]

Annex M isn't something we support here by phone, it is a free "Labs" feature, which customers are welcome to use, but we cannot optimize or manage it. If you like Annex M, you can use it. If you prefer Annex A, you can toggle back. Please don't contact Sonic.net support about Labs features such as Annex A vs M, but please instead post to this forum for discussion.

Let us know if you have any questions!

[dumnorix]

Cool, I was about to call to find out about switching that on for some uploads. Way to anticipate my needs!

Thanks so much!

[Parker]

Will this eventually be under member tools?

[dane]

Will this eventually be under member tools?

That's not a goal right now, because it is by definition an "out of band" tool - it causes a re-sync, meaning tools accessed via the web could become unreachable. For example, if a customer-supplied modem wasn't Annex M ready, they'd simply lose their connection.

Using "out of band" - something other than the web - lets them swap it back if that is the case. We do plan to add it to our App, which would allow for remote access. We assume that even if the phone loses Internet access via WiFi, they can re-gain it via their mobile carrier to re-set their connection.

[Parker]

Thanks for the explanation, Dane. The only reason I ask is because I often remote into my office and it would be nice to force it on Annex M some of the time for large uploads. Probably not a common request.

[dane]

Thanks for the explanation, Dane. The only reason I ask is because I often remote into my office and it would be nice to force it on Annex M some of the time for large uploads. Probably not a common request.

This is something we anticipated, and I'm hopeful that our App will meet this need for at least some customers. If it's popular, it's likely we'd port it to Android too.

The one down-side is that someone using your connection would suffer an outage during the re-sync for higher upstream, and then might notice slower downloads - and this could result in a support call. We hope we don't see that happening.

[Robin Simpson]

Dane, this will be a great feature when active. It makes a lot of sense to have it for people that like to tinker - frees up your techs! I think a modem setup FAQ would be cool, too, if it had all the common settings, like ATM QoS settings, etc, etc. Maybe that exists. By the way, should I set ATM QoS to a particular setting? ; )

-Rob

[kgc]

This has been deployed and is now available as option 2 on 6-1-1. (And you shouldn't have to touch ATM QoS settings.)

[black98fxstc]

Anyone know if the Comtrend CT-5072T Will do this automatically? Looking at the users manual I see I can enable it manually but it doesn't make clear if it will switch back and forth automatically. Can't find any references in the forums.

Thanks,
Wayne

[kgc]

Wayne, I can't answer the question, but it is easy to use the tool and to revert back if it doesn't work.