BT Speedtester for FTTC

I do remember a long while back there use to be old bt speedtester that showing full sync rate along with ip profile rate. The new bt speedtester is no longer showing full sync rate (only the ip profile rate) I can understand most FTTC modem cannot see sync rate unless it need to unlock the FTTC modem which it risky.

Can thinkbroadband ask bt wholesale to bring back sync rate with ip profile rate on bt speedtester. It would help many FTTC customers to find out what is sync rate are without the need to unlock openreach modem.

The retailers see the information/reports so no reason they cannot add it to their portal.

Also the IP Profile is 100% dynamic on FTTC, so you can calculate sync rate if you know IP Profile.

How to calculate sync rate if there is ip profile of 72.67Mb for example?

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I do remember a long while back there use to be old bt speedtester that showing full sync rate along with ip profile rate. The new bt speedtester is no longer showing full sync rate (only the ip profile rate) I can understand most FTTC modem cannot see sync rate unless it need to unlock the FTTC modem which it risky.

Can thinkbroadband ask bt wholesale to bring back sync rate with ip profile rate on bt speedtester. It would help many FTTC customers to find out what is sync rate are without the need to unlock openreach modem.

Not sure if this is the speedtester you are referring to: http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

Not sure if this is the speedtester you are referring to: http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed

It got nothing to do with this site.

If sync is 80000 Kbps, then IP Profile is 96.2% of this i.e. 76960

So if your IP profile is 53000, your sync rate is 53000 / 0.962 = 55093 Kbps

In reply to a post by adslmax:

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

Not sure if this is the speedtester you are referring to: http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed

It got nothing to do with this site.

That's the BT speedtester that shows the estimate sync rate, so not sure why you think it's got nothing to do with it as it's from BT (Which I might point out is what you asked for, just saying).

Edited by robertcrowther (Fri 04-Oct-13 12:58:05)

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

That's the BT speedtester that shows the estimate sync rate, so not sure why you think it's got nothing to do with it as it's from BT (Which I might point out is what you asked for, just saying).

I am not with BT. I am with Plusnet. This site is for BT customer only. Won't work on my side.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If sync is 80000 Kbps, then IP Profile is 96.2% of this i.e. 76960

So if your IP profile is 53000, your sync rate is 53000 / 0.962 = 55093 Kbps

Thanks for that!

In reply to a post by adslmax:

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

That's the BT speedtester that shows the estimate sync rate, so not sure why you think it's got nothing to do with it as it's from BT (Which I might point out is what you asked for, just saying).

I am not with BT. I am with Plusnet. This site is for BT customer only. Won't work on my side.

Thank you, now I see where you are coming from, you meant BT Wholesale speedtester and not the BT speedtester. Sorry about that.

I think estimating a sync speed rate from a speedtest isnt the right way to go surely. For thsoe with locked modems the best way is the BTw tester and getting the IP profile (and hoping that profile is up to date not stuck).

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

Not sure if this is the speedtester you are referring to: http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed

No, OP isn't! That's a BT Retail speedtester that only gives sync speed if you are a BTr BB cust. Think it works by interrogating the BT Home Hub.

It will work on other BTw connections (by answering another Q) but it omits the sync speed.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If sync is 80000 Kbps, then IP Profile is 96.2% of this i.e. 76960

It's 96.79, not 96.2 - maximum IP profile is 77.43 Mbps.

Edited by kasg (Sat 05-Oct-13 11:53:50)

It uses the BT Agent to get the sync speed from the modem.

In reply to a post by ryant704:

the BT Agent

Who is he? Any modem?

In reply to a post by ryant704:

It uses the BT Agent to get the sync speed from the modem.

does it get it from the modem? or does it ask the hub ask the modem?
(I think the latter, since it only seems to work with a hub, not just a standard modem and a third party router)
- either way, its a possible way, to get some stats from the locked modems...

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by robertcrowther:

Not sure if this is the speedtester you are referring to: http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed

No, OP isn't! That's a BT Retail speedtester that only gives sync speed if you are a BTr BB cust. Think it works by interrogating the BT Home Hub.

That's unlikely - because the sync speed is not passed back to the Home Hub.

The PPP intermediate agent in the DSLAM in the cabinet inserts various fields, including downstream and upstream sync speeds, into the PADI sent to the BRAS. This data is stripped in the subscriber direction, so would not be passed through to the Home Hub. BT SIN 498 paragraph 2.1.7 refers.

BT Agent is part of the software within a modem supplied by Openreach.

From my memory, I believe each ISP has their own agent and is installed upon first sync

http://i41.tinypic.com/11r3zoj.jpg

@David, that is the decision from BT Retail not to display any stats. Originally the sync speed was displayed then they removed it, probably due to high complaints? idk. Ed said to me who is from the ELC team no other ISPSs offer any line stats or don't show the sync speed (which is wrong, there are various ISPs who show the sync speed on VDSL2.)..

Edited by deleted (Sun 06-Oct-13 01:01:09)

In reply to a post by David_W:

That's unlikely - because the sync speed is not passed back to the Home Hub.

Ah, I was talking about ADSL, since the OP postulated an ADSL speedtester ported forward to FTTC.

Do we actually know that the BT Retail speedtester, that I was commenting on, works on FTTC and does report sync speeds for BTr custs?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by David_W:

That's unlikely - because the sync speed is not passed back to the Home Hub.

Ah, I was talking about ADSL, since the OP postulated an ADSL speedtester ported forward to FTTC.

Do we actually know that the BT Retail speedtester, that I was commenting on, works on FTTC and does report sync speeds for BTr custs?

I'm with you now. I based my answer on the BT Openreach documentation and packet traces I've examined of what happens with FTTC on my line.

On FTTC, the subscriber end doesn't get the synchronisation speed passed to it by the DSLAM in the cabinet (a shame, otherwise I could add it to my logs), and the BT Openreach modems are normally locked in such a way to preclude the subscriber from reading sync speed and other technical data out of the modem. There are now known ways to access technical data on both types of modem, though I believe there's still some issues with gaining access to the newest version of the ECI modem.


If the BT Retail speed tester or the Home Hub knows FTTC synchronisation speeds, this data is most likely coming from the BRAS, or is coming from periodic monitoring reports about end user circuits passed to BT Retail by BT Openreach via BT Wholesale (in this case, BT Wholesale are BT Openreach's customer - BT Retail are BT Wholesale's customer).

Zen make a synchronisation speed history available via their customer portal. Other ISPs often have similar 'self help' solutions to get hold of data about your line.


On BT Retail ADSL, the DSL modem is in the Home Hub, which therefore has access to the key line parameters.

In reply to a post by David_W:

On BT Retail ADSL, the DSL modem is in the Home Hub, which therefore has access to the key line parameters.

Yes, it was solely that that I was basing my reply and guess upon.

I am not surprise that isp Plusnet will not showing sync rate on their member account only the current line speed & estimated line speed with no date given of when was the last profile changed. Pretty poor design by plusnet.

Edited by adslmax (Mon 07-Oct-13 11:53:05)