FTTC installed - very happy

Got my connection upgraded to fibre today, long way from exchange so was on 3 meg at best, estimated FTTC speed 31.2 Mb, have got actual speed test results of 39-40Mb, wonderful!

The process was managed by Plusnet extremely efficiently from start to finish, I was kept informed at all times and everything happened when it should have. The Openreach engineer was very pleasant but did express surprise at Plusnet's 2Mb upload cap, he thought it was a fault when he tested it at the cabinet and had to phone to check. It doesn't bother me at the moment as it's a heck of a lot faster than the previous upload speed, but I await the launch of 10Mb upload with interest.

Congrats - how far are you from the cabinet? and how long after the new larger cabinet was physically installed the street was the service made available to you.

In reply to a post by DRW:

Congrats - how far are you from the cabinet? and how long after the new larger cabinet was physically installed the street was the service made available to you.

Must be around 1/4 mile to the cabinet. I don't know exactly when it was installed as I only found it quite recently but I don't think it was much more than a month or so. BTW my speed has now dropped from 40Mb to less than 3Mb as my 3Mb Plusnet profile has kicked in but hopefully Joanne is sorting that out for me!

In reply to a post by kasg:

Got my connection upgraded to fibre today, long way from exchange so was on 3 meg at best, estimated FTTC speed 31.2 Mb, have got actual speed test results of 39-40Mb, wonderful!

Glad to hear your good news, Kevin.
What exactly did the OR engineer have to do at your end ?

Wagstaff

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

In reply to a post by kasg:

Got my connection upgraded to fibre today, long way from exchange so was on 3 meg at best, estimated FTTC speed 31.2 Mb, have got actual speed test results of 39-40Mb, wonderful!

Glad to hear your good news, Kevin.
What exactly did the OR engineer have to do at your end ?

Wagstaff

Hi, he phoned me from the cabinet when he was about to swap the line over to warn me that my line would be disconnected and that he was on his way. When he arrived he just replaced my ADSL faceplate with the chunkier Openreach version (which I believe is, to all intents and purposes, the same), connected up the modem, drunk a cup of coffee, I connected the Plusnet supplied Netgear router (which I had already configured) and after a couple of minutes it all just worked - the first two speedtest.net tests I did gave 39Mb and 40Mb, slightly lower using mybroadbandspeed.co.uk. The BT speed tester didn't want to play.

My Plusnet profile has just been increased to 37Mb so hopefully I'll get my Fibre speeds back again in a few minutes.

In reply to a post by kasg:

The Openreach engineer was very pleasant but did express surprise at Plusnet's 2Mb upload cap, he thought it was a fault when he tested it at the cabinet and had to phone to check.

The 2Mbps upload limit is applied at the Wholesale level, not at our end (where the assured rate is actually set to 10Mbps).

The 2Mbps and 10Mbps variants have different wholesale rental costs.

Odd that the Openreach engineer thought it was a fault though because AFAIK BT have a 2Mbps upload product too?

In reply to a post by kasg:

BTW my speed has now dropped from 40Mb to less than 3Mb as my 3Mb Plusnet profile has kicked in but hopefully Joanne is sorting that out for me!

Has it been sorted now?

In reply to a post by bpullen:

In reply to a post by kasg:

The Openreach engineer was very pleasant but did express surprise at Plusnet's 2Mb upload cap, he thought it was a fault when he tested it at the cabinet and had to phone to check.

The 2Mbps upload limit is applied at the Wholesale level, not at our end (where the assured rate is actually set to 10Mbps).

The 2Mbps and 10Mbps variants have different wholesale rental costs.

Odd that the Openreach engineer thought it was a fault though because AFAIK BT have a 2Mbps upload product too?

In reply to a post by kasg:

BTW my speed has now dropped from 40Mb to less than 3Mb as my 3Mb Plusnet profile has kicked in but hopefully Joanne is sorting that out for me!

Has it been sorted now?

Yes, thanks Bob, now set to 37Mb (through Joanne on Twitter). Is this the highest value you use?

No, and speaking to Joanne I understand she's set it to 40Mbps at our end anyway?

In reply to a post by bpullen:

No, and speaking to Joanne I understand she's set it to 40Mbps at our end anyway?

Sorry, I don't want to tie up two of you! It says 37Mb on https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer...

In reply to a post by kasg:

Hi, he phoned me from the cabinet when he was about to swap the line over to warn me that my line would be disconnected and that he was on his way. When he arrived he just replaced my ADSL faceplate with the chunkier Openreach version (which I believe is, to all intents and purposes, the same), connected up the modem, drunk a cup of coffee, I connected the Plusnet supplied Netgear router (which I had already configured) and after a couple of minutes it all just worked - the first two speedtest.net tests I did gave 39Mb and 40Mb, slightly lower using mybroadbandspeed.co.uk. The BT speed tester didn't want to play.

Thanks for the info, Kevin. It is tremendous news to learn that 40Mb can be achieved on a long line !!
This must give hope to all those who live in the countryside and suffer from the problems caused by very low broadband speeds.

Wagstaff

Ah, looks like there's some differences with the naming conventions used at this side/on the portal.

The shaping rate for the 40Mbps profile (as it's displayed at this side) is actually set to around the 37Mbps mark.

I doubt relaxing it would have a huge impact on your actual throughput TBH (it may even make it worse), but give things a go now that I've upped things to 100Mbps...

In reply to a post by bpullen:

Ah, looks like there's some differences with the naming conventions used at this side/on the portal.

The shaping rate for the 40Mbps profile (as it's displayed at this side) is actually set to around the 37Mbps mark.

I doubt relaxing it would have a huge impact on your actual throughput TBH (it may even make it worse), but give things a go now that I've upped things to 100Mbps...

Thanks Bob, getting anything from 35-38Mb depending on which tester I use, I suspect any more would be greedy!

The highest possible IP Profile is 38717Kbps.

Plusnet settings above that are meaningless.

The BT speed tester usually takes 1-2 days to start to work on FTTC converted lines. It then shows the IP Profile and speed test results, but not the sync speeds.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 05-May-11 13:35:33)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The highest possible IP Profile is 38717Mbps.

Plusnet settings above that are meaningless.

The BT speed tester usually takes 1-2 days to start to work on FTTC converted lines. It then shows the IP Profile and speed test results, but not the sync speeds.

Thanks Bob - BT speed tester is now working and shows a profile of 38717K (not 38717M!)

In reply to a post by kasg:

Thanks Bob - BT speed tester is now working and shows a profile of 38717K (not 38717M!)

Pah!!

Now edited. How many years before M I wonder?

It's a good feeling seeing you have the maximum . Mine was estimated at 26.9Mbps so I was dead chuffed - engineer sync was 39992kbps.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by kasg:

Thanks Bob - BT speed tester is now working and shows a profile of 38717K (not 38717M!)

Pah!!

Now edited. How many years before M I wonder?

It's a good feeling seeing you have the maximum . Mine was estimated at 26.9Mbps so I was dead chuffed - engineer sync was 39992kbps.

Sorry, didn't mean to call you Bob, despite your name, got mixed up with Mr Pullen! I must pace out the distance to the cabinet some time.

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

Thanks for the info, Kevin. It is tremendous news to learn that 40Mb can be achieved on a long line !!
This must give hope to all those who live in the countryside and suffer from the problems caused by very low broadband speeds.

Wagstaff

Sorry, this is *not* a long line. I'm about 2.5 miles from the cabinet (and 4.5 miles from the exchange) which I suspect is not at all uncommon in rural areas.

In reply to a post by andygegg:

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

Thanks for the info, Kevin. It is tremendous news to learn that 40Mb can be achieved on a long line !!
This must give hope to all those who live in the countryside and suffer from the problems caused by very low broadband speeds.

Wagstaff

Sorry, this is *not* a long line. I'm about 2.5 miles from the cabinet (and 4.5 miles from the exchange) which I suspect is not at all uncommon in rural areas.

You're right, it's not that long, I'm about 3 miles from the exchange and I've just checked the distance to the cabinet and it is, as I guessed, almost exactly 1/4 mile. The BT speed estimates are pessimistic - mine says 31.2Mb but I'm getting the maximum possible profile.

In reply to a post by kasg:

You're right, it's not that long, I'm about 3 miles from the exchange and I've just checked the distance to the cabinet and it is, as I guessed, almost exactly 1/4 mile. The BT speed estimates are pessimistic - mine says 31.2Mb but I'm getting the maximum possible profile.

I must've misunderstood, Kevin, but I'm sure you said that you had a long line in a previous thread - with an attenuation of over 60db !!

Wagstaff

In reply to a post by Wagstaff:

In reply to a post by kasg:

You're right, it's not that long, I'm about 3 miles from the exchange and I've just checked the distance to the cabinet and it is, as I guessed, almost exactly 1/4 mile. The BT speed estimates are pessimistic - mine says 31.2Mb but I'm getting the maximum possible profile.

I must've misunderstood, Kevin, but I'm sure you said that you had a long line in a previous thread - with an attenuation of over 60db !!

Wagstaff

On ADSL Max the attenuation was just over 54dB, when I was moved onto ADSL 2+ recently it was just over 61dB, so it depends which figure you use. Obviously I don't know how long my actual line to the exchange is as I don't know the route it takes.

In reply to a post by kasg:

Got my connection upgraded to fibre today, long way from exchange so was on 3 meg at best, estimated FTTC speed 31.2 Mb, have got actual speed test results of 39-40Mb, wonderful!

Congrats! That must be a massive difference. 1 Meg to 2 Meg was great, but suddenly having more than ten time the speed must be like dial-up to broadband.

In reply to a post by kasg:

It doesn't bother me at the moment as it's a heck of a lot faster than the previous upload speed, but I await the launch of 10Mb upload with interest.

I would love 2 Meg upload.

C'mon Plusnet...trial my exchange fgs.

In reply to a post by kasg:

I'm about 3 miles from the exchange and I've just checked the distance to the cabinet and it is, as I guessed, almost exactly 1/4 mile. The BT speed estimates are pessimistic - mine says 31.2Mb but I'm getting the maximum possible profile.

The BT estimate for my line was 31.6, however I am approx 110m from the cab (straight line) and less than 200m following the probable cable run. I do of course get full sync (40000/10000).

In reply to a post by kasg:

Sorry, didn't mean to call you Bob, despite your name, got mixed up with Mr Pullen! I must pace out the distance to the cabinet some time.

My name is Bob . See my profile and website. Nick is the nearest I could get, and gives an Italianite effect.

I paced my distance at %00 metres or a bit more. The JDSU showed 0.6km approx

PS, is the word "Nick" allowed these days?

In reply to a post by bpullen:

Ah, looks like there's some differences with the naming conventions used at this side/on the portal.

The shaping rate for the 40Mbps profile (as it's displayed at this side) is actually set to around the 37Mbps mark.

I doubt relaxing it would have a huge impact on your actual throughput TBH (it may even make it worse), but give things a go now that I've upped things to 100Mbps...

Well this is odd. Everything was fine until about half an hour ago when I received a series of emails and texts telling me my product change to fibre had been completed. Shortly afterwards I lost all Internet connectivity except to plus.net. A disconnect and reconnect restored connectivity but the Plusnet profile has returned to 37Mb (40Mb) from 92Mb (100Mb). Now, I don't think this should make any difference - Plusnet's "37Mb" might be roughly equivalent to BT's 38717 Kb, depending on each company's definition of M and K. But I've just done some speed tests (speedtest.net, mybroadbandspeed.co.uk, thinkbroadband.com) and they are coming out at about 10Mb (no, not on wireless, before you ask!) except the BT Speedtester which gives 32999K. If some of the tests are being limited due to the web traffic shaping then (a) it should only be restricted to 20Mb, not 10Mb and (b) it didn't seem to be restricting it yesterday afternoon/evening.

Maybe it will all be fine tomorrow, but I hope the honeymoon isn't over already!

Maybe it was just congestion as speeds seem to have returned to the mid-30s, but I certainly didn't have this problem last night.

What you are seeing is quite common, I see it happen a lot, and is often due to congestion on the BT network. They are still expanding the fibre network and as lines and exchanges come on stream it causes bottlenecks which BT then have to resolve.

I'm also sure BT are managing the traffic in some areas.

Also you will notice a bigger drop in speed when things bet busy purely by the fact that you have a faster connection to start with. A small delay on a 2Mbs link may not be noticed much, the same delay on a 35Mbs link will.

I've been on fibre for almost a year now and I have had far less problems than I even had on ADSL/ADSL2+. I'm 5kM from the exchange and was only managing 2Mbs tops before with frequent drop-outs, re-syncs and the dreaded profile changes. Getting a good 30->32Mbs down and 7Mbs up and also very happy with the service.

Forgot to add that speed restrictions on Value will impact the experience, and possibly the speed tests. I'm on pro so no restrictions other than contention.

Edited by deleted (Sat 07-May-11 08:10:44)

My virgin media is the fastest than BT FTTC on 90 meg download and 9 meg upload

Edited by adslmax (Sat 07-May-11 12:43:36)

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=13047...
http://speedtest.uk.net/result/30350/
my virgin media 90 meg download and 9 meg upload

Edited by adslmax (Sat 07-May-11 13:13:24)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=13047...
http://speedtest.uk.net/result/30350/
my virgin media 90 meg download and 9 meg upload

Well I'm not in a cabled area so this is as good as it is going to get for me for now.

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/results.php?t=13047...

OK, I could get 10Mb upload with another provider, but 2Mb is enough for me.

Incidentally, I'm curious as to how the first two speed tests I did after installation while the engineer was still here gave 39Mb and 40Mb - it's almost as though the BT profile hadn't kicked in yet and I was getting full "line speed" - I've no idea whether that's possible or whether the results were flukes.

Edited by kasg (Sat 07-May-11 16:10:22)

Same again this evening, It seems I am being throttled to 10 meg download speed when tested through speedtest.net or mybroadbandspeed.co.uk. I'd love to know why this is, it doesn't seem to be congestion as it is repeatable over a period of time.

no throttling speed here at my virgin end: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1286132204.png still unlimited and unthrottling! Far better than BT FTTC who would throttle your speed limit.

You're not getting throttled on any of the TBB speedtest ports?

In reply to a post by camieabz:

You're not getting throttled on any of the TBB speedtest ports?

I didn't try it tonight but I did last night and it gave the same 10Mb result. Anyway I'm back up to 37Mb+ now, so I don't know whether it sped up again at 11pm, I've been watching the telly! None of this is explained by Plusnet's published traffic shaping.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

no throttling speed here at my virgin end: http://www.speedtest.net/result/1286132204.png still unlimited and unthrottling! Far better than BT FTTC who would throttle your speed limit.

Yes, we know you're on Virgin cable, I'm not sure what you think you are achieving by constantly repeating that irrelevant fact.

In reply to a post by kasg:

Yes, we know you're on Virgin cable, I'm not sure what you think you are achieving by constantly repeating that irrelevant fact.

I think it's called "advertising". Perhaps the moderator should look at this !!

Wagstaff

Adslmax why don't you go away, you trolling idiot and post in the virgin media part of this forum. This thread is not about VM but about FTTC.

Enough of this childish "my dad can beat your dad" stuff.

It is pure trolling, you know it, I know it, our members know it...desist!....or else.