3BB Fiber Installation---Is Something Wrong?

[sailaway2000]

I recently changed from 3BB Premier to 3BB Fiber 100/30. 

 

Generally speaking, I am happy with the change to Fiber, but I'm not sure the FO power levels are optimal.  The discrepancy between Received Power dBm and Transmit Power dBm is quite large.

 

Initially the Received Power dBm was -33 dBm. Technicians came back and did some 'repairs' and now it is the noted -28.23dBm.  3BB tech says this is the minimum standard for their Fiber to Home installations.

Q?: What is your opion of these Power Levels?

 

 

 

[shady86]

I this more important is the speeds you are getting. Are you getting the promised download and upload speeds?

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[Rigsby]

Here's a screenshot of my Optical power. I have the 200/50Mb package and a local speedtest is that or more. Download is 220+Mb.

 

 

[sailaway2000]

While I am happy enough with the speeds up/down to Singapore, 

 

you'll notice that the tests to with west coast of USA show a greatly diminished download speed while uploads are nearly identical.

Results from multiple servers on the west coast were the same.

 

I can only surmise that the Transmit Power of -28dBm is the primary cause.  My contacts in the cabling industry (USA) tell me that they would not accept anything less than -3dBm as satisfactory.

 

 

 

 

[sailaway2000]

On 5/1/2017 at 0:25 PM, Rigsby said:

Here's a screenshot of my Optical power. I have the 200/50Mb package and a local speedtest is that or more. Download is 220+Mb.

 

 

And this was to what server? where?

[Jdietz]

As I'm pretty sure your fiber won't be moved physically when you contact a US server, nothing you see has to do with the actual fiber connection / power levels.

You get lower speeds because of international bandwidth availability, and bandwidth guarantees are only made to your ISP (which seems to be working pretty well)

 

You are on a shared cable segment with who knows how many taps to other homes in your area, so the received power will drop with every tap. As long as the receiver still works that is fine.

Bandwidth available on a fiber segment is "enough" (several tens to hundreds of Gbps depending on modulation scheme) to serve hundreds of homes.

 

So TLDR: nothing to see on that page, move along.

[Pib]

Your optical down and up power levels is not referenced to any website.  

 

The up power is generated by the router itself; the down power comes from the ISP's upstream equipment.  Normally the down optical power would be in the -27 to -8 dbm range....notice the minus sign in front of the power levels.   We are dealing with low  optical power levels.  High levels would burn out the receiving sensor.

 

When AIS installed my AIS Fibre before the tech did the power measurement with his optical power meter to check the power arriving the router I asked him what power level is he looking for....what is a good power level?   He said a -25 to -18 dbm level.   I asked this "before" he did the power measurement.  

 

A few minutes later after completing the install of the connector on the fiber he hooked it up to the power meter and it read a -21.1dbm....awesome...pretty much dead center of the desired power at the end of the cable.   Now once he plugged it into the router and looking at the power level reflected by the router in it's firmware it was a little lower due to accuracy differences between the power meter and router power circuits...and some loss at the router connection....it was around a -24 dbm.

 

The up power from your fiber optics router should be in the 0.5 to 5 dbm ballpark.  No "minus" sign here.  

 

My AIS Fibre 100/10 plan operates great.  Below is a snapshot of the optical power levels as measured by the router.  The router AIS provided includes a "Reference Value" which is the desired power level operation range.   Note this is the desired power levels; it does not mean your fiber plan will not work if outside of the levels by a little.  If getting full download and upload speed to a "local" server then your power levels are good enough even if outside the reference (desired) levels.

 

 

 

 

 

[Pib]

4 hours ago, sailaway2000 said:

And this was to what server? where?

That when he looking at the power levels in his router firmware menus....logged into his router's firmware menus.   Got nothing to do as to what server he's hooked to, local or international.    In fact, he's not connect to any server; he's just connected to his router and looking at his firmware menus.  Kinda like if you would go into your  computer's BIOS setup.

[Pib]

4 hours ago, sailaway2000 said:

 

I can only surmise that the Transmit Power of -28dBm is the primary cause.  My contacts in the cabling industry (USA) tell me that they would not accept anything less than -3dBm as satisfactory.

 

Maybe your contacts were talking "DOCSIS (cable)" routers where the desired downstream power levels are usually as shown below but can vary depending on the ISPs network/equipment.  

 

I remember when I was still in the U.S. and on a DOCSIS/cable internet plan....one time the down speed slowed way down.  Called the ISPs who sent a tech the next day...first thing he checked was the power level arriving the end of the cable that hooked into the cable router....it was "too high."  The tech said too high of a level is just a bad as too low of a level.  An attenuator in the cable line leading to my house had failed and was allowing too much power through...he changed the attenuator to knock down the power to an acceptable value and my speed was fine again. 

 

Fiber optics internet systems operate at lower power levels than DOCSIS/cable internet systems

 

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/16085