Zen Internet - FTTP Speeds

I switched over to ZEN Internet’s full FTTP (300Mb/50Mb) in July – there were a few issues getting the service activated but that all seems to be resolved now. It is working and seems stable.

I’ve been monitoring the speeds using the speedtest-cli command line version. I have it running on a Raspberry Pi 4 4GB: the Pi is hardwired in to my router (Draytek 2860). A job runs every 4 hours to test the speed. Job uses http to avoid any https encryption overhead. Results are stored in a CSV file.

Results over five days:

Average download : 241Mb/s which is 80% of the stated (300Mb/s) speed. Lowest 100Mb/s highest 270Mb/s
Average upload : 48Mbps and that is constant – never drops below 47Mbs.

Are these acceptable values? I understand there will be some variation in download speed but the result show it is consistently below 300Mb/s (never seen 300Mb/s) with some significant troughs of below 150Mb/s.

I haven’t contacted ZEN yet because l want to understand if the results I’m getting are within an acceptable range.

Chris

In reply to a post by ChrisON:

I haven’t contacted ZEN yet because l want to understand if the results I’m getting are within an acceptable range.

Some questions:

1) Is your PI capable of maxing out the line?

2) Are you using multiple servers and averaging? If not, how do you know the speed test server is not overloaded at the time of the test and can only get you 200 mbps?

Hi,

The Draytek 2860 cannot do the throughput. I went on to BT Fibre 900 a few months ago, and my 2860 could only manage 260mbps download.

I've been told the 2862 is a little better, but I am now using a TP-Link Archer C9 with a 880mbps download.

Hope this helps.

In reply to a post by ChrisON:

I haven’t contacted ZEN yet because l want to understand if the results I’m getting are within an acceptable range.

Did Zen provide you with a router, worth repeating a few hours testing using this instead of the Draytek.

The Draytek has a gigabit WAN port but the Firewall limits the throughput to 300mbs max and less in real life as you have found out, there are later models that can handle 400mbs max which would cope. Zen would normally have supplied a Fritzbox which can handle the full gigabit throughput.

In reply to a post by kommando:

The Draytek has a gigabit WAN port but the Firewall limits the throughput to 300mbs max and less in real life as you have found out, there are later models that can handle 400mbs max which would cope. Zen would normally have supplied a Fritzbox which can handle the full gigabit throughput.

I wonder if its the firewall, or the PPPoE, but the only way to test that would be to find someone on a Virgin Media cable service of 300 Mbps or faster. Of course this is not unusual in routers.

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, ZEN did supply a Fritz! 7530 from when l had the VDSL FTTC package last year (the switch to FTTP was a regrade). I couldn't get it to work with the new FTTP connection and as l needed my connection up and running l plugged in the Draytek, entered my ZEN details and it worked immediately. I had always intended to use the Draytek as l am used to it and like some the features. Therefore l didn't try very hard to get the Fritz! router working with the FTTP connection and it just sits there for WiFi connections (It is much better than the Draytek in that respect).

To answer some of the other replies:

1) Yes, the Pi 4B is capable of maxing out the 1Gb link - the older 3B+ wasn't.
2) l thought the test server you get was just based on fastest ping?

I have no problems with the Fritz! so it sounds like the first job is to get that working with the FTTP connection.

I'll report back in a few days if l get it working.


Thanks again for the helpful replies.

Chris

Draytek say it's a firewall limitation.

In reply to a post by kommando:

Draytek say it's a firewall limitation.

I guess the only way to test would be to try an ISP without PPPoE, which is unusual in the UK, probably only Virgin Media are the big one. It could be the firewall is the part doing NAT, which would make sense as it has to change every packet as it goes through.

My Asus router has a NAT accelerator in hardware, in an attempt to handle higher speeds. It can handle 2xWAN connections bonded to 2Gbit/sec, but I have no idea about PPPoE or NAT throughput, as I’m not going to see those speeds for decades!

Do some speed tests with it plugged into the ONT.
Fibre>ONT>Pi.