Fibre installed - 20mbps lower than estimate.

Hi all,

This has been posted on the plus net forums but thought I'd make a post here just to see if anyone has a better idea.
Had fibre estimated at 71Mbps. I'm less than 100metres from my cabinet (confirmed by BT). When connected I was getting about 49Mbps download speeds but my current line speed on the plusnet site was showing up as 78Mbps.

Currently my IP Profile is set to 52mbps according to speedtester.bt.com

I raised a fault with plusnet and they sent out a BT engineer.

He tested the line and pair quality, and all came back positive. He informed me my BT cabinet is ~100m away, so very close. He then connected his little machine to the master socket and with help from his colleagues tested the line by pushing 80mbps-100 down the line but the tests still came back at around 50mbps. He said rewiring the house would not help as it's fine as it is, and that's all that my line is capable of.

Plusnet then arranged for a second engineer visit as they obviously didn't buy what he said. 2nd BT engineer came around and tested some more. He said he managed to bump it to 60Mbps. He went down to the cabinet and tested there and his words were that he gets 80Mbps there, but by the time it gets to my house (less than 100m away) the speed has significantly dropped. He said the thinks there's some problems with the wires, and that everyone connected to it would probably be getting lower speeds, and that all the wires connected to the cabinet probably need to be replaced. He said he'll send off his report.

Does anyone know if BT will do anything about this? And how long it'll take?

Edited by deleted (Fri 14-Dec-12 11:36:55)

Thought I'd also paste the engineer notes:

engineer notes:
Line pass on initial pq test with no issues or errors. On VDSL test line was in sync with downstream speed of 51MBps. Both test results have been saved and will be uploaded.
Checeked connection at the end of lead where Dropwire comes into property and downstream speed was still the same with the max capacity of line being 51MBps. Engineer tested internal wiring and all tested ok at this point.
Downtream speed was measured at JF6 at the bottom of DP and there was an increase by a few megs to 54MBps. VDSL test was run from PCP and the max capacity and rate was achieved of 80MBps on the download and 20MBps on the upload. New D side was proved from DP to PCP, and reterminated in JF6. VDSL test again was run from this point with downstream speed of over 61MBps.

On checking the network records showing cable layout of area, engineer noticed there is a lead cable running from JF6 outisde *address edited out* to JF6 next to PCP. On speed tests and measurements, engineer came to conclusion that this cable length is the cause of the loss in downstream speed.
A1024 ref 12223474 raised so that cable length can be replaced. EU have been advised of the above.
Line pass on eclipse, ft2, FTC and pq test

Anyone? Would be most grateful to find out what BT are like with things like this.

engineer noticed there is a lead cable

Is that lead as in the metal, or something else e.g. lead as in leading?

No idea - Was wondering the same thing!

Downtream speed was measured at JF6 at the bottom of DP and there was an increase by a few megs to 54MBps. VDSL test was run from PCP and the max capacity and rate was achieved of 80MBps on the download and 20MBps on the upload. New D side was proved from DP to PCP, and reterminated in JF6. VDSL test again was run from this point with downstream speed of over 61MBps.

On checking the network records showing cable layout of area, engineer noticed there is a lead cable running from JF6 outisde *address edited out* to JF6 next to PCP. On speed tests and measurements, engineer came to conclusion that this cable length is the cause of the loss in downstream speed.
A1024 ref 12223474 raised so that cable length can be replaced. EU have been advised of the above.
Line pass on eclipse, ft2, FTC and pq test

Basically looks like the cable between the box next to the cab, to box at the base of the pole that feeds your property, is lead covered, most likely containing paper insulated copper pairs. These length sounds like it's not making the best of the sync coming from the cab.

Since there is no 'hard' fault on the line (It passes the Ppair Quality test.) Then the engineer has done the only other thing possible, and raised an A1024 for this length to be replaced ..... but don't hold your breath.

Thanks for the explanation. Do BTOR not normally bother with things like this even if their own engineer has identified a "fault"? Plusnet updated me saying BTOR have acknowledged it and will replace it, but have given no timeline for this.

Do BTOR not normally bother with things like this even if their own engineer has identified a "fault"? Plusnet updated me saying BTOR have acknowledged it and will replace it, but have given no timeline for this.

Hmm, I'd not be holding my breath.

No doubt the 1024 has been raised for excessive loss on this cable. The pairs within have a very low rate of twist between the pairs, resulting in low AC balance, high crosstalk, all those delightful things you don't want on the pair serving your house. However, this does not make the length renewal a priority.
On the plus side, it's only a short length, and if already through existing duct, won't cost too much to replace.

OR are, in many areas of the country, very busy at the moment, so sadly this kind of work will get put on the back boiler, for now.

Good luck.

Just had an update from Plusnet:

Our suppliers confirm that a task has been raised for BT openreach to address the issue with the cable, and they have asserted that an update should be available within 3 working days. - They mentioned they raised an LN fault.

Not sure if this means something will be done regarding the cables within three days, or that they'll contact me to say "BT will fix this issue sometime in the next 5 years" within the next three days!

If the PQ test passed, then there was no LN (local network) fault. I'd be banking on your 2nd guess.