BT fibre checker showing slower speeds than ADSL ?

Hi all

We're looking to buy a house and I've found the telephone number of the property in question. When I use the BT Wholesale checker at:

https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

I get this strange result:

BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
Telephone Number 016xxxxxxx on Exchange xxxxxxx is served by Cabinet 2

Featured Products


Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)


Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)


Downstream Range(Mbps)


Availability Date
High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 6.6 2.9 1.2 0.8 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 5.4 1.9 1.2 0.5 -- Available

ADSL Max Up to 7 -- 6 to 8 Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available

For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

This line does not have left in jumpers.



(sorry for the formatting above).

But in essence, ADSL shows in the range 6 to 8 but FTTC Clean is in the range 2.9 to 6.6. VDSL slower than ADSL?

I *suspect* it's a scenario where OpenReach stuck a cabinet outside the exchange but I can't be sure. It's also a 900 mile round trip for me to go and check

Can anyone offer any advice as to the low predicted FTTC speeds please?

Many thanks


Jim

I *suspect* it's a scenario where OpenReach stuck a cabinet outside the exchange

That woukd probably be the mostly likely reason

I know of another area in Perth & Kinross that has the same issue...

ADSL 12 - 15 meg
FTTC 4 - 8 meg

Due to length of line to cabinet.

So looks like you will be stuck with ADSL unless Virgin Media is available.

Edited by mlmclaren (Tue 16-Jun-15 10:27:46)

It happens ... I have one location where ADSL is giving around 1.5Mbps on a very long line.

A cabinet installed which has reduced the line length by about 70% however VDSL/FTTC is quoted at 1 to 0.1 Mbps on a clean line!

Many thanks folks.

BT still hit the headlines for the number of FTTC-enabled properties.......but the punters are worse off

Well most connected that cabinet wil see a benefit from it... someone just down the road will see around 20mbps and then someone down the road from them will get 40mbps...

Unfortunately it goes on the length of cables to the cabinet, most lines will see the improvements... the only thing I can say is hopefully something is done in future to bring faster speeds either using ADSL or maybe even full fibre to the premises.

Out of interest, which Perth and Kinross area?

The line in my original question is in England, however I live in Perth and Kinross so I'm curious.


Jim

Bridge Of Earn

Can I ask where in England? The line I refer to is also an 016XX.

If I had to guess, from the ADSL estimate I'd say the exchange line was around 2.2km long, and from the FTTC estimate, I'd guess the cabinet line distance (the D-side) was around 2km.

That would fit in with your guess about the cabinet being stood outside the exchange ... but we could tell for sure if we knew what exchange it was "cabinet 2" on.

Statistically speaking, this problem *does* happen, but for very few. The line would have to fit into two groups simultaneously:
- The 2% of lines where the D-side is longer than 1.8km, and
- The 25% of lines where the combined E+D-side is between 1.8km and 3km

A simplistically-combined probability would say 0.5% of properties suffer the problem where ADSL speeds are higher than FTTC speeds. In most cases, I suspect, the lines that fit into the former category are rather more likely to fit into the 63% of lines that have E+D-side length of 3km of greater, so 0.5% is likely to be an over-estimate.

90% of properties have a D-side length of 1.2km or less, which is the usual threshold for 24Mbps+ speeds. The cabinets are being upgraded for the benefit of that 90% - and the count of the "superfast-enabled properties" only takes these into account.