Is GFast Unreliable?

Hi,

Upgraded to Gfast from 80/20 FTTC a couple of weeks ago. Get about 250/45.

TBB Ping Monitor: My Broadband Ping

Have noticed a couple of blips. Yesterday it was up and down a bit, and today there's some spikes too. But we've got some heavy building works going on (right under the overhead cable!) so I'm also happy to put dodgy broadband down to building work interference if that's the cause.

Is Gfast inherently any less reliable than FTTC?

Thanks

The way I see it, g.fast , is using a copper twisted pair to almost its complete max.
If you run anything absolutely flat out, then it is likely to be less stable ...... an F1 car will not run reliably to Scotland and back .... a sprinter, not a stayer. (analogies over)

I get the full 330, with a theoretical max over 400 .... but the connection IS finicky.

If I wanted rock solid, I’d probably downgrade to FTTC again.

I took the product out of curiosity.

In reply to a post by Westyfield2:

Is Gfast inherently any less reliable than FTTC?

G.fast uses only the higher frequencies in the spectrum, above both ADSL and VDSL, so as not to interfere with them. These higher frequencies are the ones which attenuate *much* more with distance; there's also potentially more RF interference around.

If you're sat right next to the cabinet, or up to say 100m away, it will be pretty solid because there will be a large noise margin. Beyond that, it's really using telephony-grade cable in a way that it wasn't designed for, *and* purposely avoiding the frequencies where telephony cable works best.

Get a weeks worth of data and post the links to each day.

What I can see there is nothing untoward, yes three drop out but all late evening or overnight, which could be a network based issue or the BT hub deciding to do a full firmware upgrade. Several days of data would allow a better interpretation.

I'd describe mine as solid as a rock; its been installed around a year now and haven't had a single outage other than 2 reboots of the BT Smart Hub for firmware updates.
But I do have a healthy SNR which gives me an attainable of around 400MBit due to being less than 150m from the PCP. Have you got any stats from your router or do you have an openreach modem with no stats?

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Westyfield2:

Is Gfast inherently any less reliable than FTTC?

G.fast uses only the higher frequencies in the spectrum, above both ADSL and VDSL, so as not to interfere with them. These higher frequencies are the ones which attenuate *much* more with distance; there's also potentially more RF interference around.

If you're sat right next to the cabinet, or up to say 100m away, it will be pretty solid because there will be a large noise margin. Beyond that, it's really using telephony-grade cable in a way that it wasn't designed for, *and* purposely avoiding the frequencies where telephony cable works best.

That’s what I said ! (less eloquently I grant you)

G.fast are a waste of time. FTTC is more reliable one.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

G.fast are a waste of time. FTTC is more reliable one.

Hi Max

For those who are using G.fast and getting good download speed and where its also stable I'm sure its not a waste of time. If I had a choice of G.fast or FTTP sure I would pick FTTP but most people don't so G.fast is a good interim solution for those lucky enough to be able to order it.

Maybe you should try it.

I don't see anything troubling on your TBB Ping Monitor. The very brief outages all occur at night and could easily relate to BT network maintenance.

Earlier in the year I was asked to look at the reliability of a G.Fast connection in London with a BT Fibre 250 service because there were lots of connectivity problems at the site.

I installed a Fingbox which performed six automated speed tests every day and gave continuous connectivity monitoring. I could also monitor it remotely.

For the whole of July the results were;

• 263.4Mbps average download
• 49.2Mbps average upload
• 2 outages of one minute each (>99.995% uptime)

I wouldn't call that unreliable.

The frequent connectivity problems turned out to be related to the DHCP server on the Smart Hub 2 and have been resolved by putting in a firewall which acts as a DHCP server, among other functions. There haven't been any significant outages since putting the firewall in.

That's my real world firsthand experience of testing G.Fast for reliability and performance. Unbdoubtedly there will be others with much more experience and some with zero.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

G.fast are a waste of time. FTTC is more reliable one.

I am interested in getting G.fast when it becomes available would you care to share your bad experience as i have FTTC and dont want to swap to G.fast if i would be better staying with FTTC?

Afaik every G.fast order has either been cancelled before installation, or cancelled soon after installation to move back to some near-impossibly cheap Plusnet service. I'm not aware of any previous complaints about reliability from that poster.

In reply to a post by jpm:

Afaik every G.fast order has either been cancelled before installation, or cancelled soon after installation to move back to some near-impossibly cheap Plusnet service. I'm not aware of any previous complaints about reliability from that poster.

Thanks.

I now he has history for telling blatant lies here and has been caught several times i was hoping for once he wasn't attention seeking and had some facts to back up his claims.

What a waste of oxygen why is he allowed to post here?

.

Lockdown is a challenging time particularly for those who already have problems. Perhaps we could cut him some slack?

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Lockdown is a challenging time particularly for those who already have problems. Perhaps we could cut him some slack?

People use forums like this when they are trying to make decisions on which type of broadband will suit them and which ISP to go with people who tell lies and who are known for doing so should not be allowed to post them it is unfair on the aforementioned members and guests, why cant his posts be put into a moderation queue then they can do no harm.

In reply to a post by dect:

Hi Max

For those who are using G.fast and getting good download speed and where its also stable I'm sure its not a waste of time. If I had a choice of G.fast or FTTP sure I would pick FTTP but most people don't so G.fast is a good interim solution for those lucky enough to be able to order it.

Maybe you should try it.

For this speed here: https://ibb.co/tP39tM1
no thanks too slow!

Also never trust high estimated speed as it was always incorrect as openreach updated once or twice every weeks varies from 189-260 on high so I can't trust it. Always follow on low speed.

Edited by adslmax (Tue 24-Nov-20 19:29:54)

With you it's always the case of either too slow or too expensive. Then you post that you've ordered it. Then post you cancel the orders. I've seen a lot of trolls on forums over the years, but you are at the top when it comes to changing your mind on what the truth is.

If you think that a near doubling of your speed is too slow then maybe this forum is not for you. Sorry to be this harsh, but it's now gone beyond a joke with your trolling.

Then you'd better cancel your FTTC with Plusnet, max. Given "Always follow on low speed", you can only be getting 73.2Mbps downstream sync. Yet you frequently post your stats which show well above that impacted low speed estimate.

And please don't post a whole pile of completely irrelevant stats. We've seen them far too many times.

I've tended to support you in the past when you post fact instead of fiction, but your criticism of G.Fast is complete and utter fiction. You have never had it at home nor do you personally know anyone who has.

As has just been said, people come here for serious help from people with knowledge. This latest intervention by you is very bad form.

To answer the question on reliability - I've managed a few (under 10 at this point) G.fast installs and where the line length was marginal it didn't achieve the estimated rate. However, that's a different question to reliability, and I've no complaints on the reliability of the service, it seems no different to FTTC in that regard.

Have a good xmas! I won't bother to post anymore. Bye. If FTTC are 80/20 I have it, if G.fast 330/50 I have it, if FTTP 900/220 I have it but not less! I have told openreach many times I will never order FTTC or G.fast if the high speed are less than 80/20 or 330/50. I told openreach not good enough on G.fast for those are who 250m or more! They should never roll out G.fast in my strong view. But, anyway openreach has blocked my dsl checker now (look like they blocked my ip address)

Edited by adslmax (Tue 24-Nov-20 20:46:49)

My 10p

After being on g.fast with BT for 2 and 1/2 years.

Issues - drop in download speed (and sync) for approx 2 - 3 months earlier this year. No idea what caused it and was around 150 Mbps rather than full 330 so whilst noticable on large downloads it wasn't exactly a major issue. As this was during lockdown I lived with it and then just went away.

One period of re-syncs for approx 1 hour. Put this down to person working at cabinet.

Ping - low and barely changes.

Dropouts - not really noticeable and in November I have had 3 or 4 overnight blips on my BQM.

Is it better than fttc? Well define better. My 80/20 was perfectly fine until it wasn't and my ISP at the time didn't want to know (single thread issues), I could have migrated to an alternative supplier but g.fast was just launching so thought why not.

Cost £61 per month inc phone. So whilst at higher end on price it is something I can accept and appreciate this is not the case for all. I was paying a little less for fttc but not much.

I've been very happy with BT retail and the product supplied. It works and gives me everything I need (and a lot more).

That is your personal opinion on the speeds you are being quoted. That is fine for you. However, telling someone not to order g.fast because it is unreliable/not worth it is wrong when they may be very happy getting slower than 330/50. Had you posted anything like this latest post originally then maybe it would have been understandable but as has been said you gave bad advice based on your personal opinion of what you want out of g.fast - not considering at all what the OP may want from it.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Have a good xmas! I won't bother to post anymore. Bye.

How many times have you said this in the past when you have been caught telling lies yet you are still here doing the same.

But, anyway openreach has blocked my dsl checker now (look like they blocked my ip address)

One day the penny will drop and you will realise this isn't something you should be wasting your life on with luck you'll then find something worthwhile to do with your time/life.

Especially as his post was not about G.Fast itself at all. It was entirely about the BT Wholesale estimator, which incidentally shows (on the equivalent "impacted" line that he highlighted) more than 6Mbps below his current sync.

He exceeded even himself for garbage misleading information.

I have G.fast last year started off 160/30 for one month then upgraded to 330/50 (the actually best G.fast speed I have is 240 to 220 down and 41 to 35 up, the higher speed is in winter) the line speed kept changed varies every 30 minutes due to SRA and FRA on G.fast. I was surprised it more reliable than FTTC because Noise Margin always at 3.1dB on both down and up but every 30 minutes the Noise Margin jump to 5.1dB for couple of second then back down to 3.1dB itself.

The Openreach engineer told me last year my G.fast will be 210/29 because of further distance away from the cabinet where BTw estimated my line of Range A clean for G.fast on High is 230/34.

You have G.fast, or you had G.fast?

had g.fast

Hi Max

You urgently need those 'Specsaver big glasses', just look at the date on the post you replied too

Not another one! lol