New Infinity Customer - Speed Question

Hi All,

Just got BT Infinity last week. Overall happy with the service.

I was getting 10mbit (shade under 1megabtye per second effective download) / 60-70ms ping with my previous broadband from Sky.

Now getting 18mbit(1.7 to 1.8 megabyte per second effective download) / 10-15ms ping.

This is great(the ping especially), however I was told that I could expect 25mbit.

Is my actual speed just luck of the draw or can BT re-sync my line speed upwards?

Thanks in advance

Sam

How are you measuring the 18Mbps?

Often it can take multiple downloads to really push the speed of a line. Things like RWIN on XP can be a limiting factor.

Measured using Speedtest.net, P2P download of Ubuntu via Bittorrent and downloading of the Zen 100mb test files available on their site

All max out the line at around 18mbit/1.7-1.8megabytes per second.

What is RWIN?

Edited by deleted (Mon 25-Jul-11 10:33:36)

RWIN

See here...

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/tweaks/5._RWIN

Thanks, will have a fiddle tonight.

Is there a way I can see what the modem is syncing at?

Should have added, after running http://www.dslreports.com/faq/tweaks/5._RWIN
and selecting 'Optimize' with the Slider on my current speed, my Infinity speed went from around 16Mbps to 24Mbps (Windows XP).

Modem Stats...

If it's the BT Infinity Modem, you can't get at the stats.

There is no such thing as a BT Infinity modem, there is the BT Home Hub supplied as part of BT Infinity.

The modem is supplied by BT Openreach, and is the same one supplied to all ISP's that sell the FTTC service from Openreach.

In reply to a post by G3UZF:

Should have added, after running http://www.dslreports.com/faq/tweaks/5._RWIN
and selecting 'Optimize' with the Slider on my current speed, my Infinity speed went from around 16Mbps to 24Mbps (Windows XP).

Thanks, will try that and report back

In reply to a post by G3UZF:

Modem Stats...

If it's the BT Infinity Modem, you can't get at the stats.

Yeah, I'm talking about the modem supplied with the install. So no way to see the sync speed? Oh well.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

There is no such thing as a BT Infinity modem, there is the BT Home Hub supplied as part of BT Infinity.

The modem is supplied by BT Openreach, and is the same one supplied to all ISP's that sell the FTTC service from Openreach.

Same difference though eh?

Though I guess you're right, semantically speaking "The modem supplied by OpenReach when installing the BT Infinity Service" would be more accurate...

Andrew

I was simply using a generic description to identify the Modem.

I would guess most users of Infinity will use the Modem and HH3 supplied by BT/OR.

Some people have sourced their own VDSL2 modem for tracking their stats, but your ISP should have visibility of the speed.

Plus if I remember right www.speedtester.bt.com should give you some information

So I could use my own VDSL2 modem with BT Infinity?

You aren't meant to (i.e. breaks contract), but people have got them to work.

Run the BT speed test that MrSaffron linked to and the IP Profile gives you a clue to your sync speed.

Post the results, as far as the end of the upstream figures, and we can comment further.

Thanks, will do that tonight.

I looked into adjust the RWIN but couldnt make head nor tail of the process.

If you are on Vista or Win 7 then messing with RWIN and MTU are not recommended. On XP or earlier the easiest way is letting TCP Optimizer run on automatic settings, though I used to take the "Save current settings" option if that's what it's called. Never had to undo the auto fix though.

I'm on Vista. Is there no hope then?

omg, just run the BT speedtest already, it will give you a ruff idea of your sync speed.

are you using wireless or wired connection?

Sorry, been sidetracked

http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt105/MrMarf/resu...

Wired.

Thanks!

Sam

Edited by deleted (Mon 01-Aug-11 17:50:21)

That looks poor compared to the estimate. What else is connected to your phone line apart from the modem and a phone, and where is the phone connected?

Nothing is connected to the line other than the phone and the modem. both are hooked into the master socket. No other sockets in the house and the phone line is clear as a bell.

Direct to the socket, or any plug-in extensions in use?

Are there any wired extensions, even if unused?

Just one socket in the house, the master. Phone and Modem plugged straight in, no extensions.

Edited by deleted (Thu 04-Aug-11 10:16:27)

Surely something is wrong.
Granted; I don't have FTTC yet (another two weeks) but a downstream IP profile of 13857kbps doesn't sound right for a line short enough to have an upstream IP profile of 10000kbps?

Well yeah I think so

Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but I'd have thought given my previous 10mbit on a straight all copper ADSL service I should be seeing at least double that on the FTTC, especially when the expected speed given to me was 24mbit.

Edited by deleted (Sun 07-Aug-11 23:25:34)

Yes. Just I have been very busy with several things and had run out of the easy suggestions.

Definitely "Summat's oop!"

BT currently running a line test and will call me back shortly....

OK - no problems on the line.

They are going to "refresh" the line and have asked me to hard reset the router tomorrow morning.

They'll call me back tomorrow at 6pm.

Fingers crossed....

Can sync speeds be altered with VDSL as with ADSL?

Edited by deleted (Mon 08-Aug-11 18:12:01)

In reply to a post by TheMarf:

Can sync speeds be altered with VDSL as with ADSL?

If you mean is Openreach FTTC tweakable, the answer at the moment is No. You get an Openreach modem, (apparently a router with fixed bridging), and no access to the stats or control of the connection.

Some people have replaced it with VDSL2 routers, either to see the stats or get back to one box instead of two, but several seem to have minor troubles.

I mean at their end.

Fr'instance, when I was with Sky and having problems, they dropped my line speed to see if my line instability if it was an issue with the sync speed.

It wasnt in the end, so they put my speed back up to 10mbit.

Openreach has access to the full range of control on the VDSL signal, whether they use it and how exactly they use it is largely an unknown at this time

Well, I thought I should update this.

I've got precisely... nowhere with this.

3 engineer visits booked, all "automatically cancelled" by "the system".

Their fourth and final chance is tomorrow morning. If they don't show up they can kiss my [censored] goodbye as I'll be cancelling both infinity and my phone line.

Not pleased.

You have access to cable?

Nope

Just to update this:-

Engineer visited last last thursday.

Replaced my modem, recabled the socket, replaced the faceplate and requested my line profile be reset.

This resulted in a 1000kbps uplift in sync speed to around 16000kbps.

He stated given the distance from the exchange(600m or so) I should be seeing in excess of 30mbit.

The throughput has increased marginally, but is still not where it should be. BT agree with me.

OpenReach, despite what the engineer told me face to face, are saying the line is performing within spec(minimum sync speed is 15000kbps).

BT are attempting to get another engineer out to go to the cabinet to check the speed there in order to determine if the problem lies at the cabinet or between the cabinet and me.

Will update when I have more.

Edited by deleted (Thu 01-Sep-11 09:41:05)

About 650 Metres from the FTTC.

I'm getting a D/L of around 24Mbps, so I guess your speed predictions are about right.

Couldn't order Infinity as the speed checker reported 14.6Mbps, so got the 'With Fibre' option instead.

No difference, except the U/L is capped at 1.6Mbps, but that's of no real concern to me.

Thanks. This reminded me....

The engineer fitted it on Tuesday, and said I am half a mile from the cabinet, and my speeds ( I assume she meant sync ) were 39.9 down, and 9.9 up.

Speedtest was showing me only 16 down and 4.5 up, then I used TCPOptimiser and let it do the work.
Now it seems better, although the up speed seems unaffected by the change.

Update

Second engineer came out yesterday. He checked the cabling from the cabinet which appears to be aluminium from cabinet to house. Also the crimp connectors used to join the cable at various points are the "blue bean" style which are the old type and no longer used due to causing faster speed drop off vs distance.

Both of these factors work against getting good speed with VDSL.

He replaced the three "blue beans" closest to my house and we got a 1.5mbit uplift in throughput and marked in his notes that unless the entire cable run was replaced the speed would not increase any further.

For reference I'm now seeing 16mbit on SpeedTest.net and actual download speed is peaking at 2 megabytes per second.

BT Exec Level Support called this morning and confirmed they will be pushing for BTOpenReach to replace the cable run to my house with copper

Will update when I know more.

Edited by deleted (Tue 06-Sep-11 15:05:46)

In reply to a post by TheMarf:

Update

Second engineer came out yesterday. He checked the cabling from the exchange which appears to be aluminium from exchange to house. Also the crimp connectors used to join the cable at various points are the "blue bean" style which are the old type and no longer used due to causing faster speed drop off vs distance.

Both of these factors work against getting good speed with VDSL.

He replaced the three "blue beans" closest to my house and we got a 1.5mbit uplift in throughput and marked in his notes that unless the entire cable run was replaced the speed would not increase any further.

For reference I'm now seeing 16mbit on SpeedTest.net and actual download speed is peaking at 2 megabytes per second.

BT Exec Level Support called this morning and confirmed they will be pushing for BTOpenReach to replace the cable run to my house with copper

Will update when I know more.

When you say 'from the exchange to the house' do you mean from the cabinet to the house? Surely to get infinity it would be fibre to the cabinet and then copper (or if you're unlucky) aluminium to the house.

Sorry yes, cabinet.

Will edit the post

Final update - OpenReach refuse to replace the cabling.

I have negotiated a 30% discount on the Infinity product as a result.