Sky 40/10 - Estimate considerably higher than sync

Hi all,

Can someone give me some pointers as whether i'm being simply fobbed off, or whether there is an underlying issue on my line, or i'm simply being told the truth re. my line not being capable.

I had an estimate done on my line from BT, Sky and Plusnet - all three quoted in the region of 45-48MB maximum, as I'm 400-500M away from the cabinet.

So I signed up with Sky and decided I would test the waters with their 40/10 service prior to 'upgrading' for the extra 6-8MB if I thought I may benefit.

I had 2 engineers out and both have said the line is absolutely fine, no issues whatsoever since they rectified the initial fault on the DSide/Junction box. I got FTTC installed on Tuesday 26th, and it's not budged past 25MB - My sync results are below from the router page.

DownStream Connection Speed 23571
UpStream Connection Speed 7194

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Edited by stonesy (Wed 27-Nov-13 18:58:49)

google bt wholesale checker, enter your address (not postcode checker, the address checker) and see what results it gives, if its around the 45mbit mark as you said I would push it back to them as a fault.

Given I believe the estimates to be very low, a line that has speeds half the estimate to me suggests something is very wrong somewhere. I think you at the very least deserve an investigation with the option of bailing out the contract cost free.

The problem is there is no SLA on FTTC, to some degree you going to be relying on goodwill from your isp.

That's where I got my initial speed estimates from before approaching sky.

Here's the results anyway:

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 46.3 46.3 8 8
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 46.3 46.3 8 8

I spoke to the engineer and basically it's clear to see they're mostly not interested, that's the second telephone engineer I've had out so fix 'non existing' problems; and all I get from them is 'What do you need more than X for' spiel.

The gent today said it was likely because the line is aluminum - which I've read is the other aging excuse, but surely not to the point of below 50% of what I was estimated?

One thing to check for is star wiring. This is where extensions are taken off a junction box between the incoming telephone feed and the master socket. These extensions may be regular telephone extensions, or may be SkyBoxes or alarms. Those can cause serious issues. It can be quite bad even if the extension isn't used, much worse if the extension is used. If the extension is used, an old ADSL filter can make the issues marginally less bad.

Star wiring was not a problem with regular telephones (often installed in GPO days), or even a significant problem with ADSL. It wreaks havoc with VDSL/FTTC/Infinity. It is often not noticed by installers. I asked my installer about it because it seemed odd, and he explicitly said it didn't matter (eg, he coulnd't be bothered). There seem to be lots of evidence that subcontractors are more likely to miss/ignore it than real Openreach staff (I can't remember who got mine wrong).

This diagram may help. http://forumhelp.dyndns.info/infinity/infinity_wirin... (I believe only for BT users) or at http://s23.postimg.org/ivobqytvv/Star_Wiring.jpg
This diagram is NOT my copyright, not sure who's it was originally; I hope he/she doesn't mind my copying it.

Edited by StephenTodd (Wed 27-Nov-13 20:51:44)

I think only BT customers can see that link

Plusnet can use this link cos Plusnet also owned by BT

Star wiring isn't possible as there's one socket in the whole house - however from the drop cable , the BT bloke has placed a cylindrical looking device/extender which the cable terminate into and then back out into my master socket.

I can only assume this is a splitter/extension device as the drop wire wasn't long enough to reach the new location where he moved the master socket to.

I don't think so, I'm with Plusnet and I just got a message saying it's for BT customers only!

Anyway, the OP is with Sky, so a bit of a pointless statement really.

That does seem very low, I get 47/9 and I'm about 450 meters, but I think it's copper, although my original estimate was 57/20, current estimate is 33/6.

There are users on here that are over a 1000 meters and get speeds similar to yours.

In reply to a post by stonesy:

I can only assume this is a splitter/extension device

As long as as its only used for extension, no problem as you guessed.
(I've also updated the picture reference above ... thanks BatBoy)