ADSL Speeds

Trying to look at a family connection which appears very slow. Unfortunately, the information is limited and I cannot get there for a couple of weeks but want to see what I can find before then.

It is, apparently, ADSL2+. Distance from exchange to house is around 450m - unfortunately the undergound cable goes straight past the house for another 250m to te cabinet and then coming back again! So 950m. In the past, looking at the attenuation figures, it suggested a line of 800-1000m.

At 800m I would expect near full speed, and at 1000m 20-22Mbps ... is that a reasonable expectation?


The BT checker puts the speed at aound 10Mbps, but in reality it is often down at 6Mbps with upstream at 0.8 ish

The big question - what speeds would you expect on a 950m line - Down and Up


My plan will be to redo all te internal cabling, check/replace filters and generally clean up te nstall to see if I can improve it.

At 800m I would expect near full speed, and at 1000m 20-22Mbps ... is that a reasonable expectation?

I’d have to say no. Maybe in ‘lab/ideal conditions’. But in the the real world, I’d think not.

10Mbps seems reasonable, maybe a touch more.

You know the drill, note stats as per current set up, then on the end of the incoming pair.

Use a corded phone to check for line noise, see what the errors do when the phone is used whilst in sync.etc etc.

But you know all this

I'm fairly sure tha at one time it was it was up in te high teens - maybe just hitting 20 but don't have records.

Wiring could well be an issue with various junctions, filters &c and a "care alarm". The hub is also probably 5 years old, if not older, so that will be te first change.

It will be a challenge to see where I can get it to and then ensure it is stable.


The next two houses, have even worse estimates on the checker ... physically nearer the exchange, but on the next pole along on the run back from the cabinet.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I'm fairly sure tha at one time it was it was up in te high teens - maybe just hitting 20 but don't have records.

Before FTTC, I was on a long ADSL2+ line, around 800 to 900m from the exchange. I used to get 18 Mbps with LLU from BE, but with Plusnet on BTwholesale it was 16 Mbps. Upload was about 1 Mbps, and was the incentive to move to FTTC.

FTTC - I wish, I have been seeing "Waitlist" on the line for a couple of years and have just done a contract renewal having been given responsibility for the line with teh ISP - any lower and the ISP would be paying them. Have now got the line on the waitlist - problem will be getting the changeover, if/when, to co-incide with a visit there.

Line is similar to yours, at a guess, 12-15 would be nice with an upstrem over 1 - and stable. I did get one report of it being down at around 4 / 0.3 at one time.

Edited by MHC (Fri 03-Sep-21 09:51:51)

I'd agree with jchamier- I'm about 1100-1200 metres from the exchange and pre-FTTC got a download about 14Mbps (not LLU). Can't remember the upload.

Even that would be nice!

Having dug right back on mine here with something like 3800 from exchange, I was seeing 9Mbps at best and even at the end, 6.8Mbps with over 1 upstream. But having had FTTC since 2010, no old screen shots easily accessible.


BUT ... have just done a check in the past few minutes and FTTC is now showing as available there, so it should be an automatic move across. I will still have a go at tidying up the wiring though.

I get 11 down 0.9 up at 2.6 Km with aluminium cable . Went down to 5 recently due to loose wire in
cabinet . Shown by no phone. However, for 2 months prior, gradual slow down to 7 and phone working.

Should be a lot better than that my line on adsl2+ was 10mb/1mb on a 2.4 - 2.5km line the fttc cabinet was 1.2km from exchange pretty much halfed the line length ended up getting 15.5mb/0.69mb on fttc which was even worse than the adsl2 line due to reduced upload we left and got virgin

Last address I lived at was about 600m from exchange and received about 18Mbit/s on ADSL2+, prior to that at a different address about 1.2km from exchange got about 15Mbit/s ADSL2+. I considered that line as under performing, and when it was upgraded to FTTC could only manage about 35/6 .

Edited by witchunt (Fri 03-Sep-21 12:38:45)

I remember long way back - my exchange is approx 1663 meters away. In 2002 BT Estimated for ADSL2+ is 12Mbps.

Connected at 13111Kbps / 1279Kbps with SNR 6dB / 9dB as I managed to ask Plusnet to target SNR 3dB and accepted then sync rate went up at 16751Kbps / 1279Kbps with SNR 2.9dB / 6dB

Edited by adslmax (Sat 04-Sep-21 02:27:21)

In reply to a post by DG834MAN:

Should be a lot better than that my line on adsl2+ was 10mb/1mb on a 2.4 - 2.5km line the fttc cabinet was 1.2km from exchange pretty much halfed the line length ended up getting 15.5mb/0.69mb on fttc which was even worse than the adsl2 line due to reduced upload we left and got virgin

Sounds about right in distance slightly less around 2 KM for ADSL2+ for me and similar speed well actually 11 or 12 with peeks of 15 (somehow the BT wholesale checker was correct).

The only thing is the FTTC cab is outside my window (although still 80-90M away in cable distance as it loops around the estates even when there is ducting directly but who knows what they were thinking) so the speeds should be faster.
I have never had FTTC and had cable since the migration from ADSL2+. Although if i have noticed something its that the BT wholesale checker is showing my downstream handback threshold to be dropping from what it was last year from 80 to now 78 so i sense crosstalk, high usage and knowing my area and what they do with their connections and cables its probably a very strong combo, especially from the guys house that took down my cable segment because of his cabling.
Still an issue loads of noise but everything is working, so as they say if its working don't fix it unless you want to spend two days on the phone to Virgin Media (and yes its been done).

Edited by RR_The_IT_Guy (Sat 04-Sep-21 02:51:46)

BT didn't give estimates for ADSL2+ in 2002. No one did.

My ADSL2+ went live in 2002 with Plusnet (maybe it 2003 because I remember I was on ADSL2+ before upgraded to FTTC in 2004)

No it didn't. Maybe you mean 2012

Sorry you are right. It's was in 2012 for ADSL2+ then change to FTTC in 2014 then change to G.fast in 2021

In reply to a post by witchunt:

BT didn't give estimates for ADSL2+ in 2002. No one did.

I seem to remember the original Pipex launching a wires-only ADSL at half the price of "BT Openworld" (ie, BT Retail) and being swamped. This was 512kbps. About the time this site started.

That Pipex offering was when I first got broadband, I think that was in 2001. ADSL2+ didn't come along until Be in 2007.

In reply to a post by jpm:

That Pipex offering was when I first got broadband, I think that was in 2001. ADSL2+ didn't come along until Be in 2007.

About 2001, as I also joined Pipex and got broadband first time also. I think in 2007 it became ADSLMax with max download speed of up to 8Mbps

In reply to a post by risk_reversal:

About 2001, as I also joined Pipex and got broadband first time also. I think in 2007 it became ADSLMax with max download speed of up to 8Mbps

That rings a bell. My parents were customers, as I was living in a different town and had 512kbps cable modem from NTL.

In reply to a post by jpm:

That Pipex offering was when I first got broadband, I think that was in 2001. ADSL2+ didn't come along until Be in 2007.

Either BE or Bulldog (from C&W) were the first ADSL2+ LLU providers.

My line is about 1,600 metres from the exchange. When I had ADSL2+ it was a stable sync at 11Mb/s. That was back with Be LLU.

Edited by Andrue (Sun 05-Sep-21 10:12:12)

General concensus seems to be that it is underperforming ...

I responded earlier saying FTTC?VDSL was "Available" and the line was on the waitlist - late yesterday it dropped back to "Waitlist" and I have not heard of a change, so I wonder if the waitlist reservation has failed?

Lots of those saying ‘back in the day my ADSL2+ line synced at XXMbps are forgetting that the cables these lines run through have become far ‘noisier’ places than they were back then.

Nowadays a line with no digital service on it is the exception rather than the rule.

If I remember correctly the ADSL2+ roll out started in 2008

Thanks
Dan

In reply to a post by danielhyde:

If I remember correctly the ADSL2+ roll out started in 2008

Thanks
Dan

I think it might have been even earlier than this. When O2 bought Be we got broadband for free on the annex M product as a staff perk. I think this was either late 2006 or early 2007.

I think you're right but the full rollout didn't start until 08 or 09 with a target of 90% completion in 2013

Thanks
Dan

BEthere broadband were 1st, around 2006. I switched to BE in early 2007 , they were taken over by O2 later but BE remained a separate entity. BT didn't get their ADSL2+ act together until later.