Stuck IP/Bras profile

Question

I'm a BT customer. My line syncs at over 6Mbps with an IP profile of 5.5Mbps at a target noise margin of 6db which is great for a long line with 55db line attenuation registered on my Billion router. I can reliably download at over 5Mbps so I'm happy - so far so good.
My neighbour but one, (also a BT customer), asked my advice as her connection was very much worse - she was syncing on her Home Hub at 2.88Mbps down & 0.45Mbps up, with an IP profile of 2.5Mbps and a target noise margin of 15db and a similar line attenuation to me so I looked at her internal extension wiring and noticed there was a lot of it with lots of microfilters, so I fitted her an ADSL filtered front faceplate to her NTE5 master socket, removed all the microfilters and told her that the high target noise margin was probably the result of noise on the extension wiring interfering with the ADSL service and after ten days or so of a solid connection it should reduce, (the line was nice and quiet on a silent line test with no evidence of errors in the router stats). This hasn't happened - the line is still stuck at a target noise margin of c.15 dB and obviously is achieving well below its true potential, (tested at 6db target using a Billion 7800N router). She has contacted BT customer help and to cut a long story short, they don't want to know and refuse point blank to reset the IP/Bras profile to allow the line to find its new level following the faceplate replacement. All they do is quote an unrealistically low line sync speed of 600Kbps as the "guaranteed minimum" and say they can't help any further. Needless to say, her currently low download speed results in very poor performance when trying to stream video.
What on earth can a customer do in this situation? Why should she put up with a sub-standard service because BT refuse to perform what is presumably a simple remote reset operation? She can't go to another ADSL supplier as there is no local unbundling and she would be still stuck with the same BT local end and there is no fibre in the area so she is stuck with an unnecessarily inferior service in a monopoly situation.

Answer 1

Hello,
I am the retired neighbour but one that bobbear refers to and like him I'm a BT customer. Bob has volunteered to try and help me solve the problem of my poor broadband speed. I have been unable to get any help over the issue with BT telephone customer support despite providing all of the information requested below which Bob tells me shows a stuck target signal to noise margin which does not reduce no matter how long the router is left connected. (Rebooted yesterday, but had been running for weeks before that). The hub is connected via ethernet to the PC.
Bob has fitted an ADSL filtered faceplate to isolate the extension wiring which he says may have been the cause of the original high target S/N margin, but the margin remains stubbornly stuck, stopping my line from achieving its true potential. (Two doors away Bob achieves a line sync rate over 6Mbps and downloads at over 5Mbps with a default target S/N ratio of 6dB).
ADSL Line Status
Connection Information
Line state:    Connected
Connection time:    0 days, 13:41:22
Downstream:    2.719 Mbps
Upstream:    448 Kbps
ADSL Settings
VPI/VCI:    0/38
Type:    PPPoA
Modulation:    G.992.1 Annex A
Latency type:    Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up):    13.9 dB / 19.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up):    51.0 dB / 27.5 dB
Output power (Down/Up):    18.9 dBm / 12.4 dBm
FEC Events (Down/Up):    9734503 / 54
CRC Events (Down/Up):    6 / 7
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):    0 / 0
HEC Events (Down/Up):    20 / 5
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):    45 / 19
BT Wholesale Speed Test Results:
1. Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    Download  Speed
    1.93 Mbps
0 Mbps    2 Mbps
Max Achievable Speed
 Download speed achieved during the test was - 1.93 Mbps
 For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds  is 0.4 Mbps-2 Mbps.
 Additional Information:
 Your DSL Connection Rate :2.78 Mbps(DOWN-STREAM), 0.45 Mbps(UP-STREAM)
 IP Profile for your line is - 2 Mbps
Is it possible to get the target S/N margin reset to the normal 6dB default?
Can someone please help me with this?