A few questions...

Ok so here's what's happening:

I live in an exchange which has FTTC enabled. My cabinet is definitely enabled and so is the exchange.

I live exactly 1.8 miles from the fibre cabinet and live 2.0 miles from the exchange - they are situated very very close to each other.

Right now I get approximately 5Mbps (download) on speedtests and here is what my router stats are:

PI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation G.992.1 Annex A
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 8.0 dB / 23.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 36.2 dB / 20.0 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 11.0 dBm / 1.8 dBm
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote) 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote) 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote) 0 / 0
FEC Errors (Down/Up) 2053 / 52
CRC Errors (Down/Up) 1230 / 66
HEC Errors (Down/Up) 36645 / 57
Error Seconds (Local/Remote) 191 / 53

I have a number of questions which I may have put in another thread but I can't find where they are so I'll have another crack, sorry if I'm being annoying.

1) FTTC doesn't show up on the Wholesale Checker. Before the cabinet was enabled, it showed up that WBC FTTC will be available and I will be able to get speeds of 500Kbps download and 100Kbps upload.
Whenever the cabinet was enabled, this disappeared. For those that lived closer it's obviously showing that they can get FTTC services now. Why did it disappear?

2) I get 5Mbps now as I said above, I believe the threshold for fibre is 5Mbps+ but what speed improvements if any would I see? My exchange isn't ADSL2 enabled therefore the cabinet supported a maximum of 8Mbps which I am close enough to syncing to (in fact, at one time, I did sync at 8Mbps).

3) I think BT might be shaping me right now. For example, my pings have been in their thousands and hundreds over the past few weeks although no one else near me gets these problems (my other line gets a ping of 70 [which is normal for me] and so does my neighbours.
I changed from BT Consumer to BT Retail and the switch was made last night, it is still slow. If I could by any chance move to FTTC would the ping be lowered?
And the change from BT Consumer to BT Retail didn't fix the current ping problems.

4) What upload speeds, if any, could I receive if I went to FTTC (I currently get about 0.36Mbps/0.448Mbps). We use VoIP so upload speed is quite important to our business.

5) Can providers place a manual order providing that no details for FTTC shows up on the wholesale checker? Even if I told them I don't care if I get speed improvements of 1Mbps, I'd preferably prefer to get higher speeds (especially upload as mentioned above).

6) Just an off the plot question, is there a fault somewhere if one minute I get speeds of 0.3Mbps download and the next minute get 5Mbps? This happens me occasionally.

Thanks for your help, Jack.

?
Do you mean you cannot find your posts and the answers?

If you click your own name it shows your published profile. Near the bottom of that is "Show all user's posts". If you click that it lists them.

You have exactly 100 at the moment, basically all about this, in only a few threads.

So if you try each thread and read in Flat mode you should be fine .

Hi Roberto, gotcha' thanks... just figured I asked some about what speed I would expect on the other threads, do you have any idea about the other questions

Thanks,

Jack

Voip per channel should only need 64Kbps ior so, so if its not working well with current upstream then something else is wrong

Yeah but we use a lot of other stuff as well as VoIP which steals speed from it (use QoS, helps a bit but we use too much upstream).

I think this is getting worse...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1186383120.png

God help me now.

Your first hop has all the latency. Change ISP. Got any LLU in your exchange?

http://i52.tinypic.com/pnhh5.png

So does that definitely mean it's beyond my control?

Nope, my exchange doesn't have LLU. Doesn't that mean that BT will still control my (if it's not my problem) pings? And why isn't anyone else getting these problems - everyone else is getting 60-70ms pings and I'm the only one that is getting in it's hundreds, thousands and sometimes tens of thousands.

Jack

Dunno sorry, tracert the BBC again....

See 90% of the time it is extremely high, and just went I tested it was considerably lower...

http://i54.tinypic.com/116ozzr.png

And then I did it again and....

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1186396168.png
http://i51.tinypic.com/1zwbtj7.png

BT overseas don't have a clue what latency/ping is and keep referring me back to check your master sockets and all that rigmarole.

Noise margin (Down/Up) 8.0 dB / 23.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 36.2 dB / 20.0 dB

you forgot the current sync speeds !
At that attenuation, very similar to my own, you should get close to or actually full sync speed, maybe 7616 interleaved. VDSL2 might do a bit better, you probably dropped off the checker as it is dynamic and has inputs from a number of sources.

You should be on a Max Premium circuit if upstream is important to you, 832k upstream and higher traffic priority downstream. If you need pointing at suitable packages, ask.

FTTC has a minimum product spec of 5M so you may not be offered it because of line length. You could ask ADSL24, IDnet and AAISP for availability eg manual order and package details and get it from the horses mouth rather than have us speculate !

Most of us appear to think your base ping time is high 'cos you're in NI and testing to sites a long way off in network terms (routing to Dublin prob comes via England, for example).

We also appear to think your high variable ping times are due to BT Retail traffic management, though I noticed something about QoS in one of your posts so you may be doing that to yourself. There are other NI posters in BT Broadband section who may have numbers to share.

And the change from BT Consumer to BT Retail didn't fix the current ping problems.

did your login details change ?

If someone was using upstream or downstream on the link where running pings/tracert that will have a large effect.

So you need to ensure no-one else is using it.

Also you say you have QoS it is easy to get this setup wrong and make a mess of things. You need a basic router with no QoS and just one computer online to really see what the line is doing.

With it dropping from 2 mile to 1.8mile then FTTC is no real benefit for you, hence why I suspect its not appearing on checker anymore. Max premium or an ADSL2+ product might give you better upstream.

In reply to a post by yarwell:

Noise margin (Down/Up) 8.0 dB / 23.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 36.2 dB / 20.0 dB

you forgot the current sync speeds !
At that attenuation, very similar to my own, you should get close to or actually full sync speed, maybe 7616 interleaved. VDSL2 might do a bit better, you probably dropped off the checker as it is dynamic and has inputs from a number of sources.

Sorry yarwell and thanks for your input - these are the sync speeds:
ownstream 7,232 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

At one point I did sync at full speed although not sure why it has decreased. I keep my router plugged in to the test socket at all times because I don't have any extensions.

You should be on a Max Premium circuit if upstream is important to you, 832k upstream and higher traffic priority downstream. If you need pointing at suitable packages, ask.

Unfortunately I don't think I can get that, my exchange is only ADSLmax & FTTC enabled. No date for ADSL2+ services or LLU. (Small exchange = 4000 people)

FTTC has a minimum product spec of 5M so you may not be offered it because of line length. You could ask ADSL24, IDnet and AAISP for availability eg manual order and package details and get it from the horses mouth rather than have us speculate !

Was that 5Mbps or 5 miles? I did ask an ISP and they said they have contacted BT Wholesale and they are doing a 'visual line check' to determine which cabinet I'm on... he sounded optimistic but aren't manual orders just for those that can get 'Your line can support WBC FTTC where consumers have received 6.2Mbps down' etc? Mine doesn't show anything at all for FTTC fibre although before the cabinet was enabled it said 'FTTC is due to be enabled on xxx and you may be able to receive speeds of 500Kbps down'.

Most of us appear to think your base ping time is high 'cos you're in NI and testing to sites a long way off in network terms (routing to Dublin prob comes via England, for example).

Well plenty of people in Northern Ireland (I've seen on the forums) have BT Infinity and are getting pings of <30ms. Is ADSLmax known for it's high pings?

We also appear to think your high variable ping times are due to BT Retail traffic management, though I noticed something about QoS in one of your posts so you may be doing that to yourself. There are other NI posters in BT Broadband section who may have numbers to share.

Nope definitely not QoS.

And the change from BT Consumer to BT Retail didn't fix the current ping problems.

did your login details change ?

The change from BT Home (Consumer) to BT Business didn't make a single change - yeah, 2 nights ago at 12.30am our Consumer Connection cut out so I put in the new details for Business and it connected.

3946113

If someone was using upstream or downstream on the link where running pings/tracert that will have a large effect.

So you need to ensure no-one else is using it.

Nope definitely no one else using the connection, I have everyone else plugged out and am only running Safari on this computer.

Also you say you have QoS it is easy to get this setup wrong and make a mess of things. You need a basic router with no QoS and just one computer online to really see what the line is doing.

See above - I've used several different modems & routers and all have the same problem, right now QoS is disabled.

With it dropping from 2 mile to 1.8mile then FTTC is no real benefit for you, hence why I suspect its not appearing on checker anymore. Max premium or an ADSL2+ product might give you better upstream.

Unfortunately none of them are available I believe

In reply to a post by jdowning640:

You should be on a Max Premium circuit if upstream is important to you, 832k upstream and higher traffic priority downstream. If you need pointing at suitable packages, ask.

Unfortunately I don't think I can get that, my exchange is only ADSLmax & FTTC enabled. No date for ADSL2+ services or LLU. (Small exchange = 4000 people)

832kbps uplstream is the premium option on ADSL Max. Some ISPs provide it, others such as BT do not on the normal consumer side, but may do on the business side, I don;t know.

FTTC has a minimum product spec of 5M so you may not be offered it because of line length. You could ask ADSL24, IDnet and AAISP for availability eg manual order and package details and get it from the horses mouth rather than have us speculate !

Was that 5Mbps or 5 miles?

5Mbps is the minimum sync at which Openreach will install.

But obviously if I'm getting near 8Mbps sync right now then BT will install it?

Your current ADSL sync may not be taken into account by the FTTC checker as usually a big reduction in line length occurs rendering the data fairly useless. A manual order is just a way to get a human to look at the situation when the computers won't do it automatically. If the prediction is <5Mbits/s line rate on FTTC they may decline to supply it anyway.

Every exchange in the UK apart from about 5 has MaxDSL premium with 832 upload and priority traffic.

Minimum for Openreach, but BT Inifinity still has a 15Mbps bottom floor imposed by BT Retail.

Moral there is talk to the other smaller providers.

If syncing at 7Meg then might manage 8 or 9 from VDSL2, upstream should improve a fair bit more. But you can get 832Kbps now if you find right package.

In reply to a post by jdowning640:

1) FTTC doesn't show up on the Wholesale Checker. Before the cabinet was enabled, it showed up that WBC FTTC will be available and I will be able to get speeds of 500Kbps download and 100Kbps upload.
Whenever the cabinet was enabled, this disappeared. For those that lived closer it's obviously showing that they can get FTTC services now. Why did it disappear?

jdowning640

I am in a simialr situation. My fibre cabinet has just been installed and I currently have the same quoted speeds for fibre that you have. When the cabinet goes live the quoted speeds will drop off which will be my indication that it is live. I will then be placing an order via James at ADSL24 and he will arange the order manually as online it wont be accepted.

Now on doing a bit of research (Google is your friend) I found a post on Plusnet forums of someone who is on their trial and according to them the BT engineer when installing told them they are 2.8 KM away from the cabinet and were syncing at a speed of just over 20Mb/s.
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,8857...

I am 1.1 miles away so the above post gives me hope. All will be revealed hopefully in the next few weeks.

I would place an order with one of the smaller companies who accept manual orders and see were you go from there.

Good luck!

BT Inifinity still has a 15Mbps bottom floor imposed by BT Retail.

what about "Option 3 with fibre" which is allegedly the 5-15M product ?

Yeah keep forgetting about that hidden gem. It keeps the stats good for the infinity adverts doing it that way

Hi Nutty

Thanks for giving me hope yarewell & Roberto, what do you think of this?

This is jdowning, on iPhone in the car.

Is it possible you can post the link again. That leads me to a thread about something else. Thanks again.

Jack

Hi guys,

I just noticed that on my other line - on one of the sockets it says:

'Exchange Line' then the telephone number.

Does this mean that my line is going to directly to the exchange and isn't fed of a cabinet?

Does this mean that my line is going to directly to the exchange and isn't fed of a cabinet?

No, its just BT parlance for a standard phone line