Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| reply to Bicephale
Re: From the ground up!
Hummm...
Interesting: i recorded jumpy SNR Margin curves
when i lived in the country-side and had a 6016/
800 Kbps FastPath profile. There was more noise
on the evenings too but nothing severe enough to
cause major disruptions. My present location is
about 170 Kilo-meters away from the previous one
and yet i find the similitudes puzzling, not to
mention that now i reside in a city with at least
ten times the population compared to Louiseville.
Here are SNRM transitions from my old rural area:
%20.GIF)
Tweaks, Bicephale, 2008-Jul-18
%20.GIF)
Tweaks, Bicephale, 2008-Jul-18
This sample shows a raise of noise in the evening:
%20.GIF)
Tweaks, Bicephale, 2008-Jul-18 |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| %20.GIF "64587 bytes")
VelCom - ST516v6-2 (2008-Aug-23) |
This set of captures was taken during a moist day
(with the RH index beyond 65 %), that's radically
different from the previous two which felt quite
comfortable (and really dry at last!)... The noise
bursts which occured a couple minutes before 20 h
affected scale magnitudes so much i had to include
alternate curves with moderate scales again: the
details showing a possible "Cooking Hour Syndrome"
would just have disapeared behind the floor level,
otherwise. The evening curves are suggesting that
my connection was severely disrupted in that time
period - which is now customary but wasn't at all
the case, initially, when i got my profile switched
to 5056/800 Kbps FastPath (as a consequence of
past observations). It's not likely i can do anything
about it and i wouldn't bet on the phone company
neither unless the cause which triggered this radical
change is identified someday. I'm considering having
the profile modified to allow me to finish my project,
then the only reasonable option would be cable...
 |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| %20.GIF "45932 bytes")
VelCom - ST546v6 (2008-Jul-31 22 h) | %20.GIF "45487 bytes")
VelCom - ST546v6 (2008-Aug-1st 11 h) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "43010 bytes")
VelCom - GNet BB0060B (2008-Aug-2 9h01) |
Here are captures which i didn't retain for publication
(due to frequent rain/storms events, i guess). There
were no noticeable disruptions back then, as i recall.
Apparently, a major change occured between August
2nd and August 5 and i have no idea what caused it. |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
|  .GIF/thumb.jpg "64926 bytes")
VelCom - GNet BB0060B (2008-Aug-24 past 19h50) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19235 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (GNet BB0060B, 2008-Aug-24 23h10) |
System Log:
Alarm:
Not one single PPP event for the duration of that connection,
browsing almost seemed to be normal but for complex pages.
Try this on other brands/models (if that's supported at all)!... |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24 | Euh...
By "PPP event" i mean major disruption...
 |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| Playing with MoDemOptions late at night...
N.B.:
The 'STMT' curves are not available when using FirmWare 6.1.4.6! |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
1 edit | No graphics for today, lets just mention that my ST516
loaded with FirmWare v6.2.29.2-GE is unable to provide
a connection around 21 h each day while my ST546 with
FirmWare v6.1.4.6 (UK) works reasonably well for tasks
such as browsing and even listening to pseudo-streamed
radio (Pandora)... All of this being made accessible and
easy for anyone to try, thanks to 'DMT v7.35'! In my own
case, MoDemOption register 0 is set to #A8h, this lowers
the speed to 3072/800 Kbps FastPath and the transfers
are reduced but i still obtain a connection, at least!... |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
|  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19178 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (Siemens SS4200, 2008-Aug-29 15h06) |
Rate of 4095 per day at 15 h this afternoon comparatively
to over 4840 an hour later. Perhaps the phone-line quality is
starting to degrade earlier than what i suspected previously. |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
|  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19187 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (Siemens SS4200, 2008-Aug-29 18h09) |
7920 CRC Errors/day (averaged) and rising... |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
|  .GIF/thumb.jpg "56809 bytes")
VelCom - Thomson ST546v6 Rescue Tweak (2008-Jul-29 21h) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "28337 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (ST546v6, 2008-Jul-29 21h05) | %20.GIF "9935 bytes")
VelCom - Thomson ST546v6 Static Numbers (2008-Jul-29 21h) | |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
|  .GIF/thumb.jpg "276290 bytes")
VelCom - GNet GBB2060-Xi Rescue Tweak (2008-Sep-1) |
Time for an update... Admire the face of the beast!
Obviously, there's been serious degradation lately:
%20.GIF)
From the ground up!, Bicephale, 2008-Aug-6
Hopefully, i'll probably manage to post a capture of
its voice in the next few days or so. Stay tuned!... |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| %20.GIF "23710 bytes")
VelCom - The Beast Going Away at 23 h (2008-Sep-20) |  VelCom - The···20) .MP3 28,488 bytes
VelCom - The Beast Going Away at 23 h (2008-Sep-20) | | |
Here's a story, it's about "The Beast"!
Once uppon a time a beast lived in the
neighbourhood of a town called DSL and
every single evening after 18 h or so
the beast turned DSL into a ghost town.
Its population just didn't know what to
do until some day it became clear that
the beast had very regular habits... In
fact, the population knew the beast was
on its way even before it got there: a
simple A.M. radio tuned to 610 KHz let
anyone hear the loud barks of the beast
which were so strong they travelled up
thru the airwaves! No one knew where
the beast came from exactly but maybe
some major step had been made towards
a solution: the beast might be chased
and found using only a radio receiver...
My little story isn't finished yet: this is
work on progress so i won't be able to
bring it to its conclusion - well, at least
not yet. In the meantime, i've joined a
picture of the beast with a sample of its
frightening voice!
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
1 edit | %20.GIF "4285 bytes")
VelCom - Beast Away! @ 23 h (Voice Print, 2008-Sep-20) |
I almost forgot the version for people with a hearing disability!
 |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
1 edit |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "100534 bytes")
VelCom - GNet GBB2060-Xi (DMT Tweak, 2008-Sep-2) |
especially the tweak part...
Addendum
Information added: Tweak Settings & Error Rate |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
1 edit |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "87210 bytes")
VelCom - GNet GBB2060-Xi (Major Failure, 2008-Sep-3) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "86439 bytes")
VelCom - GNet GBB2060-Xi (Rescue Tweak, 2008-Sep-5) |
These two graphics should provide a more complete
perspective about some variations i observed during
the normal vs tweaked periods. For example, there's
been a lot of noise past midnight on September 2 (a
previous post) and 3 when compared to September
5; as for the tweaks, maybe that's pure coincidence
but i've recorded an average error rate of 67756 CRC
Errors/Day for the later tweak while i had 308324 (a
variation which is over 400 %) three days before! It
could result from the connection speed - or possibly
different Bits/Bin settings. I'm forced to wonder!...
In any case, my impression is that this corresponds
to human activity and that some person's activities
happen to be strongly influenced by T.V. schedules!
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| %20.GIF "78511 bytes")
VelCom - Thomson ST546v6 (RSL v3.6, 2008-Sep-23) | %20.GIF "5002 bytes")
VelCom - ST546v6 (DMT & OpenOffice Calc, 2008-Sep-23) | %20.GIF "37104 bytes")
VelCom - Test Results (Thomson ST546v6 FW v6.1.0.5-AA) | |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19116 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (ST546, 2008-Sep-23 20h59) |
More details available here:
»/testhistory/1267354/b1adc |
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| %20.GIF "57823 bytes")
VelCom - Hybrid Stats (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #D8h) | %20.GIF "57291 bytes")
VelCom - Hybrid Stats (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #C8h) | %20.GIF "57337 bytes")
VelCom - Hybrid Stats (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #B8h) |
Well, here are three easy to compare blocs
of concatenated statistics, the tests were
conducted on September 16 during one of
many crisis periods where noise was severe
enough to totally disrupt my DSL connection
unless i used some tweak trick. This noise
issue was finally solved when i understood
the true nature of the noise source, after
two months of trouble-shooting: i live on
the 2nd floor and i had installed the MoDem
on the kitchen countertop, most likely just
a few feet right above a dimmer-controlled
lamp in my neighbour's kitchen, downstairs.
I figure this light bulb was turned on when
dawn arrived (apparently once a TV program
started) and it usually went off before 0 h
but not always. With this in mind, i moved
my DSL unit to a higher location which is a
few feet away from the previous point and
this reduced noise to a manageable level...
In any case, my three samples are far from
sufficient to draw definitive conclusions
but they point at some interesting problem:
what influence does noise have over final
"browser" speed? Hummm... My middle tweak
was the worst in terms of CRC Errors and it
only displayed a marginal advantage over my
lowest JAVA speed test so i'd say this must
confirm there are two elements to trade-off
(read optimize). A higher connection rate
may compensate for noise up to a point, it
must be a bell-shaped relation and i wonder
which tweak corresponds to the sweet-spot.
Lets not forget that noise may vary through
time. Perhaps dimmed-lamp originated noise
is roughly constant but not necessarily the
other sources... The dimmer noise probably
raised the noise floor every single evening
and yet this middle sample may have simply
happened to record a noise burst of different
origin. In short, multiple samples should be
used to null-out marginal events, ideally...
Plenty of fun to have on rainy evenings!
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
1 edit | %20.GIF "319854 bytes")
VelCom - DSL Reports Test Results (2008-Sep-23) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19226 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (ST546, 2008-Sep-18 20h33) | %20.GIF "46552 bytes")
VelCom - Latency & Speed (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #C0h) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19169 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (ST546, 2008-Sep-18 21h54) | %20.GIF "46748 bytes")
VelCom - Latency & Speed (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #C8h) |  .GIF/thumb.jpg "19172 bytes")
VelCom - Bell's portal (ST546, 2008-Sep-18 23h45) | %20.GIF "47001 bytes")
VelCom - Latency & Speed (FW v6.1.0.5-AA, #40h) |
These additions end what i consider to be the
preliminary phase of this thread, which was to
establish an acceptable test-bench for future
evaluations... The present set is particularily
puzzling because of the paradoxal relationship
between the connection's rate and the browser
(final) speed, not to mention the way a lower
CRC Error rate fits into the overall picture.
Here's a perfect opportunity to refer to this:
Speed slower than expected (Elite), d_l, 2007-Sep-16
I'm confident this graphic is right on topic here.
As a conclusion about the "rescue" tweaks, i'm
tempted to declare that the Thomson SpeedTouch
5x6v6 device displayed a superior potential if
compared to GNet's BB0060B/GBB2060-Xi units.
Most unfortunately, i was forced to DownGrade
my ST's FirmWare for a total of eleven levels just
to find one which is 'DMT'-friendly enough to
support the required MoDemOption feature! No
MoDem including my Siemens SpeedStream 4200
has been able to fall-back gracefully down to the
required connection speed; it appears all of those
products are targeting an SNR Margin level instead
of some tolerable amount of noise. I guess that
this could be corrected but lets not count on it...
In any case, the ST5x6v6 owners in a similar
situation should consider these few options:
1) Fix the noise problem at the source
2) Move the DSL device away from noise
2) Simply switch to an inferior profile
4) Tweak using 'DMT' + FW v6.1.0.5-AA
Finally, trouble-shooting being essential for
people experiencing hard-to-solve issues such
as this one, i wish to point at a useful link:
%20Diagnosis%20feature%20.GIF)
Use DMT Tool to log your Line Stats
This fine article describes how to unleash the
professional-grade trouble-shooting power
which happens to be hidden within 'DMT'...
Enjoy your reading!
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Bicephale
join:2005-09-24
| Bug exposed in 'OpenOffice v2.4.1' and more!
My partial representation of a recent 'DMT' capture reveals
some flawed logic in 'OpenOffice Calc': quite clearly, there
are errors in the "DSsnr" column which seem to affect the
"txHEC" column as well. This doesn't explain the odd value
found in the "txHEC" column (time index 1222864053): the
counter went backwards, which points either at a problem
in the Siemens SS4200 MoDem/Router, 'DMT v9.01' itself
or a combination of both (corrupted exchange via TelNet).
In one case the errors are generated in 'OO Calc' alone but
in the other its originating from the "Diagnosis" capture file.
Can anyone suggest alternative FreeWare SpreadSheets!?
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corkyy
join:2008-06-01
Laval, QC
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·ELECTRONICBOX
·Bell Sympatico
| »www.koffice.org/releases/2.0beta···ease.php
Maybe koffice, but I never done the setup in windows...
»www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/···ds.shtml
Same for this one |
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%20.GIF "25546 bytes")