Exchange Distance / Sync

About to get connected next week and was wondering what kinda sync i will get, according to samknows i am 1.27km away, any ideas, or is anyone else that far from the exchange on here and can tell me your sync?.

Impossible to tell really, the sync is obviously governed by cable length (rather than direct distance).
Your cable could be anything from 1.3km up to maybe 10km (depending on BT's routing).

Unless you can find out your current line attenuation (or that of a neighbour) it's going to be difficult to guess at an ADSL2+ sync speed.
I'm twice the distance as you (but BT took the scenic route when installing the cable, so my cable is twice the direct distance - the UK average is closer to 1.4x) and I can sync at around 5Mbps (with a 3dB target margin) and around 4Mbps with a 6dB target.

I wouldn't expect your cable to be much longer than maybe 3km, so I'd have thought you'd get a sync somewhere between 8 and 16Mbps.

Edited by adebov (Sat 20-Aug-11 20:56:55)

I would of thought BT would take the less scenic route to save them money, i could ask a neighbour i guess but only just moved in here so would feel a bit weird asking someone if they have internet and what there attenuation is, they probably wouldn't know what i am talking about lol, surely it also depends on what the line quality is like, i have looked about where i live now and cant see any telephone poles, is this a good or bad thing, how else would the line come in the house, under the ground, if so does this make the line better quality or worse not coming from a pole?.

Edited by deleted (Sun 21-Aug-11 05:56:16)

In reply to a post by tommy_boi:

I would of thought BT would take the less scenic route to save them money

They're more likely to save money by utilising existing cable ducts (even if it involves taking the pretty roite) as copper is much cheaper than digging trenches and installing new ducting.
As an example, my direct distance to the exchange is 2.65km. The road route (the main road which goes past my house also goes past the exchange) is 3.21km - this would be the most sensible router for a cable as this road has cabinets all along it.
My actual cable length is 5.23km (6.94km if you believe BT's dodgy database).
So; for me (and the other few hundred homes on this estate), BT have used at least 2km more copper than they would have needed by following the main road - presumably to save on installing new ducts (maybe the existing ones were full).

As for underground wires - fantastic! They are far more immune to night time interference as overhead wires (most of which is caused by long distance AM radio stations operating on the same frequencies as ADSL).
I have underground wires (all the way back to the exchange) and my 5.23km line can hold sync for weeks with a target margin on 3dB.

The only real way of telling then is to wait until the line gets activated, i guess the line could take the short route or the long route, that all comes down to luck i guess, i just hope BT took the short route as i would be rather annoyed if when i get connected my connection is just the same or worse than i got in my other house which is further away from the exchange than this house is.

In reply to a post by tommy_boi:

The only real way of telling then is to wait until the line gets activated,

Exactly. Postcode checkers are reasonably accurate, but are still based on line length data held in BT's database (which can be wildly inaccurate).
The best bet is to enter your postcode in the BT Wholesale checker here and assume you'll get more than the estimated ADSL2+ speed (in my case, I get just over twice the "estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2Mbps").

It says this for ADSL2+, so what kinda speed would i be looking at, the speed stated there or could it be more or less?.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 8Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 5.5Mbps and 12.5Mbps.

Like the other guys have said you really need to get the line installed and post your stats. The fact they are quoting between 5 and 12Mbps proves how accurate the checkers are.

In almost every case I'm aware of (excepting very noisy lines or those with a lot of aluminium in the cable run) the eventual sync speed is normally at the top end of the quoted range (sometimes higher still).
In my case; I get at least a 30% higher sync speed than the top of my quoted range.

Just got connected, these are my stats:

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 4095 kbps 606 kbps
Line Attenuation 29.5 dB 18.1 dB
Noise Margin 16.3 dB 16.0 dB

Edited by deleted (Wed 24-Aug-11 13:42:17)

Starts at 4 and should rise over the next few days. DLM.

What speed should i expect, and is it on ADSL2+, or would it be no good me going on that as my line is too long, or is it not?.

Expect about 16 Meg on ADSL2+. To check that you are on ADSL2+ you need to Telnet into your Netgear router: http://www.kitz.co.uk/routers/netgeardg834_interleav...

I have the sky router, how do i check on that?.

Ah! Sky disabled Telnet on their Netgear routers

Try http://192.168.0.1/setup.cgi?... and look for "Mode:" near end.

I think its a sagemcom router, that link didn't work?.

Sorry, your stats looked exactly like Netgear's "Connection Status".

What does it say at the top of the router's Web Interface page? Do you get into it by "http://192.168.0.1/"?

Other than that I don't know.

Yeah i get in it by typing in those numbers, i've been told here that i should get anything up to 16Mb, is that really true as my line looks quite rubbish or is that just me being stupid, is my line actually quite good, i just cant see how i am gonna get that much speed when it is on 16 SNR now and the speed is quite low?.

Relax, you're currently on ADSL, but when you get switched to ADSL2+ you'll get around 13Megs. You have to wait for the training period to end - about 10 days.

If I were you, post your stats again in 10 days time.

Will they put me on ADSL2+ or is it worth asking?.

They should do, it's just a matter of being patient and letting the 10 day training period go by.

I just spoke to a guy on the phone and he has just messed about and this is how it is looking now, apparently i was already on ADSL2+, he has set DLM to start manually now and said that should take the speed up to around 15Mb and the upload to around 1.1Mb.

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 14158 kbps 765 kbps
Line Attenuation 29.5 dB 18.1 dB
Noise Margin 7.1 dB 14.8 dB

Edited by deleted (Wed 24-Aug-11 19:35:13)

Heh heh, there's no substitute for impatience. My Sky broadband isn't even active on the line yet.

It was worth the call, are you suppose to be active today, hopefully the line will go up to 16Mb as the guy said it should be able to, but saying that the 14Mb i've got now is more than i expected, only thought i would get 10Mb, but the guy said my line is more likely to get 15Mb ish, with a 1.1Mb ish upload.

Sounds good. Mine should be active tomorrow, but even the voicemail isn't working yet.

I had nothing until the engineer come today, no dial tone or nothing, what speed are you expecting to get?.

They estimated 10megs when I ordered, but I have no previous stats to go by as it was a Virgin cable before. So we'll see tomorrow.

Ok, 10Mb is quick enough though like i said i was only expecting 10Mb or less, i take it i'll be on LLU with sky, is there anyway of telling, i know sky have LLU equipment in the exchange?.

Edited by deleted (Wed 24-Aug-11 20:48:36)

If your upstream is faster than 448k, you're on LLU.

Did you get connected today?.

No, not yet

Let us know when and how fast it is?.