FTTC speed estimate of only 7.8Mbps in BT Checker - how far?

I currently have ADSL Max of 1.5Mbps and was looking forward to the arrival of FTTC on 1st July in Chorley.

However the released estimated figures are rather disappointing from BT.

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 1st July 2011. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 7.8Mbps and upstream line speed of 1.4Mbps.

Yes it is better than nothing but how far away would the cabinet need to be to deliver that speed level.

Is there any chance in the future that a nearer cabinet is upgraded or is that it?

Simon

You are connected to the cabinet you are connected to and that is it. I am not connected to my nearest cabinet, but my second nearest one. When I got FTTC in Sept, I got over twice the speed the BT tester suggested I'd get - and this is quite common.

DrT

I thought most areas had a local cabinet in Chorley but obviously it depends on where you are and unfortunately you can't chose which cabinet you connect to. I'm also in Chorley but my cab is due to go live 20th Apr. I noticed over the weekend that a few cabinets seem to be having more digging work done (power?) even though they appeared to have been done a while ago. The one at the bottom of Harpers Lane (near B&Q) for example. My line estimate is 30mbps down and 7mbps up so I'll be interested what I get once connected.

...but how far away would the cabinet need to be to deliver that speed level.

More than 2km if you go by this graph

The checker is known for being pessimistic so there's half a chance that your actual rate will be higher. It might be worth trying to figure out which cabinet you're connected to.

Is there any chance in the future that a nearer cabinet is upgraded or is that it?

Well, your line goes where it goes.

There's usually just one cabinet between you and the exchange - the "Primary Cross-Connection Point (PCP)", sometimes there's an SCP (Secondary Cross-Connection Point) as well which would be closer, but the FTTC equipment is going into the PCPs only in the current system.

Thanks MadPom. I live out Whittle le Woods way by the Leeds - Liverpool canal. The location is semie rural and I think there must be a Secondary Cross-Connection Point as when the line was fitted, the engineer only went a few hundred meters to find space for our line.

Edited by simonc219 (Mon 18-Apr-11 14:10:29)

At least you will be able to order the 5-15Mbps FTTC service, and as has been said you should get well over the estimate.

So quite an improvement from what you have now.

Not sure how "pessimistic" the checker is these days.

For me it estimates just about right. In fact, usually, our connection is a smidge slower than what it says. I think once more than a few people are connected it "gets its eye in" so to speak and offers up something a bit closer to likely reality.

We do get a slightly faster upload than the checker says though.

Not sure how "pessimistic" the checker is these days.

Depends on how they're doing the estimates I suppose. There was a significant revision a while back with most estimates increased but for my line they were still on the low side.

My estimate was 26.8 down 5.6 up, I'm 520m from the cabinet in a straight line - maybe another 100m for the wire route. If you look at the various VDSL2 rate/reach graphs they'd suggest > 40Mb/s at that distance (though maybe not by much) and, in practice, that proved to be the case as I get full sync.

They don't appear to have updated my neighbour's estimates, nor even mine as lines get connected and they get better data as to the real performance. Maybe they want to see whether the effect of crosstalk is as bad as some predictions as more lines in each cab get enabled.

my estimate was 7 , i get 14-15, 1060m line length and alluminium as well ! lol , still better than the 2-3 on adsl2