So I live in a rural area that only gets 1.5 mpbs max. The problem is keeping it at that speed. The modem's downlink connection often trains down to 1 mpbs or less. We never lose the connection entirely, except in very heavy rain, but it also isn't getting any better. From what I can tell, we get occasional peaks of interference on the line that cause the modem to train down, then the interference subsides but the connection never goes back up on it's own. This happens about once or twice a month, and the only thing we can do is call up CL and get them to manually force a renegotiation of the connection. This is generally a difficult call, as most agents don't understand what I'm asking them to do, and their scripts tell them they need to send out a tech to eliminate line interference. We've had a tech out probably a dozen times over the last couple years alone. The line is as good as it's going to get. They're very old lines, at the edge of where it's even possible to get DSL.
So what I'm looking for is the best modem to squeeze every ounce of juice from the lines, and literally any way of retraining my connection without a phone call.
My current modem is an old M1000 I got when the area was still Qwest. CL gave us a replacement that seemed like it might have done a little better, but it got fried. We tried a TD-8616, but returned it since it never got higher than 1.1mpbs. I heard broadcom chipsets handle distant connections better than most? I'm also looking for something that allows me to manipulate the SNR margin. My understanding is that I might be able to manipulate the margin to retrain the connection from my end, which would be amazing. I don't know if that even works with Centurylink, or if there's any other way to go about it (I've seen nothing on their website), but I'll try anything to avoid having that same conversation over and over.
I've been looking at three modems for about the same price, the C1000Z, C1100Z, and C2000T. My criteria are that it work well on a distant, 1.5mbps high interference connection, and it lets me adjust the SNR margin manually. It will be bridged, so I don't care about the router component at all.
Any help much appreciated
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