Not getting the speed I want - what can I do?

Heyo,

Moved into a new house recently, and was only able to get one of the lowest packages BT (and other openreach based ISPs) offer. I managed to get BT to give me the fibre 1 package. They state I have a minimum guaranteed speed of 30, I am lucky to get 22.

When I spoke to BT initially they were super helpful and said openreach saw there was a problem outside and will fix it. Apparently it was fixed on the weekend and nothing has changed.

One person I spoke to suggested it could be my fault because I am not using a BT Hub - despite me telling them problem exists when using the hub too. I am using a UDM Pro and a Draytek Vigor 130.


BT Wholesale says my VDSL (Clean) downstream is highs of 60 with lows of 40. The handback being 35. I am around 400-500m from the cabinet via road. Straightline about 200? I thought I should provide this as it might be useful.

The house is also "newish" it was built in around 2016, so I would assume the wiring would be okay?

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I am getting constant drop outs and constantly lower speed. In the past 2-3 weeks I have had at least 7 new IP addresses - probably more than that I just haven't recorded all of them. I am assuming this is happening because the disconnects last too long?

Does anyone have any idea of what I can do to try and make this better? Or am I just at the will of BT and Openreach?



P.S is there anywhere to look at FTTP rollout in more detail, I know around me people on the same cabinet are getting it - just wondering if I can see if they have plans to roll out out on the next couple little streets soon.

Such low speeds against the estimate make me wonder if you have an internal wiring issue ?

Can you describe what’s connected where in your new property please ?

My line comes in at my front door. I originally had the hub connected down there, but I ended up taking the VDSL connection and putting it into RJ45 into my wall panel which connects to my cupboard upstairs with my networking gear. The cable that goes from the door to the cupboard is cat6 and I have checked that works fully.

The problem remained when I just had the hub directly from the BT Openreach in to RJ11 directly into hub - I am not sure what the connector is called that goes into the openreach wall box!

I have tried switching out the cable that connects the openreach box, but to no avail.


Should I be able to get the speed that BT Wholesale states as the downstream rate?

You ought to be able to get somewhere close.

Where the router is connected, is there a service specific front plate on that first socket, could it be that there is internal extension wiring connected, even if there is nothing on the extension points themselves ?

What line stats do you see ? Attenuation, SNR, actual and max sync rates, error counts etc. (you might need to plug the ISP router to see these)

The intake to the house is just an openreach box, that has a splitter to DSL (RJ11) and phone line. The in-wall cable I have that takes it to the correct room I had wired up myself so its just a straight run upstairs.

My Vigor 130 reports: Down Stream : 30000Kbps / Up Stream : 6000Kbps

I just connected the hub directly in downstairs to see what it reports:

Data rate: 6 Mbps / 29.996 Mbps
Maximum data rate: 7.216 Mbps / 49.802 Mbps
Noise margin: 6.3 / 10.7
Line attenuation: 5.8 / 19.4
Signal attenuation: 5.8 / 23.9
Upstream error control: off
Downstream error control: off


Honestly, no idea what the noise and attenuation realistically mean so hopefully that means something to you!

Those stats imply it is underperforming.

Can you use a micro filter in the test jack of the NTE and test again and post the stats ?

I suspect you have created a bridge tap fault, this is creating errors, and causing DLM to slow things down to stabilise.

Looks like a banded line to me. As to the cause who knows?

In reply to a post by Realalemadrid:

Looks like a banded line to me. As to the cause who knows?

Fortunately had a spare microfilter from before I moved.

Data rate: 5.997 Mbps / 29.996 Mbps
Maximum data rate: 6.475 Mbps / 50.343 Mbps
Noise margin: 6.5 / 10.6
Line attenuation: 5.8 / 19.4
Signal attenuation: 5.8 / 23.9
Upstream error control: off
Downstream error control: off


There was apparently an Openreach engineer visit I assume today but not to the premises. BT tried to say they "resolved the issue". It is possible they have fixed the fault that was causing me to drop connection multiple times a day but it is too soon for me to tell, I need to monitor it again.

Is it the case that the frequent dropouts would cause DLM to slow it down? If so, if the drop outs are indeed fixed how do I fix the line?

If it is not that then, I am unsure what the situation is, perhaps the previous occupants did something? I only moved in a couple months ago where I found it like this

In reply to a post by jcsawyer:

Is it the case that the frequent dropouts would cause DLM to slow it down? If so, if the drop outs are indeed fixed how do I fix the line?

Exactly that.

Your line is banded/capped at 30Mb/s (it syncs at that every time).

You need to ask for a DLM reset to remove the banding, however if the line continues to resync a high number of times then the DLM may add the banding back.

The cause of the resyncs would need looked in to.