Slow FTTC Upload speed

I have sky fibre and my current Tbb speed test results are 14.5 – 16 Meg download and 0.4 Meg upload. Reading the forums I think I am right in saying my upload should be within 22.5% of my download. Also the Openreach availability checker says I should get 19.5 Mbps downstream and 4.6 Mbps upstream. On this basis I have spoken to Sky and they have done some line tests which have come back as faults (inconsistent upload / download ratio), this has prompted them to report the fault to Openreach and I have had engineers to my property which went like this:

Engineer 1: “You seem to have a profile issue. If you were a BT customer I could sort it but as you are a Sky customer you will have to get Sky to sort it”.
Sky Reply: We have no control of the profile as this is an Openreach product. We will report the fault again.

Engineer 2: “I have checked your BB at the exchange and can’t find a fault; it’s as fast as it will go”
Sky Reply: Our line tests are still showing a fault with the profile we will report it again.

Engineer 3: “This is a profile issue that needs to be sorted by Sky, I am a field engineer I can’t do anything with it, I will call my office and see if they can get it sorted”. 1 hour later on the phone “I have spoken to my office and your neighbours are getting slower download speeds than you, so you should be happy with what you have got”.
Sky reply: The engineers report says the line is aluminium and is 1400 meters long so this is the best it gets. But the line test still shows a fault so we will have to report it again.

I still await any comment from Sky or Openreach.

I live 300M as the crow flies from the cabinet and 465M by road (and pole) quite why my line is 1400m long is a mystery.

My question is should I accept a 0.4 Meg upload speed or am I right in complaining about it, bearing in mind my Uncle-in-law who lives opposite gets 4 Meg upload on the same product?

Edited by AXL74 (Sun 13-Oct-13 01:44:15)

0.4 is not acceptable.

Sky Fibre allows speeds of upto 40mbps (advertised upto 38mbps) download and upto 10mbps upload - however this will depend on how far away you are from your local FTTC street cabinet.

Sky Fibre Pro (can only order on the phone) allows speeds of upto 80mbps (advertised upto 76mbps) download and upto 20mbps upload - however this will depend on how far away you are from your local FTTC street cabinet.

So you should be getting somewhere near the 10 or 20 mbps upload depending on which sky FTTC product you are on, at 450m from the cab, you should get 35-40mbps downstream and near the 10 upstream, or somwhere not too far away,

IMO if the D'side is ali then BT wholesale shouldn't sell broadband to customers on those pairs without at least informing them prior to placing an order that things could be problematic, as the line isnt fit for Xdsl services and should be replaced with copper

I wonder whether the engineer was giving you the Line Length to the Exchange, rather than to the Cabinet?

The BRAS Test may help clarify-

http://windows.mouselike.org/be/?DoAction=BrasChecker

I would also recmmend that you try the Quiet Line Test-

Connect a corded phone to the Test Socket behind the Faceplate, where the phone line comes in to your house.

If your Phone Service is bundled in with SKY-

Dial 17070, selecting Option 4 Quiet Test

If not with SKY

Dial 17070, selecting Option 2 Quiet Test.


Listen for noises, humming, "snap, crackle and pop", tones etc.

If you hear anything significant, report as a PHONE Fault to your PHONE Provider, do NOT mention Broadband.


If there are FAULTS in your Phone Line, particularly that last, exposed, overhead "pole" section, they could readily affect your BB Service.

In reply to a post by AXL74:

My question is should I accept a 0.4 Meg upload speed or am I right in complaining about it, bearing in mind my Uncle-in-law who lives opposite gets 4 Meg upload on the same product?

You would probably do better than that on ADSL, so I would stick at it.

I have seen a line running really low upstream which happened to be one of two FTTC lines in the same property, a couple of hundred metres from the cab one 20M up the other 1M up.

Interference in the relevant frequency band could be the issue, but in the case I had it made no sense with two lines off the same pole.

The exchange is approx 3 km by road so I don’t think it was the “to the exchange length”. I have done this morning, a facebook request for speed tests in the village and have sussed the following from people’s speeds:

The cabinet is at the top of the village on the main road. The main line must go down into the village centre then back up the back road of the village. People living on the route of the main line are getting good down/up speeds. I seem to be on a leg off the main line of about 50m along with my father-in-law in the next street down, as we are both getting upload speeds of less than 0.5 Meg on the same product.

As previously mentioned, my uncle-in-law who lives opposite, has a line from the main pole and has a good upload speed of about 4.2 Meg, whereas my cousin-in-law, who also lives opposite but at the other end of the road and off another joint box, has a slow upload of about 0.8 Meg.

This would therefore make my line about 1200m from the cabinet.

Ohh! and before you ask yes I am lucky I get on with my in-laws, and no they don’t all have cauliflower ears .

Interesting convolutions!

Even more so then, I suggest you try both the BRAS Test to get a clearer idea of the length of your phone line to the Exchange; also the Cabinet Number if listed-

http://windows.mouselike.org/be/?DoAction=BrasChecker


and the Quiet Test to establish the condition and likely performance of your line.

17070 Option 4 (SKY Phone) or Option 2 (others).

=============================

It would be interesting if you were to carry out the same tests on your in-laws lines etc, to give a fuller comparison - it could be advantageous to all of you and others in the village.

An interesting use of Facebook.

==============================

Do you know exactly which form of FTTx you are on, see-

http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Can-I-ge...

Right so:

BrasChecker does not recognise my number, presumably as it is a Sky line.

Quiet test says no echo and line within limits. I must admit the line does not sound noisy at all.

And as far as I know I am on FTTC.

The in-laws lines show +1000m line lengths and same again no noise. Although father-in-laws speed test is now showing upload of 3.4 Meg since his next door neighbour has had a fault fixed on his BB (may be coincidence).

Not that any of this matters as Sky has informed me the Fibre was sold on download speed so they will not be pursuing Openreach any more about the fault.

I am now stuck in a contract for the next 9 months or so until I can go back to ADSL which gave me a 0.6 - 0.8 Meg upload.

Thanks for you help.......

You dont sound sure if on fttc. Do you have a white openreach modem AND a sky hub plugged in?