https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2025/01/bt-who...

In reply to a post by MHC:

Goodluck with the BT Wholesale test - it seems to have failed! I get the front screen, press start and NOTHING.

Thought I had read somewhere that its been retired.

Edit - After posting I've just seen the link from Iniltous

Edited by PCJM40 (Wed 29-Jan-25 16:09:29)

In reply to a post by MHC:

Goodluck with the BT Wholesale test - it seems to have failed! I get the front screen, press start and NOTHING.

Yup, I noticed that when getting the results of a dip to 30mbps earlier.
Ended up using this one instead, hopefully they accept that!

If you can demonstrate to the powers that be, results from a 'basket' of speed testers / servers then it strengthens your case. Perhaps alternate /rotate the one you use during the testing period.

You don't need hundreds of tests. A reasonable amount proof is all that is needed.

Do you have an account manager at this outfit?

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

If you can demonstrate to the powers that be, results from a 'basket' of speed testers / servers then it strengthens your case. Perhaps alternate /rotate the one you use during the testing period.

You don't need hundreds of tests. A reasonable amount proof is all that is needed.

Do you have an account manager at this outfit?

Everything that Pheasant has said, plus.

make sure also you test at the same time each day with the same testers.

So say 8:30; 9.30; 13:30; 15:30; 17:30; 19:30; 21:30.. for one week (inc weekends) and that should be enough unless they have asked for more.

I've finally got somewhere!

Spitfire have now let me know that this is an issue with PON congestion, as my street has a pretty high takeup of Openreach fibre services.

This was revealed after testing using their supplied router (which they can remotely manage) revealed the exact same issue, and they checked with OR.

Unfortunately however, I have been informed that Openreach will not consider congestion a fault, and if I were to request an engineer's visit, I may be charged upwards of £200 as they would not find one.


However, do you think it would be possible to ask an engineer to switch the line to a different PON node if they were to visit?

The pole serving the house has two splitter nodes on top, one with 12 ports which I am connected to, and one with 4 that are currently unused.

The 12 port one is quite full, with only a few ports left available (if that's what the little nubbins are).

I'm wondering, if it IS possible, that changing to the other may resolve this once and for all?
As it would only be shared with 3 other lines.

and if so, may that engineer's visit gamble be worth it?

Please tell me if I'm talking out my backside here, I've only read about this recently on an old thread here!

Edited by nyctomanica (Thu 30-Jan-25 15:43:51)

The ports on the CBT are likely all on the same split, and Openreach will plan the mapping of addresses to splitters during the deployment, moving to a new splitter won't be an option.

What was your minimum guaranteed speed? I'd argue that the speeds your seeing are a fault and Openreach need to resolve the problem, if one or two customers are wiping out everybody else then those customers need to be managed by their ISP.

Below 15 on a 1000 circuit is by any definition unsatisfactory performance. [What 2%?] I would take the visit with evidence of the speeds before and after and really push back over any charge. It's a fault if to the ordinary punter it does not work anywhere near to spec, never mind the ISP's definition or Openreach's definition of a fault

When I moved from ADSL to FTTC, I asked for router settings [more than once] and got told ADSL settings [every time] despite saying it was FTTC and that those were ADSL settings. In the end we had a visit, which at least showed that the line was working and they wanted £160. In the end, I bought a new router, which worked out of the box, copied the settings I needed and used the new router as a wireless access point. I pushed back against the charge, twice, on the grounds that City Fibre had failed to provide useable settings. The second time, I told them I would take it to the Ombudsman and they backed down.

Ah, that makes sense.

I've pinged off an email asking the minimum guaranteed speed, as I couldn't find one in any previous communication.

I agree that falling below the minimum should be classed as a fault, and it also can't be just me suffering with this issue, given that it's shared!

Hi,

In reply to a post by nyctomanica:

I've finally got somewhere!

Spitfire have now let me know that this is an issue with PON congestion, as my street has a pretty high takeup of Openreach fibre services.

This was revealed after testing using their supplied router (which they can remotely manage) revealed the exact same issue, and they checked with OR.

Unfortunately however, I have been informed that Openreach will not consider congestion a fault, and if I were to request an engineer's visit, I may be charged upwards of £200 as they would not find one.


However, do you think it would be possible to ask an engineer to switch the line to a different PON node if they were to visit?

The pole serving the house has two splitter nodes on top, one with 12 ports which I am connected to, and one with 4 that are currently unused.

The 12 port one is quite full, with only a few ports left available (if that's what the little nubbins are).

I'm wondering, if it IS possible, that changing to the other may resolve this once and for all?
As it would only be shared with 3 other lines.

and if so, may that engineer's visit gamble be worth it?

Please tell me if I'm talking out my backside here, I've only read about this recently on an old thread here!

For Openreach provided FTTP, in general, the splitter is underground somewhere else in the locality, not on the pole and each of those individual connectors you see on the pole has its own fibre going to it from the splitter which will serve up to 30 properties. The odds are that both connector blocks will be fed from the same splitter.

In addition to the physical issue, moving you to a different PON would require configuration data to be updated which the engineer in the street probably wouldn't have access to.

The only solution Openreach have would be to take the decision to split the PON (which would be taken at a local level), or get round to rolling out XGS-PON (which would be taken at a national level). Your solutions are to wait for that, or find an alternative internet connection which doesn't relay on Openreach FTTP.

Having said all that, it is quite surprising that your PON is overloaded during the day but not in the evenings - that suggests a high density of home workers which is probably quite unusual.