For those considering the upgrade offer to 7 Mbs, I wanted to post back that I got all my problems resolved. I am now getting the full 7168 Kbs 24 / 7.
After a lengthy online chat with a Qwest "Analyst," it became apparent that she was scripted, and had no real knowledge of SNR, ADSL2+, nor could she tell me my distance from their DSL switch. She "did" want to set up a tech visit for "$99 minimum."
So a ran a line temporarily from the house connection (ca. 1950s) directly to the modem, and voila! I got full speed. But it didn't make any sense because all the lines from the inside tested good (one of those cheap RJ45 / RJ11 line testers is well worth the money).
After replacing line connectors, etc. just to make sure, and still getting just 4 Mbs through the inside wiring, I finally decided to disconnect the inside ground wire from the old three-wire system. Amazingly, the SNR margin jumped from 7dB to 13+dB and stayed there. Download jumped from 4 to 7 Mbs, rock steady.
Seems that extra (third) wire on the downstream side of the lightning arrestor was acting as a kind of antenna picking up noise. The outboard ground is still connected to the water pipe so it's safe.
Just wanted to share for anyone having low daytime DSL bandwidth in an older home. And if you're on Qwest, set all the MRU / MTU on your modem and router to 1500, since they run PPPoA encapsulation.
It's been a week of discovery.
After a lengthy online chat with a Qwest "Analyst," it became apparent that she was scripted, and had no real knowledge of SNR, ADSL2+, nor could she tell me my distance from their DSL switch. She "did" want to set up a tech visit for "$99 minimum."
So a ran a line temporarily from the house connection (ca. 1950s) directly to the modem, and voila! I got full speed. But it didn't make any sense because all the lines from the inside tested good (one of those cheap RJ45 / RJ11 line testers is well worth the money).
After replacing line connectors, etc. just to make sure, and still getting just 4 Mbs through the inside wiring, I finally decided to disconnect the inside ground wire from the old three-wire system. Amazingly, the SNR margin jumped from 7dB to 13+dB and stayed there. Download jumped from 4 to 7 Mbs, rock steady.
Seems that extra (third) wire on the downstream side of the lightning arrestor was acting as a kind of antenna picking up noise. The outboard ground is still connected to the water pipe so it's safe.
Just wanted to share for anyone having low daytime DSL bandwidth in an older home. And if you're on Qwest, set all the MRU / MTU on your modem and router to 1500, since they run PPPoA encapsulation.
It's been a week of discovery.