DSL Sync speeds info - where is it?

[[MaccA]]

Hi all,

new to forum so please forgive any ignorance. I have looked for an answer to my question in the documentation, FAQ and forum but still cannot find it.

I have recently purchased a RT-AC68 and loaded 376.47 onto it.

I am trying to find where it tells me the speed that the router is sync'ing the DSL at with the telephony exchange (I'm in the UK).

I do not know if you would expect this task to be handled by the modem only hence it does not appear on the Router, but here in the UK we have a basic modem for connecting to the FTTC connection with the Router handling authentication. I am used to my ISP's router telling me the sync speeds as the modem has no interface without "rooting" it and even then some don't support even that (which I think mine doesn't).

So, does the DSL line sync, noise, margin data exist within the router and can I get at it? I'm quite happy to SSH into the Router to get it if its available but not in the GUI.

Thanks

[MaccA]

 

[L&LD]

The modem is what you need to SSH into...

 

[JamesK]

BT supply two types of modem for the FTTC product. They both look similar. They are the ECI and the Huawei HG612. You can tell which yours is by looking at the back of it. The HG612 is hackable to open up the LAN2 port to enable you to connect to it and obtain statistics.

I'd recommend you take a look at this forum for more details on the unlocking process:

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?board=5.0

Once you've applied the unlocked firmware you leave the LAN1 port connected to the WAN side of your router, and attach another LAN cable to the LAN2 port of the HG612 and connect it to one of the LAN ports on the router.

It's definitely worth downloading the tools that have been custom written to set-up a computer on your network to automatically login to the router, obtain stats and create graphs containing a whole load of useful statistics. I believe it also now uploads these to a website if you want it to:
http://www.mydslwebstats.co.uk/

If you've got the ECI modem and want the HG612 look on eBay, get the 3B or 2B variant if you can. The 3B is newer.

I used this a lot when I had issues with my FTTC connection over a year ago. However, as you tend to get speed benefits by matching the modem with the street cabinet I went back to using the ECI modem when the issues were resolved. Using the stats programs on the HG612 I was able to identify the street cabinet type, so lots of useful stuff in there, and pretty interesting.

Have a good read of the above websites to get a good understanding of what you need to do.

Hope this helps.

 

[[MaccA]]

Thanks for the replies. So I assume that my ISP router was displaying my DSL stats because the manufacturer had worked with Openreach to gain access to these stats on the Modem?

I have looked at my modem and unfortunately it is a Rev B ECI which cannot be unlocked. I am going to purchase a HG612 and do what JamesK recommends. I did a fair bit of reading on this topic after L&LD's response and it turns out that the general consensus now is that there is no benefit matching the modem chipset to that of the cabinet

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the replies. So I assume that my ISP router was displaying my DSL stats because the manufacturer had worked with Openreach to gain access to these stats on the Modem?

More likely because it was both a modem and a router combo in one single device, like the 2Wire devices used by some ISP, or the DSL-N66 from Asus.