Gfast in a FTTP not spot in a FTTP cabled area

Is Gfast still available and if so from who? Both BT and Zen websites show it as not available to order...

But Bt Wholesale checker says Gfast is available....


Backstory
My brother has a small office/shop in postcode CF11 9PP that is connected to the Exchange CARDIFF EMPIRE -> Cabinet 25

Most of the area has FTTP available from poles. His property is in a shopping parade where half of the properties have FTTP via pole and the other half do not. Unfortunately he's in the wrong half and his property is fed from the pavement.

Since its an area where FTTP is already fully rolled out I dont see this changing.

The wholesale checker shows that Gfast and FTTP on demand are both available (on demand obviously at a price)


Seems weird that if you cannot get FTTP you now cannot seem to get Gfast either....

Thanks

In reply to a post by pekoz1:

Is Gfast still available and if so from who?

Yes it is. Talktalk sell G.Fast as "Ultrafast Fibre Broadband" (sic). It's also sold by some business providers like Cerberus.

If BTW checker says available, then it *should* be available.

If this is a business connection, then I'd recommend paying a bit more for Cerberus (although I see there's a hefty installation fee). You'll be able to talk to a human being who can confirm for sure whether it's available or not, and if not, why not. Having said that, if you can get through to a human at BT or Zen, they should also be able to help you.

Edited by candlerb (Mon 06-Dec-21 13:26:01)

At the moment they have FTTC 80/20 from Zen ....I saw somewhere that Gfast was being withdrawn from sale from the Zen website but still available over the phone. However when I phoned up they said no its not available.

I'll have a word with Cerberus.

Thanks

What sync do they get on 80/20 FTTC, anything less than the full 80/20, then g.Fast ain’t worth it in my opinion

That is very true.

Which also leads to another question: although the BTW checker says G.Fast is available, what does it give as the predicted speed? If it's anything less than 150M then it's quite probably not be stable enough to be usable, and this may be why BT and Zen are refusing to sell it.

For the Zen 80/20 fttc the sync speed is 80/20

Cabinet is approx 120m away...I would say

This is the link to the BT Wholesale Checker for the Gfast speeds

here

Thanks

Edited by pekoz1 (Mon 06-Dec-21 15:34:04)

Says green, it should be OK.

You may wish to warn him there's a very high possibility that the upstream will be lower (possibly half) than the current 20Mb seen on FTTC. That's from the estimates you posted.

Each to their own but personally I wouldn't double my downstream if it halved my upstream.

pekoz1

I can see that from 25a upwards FTTP is available. But 25 downwards it os not available.

If he is in 21-25 he could try the contact form https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-avai... and use the "my neighbours can get fibre but I can't" on the pull down for what your query is about.

There are only about 5 Premises that appear not to be covered which is quite odd..

That sounds about right. The pole feeding the parade is at the side of no. 245 .....each building is fed from the rear down to around 225 but I wasnt sure where exactly the FTTP/No FTTP split was

He occupies 219......the wrong side of the tracks ....so to speak.

I'll give the contact form a go ...Thanks

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

You may wish to warn him there's a very high possibility that the upstream will be lower (possibly half) than the current 20Mb seen on FTTC. That's from the estimates you posted.

Thanks John. That could be a problem then...

UnchainedISP do sell G.fast as they use TalkTalk Business Backhaul as you will get free of charge G.fast installation by Openreach engineer including supplied G.fast Modem and you also get static ip address by default. The contract is 12 months. You can choose G.fast 160/30 with line only at £49.99 a month inc VAT or G.fast 330/50 with line only at £56.99 a month inc VAT.

Their support is excellent, you get instant reply via email ticket even at late night or weekend. Keith are great guy to make sure everything went smooth from installation day with openreach engineer.

Their website here: https://www.unchainedisp.net/home-broadband.html

In reply to a post by pekoz1:

For the Zen 80/20 fttc the sync speed is 80/20

Cabinet is approx 120m away...I would say

This is the link to the BT Wholesale Checker for the Gfast speeds

here

Thanks

I have to warn you this. You are better off with 160/30 as your downstream & upstream could be slightly around 195/26 with this link. Because last May when I ordered G.fast my line estimated was 230/34 on Range A G.fast as I getting 210/29 from Openreach engineer test kit on the day of installation when my G.fast went live with 159/29 with UnchainedISP G.fast 160/30. As for your cabinet approx 120m as this will not be true. You more than likely over 250m away because of G.fast estimated at 215/31.

Openreach test kit: https://i.ibb.co/N9384Y7/gfast-openreach-line-test-2...

BTw checker May 2021: https://i.ibb.co/KqjJM57/BTw-Checker-May-2021.jpg

Edited by adslmax (Tue 07-Dec-21 09:39:53)

adslmax: you most definitely did not get an estimate of "230/34", because estimates are ranges, not individual numbers. That is, you would have got an estimated range like "X1 to X2 down, Y1 to Y2 up".

Estimates are also not guaranteed. You are *likely* to get a speed between the figures given, but (especially with G.Fast) it might be outside the range. G.Fast is *extremely* sensitive to variations in cabling.

However, I do agree that for anyone choosing G.Fast who isn't sat right next to the cabinet, they're more likely to get a stable connection if they choose 160/30 (and forego a little speed) than attempt to get the full 330/50 and have it negotiate something lower.

My G.fast are now well over the estimated on BTw checker getting more than 230 down and more than 34 up. These are old checker indeed back in May 2021. As I am on G.fast 330/50 product.

Stats from my router:

============================================================================
xDSL Training Status: Showtime
Mode: G.fast Annex A
Traffic Type: PTM Mode
Link Uptime: 2 hours: 10 minutes
============================================================================
xDSL Port Details Upstream Downstream
Line Rate: 49.471 Mbps 329.200 Mbps
Actual Net Data Rate: 49.301 Mbps 329.720 Mbps
Trellis Coding: ON ON
SNR Margin: 3.0 dB 3.0 dB
Actual Delay: 0 ms 0 ms
Transmit Power: 4.0 dBm 0.0 dBm
Receive Power: 4.1 dBm 3.1 dBm
Actual INP: 540.0 symbols 550.0 symbols
Attainable Net Data Rate: 48.361 Mbps 328.529 Mbps
============================================================================

Edited by adslmax (Tue 07-Dec-21 09:51:24)

Please ignore what adslmax says. He posts different random screenshots and measurements which bear no relation to reality.

Don't care what u think of me. That's your own word against me.