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Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Habylab
Grafter
Posts: 39
Registered: ‎01-04-2009

Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

I am currently paying for 8mb, and had my line upgraded on Monday to the 21cn standard. I am not part of the 21cn, but I would have at least expected an increase to what I am paying for...
Latest speed test : 1.15mbps and 0.43mbps
11 REPLIES 11
dvorak
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 29,471
Thanks: 6,622
Fixes: 1,482
Registered: ‎11-01-2008

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Hi welcome to the forums Smiley
Not everyone is guaranteed an increase in speed on ADSL2+ and as with ADSL it depends on your distance from the exchange.
If you can get the information from your router about your connection then people can see if you are attaining the speed you should be.
Help to get the information from your router can be found here http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php
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If it fixed it click 'This fixed my problem'
Lurker
Grafter
Posts: 1,867
Registered: ‎23-10-2008

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Quote from: Habylab
I am currently paying for 8mb,

A common misconception!
You are paying for an ADSL conection, and the underlying technology is capable of transmitting data down a line at 8mbps in the very best of conditions.
Much has to be taken into account in order to ascertain what speed is actually achievable in any useful manner.
Firstly, a proportion of the headline data rate is actually used by the technology underpinning the network in order to maintain the connections.
So even in the very best conditions, you would only be able to use around 7mbps.
The next thing to take into account, and is probably the one causing the largest drop in available speed is the length of the cable from your home to the exchange.
The longer this cable is, the slower the speed you can achieve.
Then, your internal wiring quality comes into play - this can also cause you to get lower speeds.
And to an extent, the setup of your computer and router.

There isn't necessarily a huge amount that can be done, but no doubt that people will post here soon to help you with the parts you can influence to get the best from your connection.
I'm not the best expert in this field by any means, but couldn't pass by without correcting the misconception about what you are actually paying for. Wink
Welcome to the forums - I'm sure you'll get something much more useful than this post is shortly!
Grin
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Hi,
I got a bit confused when I first read your post, then it clicked. Your telephone service part of the exchange has presumeably been upgraded to 21CN. This doen't affect your telephone "line" or your broadband connection or service. The BT upgrade to the BB side of things is WBC more commonly known as ADSL2+. It is unfortunate that the board on this forum has been incorrectly called 21CN as it will cause confusion to those that don't know the technology.
Unfortunately you are not paying for 8M. you are paying for 'upto 8M' and in any event I presume you are referring to throughput speeds from a speedtester such as http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/ which are not a reliable indication of achievable speeds at this time of day as your exchange and the network can be very busy or congested.
The first thing that is critical is your "sync" speed and this depends on how far you are from the exchange (cable length) and the amount of noise on your line. The sync speed determines your profile which determines the likely maximum throughput that you could achieve. You could check your current profile at the member centre - https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed ; (login required).
Have a read of the following which may give you a better understanding -
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/products/faqs_and_guides/dslmax_guide.shtml
Edit: Looks like 3 of us posted at the same instant
trousers2000
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎03-04-2009

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

My exchange (Belfast Malone) was upgraded on 21/03/2009 and I immediately saw more than a 2x speed boost. Previously, I was getting about 1.9Mbit/s as measured by the usual broadband speed checkers. Now, I'm getting about 5.7Mbit/s down and 350Kbit/s up, which is great. Ping times have also vastly improved (Team Fortress 2 used to average about 70-80, now I'm seeing 30-40 for multiple servers)
I live quite close to the exchange so the theoretical connection speed as measured by my router (which hasn't changed BTW) is just over 7Mb. I can only assume therefore that the 21CN enablement removed a big bottleneck which was basically the main IP connection from the exchange.
Lurker
Grafter
Posts: 1,867
Registered: ‎23-10-2008

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

@trousers2000 - you should volunteer to go onto the trial then - you will likely get an even bigger boost to your speed if you move to ADSL2+
If you post up your router stats, we might be able to give you an estimate of the sort of speed to hope for!
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

It might not have been any 'bottleneck' as such, could be more to do with the WBC enablement (ie ADSL2+). A new DSLAM could easily be the reason for that improvement, but it would have been interesting to have know what the VP status was before the enablement.
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

VP status was green up to 2 March. I think the favourite explanation is likely to be that 21CN enablement involved some physical relocation of cables, and doing that fixed a fault that was previously present. It might simply have been reseating a loose connection.
David
Anotherone
Champion
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Ah, sounds feasible, but he was talking about throughput speed not sync speed. Now, I used the term DSLAM when perhaps I should have said MSAN, but that leads me to another couple of questions to which you may know the answers as I haven't been able to research any of this yet.
I understand MSAN's can be used for ADSL max. Is there anyway of telling whether one is connected to an MSAN or a DSLAM?
MSAN's can presumeably be connected to the older BTw Backhaul?
Where an exchange has been 21CN-PSTN enabled (but not WBC) will the ADSL max kit be connected to the 21CN network or remain on the older BTw Backhaul?
Is the 21CN backhaul (if that's the right term) installed in any exchanges where it's used by non-WBC and non-21CN-PSTN kit or is that not technically possible?
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
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Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

I think you read more into my post than was intended. When new shiny kit is installed in an exchange there has to be a place to install it. The chosen place might already be occupied, so that existing kit has to be moved somewhere else, perhaps into a dark corner because in time it will become obsolete and be removed. That would probably involve disconnecting cables for a short while - probably notified as downtime. However even if existing kit isn't moved the new kit might have to be squeezed past it, placing any connections at risk. One would expect the new-kit installers to make sure they hadn't inadvertently disconnected something by checking the seating of each existing connection. It was either of these two scenarios that I referred to as "likely physical relocation of cables", or "reseating a loose connection".
Basically adding new kit (MSANs - Multi-Service Access Nodes) to the exchange changes nothing. Connecting these MSANs to the 21CN network and enabling them for broadband (or PSTN) also changes nothing immediately - just adds additional options.
Users currently served on IP Stream have the broadband frequencies on their phone lines connected to a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexor) now and this remains the case when the exchange is 21CN broadband enabled. Their POTS (phone) frequencies go to PSTN kit (or to an MSAN after POTS is switched to 21CN). However, if they sign up for the ADSL2+/21CN trial they are moved to a WBMC (Wholesale Broadband Managed Connect) service and broadband frequencies on their phone line are switched to an MSAN (no change on the POTS side). This service offers ADSL2+ but also supports ADSL2 and ADSL/G.DMT modes. A new IP Stream Connect service is also becoming available, which will offer the equivalent of IP Stream but through an MSAN and 21CN. I don't know whether Plusnet have any plans to offer IP Stream Connect in the future.
I don't know whether it is technically possible to connect a DSLAM to 21CN, or an MSAN to the existing backhaul, but I can't imagine why BTw would want to.
David
David
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
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Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

I get the impression from kitz site that MSAN's are currently used in some exchanges for bog standard IPstream ADSL and connected to the existing backhaul, which is why I was asking all the daft questions  Wink
itsme
Grafter
Posts: 5,924
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: Slow speed even after 21cn being enabled!

Yes, MSAN's have been used for a few years for the existing ADSL technology. I know that my last modem I could see what equipment I was connected to but my current modem does not display this information on the GUI but may be a telnet command.