Plusnet - Estimated Speed or Current Speed?

I'm currently with TalkTalk and thinking of switching to save some money (the recent hack is also a factor). Plusnet is offering the best value deal for me but I'm a bit concerned about their estimated speed.

During the ordering process it estimates a download speed of 3Mb but could vary between 2.5Mb and 6Mb.

With TalkTalk I currently get between 5Mb & 6Mb.

I can't seem to find any information that suggests whether the ISP itself will affect the speed or if it's purely down to quality of the line, distance from the exchange, etc.

I asked Plusnet whether I'm likely to see similar speeds to my current provider and they said yes but couldn't guarantee it but at the end of the day I was asking a salesperson and there would be no legal fallback if I did only get 3Mb so am taking that with a pinch of salt at the moment.

Can anyone advise whether I am indeed likely to see similar speeds to that which TalkTalk currently give me? I do using streaming media quite a lot (Netflix / NFL Game Pass) and can manage with my 5-6Mb but wouldn't want to end up tied to Plusnet for 12 months and find my speeds are halved.

It is largely down to the quality of the line, distance from the exchange, etc., as you surmise. In general, your speed should be very similar downstream, perhaps less upstream.

In the case of a move from TT LLU, (is that what you are on?), to Plusnet there are two factors that affect things. One is the noise margin TT have your connection set at, and the other is the BT Wholesale IP Profile system that Plusnet connections are subject two.

The TT noise margin may be higher, so reducing the speed, but they don't have IP Profiling which can. Even that is a simplification however, as the IP Profiling system accounts for (absobs) some of the overheads of the connection whereas the TT system loses throughput by not having it.

Are you able to see your router stats? Connection/sync speed, attenuation and noise margin/SNRM? If so, please post them.

Which exchange is it please? This is important, as it affects everything above.

Personally i would find an ISP that use TT LLU as you have alot more control over your line (noise margin, interleaving) compared to a BT line that does it all automatically for you which isnt always a good thing.

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 25-Oct-15 12:40:01)

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure with regards to LLU although it is available at my exchange which is "IBSTOCK EMIBSTO (Market B)"

Stats:

Upstream line rate (kbit/s) 783
Downstream line rate (kbit/s) 6662
Upstream SNR (dB) 9.3
Downstream SNR (dB) 8
Upstream line attenuation (dB) 30.4
Downstream line attenuation (dB) 56

Yes, that will be LLU, and your exchange does have BT Wholesale WBC which means you would have ADSL2+ if you move to any other ISP.

Those stats are surprising. Your downstream line rate is very high for the attenuation of 56dB. It complicates the question.

Have you always had TalkTalk at that address? If not, what speed did you have before?

We've had TalkTalk for at least 7 years, can't recall who we had before that and no idea what speed we would have got.

Could you explain a bit more with regards to the downstream line rate being high for the attenuation? (or point me in the direction of some further reading)

http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/calc shows what is normally to be expected for a specific set of line stats

Your results are more in line with what one would see from a 46dB attenuation line, your speed is not impossible but very rare suggesting a line subject to very little noise, i.e. underground and not many others with ADSL nearby.

BT Wholesale run a different algorithm for determining the line stability, which means until the line is running no one can guarantee the actual speed, i.e. every line behaves differently

There are several graphs. This one is typical.

Post deleted by bobble_bob

It seems like I would be taking a risk with switching to a BT based supplier then if their methods are different and as it appears the speed I am currently getting is greater than would be expected. I certainly don't want to get myself stuck in a 12 month contract where I could end up losing around 50% of my current speed.

Thanks for the information provided but it looks like I will be staying as I am for the time being.

In reply to a post by Hallucyn8:

It seems like I would be taking a risk with switching to a BT based supplier then if their methods are different and as it appears the speed I am currently getting is greater than would be expected. I certainly don't want to get myself stuck in a 12 month contract where I could end up losing around 50% of my current speed.

Thanks for the information provided but it looks like I will be staying as I am for the time being.

there is also peak time throughput levels to consider with any service that uses bt back haul .as some areas suffer with it ,and bt are super slow to react and add the needed capacity

I don't know how often ISPs update their estimates (or what could have an impact on the estimated speed assuming no equipment has changed) but Plusnet are now estimating that I would get 4MB (up from 3MB) and the estimated range would be 3MB to 7MB (up from 2.5MB to 6MB).

Still wary of moving supplier though with the uncertainty around what speed I would actually get. Despite TalkTalk not exactly covering themselves in glory over the past few days I have generally had a decent, stable service from them but their prices keep creeping up and there's obviously better deals out there as a new customer with other suppliers.

If you are happy with the service you are getting, now is the perfect time to ring Talk Talk and tell them unless they can match the deal you can get from Plusnet you will be leaving.

Good point! Will give them a call and see what they say.