Am I on True VDSL or ADSL- I'm not sure now??

[partington]

To summarise: I was on the True internet 13MB/1MB ADSL plan, with ZTE ZXV10 W300 (ADSL only) router.  True sent a letter six  or seven weeks ago saying my internet would be upgraded to VDSL 30MB/5MB free of charge on 1st March (I'm in a condo building in BKK with many True customers). Nothing happened on 1st March.   IN mid March my  down speed suddenly went up to 24MB/and up speed to 2MB, and stayed at these speeds for about 10 days .

 

After 10 days download  speed suddenly dropped to 2MB -but still 2MB up, and stayed there, and kept disconnecting. This continued for two days, and I called True to complain. They said we can see problem with disconnection, and will send a technician on Sunday (four days later). Speed remained 2MB down, only functional for webpages, no videos, etc.for four days.

 

Technician came with new router, a HUMAX HV100-02 , ADSL/VDSL dual compatible. He told me you need this router for when building is upgraded to VDSL, but this won't happen for one month as all customers here need to get new routers first. So he is saying this is still ADSL, and won't be VDSL for weeks or months.

 

When plugged in this router instantly gave speed of 30-32MBdown/5MB up.  Files download at 3-4 mbit/ps-exactly as you would expect for a working 30MB connection (torrents don't work at all any more , but that's another story). When I look at the router settings the WAN interface is set at adsl-ppoe. However when I plug my old ZTE ADSL router in, and use the same internet id/password combination for internet access as the new router, the ADSL one gives 2MB down and won't ever go above this (the same router that gave 24MB continuously for 10days).

 

SO am I on VDSL or not?  I know the tech guy told me  it hasn't been set up yet in our building, and the router says adsl-ppoe, but why does my old router not work any more?  An why do I get 30-32MB download speeds when I read that ADSL has a theoretical speed max of 25MB down?  Is it possible that there is a VDSL signal, and my old router can somehow work on a bit of it, but not decode it all so I only get 2MB out of it? Is that nonsense?

 

Also on my True account page it now has my plan listed as VDSL 30MB/5MB when two weeks ago it said no plan listed, and a month ago it said ADSL 13MB/1MB.

 

Can anyone shed any light on what might be happening?

 

 

Edited April 11, 2017 by partington

[RichCor]

True has probably moved a dedicated aDSL/vDSL concentrator (service box) inside of your building (or nearby) and that is allowing for the higher aDSL speeds because of a way shorter wire run.

[partington]

If I understand: you are saying that the theoretical maximum download speed for ADSL quoted on all these websites as 24MB for 300m from source can actually be exceeded if you are, say, 50m from the source, (as it would be approximately if the source is in my building)?

 

I've never seen that anywhere, but I accept it would be an explanation (and ISP sites in the UK for example list the max you can get at even 70m from the exchange with almost no line losses are 24MB: see below http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/graph-ADSL-speed-versus-line-loss-distance

 

Of course this doesn't explain the most puzzling thing- my old modem which gave 13MB for four years and 24Mb for 10 days, and has a maximum down rate of 25MB listed on its status page when you log into the router now only works at 2MB?

Edited April 12, 2017 by partington

[partington]

pasting the table from above link

[partington]

14 hours ago, RichCor said:

True has probably moved a dedicated aDSL/vDSL concentrator (service box) inside of your building (or nearby) and that is allowing for the higher aDSL speeds because of a way shorter wire run.

 Just to add: seems like you are right.

 

I thought the limitation on ADSL speeds, once you had cut the transmission distance down to essentially zero, was that the coding system itself couldn't transmit faster than 24MB even if copper wire distance was zero-that it was a limitation of the ADSL protocol itself.

 

However I asked True , because they gave me a surprise call asking me how the system was working, and they said (essentially) up to your building is fibre at max 50MB,then to your room is ADSL.  So the modem converting ADSL signals can indeed go to higher speeds.

 

I mistakenly thought ADSL couldn't convert signals any faster than 24MB. It obviously can!

Edited April 12, 2017 by partington

[partington]

Just now, partington said:

deleted double post

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by partington

[RichCor]

5 hours ago, partington said:

I mistakenly thought ADSL couldn't convert signals any faster than 24MB.

 

As a signaling protocol, aDSL is limited to 25 mbps download on a short run.

But many modem/routers include alternative protocols they can switch to if the ISP DSLAM is compatible.

 

So your 'temporary' replacement modem/router must be using another higher-rate protocol to best that aDSL protocol speed.

The router may tell you on some web config status page what protocol it's actually using.

[partington]

As I said in my OP the router says the interface is adsl-ppoe. Now I'm even more baffled than before.

 

I don't think this is explained yet- True told me the signal is ADSL. If it is, no protocol in the router can change the limitations of ADSL transmission.

 

 

On 4/11/2017 at 10:53 PM, partington said:

When plugged in this router instantly gave speed of 30-32MBdown/5MB up.  Files download at 3-4 mbit/ps-exactly as you would expect for a working 30MB connection (torrents don't work at all any more , but that's another story). When I look at the router settings the WAN interface is set at adsl-ppoe. However when I plug my old ZTE ADSL router in, and use the same internet id/password combination for internet access as the new router, the ADSL one gives 2MB down and won't ever go above this (the same router that gave 24MB continuously for 10days).

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by partington

[ricklev]

I was talking with a friend who works at True recently about the fiber upgrades and described the many various miscommunications and confusion surrounding my upgrade, starting with the same letter you got.  "Truly ashamed"  was her response.  

 

The upgrades are not going smoothly but as is usually the case with True eventually it gets sorted and works reasonably well.  

 

[RichCor]

15 hours ago, partington said:

When plugged in this router instantly gave speed of 30-32MBdown/5MB up.

 

Did True make any 'other' changes when they gave you the new aDSL modem/router, like making the phone connection support 4 wires rather than the normal 2?  ADSL2+ protocol does support 'Port Bonding' [G998.x] to obtain double the normal data speeds up to 48mbps DOWN and  6.6mbps UP (ADSL2+ Annex M) by utilizing 4 wires connected back to the nearby DSLAM.

 

 

[partington]

9 minutes ago, RichCor said:

 

Did True make any 'other' changes when they gave you the new aDSL modem/router, like making the phone connection support 4 wires rather than the normal 2?  ADSL2+ protocol does support 'Port Bonding' [G998.x] to obtain double the normal data speeds up to 48mbps DOWN and  6.6mbps UP (ADSL2+ Annex M) by utilizing 4 wires connected back to the nearby DSLAM.

 

 

No change of any sort to wires, technician came, took router out of its box and plugged it in.

 

The new router is a VDSL/ADSL compatible, but my old ZTE router , which gave me 13MB for four years, and 24 MB for 10 days then suddenly overnight went to 2MB, was ADSL compatible only.

 

 Which is why my original long winded question was am I on ADSL or VDSL since I am getting speeds that cannot be transmitted by ADSL, and an ADSL only modem router no longer functions properly.

 

My initial theory was they have just switched over to VDSL without telling anyone, but my router interface settings suggest not.

 

 However my knowledge is too limited to know if I am interpreting the router interface correctly (that it's indicating it's still set on  ADSL) or there's somewhere else in the router interface that I should be looking at.

Edited April 13, 2017 by partington