Adsl broadband speeds and ofcom speed checker

Hi all,
I have standard Adsl broadband (currently from sky, but have used many providers including bt and Talktalk). My broadband download speeds are stable and have always been about 6Mbps.
I live in an apartment building that was built in about 2007 (postcode is M4 7AU). I’ve checked all of the apartments on the ofcom speed checker (https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/broadband-coverage). Most of the apartments are shown as being able to achieve 16Mbps while a few are only as being able to achieve lower speeds (7-9Mbps).
Is anyone able to shed any light on why there is such a disparity within such a small area?
Is there any way to get the standard adsl speeds improved?


Ps currently the modem reports the stats below;
DownStream Connection Speed7925
UpStream Connection Speed799
VPI0
VCI38

First question, is your modem connected to the test jack on the master socket ?

If not, can you go connect it that way and report back with the new router stats please.

To see if we can get more information, please use the BT Wholesale checker. Select the Address option, and when it warns you that the phone number is more accurate say to continue.

If in that you enter only the postcode and the CAPTCHA, you get a dropdown list of all the all the addresses in the postcode. Check for some of the ones you already have done, and compare with yours. Two things to look for.

First, importantly, the line above the table that tells you the exchange and cabinet number. If those are different then you will probably find all the high speed ones are on one, and the low speeds on the other.

Second, does yours have VDLS available? It is VDSL that gives the higher speeds. VDSL = FTTC. The FTTC means Fibre to the Cabinet, VDSL is the protocol used to connect the address to the FTTC cabinet. If you can get VDSL and the speeds forecast look OK, you need to upgrade from ADSL.

I hope that helps.

His connection speeds look very much to me like LLU ADSL Zarjaz. LLU has true 8192kbps available, not the slugged 8128 BT Wholesale.

Edit: Brain-fade mistake corrected, as per Banger's post.
Edit2: And on reflection in the light of Edit1 and the results for that postcode, the OP probably meant ADSL2+ anyway. But that's not a problem.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 11-Mar-21 23:18:22)

ADSL2+ speed is 24mbps Bob.

Thanks Tim. Brain-fade day. Two errors in the post, and two edits. 😫

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 11-Mar-21 23:19:45)

Thanks for the replies.

I have checked a few of the addresses (some that ofcom say can achieve 16Mbps and some that are 7-9Mbps). The ones I checked are all conneced to the same cabinet and had very similar stats. See the screenshot. https://ctrlv.link/fUsW

The router is connected to the master socket in the home.

In reply to a post by Frosty12345:

Thanks for the replies.

I have checked a few of the addresses (some that ofcom say can achieve 16Mbps and some that are 7-9Mbps). The ones I checked are all conneced to the same cabinet and had very similar stats. See the screenshot. https://ctrlv.link/fUsW

The router is connected to the master socket in the home.

On the ones that show a higher speed does it show on the BT checker that they are connected to the same cabinet?
I know oh a street where half of one of the rows of houses are connected to one cab and the other half to another. There's a house in the middle that had a second line added so now it has a line to each cabinet.

Thanks Dan

Thanks again for the replies.

I checked the first 30 apartments (#1-30) in the building on both the ofcom checker and BT broadband availability checker.
- From BT: all apartments are on Exchange ARDWICK is served by Cabinet 28.
- From Ofcom: standard broadband speeds vary from 7-16Mbps

See screenshot.

https://ctrlv.link/uIkE

Should be noted that VDSL2 is available from both cabinets 24 and 28 and in some cases VDSL2 is now cheaper than ADSL2+

Ofcom reports the maximum speed for the standard and superfast and ultrafast categories it shows, and since they rely on the data from BT Wholesale it can be skewed based on wiring in an individual property, on top of all the variations in the street.

As others have said, FTTC and Hyperoptic are both showing as available at this postcode - do you need faster speeds or is your specific address ADSL-only?

There are faster services available, they just aren't ADSL.

Frosty12345

Simple answer is No there is no way to get standard ADSL speed improved.

However if you take a FTTC package you will get better speeds likely up to 28Mb.

If you take a Hyperoptic package you will get speeds up to 1G depending on what you pay for!.

Hi,
Thanks for the comments.
I don't _need_ better speeds, I can browse websites or stream with ~7Mbps.

However, I'm still confused about the speed I get.
I'm about 1.5km away from the exchange. The router is currently reporting Line attenuation: 19.4/42.0

According to SamKnows, the exchange is "21CN" enabled.
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange...

According to PlusNet (my provider) an attenuation of this magnitude should give speeds of either 8Mbps or 18Mbps depending on if the line is ADSL or ADSL2/2+.
https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/Broadband-Faul...

So, I assume that I'm on an ADSL line, even though my exchange can support ADSL2/2+.

Have I understood the situation correctly?
Why am I on ADSL if ADSL2/2+ is available?
How can I get moved to ADSL2/2+?

Thanks

What is your upload speed? If it's capped at 448 Kbps then you're on ADSL otherwise you'll be on ADSL2/2+. 7Mb for a 42dB line sounds about right. You would have to contact your ISP to get moved over to ADSL2/2+, if you aren't already. Though, we would need more router stats, to confirm, if you can provide them.

Edited by Grimers (Sun 04-Apr-21 19:14:30)

The router is currently reporting Line attenuation: 19.4/42.0

I presume that is up/down in which case a downstream attenuation of 42db would give about 7-8Mbits on ADSL+2 , and normally a line length of 3km+ on copper or less if there is aluminium in the length. Alternatively it could just be an indirect cable route.
Best way to determine what xDSL modulation is being utilised is to examine the router stats.

When my exchange went up to 21CN all I had to do was change the setting in the router to ADSL2+ and bingo up went my speed.
I did have to contact my ISP to put me on another profile to get a faster upload but can't say I noticed the difference.
Eventually FTTC came to a new local cabinet and I now have FTTC for the same price but at a much quicker connection speed.