Sponsored Links

BT & speeds - Where now?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Xenon20
  • Start date Start date

Xenon20

Guest
Hi

Here is the essence of whats happened up till now:-

•BT slow speeds
•Long debate via forums / emails
•Three BT hubs
•Two engineer visits

The most recent engineer that visited said that there were no problems with either the line from the exchange to the house, or the internal house wiring. He arranged for a 'lift & shift' to happen at the exchange, and told me to keep an eye out for any changes. No changes so I when I got in contact with BT they knew nothing about a 'lift & shift'.
Unbelievable. Neverending. Grief.

My line attenuation is about 40-41dB. I have a noise margin of 8dB which I believe could be contributing to the low speeds. Is there anything I can do to improve this? According to the engineer my actual line length is 2.67km from the exchange. With these stats I should be looking at speeds between 9 -11meg on ADSL2+ although I am aware that there are various reasons why I might get less.

After looking tonight my sync speed has risen to 6648Kbps and my BRAS profile has been raised from 4500 to 5500 (perhaps they did know about it after all??). I still believe that this is poor for an ADSL2+ connection on a 2.67km line. what do you think?

I have been given the option to leave BT and have a MAC code. When shopping around on other ISP sites, when I tap in my number / postcode to check speed estimates, all give me quotes of 4 or 5meg (based on information from BT). Orange seem to be quoting 9.5 meg. When I spoke to them on the phone they told me that it was an accurate estimate. Is it a myth just to get me to sign up, or is it worth a shot? I believe they operate a peace of mind scheme which gives you 30 days to cancel?
I really don't want to go through all this again, but I do want to know what my line is capable of. If I am only able to recieve around 5.5 meg, should I be looking for an 8 meg service this time round?

If my line from the exchange is ok, and the internal wiring is ok, and the bloke is arranging for 'lift & shifts' then my problems could be related to faulty equipment at the exchange? which provider(s) if any, can give me a quote which is not using BTs equipment at the exchange, nor data provided by them?

Xenon20
 
If BT complete a lift and shift this could fix your problem, BT estimated speeds for your line are normally worked form what the line is handing at present. If you requested to go through the ten day retraining program this could improve the speeds once moved from the faulty equipment seems BT has a lot of equipment failing recently. This could be due to the number of engineers BT laid off over the last 12 months to save on money, they used the same bean counter as VM cut the frontline engineers to save money keeping the fat cats sat at desks. One fat cat could have saved ten engineers.
 
Hi Xenon,

You say "BT slow speeds" but don't actually make clear what kind of real-world performance you're getting at the moment, except for what the router sync's at. I'm assuming the stats you post are only for downstream, but what about upstream attenuation and noise?

Firstly I'd say that a 40-41db will get you more like 6Mb (ADSL) to 9Mb (ADSL2+) at optimal and then you have to subtract about 30% from that for various network related or ISP congestion issues to get a closer real-world figure. Few people are lucky enough to recieve the best speed their line can deliver, that's just a fact of life.

If you don't already have a BT Openreach (logo) mastersocket then it might be worth fitting a ring wire filter (e.g. BT Broadband Accelerator / iPlate, free to BT customers) to improve your line quality.
 
Sponsored Links
A lot of the problem is BT & the ISP raise false expectations with the Upto figures the gennerally use. In most cases a typical users gets less then a third of the upto figure.

When they try to quote actual speeds for a line they tend to quote at the high end rather then a more typical average. They would be better quoting the alikely average for the line then expectations are lower asnd they will not be complaining that they are not getting the speed they should. It is of course difficult but quoting average rather then best possible is a better approach. No one is going to be disaponted if they get more

I gues it will not hapen though unless the regulator requires it as ISP's try to market by the speed
 
Seems to depend on which ISP you use.

I know the pair (that used to be used here) is capable of an IP profile of 1750 and a sync of 2048.

A check on VM's website gives an estimate of 3.5Mbps

A check on AAISP's website certainly used to come back with a likely 1Mbps result which is much nearer the truth.
 
Information from BT will concern ADSL1 products.

If you want a decent ADSL2+ (LLU) ISP, check the Top10 list.

internode-adsl2-distance1.jpg


Seriously though...I don't understand how people can find a site like this, complain and still want a **** provider...excuse me while I go and headbutt a wall...
 
Line length is only one factor. Even if you know how long the line actually is, you can't tell what gauge copper it is, or whether it is copper.

Our line is a case in point. According to the database it's 3680m long (2590m from exchange) which according to that graph above corresponds with a sync rate of about 5Mbps (20CN), yet it will only sync at 2Mbps.

I'd thought that graph was based on a 0.5mm copper line, but some lines are 0.3mm, and some are aliminium.

I doubt even BT would know why, as I don't imagine there's a big database specifying the different characteristics of the lines.
 
Sponsored Links
That's why router stats are king for discovering what's really going on :) .
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £24.00 - 26.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £24.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £25.99
145Mbps
Gift: £50 Reward Card
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £17.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (6026)
  2. BT (3639)
  3. Politics (2721)
  4. Business (2439)
  5. Openreach (2405)
  6. Building Digital UK (2330)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2146)
  8. FTTC (2083)
  9. Statistics (1901)
  10. 4G (1816)
  11. Virgin Media (1764)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1582)
  13. Fibre Optic (1467)
  14. Wireless Internet (1462)
  15. 5G (1407)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules