That's how it is done in some areas Tommy. A remote test is carried out, rather than a local one, and the OR engineer get an OK or a problem report.

What you described what the local test method being omitted by contractors, and incorrect installations by them as well.

And the remote tests are useless most of the time, And i don't feel the charge by BT OR for FTTC installs is justified @(£92.00) unless they also carry out local tests with a JDSU or EXFO as this is what they are supposed to do, infact they (BT-OR), if i'm not mistaken are supposed to carry out some basic tests locally each time they perform any work on a line,

Edited by tommy45 (Thu 17-Oct-13 18:30:14)

One thing I have not asked about is how good is the PlusNet non FIbre broadband. Do they profile the connections like BT use to as I have been on LLU for a few years

Chris

In reply to a post by chris1357:

One thing I have not asked about is how good is the PlusNet non FIbre broadband. Do they profile the connections like BT use to as I have been on LLU for a few years

Chris

Yes, also for you Plusnet would be a good deal since you are in a "low cost area".

And, for example, if you take their ADSL "broadband only" product then you can upgrade to vdsl "broadband only" for a reduced activation fee of £25 in the future

Edited by 4M2 (Thu 17-Oct-13 18:07:52)

In reply to a post by chris1357:

Do they profile the connections like BT use to as I have been on LLU for a few years

Yes, and they add an additional profile that they call "Current line speed" which is the BT profile rounded down to the nearest 100kbps. Occasionally this gets stuck at a lower value than it should. I'm not trying to put you off joining Plusnet, just trying to state the facts.

As kasg says. However the IP Profile on FTTC is a completely different system to the old 500kbps stepped one that took ages to adjust itself.

On ADSL2+ it is 88.2% of the sync speed. On FTTC it is 96.79% of the sync speed. On both it adjusts immediately the sync changes, with the PlusNet rounded down copy adjusting something like twice a day.

As kasg says, the PlusNet copy can fail to update. It is possible disconnecting the router, (not the modem), for ten minutes would fix that, but most people ring support and get it altered with no service interruption.

Thanks for all the feedback from everyone its good to get a mix reviews of what a ISP is like.

Still not decided yet which product to go with on plusnet

When you say "which product", do you mean "unlimited v allowance", or "with/without phone"?

Allowance products are subject to speed restrictions.

My view on PlusNet is that when I left O2 LLU I went IDNet FTTC. At the end of my 12 month minimum term, in February 2012, I decided nervously to take a punt on the far cheaper 40GB allowance package from PlusNet. Phone staying with BT Retail.

In January this year, 11 months into the 18-month term, I upgraded to the new unlimited FTTC, with no nervousness at all.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As kasg says. However the IP Profile on FTTC is a completely different system to the old 500kbps stepped one that took ages to adjust itself.

On ADSL2+ it is 88.2% of the sync speed. On FTTC it is 96.79% of the sync speed. On both it adjusts immediately the sync changes, with the PlusNet rounded down copy adjusting something like twice a day.

As kasg says, the PlusNet copy can fail to update. It is possible disconnecting the router, (not the modem), for ten minutes would fix that, but most people ring support and get it altered with no service interruption.

So with Plusnet ADSL2 if you have 15 minutes of noise on your line that causes a disconnect and the modem automatically syncs you back at a really slow speed due to the noise can you switch off the modem after the noise passes and be straight back at a decent speed again?

Thanks

If DLM intervened then normally no,as It could stay at the lower speed for days or weeks, But how the connection is configured may have some influence on DLM As ISP's do now have some control over 21CN ADSL2+ connections,

They can set the Target SNR manually ,Interleave can be disabled , It may be possible that DLM can be disabled also, although the manual setting of a 3db noise margin and no interleave may do that ,

Whilst both these settings would potentially increase the rate your connection sync's at and provides lower latency , If there is a lot of interference affecting the dsl signal, then this could impact the actual throughput as well as possibly more frequent disconnects,

So it's really a case of what you want from the connection, and how you use it, as well as what you are prepared to tollerate, The burst of noise /errors could also be a line fault

Edited by tommy45 (Fri 18-Oct-13 18:50:14)