Odd results for services to my property on wholesale checker

I live in a cul-de-sac with 28 properties all served by cabinet 5 on exchange SMWLS. All were built in late 1994 to late 1995.

Some experimentation with the wholesale checker shows that all odd numbers from 3 up to 17 (there is no number 1), and all even numbers up to 16, are shown as having G.fast at varying speeds as an ordering option, however all higher numbers whether odd or even (highest is 32) are only showing VDSL at 80Mbps maximum but all showing as 62Mbps clean minimum, in practice my modem syncs at 80Mbps.

I have had VDSL since 2015, not sure when G.fast became available, but a neighbour ordered from EE and got 130+Mbps directly across the street from me. All of the distances for every property are in the region of 350-400m from cabinet 5. All the G.fast capable houses show VDSL speeds in the same range as for those that are not listed for G.fast.

Now, this maybe be academic, as I received a 'June 2023' answer from Openreach when I expressed interest in an FTTP service, however I don't understand why the difference in available FTTC over copper services.

Any thoughts clever and knowledgeable people?

Edited by rippedcotton (Tue 20-Jun-23 19:56:27)

At 350 to 400m they ought not to have been offered g.Fast

130Mbps downstream G.fast sync is likely in the territory where your upstream drops quite a bit below the 20Mbps that FTTC would achieve at that distance.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

At 350 to 400m they ought not to have been offered g.Fast

G.fast work best at between 0 and 150m and good at between 150m and 250m.

Openreach instigated a minimum connection speed of 120mbps for gfast. it seems these houses are very much borderline.

Edited by witchunt (Wed 21-Jun-23 10:34:12)

Ah, OK, I guessed there must be a reason.

The odd thing is that some of the houses that have a G.fast option have faster speeds shown despite them actually being further away from the cabinet than some of those with slower speeds. In the case of my immediate neighbour with the highest even-numbered house with a G.fast listing it shows over 100Mbps faster than some odd-numbered houses across the street who have a shorter distance to the cabinet.

I have to say that I really don't like the G.fast standard, it covers so much RF spectrum which affects my amateur radio activities to an extent. I always felt it was a last gasp copper-based standard.

In reply to a post by jpm:

130Mbps downstream G.fast sync is likely in the territory where your upstream drops quite a bit below the 20Mbps that FTTC would achieve at that distance.

Good point, my neighbours on EE actually migrated to get faster upload speeds so they might consider turning off the G.fast option in their modem. They did say it wasn't as good as they thought it would be, they were previously on a 40/10 VDSL service but could easily have got 80/20 as I do.

Edited by rippedcotton (Wed 21-Jun-23 13:24:53)

My G.fast was estimated by BTw Checker Range A 114-207 down / 9-29 up but was connected at 244/40. Mind you I don't have G.fast anymore.

Here is my G.fast: https://i.ibb.co/mT1rbCy/gfast.png

In reply to a post by rippedcotton:

Good point, my neighbours on EE actually migrated to get faster upload speeds so they might consider turning off the G.fast option in their modem.

That isn't possible.
G.Fast comes from a completely separate DSLAM that is configured for G.Fast only. It cannot fall back to VDSL2.
The only way to change would be to order a VDSL2 service from their provider which could come with a large charge if they are still within the minimum term for the G.Fast connection.

Also, the distance from the cabinet is not only based on where the house is. It isn't as simple as it seems. Some lines will go in the wrong direction initially to the DP (underground chamber or pole) and then on to the cabinet. Sometimes 1 side of the street loops right around the other side adding considerable distance.

I have neighbors who are 40-50m closer to the cabinet than me but they have longer line lengths as their lines come back to the chamber in the wrong direction before heading on to the cabinet.
The database is also full of inaccuracies, variables you can't see like crosstalk and a whole bunch of other factors.

It certainly sounds like your street is on the border of G.Fast availability which explains why some can order or and others can't. G.Fast upstream drops off dramatically at the edge of coverage and is often worse than what VDSL2 can offer.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 21-Jun-23 15:09:55)

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by rippedcotton:

Good point, my neighbours on EE actually migrated to get faster upload speeds so they might consider turning off the G.fast option in their modem.

That isn't possible.
G.Fast comes from a completely separate DSLAM that is configured for G.Fast only. It cannot fall back to VDSL2.
The only way to change would be to order a VDSL2 service from their provider which could come with a large charge if they are still within the minimum term for the G.Fast connection.

Also, the distance from the cabinet is not only based on where the house is. It isn't as simple as it seems. Some lines will go in the wrong direction initially to the DP (underground chamber or pole) and then on to the cabinet. Sometimes 1 side of the street loops right around the other side adding considerable distance.

I have neighbors who are 40-50m closer to the cabinet than me but they have longer line lengths as their lines come back to the chamber in the wrong direction before heading on to the cabinet.
The database is also full of inaccuracies, variables you can't see like crosstalk and a whole bunch of other factors.

It certainly sounds like your street is on the border of G.Fast availability which explains why some can order or and others can't. G.Fast upstream drops off dramatically at the edge of coverage and is often worse than what VDSL2 can offer.

Fair enough. Yes, I know that the G.fast DSLAM is on the side of the PCP cabinet whereas the VDSL one is in the larger cabinet 5m further away.

I know where the underground chambers are but not how the cables run between them exactly, the cul-de-sac has a Y shape with the shorter arm for the lower even numbered houses and the longer arm with the rest. It wouldn't surprise me if my chamber is the last reached as the cable loops to the end of the longer Y arm and back again.