Advice as regards our new 80/20 FTTC connection

amtbds · ‎14-12-2015

Hi,
I could do with a bit of advice as regards our new 80/20 FTTC connection.
We went live on the 27/11 and all the feedback prior to our order and when we placed our order showed that we should get the full download and upload speeds.
Once we went live we found that we were only getting about 10MB download and 1.2MB upload and numerous calls on the problem finally resulted in a BTOR engineer coming out on the 12/12 to fix the problem, but only after two failed visits because they just didn't bother to turn up which was very frustrating.
The result of the BTOR visit was that he could find no fault and he stated that the line is showing an SNR of 6db and our speed problem is due to us being 1.7km from the cabinet, which in turn is 2km from the exchange, as he proved by showing me the mapping details on his laptop.
The BT cable coming to our property is about 50cm wide with very many wires and is terminated into a BT box on the outside of our wall with the master socket on the other side of the wall, and the large BT cable runs underground for a long distance from our property .
Our property has been empty for some time whilst it was being refurbished and a few months prior to the FTTC order we reported the line faulty with no phone connection and BTOR came out a resolved it, we were on BT at the time with a just a phone and no broadband as it is only recently that our cabinet was enabled for FTTC.
The questions I would like some guidance on are:
1. Should a distance of 1.7km to the cabinet give better results than 10/1.2 speeds.
2. Why does all the FTTC information show that to our address and our specific phone number can achieve much higher speeds than we are currently getting.
3. Would using different wires on the BT cable coming to our property help improve our speeds and if yes how would we get BTOR to swap the wires over, previously there was a second phone line installed using the same cable running back to the cabinet.
4. We're on the 80/20 business package with enhanced support and if the speeds can't be improved what options do we have with PlusNet as we signed up for 24 months.
Thanks.

Oldjim · ‎15-06-2007

1. Probably not although it may just be possible to get a little bit more by improving the wiring http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.html
2. The database is wrong or they think that you are on a different cab - you could check the cab number on the checker as against the one which you are actually connected to

AlaricAdair · ‎21-03-2011

Did you retain the existing line and order an extra for FTTC?
Are you measuring the speed with wire connection or is it WiFi to the PN box?

Now Zen, but a +Net residue.

amtbds · ‎14-12-2015

Thanks Oldjim and AlaricAdair for your input.
To help eliminate where the speed problem was I ran the speed tests directly from the BT Modem via an Ethernet cable to a laptop bypassing the router and Wi-Fi,I even used another BT Modem just in case the supplied modem was faulty.
The line that we've activated for FTTC is an existing one that hadn't been active for some time whilst the property was being refurbished, and before I switched to PlusNet for the phone and FTTC solution BTOR had to fix a fault on the line as we had no voice connection.
The BT cable coming into the property is a thick cable that runs underground and I assume it goes to a DP before it gets to the cabinet.
At one point the cable also had a second line active on it but we decided to drop it as the plan was to use VOIP for additional phone numbers.
It just looks like although the BTOR and PlusNet systems showed we could get full FTTC speed to our property on the existing line in reality their systems are inaccurate and that at 1.7km distance FTTC is obviously going to be an issue.
We can just about live with the 10MB download speed but the 1.2MB upload speed is a problem.
I can accept that systems aren't accurate and that it's not possible to get the full 80/20 speeds at 1.7km but the annoying factor is that had we been told that before signing up to a 24 month contract then we would have looked at an alternative solution from a supplier that does FTTC bonding to give us better upload speeds.
All PlusNet business are prepared to offer us to help is for us to purchase another 80/20 FTTC line from them at full cost and that we'd have to sort out any bonding ourselves as they don't support bonding, and if we were to consider bonding then we'd look at companies that fully support it.
Until then it looks like we're stuck with an expensive PlusNet business 80/20 24 month contract that we're paying over the top for because they don't offer a solution that we can switch to that closer matches the bandwidth speeds we're getting.
I used to tell my support staff that education costs money, and I've been well and truly educated myself now as regards taking things on face value when signing up to contracts involving BTOR and ISPs.
Maybe if BTOR get G.fast up and running that could help in the future.

Townman · ‎22-08-2007

BTw database records have been problematic in some areas. I would have expected that under the new Ofcom rules, if the actual speeds are substantially lower than the estimate given at the time of purchase and BTOR cannot remedy the matter, then you are allowed to exit the contract without penalty.

In another browser tab, login into the Plusnet user portal BEFORE clicking the fault & ticket links

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

If this post helped, please click the Thumbs Up and if it fixed your issue, please click the This fixed my problem green button below.

ITWorks · ‎05-11-2008

If your not getting near to what you was informed, which obviously was a big factor in ordering the service and agreeing the contact , then i don't see how they can keep you to contract .
You have signed a contact based on incorrect information supplied by PN ( via BTW) , in my view the contact is void, as the service you have agreed can not be supplied.
If i was you I would raise a complaint and/or email the PN CEO.
http://www.plus.net/support/service/policies/complaints_code_of_practice.shtml
http://www.ceoemail.com/
Kind regards
Mike

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.