Unable to get high speeds on Fibre

Hi Folks.

I'm looking to try out the Sky Fibre Max (Pro), but have received an email prior to agreeing the change that with the new Fibre Pro, I'll get estimated max speeds between 34-40Mb, with a guaranteed minimum of 34. At present on the standard Sky Fibre I get 32Mb, so it seems a waste of a tenner just for a few more MB.

I've had a face plate fitted for some time, but I'm trying to figure out exactly where the fault\issues lie so I can address them. I live 0/5 from the exchange, and my stats seem quite good from a layman's perspective. If there is a way of honing in on where the issue could be, advice would be most welcome!

Broadband Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 32171 kbps 5645 kbps
Line Attenuation 24.3 dB 0.0 dB
Noise Margin 5.6 dB 6.6 dB

Edited by Bamster (Tue 23-May-17 00:09:07)

Your attenuation is high, this determines the maximum speed and depends on the distance to the fibre cabinet. There is no point paying extra as you are probably already getting the best possible speed for your line. The Fibre Max product is only worth having for lines that are capable of speeds above 40Mbps and will not increase your speed.

If you currently get 32 then going to an 80/20 product such as fibre pro will make no difference, your line is already using everything it can in its current state. Potentially there is no issue with your connection and it is merely physics resulting in your 32Mb. The main suggestion would be to use the test socket behind the faceplate. Also, some routers may be better than others and give slightly different results.

So the issues lay with the copper\cable from cabinet to my house? If so this would be something BT may look at? (said wistfully..)

There are no issues, you have line of a certain length giving you the expected speeds. I don't know what BT can do about it, they are not likely to build a cabinet outside your house just to improve your speed!

Yes I'm sure they wont


I thought the key reasons for low (comparative) speeds were distance from the exchange. The Cabinet is about 300m from my house, and I'm around 0.5 from the exchange. I may not be able to improve my speeds, but I can at least for my own satisfaction, try to get some concrete info on the infrastructure in my area, and any plans to upgrade. Least I can do

I don't think you'll find BT will provide any info on upgrades - either line replacements or new technology. Whilst the cab is 300m away the route of the cable could be much more (my cab straight line is 200m away but I am 99% confident that the cable routes around the old part of the estate and is more like 600m long).

At present BT almost certainly would say there is no fault on the line. The line length plus the type of cable and any joints will be defining the speed - without incredibly detailed information about all of these it is guesswork as to whether your line is running at full potential.

However, as I said earlier have you tried using the test socket behind the master as that will give you best case for your connection.

On the current upto 40Mbps, your line will sync at the fastest speed possible upto 40Mbps. You currently get 32Mbps.

Moving to upto 80Mbps, the same technology is used, so all that changes is the cap at 40Mbps.

Since you do not even reach this cap, your line wont even gain a "few more MB" as you state. It will stay at 32Mbps.

There is nothing wrong with the line / setup and I would expect little change in the short term. For now stick with the standard package.

Yes indeed I agree. I just spoke to a Sky techie and he stated the same. Interestingly testing my line on the Openreach site says I can get up to 47Mb, seems to be a wide variant in speeds, so I guess its just based on estimated speeds rather than an examination\testing of my specific line. I note that FTTP is available at my exchange, but I assume that is not enabled as a product, and would probably cost a lot more

I have the same thing with my line. The cabinet is 600m away but the cable runs past the end of my road up to the next then along that road about 100m then back onto the estate. A total length of around 1100m.

It was probably done that way because the houses on the next road up were Phase 1 of the development so it made sense to extend it down onto the Phase 2 properties. I just wish Openreach would update their database because it still shows I can get between 42 and 20 Mbps but the reality is the line only support 14 Mbps at best.