Possible to get provisioned for faster speeds?

[ALCHEMIST1]

I've had the basic 1Mbps DSL service from Verizon for a very long time (12+ years).  I recently chatted with a Verizon agent and was told that I could get upto 3Mbps, so I asked him to sign me up.  Now the speeds have gone up to close to the 3Mbps mark.  Speedtest.net and speedof.me both report on average that I'm getting ~2.4Mbps down and ~0.6Mbps up now. 

I I looked at the new Verizon DSL pricing tiers and it looks like I'd pay the same for speeds upto 15Mbps down, if I am not mistaken. 

So, my question is, would it be possible to get even faster speeds than my current 3Mbps? 

Here are some DSL modem stats (Actiontec GT784WNV) if it will help y'all answer the question:

WAN Status
Connection Status
Connection     Status
Broadband:     CONNECTED
Internet Service Provider:     CONNECTED

 
PPP Status
PPP Parameter     Status
User Name:     N/A
PPP Type:     PPPoE
LCP State:     DOWN
IPCP State:     DOWN
Authentication Failures:     0
Session Time:     0 Days, 00H:00M:00S
Packets Sent:     N/A
Packets Received:     N/A

 
Broadband Status
Broadband Parameter     Status
VPI:     0
VCI:     35
Broadband Mode Setting:     ADSL
Broadband Negotiated Mode:     G.DMT
Connection Status:     CONNECTED
Downstream Speed:     2528 Kbps
Upstream Speed:     640 Kbps
Retrains:     40
Retrain Timer:     0 Days, 9H:22M:59S
ATM QoS class:     UBR
Near End CRC Errors Interleave:     28089
Near End CRC Errors Fastpath :     N/A
Far End CRC Errors Interleave :     35530
Far End CRC Errors Fastpath :     N/A
30 Minute Near End CRC Interleave :     1
30 Minute Near End CRC Fastpath :     N/A
30 Minute Far End CRC Interleave :     0
30 Minute Far End CRC Fastpath :     N/A
Near End RS FEC Interleave :     0
Near End RS FEC Fastpath :     N/A
Far End RS FEC Interleave :     0
Far End RS FEC Fastpath :     N/A
30 Minute Near End FEC Interleave :     68
30 Minute Near End FEC Fastpath :     N/A
30 Minute Far End FEC Interleave :     120
30 Minute Far End FEC Fastpath :     N/A
30 Minute Discarded Packets Downstream :     0
30 Minute Discarded Packets Upstream :     0
SNR Downstream :     29 dB
SNR Upstream :     11 dB
Attenuation Downstream :     23 dB
Attenuation Upstream :     28 dB
Power Downstream     19.5 dBm
Power Upstream     11.9 dBm

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

[ALCHEMIST1]

A Verizon technician came out to my home today and tested the lines.  He then did something out at the NID box on my ouside wall.  He said that the signal was clean and strong, but it should be cleaner and stronger.  When I asked him why, he said that I had a very short (less than 1000ft) run to the remote.  He then proceeded to check the cabling and how the lines in the neighborhood were setup - took close to an hour.  He said that he'd be able to clean up and strengthen up the signal by making an adjustment to where the line from my home terminated at the remote.  He did this and reset the modem and now the modem stats are:

Downstream Speed:	3360 Kbps
Upstream Speed:	832 Kbps

SNR Downstream :	50 dB
SNR Upstream :	9 dB
Attenuation Downstream :	15 dB
Attenuation Upstream :	10 dB
Power Downstream	17.2 dBm
Power Upstream	11.9 dBm

Also, my average speeds seem to have gone up a bit from the ~2.4Mbps down and ~0.6Mbps that I reported in the previous post to ~3.01Mbps down and ~0.8Mbps up.  I asked him if the line could handle higher speeds and he said that it would easily do so. 

However, he said that he couldn't provision higher speeds because my line is through a remote and Verizon won't allow him to provision speeds higher than what he just got for me.  Is this really true?  Will Verizon not allow speeds higher than 3Mbps if the line is from a remote? 

[smith6612]

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@ALCHEMIST1 wrote:

However, he said that he couldn't provision higher speeds because my line is through a remote and Verizon won't allow him to provision speeds higher than what he just got for me.  Is this really true?  Will Verizon not allow speeds higher than 3Mbps if the line is from a remote? 

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In many cases this is true. The remotes when they were being installed, were not planned out to have more than 3Mbps. As a result, given Verizon's provisioning standards they will not provision more than 3Mbps on a remote.

Some remotes due to age cannot accept more than a T3 circuit worth of bandwidth (45Mbps up and down). As a result, provisioning 7.1Mbps circuits would very quickly cause congestion. On newer remotes, such as the Litespan (what I'm on) Verizon allows 7.1Mbps as these remotes are often provisioned with an OC-3 worth of bandwidth (155Mbps up and down). Newer remotes with ADSL2+ can accept up to Gigabit Ethernet, however Verizon is often running something significantly less to these units, and thus, 3Mbps is the max.

If the tech mentioned the type of remote you're on, you might be able to get some ammo towards pushing for a higher speed. Your line should take a 7.1Mbps + FastPath profile with no issue. With ADSL2+ it should handle 10Mbps without a problem.

[ALCHEMIST1]

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@Smith6612 wrote:

If the tech mentioned the type of remote you're on, you might be able to get some ammo towards pushing for a higher speed. Your line should take a 7.1Mbps + FastPath profile with no issue. With ADSL2+ it should handle 10Mbps without a problem.

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Thanks for the detailed response and explanation, sir.  The tech didn't mention what type of remote I'm on, unfortunately. However, I went down to take a look at the remote and it looks like there's several boxes there.  I took a couple of pixtures though, so please take a look.  Here's everything in a wide angle shot:

This is a closer look at just the boxes on the right side:

What do you think?  Let me know, please.  Thanks.

[smith6612]

Looks like an old Lucent SLC with some remote DSLAMs alongside. The SLC could have a Catena CNX-5, or those smaller white boxes could contain some newer Adtran DSLAMs. If they are Adtrans, I don't see why the bandwidth shouldn't be there to offer the higher speeds. If it's a CNX-5 you're permanently at 3Mbps. 45Mbps max per unit for all to share with those.

I'm betting those Adtrans (if that's what those are) are being fed by several T1s, if you're out in a rural area, or at most OC-3.

[ALCHEMIST1]

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@Smith6612 wrote:

Looks like an old Lucent SLC with some remote DSLAMs alongside. The SLC could have a Catena CNX-5, or those smaller white boxes could contain some newer Adtran DSLAMs. If they are Adtrans, I don't see why the bandwidth shouldn't be there to offer the higher speeds. If it's a CNX-5 you're permanently at 3Mbps. 45Mbps max per unit for all to share with those.

I'm betting those Adtrans (if that's what those are) are being fed by several T1s, if you're out in a rural area, or at most OC-3.

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I'm in College Station, TX, (home of the Aggies) with a population in town of around 90,000 (~200,000 if you consider Bryan/College Station together), so the area isn't really rural.  Verizon does offer business plans (~$85 or more for 7Mbps) in our area, and although I'm speculating here, it is possible that the same remotes would be used to serve businesses in our area.  What would you recommend I do to ask for higher speeds?  Call Verizon, chat with Verizon live agents or something else?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[pjsutton]

I would try going to DSLReports.com and registering to make a post in the "Verizon Direct" forum - you can post directly to staff there and they are much more technically adept than anyone you'd get on the phone.

Those stats are pretty insane, though!

You'll be changing to Frontier next year, it'll be interesting to see if they can offer something higher than 3.

I feel the pain, though, I'm on a brand new remote in PA and my line can easily handle 7 Mbps but they simply refuse to bump it up.

[ALCHEMIST1]

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@pjsutton wrote:
I would try going to DSLReports.com and registering to make a post in the "Verizon Direct" forum - you can post directly to staff there and they are much more technically adept than anyone you'd get on the phone.

Those stats are pretty insane, though!

You'll be changing to Frontier next year, it'll be interesting to see if they can offer something higher than 3.

I feel the pain, though, I'm on a brand new remote in PA and my line can easily handle 7 Mbps but they simply refuse to bump it up.

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Thanks for the pointer, sir.  Much obliged.  I'll go over to DSLReports.com and try my luck there.  I did not know that a different company was going to take over from Verizon in our area next year.  Despite the slow speeds, our service with Verizon has been rock stable and reliable.  I can count the number of times we were without internet for over 24hrs on the fingers of a single hand in the 12+ years that we've had them and usually it was related to areawide power outages or such due to strong storms.    I hope Frontier continues providing us with the same type of stable service - speeds matter but not as much as reliability....

[ALCHEMIST1]

As recommended, I signed up on DSLreports.com and posted on the "Verizon Direct" forums specifically asking to be provisioned for higher speeds.  After several back and forth messages between the friendly VZ techs and me, they came back and said that they could not increase my provisoned speed above the current 3Mbps.  They claim that there is a loop length limitation that prevents them from doing so.  I did ask them what the actual loop length is a couple of days ago, but they have not responded back to me. 

My latest DSL mode stats say that my downstream attenuation is 14 dB.  The linkup is excellent with very high SNR (used to be 50 but after a modem restart it now shows 28 db which is still excellent, imo) and very modest power downstream of 5.7 dBm. Based on the approximate loop length calculator on speedguide.net, this would suggest that my loop length is approximately about 1014 meters.  With ADSL (which is what I am on) the calculator further suggests that the line should be capable of handling a maximum of 8000Kbps downstream.  This would suggest that the line is quite capable of being safely provisioned to the next tier up, namely 7.1Mbps. 

I have posted these modem stats and the approximate loop length calculations on the Verizon Direct forums to try and justify provisioning me to speeds higher than what I get currently, and will let y'all know how it turns out.  So far, the answer has been "no".  I expect that the answer will be "no" regardless of these stats.  But we will see...

[smith6612]

While you're at it, try to find out the make and model of the DSLAM your circuit is connected to. If I can get that, the 3Mbps limitation can be narrowed down at that point.