How can I find out what speed my line is capable of?

How can I find out (with some accuracy) what speed my line is capable of? I'm on Sky FTTC with the 40/10 package and would like to know the maximum my line can support to see if upgrading my fibre package would be worth doing. Is anyone able to suggest a method for this? Many thanks.

Use https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm?s... rather than the retail checker as gives a more detailed range.

In terms of what your line will really support, only way to know for certain is try it on a faster speed configuration

The Max Sync now suggests you will see some improvement, question is whether the extra suggested by the range is worth the extra cost for you.

I suggest you just reread what was said in your July thread .

Nothing has changed in the information you have available, and you got the answer.

The only way you can get a more accurate figure would be to fork out for another router that gives full router stats to the user. That means finding out which routers and how. It needs to use the MER protocol.

From your sig, there and here, you were clearly on either the 55/10 or 80/20 Openreach package. The downstream 42Mbps is suspiciously low, the upstream obviously has something wrong with the connection. That�s what you need to sort out first.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 09-Sep-18 09:46:45)

Mr Saffron and RobertoS - thanks for your replies. I was hoping there was a Windows command or programme I could run to give me an idea rather than getting a new router to replace the rubbish Sky one. I take it there isn't?! I suspect 55Mbps as I was able to increase my noise margin from 7.7 to 9.8 but that's not really scientific! Unfortunately the BT Wholesale checker provides a range rather than specifics for my line.

Windows can do nothing to reveal what the line capabilities are

You need to connect a VDSL2 modem/router that reports the maximum attainable speed (off top of my head cannot think of the models that do), this would not connect all the way through to Sky but would show you the potential VDSL2 speeds.

The range is all anyone can provide because there are so many variables that until you have the VDSL2 running you will not know. Even with the maximum attainable speed above there is no guarantee that you would reach that, because on some lines when running at the maximum possible the errors are so great that it may be unreliable and thus systems will slow you down to increase the reliability.

Thanks Mr Saffron. I'm thinking of upgrading my router anyway to improve the WiFi coverage I get so if a model that works with Sky Fibre and displays maximum line stats comes back to you please let me know!

In reply to a post by giggsy1977:

Thanks Mr Saffron. I'm thinking of upgrading my router anyway to improve the WiFi coverage I get so if a model that works with Sky Fibre and displays maximum line stats comes back to you please let me know!

TP Link routers display max attainable rate on adsl/vdsl lines so probably worth getting something like a TP Link VR900 or a VR2800 if you're happy to spend more.

Thanks baby_frogmella. Am I able to just plug and play with either of the products you suggest? Are they combined modem/routers as I assume I would need? As I have Sky, do I need to do anything in particular to get it to work correctly? Apologies for the questions, I have only ever used the equipment supplied by my ISP's before. Thanks.

Is your upstream throughput very low, like it was with BT? With your stats I would expect it to at nearly the 9999 connection speed. If it is still low as it was on Infinity then there is definitely something wrong.

Uh oh!!! I�ve just spotted that with BT you were on Infinity 2. I only registered the Infinity in my brain earlier, not the 2. Your line needs sorting out but without full stats as evidence it would be very risky to get an engineer out. It could very well be something in your house causing the trouble and you could be charged well over £100 for an engineer call out if it is, and they might go away saying that and not fixing whatever it is unless you�ve got that on the order for the visit. (How you do that or whether it�s just down to the engineer at the time I don�t know).

I�m also on about 19dB downstream and although we can�t know the upstream attenuation it will move in step. I have a sync speeds as in my sync, though due to minor instability it can sometimes drop to 65,000/11,500 area when the Openreach DLM decides the error rates have gone too high and adjusts the SNR Margin upwards. As MrSaffron just said it can. It all depends on the individual line, other lines running near to it, and other noise sources like power subtsions and factories along the route.

A single new connection of another FTTC line at the cabinet can drop your downstream connection speed by 10Mbps! There are several examples of forum posters having that happen, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Back to your line. Is your router connected direct to the master socket, and which sort of master is it? How many extension sockets are there, whether in use or not, and if some are in use what Is on them?

In reply to a post by giggsy1977:

Thanks baby_frogmella. Am I able to just plug and play with either of the products you suggest? Are they combined modem/routers as I assume I would need? As I have Sky, do I need to do anything in particular to get it to work correctly? Apologies for the questions, I have only ever used the equipment supplied by my ISP's before. Thanks.

Yep those two I mentioned are combined modem/routers. Last time I used the VR2800 it had an option for 'sky vdsl' (or something similar) amongst the choice of ISPs from the drop down list so you should be able to use it on your Sky fibre line.

Edit: above confirmed by this Sky user's feedback on the VR2800 on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AF...

Edited by deleted (Sun 09-Sep-18 11:26:43)