Slow new FTTC connection

My sister recently moved house and transferred her exisitng BT FTTC connection. Here's a screen grab of the line stats.

https://i.imgur.com/eyDu4ci.jpg

I've no idea why it says full fibre mode on but anyway...

The speeds are usable but not great considering that she's less than a quarter of a mile from the cabinet. Thr router is connected directly into the VDSL faceplace of the NTE5C master socket. There are some older sockets in the house (an LJ2/1A in the hall) but from what I can tell they appear to be totally disconnected as it looks like the master socket has be relocated to the lounge. (I'll check that the NTE5C hasn't just been connected to the older master when I can get the ladder out and trace the cable from the street over the garage and porch roof. I managed to look up the phone number of one of her neighbours who are connected to the same telegraph pole which according to the BT checker are getting 71.88 down and 20 up. Openreach FTTP isn't available and the only estimate we can get from them is "maybe, possibly in 12-24 months". Lightspeed and Gigaclear are available but she still has about 12 months left on her current BT contract

Can anyone provide any thoughts/insights?

Full Fibre Mode ON? Can you turn it off and try reboot router?

I’d guess at a wiring issue …. also, what state is the drop wire in ? Not that horrid old grey drop 3 is it ?

Is dial tone clear at the NTE ? Or is it SOGEA ?

Summat don’t look right

SOGEA. From memory the drop wire is brown I think. I didn't see any ovious signs of damage/wear but can't see it all until I get a ladder round there

Yep. Look at the wiring. Firstly, that if the new master socket is an extension form the old master socket, that there is no other extension wiring connected at the old master socket. Second, that if a cable has been added between old and new master sockets, that this cable is proper telephone cable, not burglar alarm cable or any other bodge. Thirdly that if any extensions are wired from the new socket, then they are connected via the faceplate filter.

Best to get back to your ISP and get engineer out to fix it

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Best to get back to your ISP and get engineer out to fix it

Nope. Check out the wiring FIRST, then go to the ISP. Because if it turns out there is an issue with the house wiring, Openreach and the ISP will make a hefty call out charge.

Would there even be grounds to get the ISP involved? Apparent they only estimated 14 meg when she set up the house move. Surely they could say “you’re getting what we said you’d get”

If you're getting your estimate then the ISP won't take this to Openreach. The upstream sync looks funny though, has a 40/2 service been provisioned somehow?

Actually, Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:On isn't the reason for the slow speeds!

I'm also with BT FTTC. By default the Smart Hub 2 has this set to on. This is so that the WAN port is used for the ONT so by default if you plugged an Ethernet device to that port you won't receive a connection.

However, it's important to note that after turning off Full Fibre (FTTP) Mode:Off turns the WAN port into an extra Gigabit LAN port! Now instead of having only 3 working LAN ports, that WAN will now work as your 4th working LAN port!

Around 3 years ago when I switched to BT FTTC I was worried about this having only 3 LAN ports as I needed my TV receiver for an extra LAN. Luckily turning FTTP mode to off help resolves this.

It's also important to note that there are 2 types of Smart Hub 2 routers. One of the routers have only 3+1WAN ports and the other one has 4 LAN ports. https://dam.which.co.uk/IC21818-0005-00-rear-800x600... and https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/legacy/smart_...

But this isn't the reason why the speeds are low. If you turn it off your speeds won't increase as this mode only changes the WAN port into a LAN port and nothing else!

Anyway, in my case there is a speed drop since Firmware updated: 8-Jan-2025. I used to sync between 78-80Mbps but since January firmware my speeds dropped to Downstream sync speed: 68.65 Mbps Upstream sync speed: 16.999 Mbps.

Maybe this is crosstalk or the router firmware being the cause. Not sure how you've got a April 1st firmware update. Or perhaps I have to wait for it to happen for me.

Here we have Community Fibre available and I can quit BT at any time by I am not too bothered about the drop from 78 to 68Mbps.
The speed drop could either be related to the router firmware, crosstalk or micro filter. It could even be a fault at the exchange/cabinet. You can inquire with your neighbours and find out what speeds they get!

If it is actually brown, that will be downlead then … indicating that there is a junction somewhere between the dropwire and this cable.

Yeah. I just assumed that the FTTP mode was that it was ready to accept an optical connection if there was one connected. Didn’t think it was connected to the slow speed issue

do you remember what type of master socket it is. Even though you are on SoGEA your sis may be on an older socket

When you next pop over do a test socket test !

Also what speed package is your sis on ?

The one she's connected to in the lounge is an NTE5C with the mk4 VSDL faceplate like this

https://www.run-it-direct.co.uk/adsl-vdsl-faceplates...

The older socket in the hall whcih I hope is completely disconnected (although if it isn't it could make it easier to fix) is an older LJ2/1A

I've no idea what speed package she's on

Not too uncommon to find some equally [censored] install where the (often a subby) just put an NTE and SSFP wherever, and didn’t actually create a genuine NTE.

Looks like the brown cable comes straight from the street

https://i.imgur.com/Knhe4lQ.jpg

In reply to a post by No_One:

Looks like the brown cable comes straight from the street

https://i.imgur.com/Knhe4lQ.jpg

Nope …. The black dropwire is coming from the pole feeding the property*… it then goes into an (at least 10 year old) under eaves closure. Then is crimped through to the pair in the brown down lead.


*though maybe the down lead IS the feed, and the span goes to a separate building ? This is less likely though.

That's what I mean. The brown cable is directly connected to the wire from the telegraph pole

And is then visible all the way until it disappears into an internal junction box, or telephone socket ?

If the above … then time for some nice clear pictures of the insides of the various boxes

Can’t see where it runs along the top on the porch roof until I get a ladder up there. For some reason my sister is more bothered about unpacking and decorating for some reason haha

In reply to a post by No_One:

Can’t see where it runs along the top on the porch roof until I get a ladder up there. For some reason my sister is more bothered about unpacking and decorating for some reason haha

as Zarjaz said, get some internal piccies up. and try to get this sorted before your sis completes her decorating

There is also the possibility that the line is one dis on the D side somewhere …. but hard to prove without posher test gear.
All you can do is get on the end of the incoming pair with the router and check the stats.

Still need to rule out internal wiring shenanigans

Edited by Zarjaz (Thu 03-Apr-25 19:58:15)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Still need to rule out internal wiring shenanigans

yep as that cause the issue and also chargable ....

Well I doubt I’ll be taking it any further. She booked a Gigaclear install yesterday

Presumably the early termination charges are no longer a consideration

Apparently she worked it out and it’s cheaper in the long run