FTTC: Connection Stability

Looking at migrating to FTTC from adsl - but not too bothered about ultimate speed, more about stability.
How frequently should I expect the connection to drop? With adsl I was used to having approx. one disconnect a month, but remember years ago it seemed to disconnect daily, even hourly at one point.

I'm on a reasonably long line for adsl (currently getting 500/3500kbps up/down), but the cabinet is reasonably close (about 4 houses away) so I assume I'd likely get decent speed on fibre - but I don't want to switch and then find stability is poor.

In case kit makes a difference, I'd be happy(ish) to spend up to £200 on a vdsl modem/router rather than just using an isp supplied one.

Anybody get experience of what actually happens, regardless of what the theory says?

Reliability seems better on FTTC, it just works, and if you're so close to the cabinet should be great for you.

Stability will be fine - I cannot remember when mine last dropped due to anything on the line from house to cabinet.

ADSL line length means nothing ... the cabinet being four houses away, assuming you are routed directly to it and not round the estate, would suggest less than 100m and that should give 80/20 or close to.

The standard BT modems are fine - yes upgrade if you want to and your choice has functions you need but in almost every case the two BT modems do not cause any issues.

Mine stays up until the wife powers it off by hitting the socket switch with the hoover!

Very stable, practically a fixed IP.

I have never had a remote disconnect - just when I do it/and/or change my connection to upgrade/down grade etc.

On ADSL, I couldn't hold a line on adsl2/2+ for more than a day, so ended up on bog standard adsl - and even that used to disconnect at random every few days or so.

As all the others say, fttc just *works*.

Nick

Post deleted by MrSaffron

In reply to a post by commsguru:

As mentioned FTTC just works. if you are close to the cab you should get 80/20
I recommend BT Infinity 2

I notice BT Infinity 2 are 75 down and 19 up while Plusnet is 73 down and 17 up. Strange but BT network is biggest one than Plusnet network.

Edited by adslmax (Thu 20-Feb-14 16:01:21)

Referral link to quidco removed

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I notice BT Infinity 2 are 75 down and 19 up while Plusnet is 73 down and 17 up. Strange but BT network is biggest one than Plusnet network.

All marketing, the actual possible sync is the same on the VDSL side, and they are both WBC using ISPs so the profile is a maximum of 76 Mbps that I understand. (You should see this, as your line is shorter than mine).

The advertising standards authority (ASA) decreed a year or more ago that you can't sell 80/20 when the maxium speed is 76/18 so all ISPs reduced their advertising on ADSL and FTTC connections.

So Plusnet's marketing department is braver than BT's basically!

I thought the maximum ip profle rate is 77.4Mbps out of 79.9Mbps?

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I thought the maximum ip profle rate is 77.4Mbps out of 79.9Mbps?

As you have a 79 Mbps sync, perhaps you could try a BTwholesale test and let us know?

My profile is 51.97 Mbps as reported by the BTw test last week (13th Feb), and my sync and theoretical max information are:

Max:	Upstream rate = 9780 Kbps, Downstream rate = 59080 Kbps
Bearer:	0, Upstream rate = 9739 Kbps, Downstream rate = 53695 Kbps

unfortunately the btw speedtest won't work with my landline number since my FTTC went live. I had contact plusnet isp about BTW speedtest further diagostic with my phone number issues with test error since my FTTC went live a week ago today. They say it takes approx 2 weeks for the ip profile to shown up on BTW test which mean I have to wait until next week (thursday) but the plusnet current line speed showed ip profile of 77.4Mb.

Edited by adslmax (Thu 20-Feb-14 19:21:24)

Doh!! :-/

IP Profile is calculated from the sync speed
by dividing by 1.033 so a sync speed of 79987kbps translates to an IP profile of 77.4Mbps
which gives a Plusnet figure of 77.4Mbps

@ jchamier

Your line is dividing by 1.033 so your sync speed 53695Kbps translates to an IP profile of 51.97Mbps

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Your line is dividing by 1.033 so your sync speed 53695Kbps translates to an IP profile of 51.97Mbps

Ah-ha!

Careful Max. Posting correct information like that will spoil your reputation .

More correctly, the IP Profile is set at 0.9679 of the sync. The 1.033 is the reverse multiplier to work out the sync from the IP Profile if you can't see stats. I just remember the 0.9679 and divide the IP Profile by it, to save remembering two numbers.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 20-Feb-14 19:39:11)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

More correctly, the IP Profile is set at 0.9679 of the sync. The 1.033 is the reverse multiplier to work out the sync from the IP Profile if you can't see stats. I just remember the 0.9679 and divide the IP Profile by it, to save remembering two numbers.

Gotcha, this being the more typical effect on the Openreach VDSL modems. adslmax's issue where the BTw tester is unavailable is obscure

The BTw speedtest is the first time I ever experience with test error never like this before (maybe Liv Garfield) turned it off won't let me see what is my exchange ip profile rate are? lol (only joke) plusnet say it down to BTw not updated my landline number on the speedtest yet.

Edited by adslmax (Thu 20-Feb-14 19:44:31)

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Much appreciated! Looks like I should definitely move to fttc - so now I'll spend the next few months debating which isp to choose

Given its name BT Wholesale speed test the hint is that it is outside of the open reach remit