FTTC speed query

When looking to upgrade from copper to FTTC for my broadband connection I noted that the provider I had selected indicated "download speeds of upto 40Mbps with upload speeds of upto 2Mbps" for home broadband

I then used the same providers speed checker and this indicated an expected speed od 28.9Mbps down and 5.7Mbps up.

When the installation was completed I checked with speedtest.net and found that the actual speed was around 20.65 Mbps down and 1.7Mbps up. the latency shown on speedtest was around 13 and 14 milliseconds.

This has since dropped to around 15Mbps down and 1.7 up with a latency normally around 22 milliseconds.

Sync speed shown on my providers control panel was originally 21438 and has now dropped to 15728.

I have complained about the current speed but they tell me that it is within reasonable limits.

Do you think it is reasonable, or are they trying to get out of providing the service they advertise? The speed test they provide is still showing that 28.9Mbps down and 5.7 up is possible.

Alas with FTTC the speed you get is largely determined by the length of the line between the cabinet and home.

The original 40/2 is the headline speeds i.e. those closest to the cabinet will get.

Half way down the page is a rough distance/speed guide. From your post does a distance of 1000m (1km) sound reasonable for line between house and the green fibre street cabinet?

All the estimates given are connection speeds, so yes speedtests will very often be lower. Though to date most people getting FTTC have got speeds above their estimates, the key word though is estimate.

You can try and exercise consumer rights and walk away, but to be honest no other FTTC provider is going to do better as the physics are the same for them all.

The downstream drop looks a little odd, but re the upstream you appear to have purchased a 40/2 product not a 40/10. In which case the 1.7Mbps real upload is spot on for the 2Mbps sync.

Guessing but the latency rise, may suggest the DLM was seeing errors and kicked in with a slow down and more interleaving

Sync speed shown on my providers control panel was originally 21438 and has now dropped to 15728

Ask the service provider if that is within Openreach tolerance - they have number for sync speed reduction beyond which it is regarded as a fault.

Can anyone suggest what my connection speed might be when my cabinet gets fibre connected later this month? I'm just over 1 km from the cabinet, and the cabinet itself might be around 6 km from the exchange.

Many thanks

In reply to a post by PaulHunter:

Can anyone suggest what my connection speed might be when my cabinet gets fibre connected later this month? I'm just over 1 km from the cabinet, and the cabinet itself might be around 6 km from the exchange.

According to http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.... about 24Mbps but these numbers are pretty pessimistic. The distance to the exchange is completely irrelevant.

Edited by kasg (Mon 02-Jun-14 20:01:35)

Thanks Kevin. When you say numbers are pessimistic, any idea what a more realistic figure might be in terms of a percentage under-estimate?

Edited by deleted (Mon 02-Jun-14 19:39:36)

In reply to a post by PaulHunter:

When you say numbers are pessimistic, any idea what a more realistic figure might be in terms of a percentage under-estimate?

Not really, as different people have different experiences so I can only speak for myself. I am about 450m from the cabinet and currently sync at 72Mbps, the table estimates between 38 and 42, I would say the majority of people at a similar distance exceed that.

Edited by kasg (Mon 02-Jun-14 20:05:57)

In reply to a post by PaulHunter:

Can anyone suggest what my connection speed might be when my cabinet gets fibre connected later this month? I'm just over 1 km from the cabinet, and the cabinet itself might be around 6 km from the exchange.

I believe you are on BT Broadband. If so, put your phone number into this checker and that should give a range of possibilities.

On the other hand I'm also 450 meters from the cabinet, but only sync at 42, best I've ever had for any length of time is 47.

In the end it comes down to the quality, length of line and how much crosstalk you suffer.

Thanks guys, for all your helpful comments. They do though, prompt me to ask how the TBB table of estimated speeds has been compiled, and do they ever get revised in the light of practical experiences? Perhaps Mr Saffron could comment if he gets chance?

Thanks

Keep in mind that you do not "upgrade from copper (or aluminium) to FTTC"; and that the state of the final metres of copper/aluminium from the PCP to your house become very much more critical, because of the higher frequencies involved.

And that final distance will in fact be increased by the new copper links from the PCP to the new FTTC cabinet.

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In my case, the FTTC cabinet is about 15 metres from the NTE in my house; but about 50 metres from the PCP, which because of a peculiarity of the local wiring, takes about 250 metres to get to my house, compared to about 65 metres if the 1967 phone line had been laid in sensibly.

Even that 50 M FTTC to PCP distance has been increased by about 10 metres, as the links first go away from the PCP by about 5 M then virtually doubles-back to head to the PCP.

There was plenty of space beside the PCP and existing electricity supplies etc, so no obvious reasons for the excessive lengths of either run, ancient or modern!

On Thursday this week, when my FTTC connection goes in (all being well), 15 metres direct or 2x50 M + 15 M will actually be about 300 metres - with a decided chance of a degraded service.

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,"

Have commented many times in the past and while pessimistic they are not worst case crosstalk scenario.