xDSL speeds vs distance

Hi all.

I have a potential IT customer who are, by my estimates, approximately 6km away from their exchange, however they are getting a 4Mbit connection. Even though Samknows tells me that they are on this exchange, I have a suspicion that they are not and are in fact on a different exchange in the other direction.

My first question is - is it feasible that they could be getting that speed at that distance? (Exchange is Inverness Macdui - NSIMD)

Secondly, NSIMD is being upgraded for FTTC, however the potential customer has been told by an Openreach engineer that they are roughly 3km from their PCP. If they are on this exchange, and that PCP gets upgraded, are they realistically likely to get any worthwhile FTTC speeds? Samknows states 0.1Mbit but I'm not sure if that is because the PCP hasn't been upgraded yet.

Thanks,

Rob Cowan.

Just read off their down attenuation & we can confirm the length of line and the expected speed from it.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately they aren't actually a customer yet and I wasn't able to get access to the router to see that information.

Rob.

I agree that that speed is not commensurate with a > 6 km line.

If you put their phone # in BT Broadband Availability Checker it will tell you not only their exchange but also their cab if they are connected to one.

Good point - forgot about the BT checker. It's stating a downstream line rate of 1Mbps and a range of 1 - 3.5Mbps. Either way, the FTTC estimate is still 0.1 so I think I'm going to suggest a 20Mbps leased line to them (they are a caravan site with a multi-tenant office building next-door).

Cheers,

Rob.