Confusing speed readings

I built a new PC for my across-the-road-neighbour and installed it yesterday. It came with built-in wifi, so I checked to see if we could improve broadband speeds by attaching the router (BT Home Hub 6, I think) to the main socket downstairs instead of the extension upstairs. I was unimpressed to find their ADSL connection running at 1.7Mbps upstairs according to speedtest.net, shocked to find it was 1.8Mbps with the router downstairs, disgusted to find that the speed check via their MyBT login confirmed 1.8Mbps and classed it as "good". I already knew the broadband checker tool gave the ADSL range as 5.5-12.5Mbps. When I was on ADSL back in 2012 I used to get about 17Mbps.

The main socket is something installed in the 1980's, and the extension was connected via a socket-doubler. The extension is now disconnected, and there's just the BT filter connected to the socket, with a cordless phone base unit and the router plugged into it.

What really puzzles me, though, is the readings I see in the DSL checker at https://www.dslchecker.bt.com for my neighbour's number. They're on ADSL, but the "observed speeds" section gives VDSL speeds as 1.99/0.79Mbps for today's date, and ADSL as 10.08/0.45 for July 2018, (which is possibly when they got the new home hub). Might that indicate there's something wrong with the way they are connected, rather than the physical connections?

Could it possibly be that they have been "upgraded" to VDSL and they have not realised. I have heard that BT are moving customers off ADSL if FTTC is available, which is not much good if the FTTC speed is worse than ADSL. I don't suppose BT's systems would care about that and just do it anyway. You need to check the modulation type reported by the router. G993.2 is VDSL2 and G992.5 is ADSL2+

Really we need to see the stats from the router. Preferably sync speed, noise margin, attenuation at the least for both up and down. Ideally this would be using the test socket behind the main BT socket (if there is a test socket) to remove any effects of the extension cabling.

Also, are all phones properly filtered (or phone like devices like older Sky boxes)?

Edited by ian72 (Fri 14-Feb-20 16:19:16)

Re being switched to fibre, very interesting! I'll be popping over for another look next week, and will see what I can see in the router. Meanwhile I logged in to their BT account and found not only that they are. allegedly, on "Halo 1" fibre with speeds supposed to be 35-50Mbps and a guaranteed 30, it's supposed to be costing £0.00!

What are the speed estimates for the VDSL2 area of the checker?

Poor in house wiring can really mess up VDSL services even more than ADSL and it may need a DLM reset after fixing wiring issues to get everything back to a sensible set of figures

Estimates for my neighbour in DSL checker for VDSL Range B (Impacted), which I've established in the past is where my own number lies, are:
Downstream High 60.4 Low 39
Upstream High 13.6 Low 7.5

Observed speeds
VDSL Down 1.99 Up 0.79 on 2020-02-14
ADSL Down 10.08 Up 0.45 on 2018-07-21

My sync rate has been about 39Mbps over the past couple of months, was around 45 for some time previously.

The neighbour's hub and cordless phone base are now the only thing connected to the main socket via the filter that came with the hub.

And what other phone wiring is there in the house?

With VDSL2 extensions that don't even have anything connected can cause slow downs

In reply to a post by kp52:

Re being switched to fibre, very interesting! I'll be popping over for another look next week, and will see what I can see in the router. Meanwhile I logged in to their BT account and found not only that they are. allegedly, on "Halo 1" fibre with speeds supposed to be 35-50Mbps and a guaranteed 30, it's supposed to be costing £0.00!

If their modern/router isn't a Hg 612 or eci equivalent then they will still be on ADSL as ADSL modems will not connect to vdsl2 services

In reply to a post by tommy45:

If their modern/router isn't a Hg 612 or eci equivalent then they will still be on ADSL as ADSL modems will not connect to vdsl2 services

If its an ISP supplied device (E.g. BT Hub) then they are multi-mode.

The opening post states that they have had some version of home hub for a while.

Edited by Realalemadrid (Mon 17-Feb-20 07:48:28)

Checked out further today: online account details and correspondence indicate the service was switched to fibre in July 2018, with expected speeds of 40Mbps+. Called BT to enquire about the slow speeds. They ran some tests, confirmed the speed was due to a fault, and made an appointment for an engineer investigation next week (promising it will not be charged). Roll on Monday afternoon!

So it appears you have a bridge tap fault (� is if it was anything else, they would have requested an appointment)
... be interesting to see what speeds you get after the wiring issue has been sorted.

So the BT engineer came, fitted a modern master socket (don't know what else she may have done), and now download speed is 50Mbps. Result!
KP