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New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

chrisdejongh
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎24-02-2013

New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Hi all,
Had fibre installed on the 19/02 and have had acceptable service from it. My estimated speed is 69 mb, although BTOR and my IP profile says I should be getting 78-79. I have however never seen any speed higher than mid 40s on the BT speedtester and the speedtest website. I have raised a ticket, but am not sure if my expectations are increased as I was on a lowly 16 mb download on ADSL2 Cheesy So should I expect more?
Secondly a question re the openreach modem that BTOR supplies. Is this required for fucntioning as I have a Draytek Vigor 8250 router that is compatible with BT Infinity, so was hoping I could just have the single box plugged into the wall and save some electricity along the way.
Thanks for any assistance.
Chris
11 REPLIES 11
Mordorf
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎20-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

In a similar boat as you with regards a new PlusNet FTTC user and having some concerns over speed (but I'm still happy). My line is syncing at full speed but like you am getting downloads speeds in the 40's, occasionally a bit higher. My estimated speed was 53mbps. I also have a Draytek 2850vn and I have done away with the BT modem and connected directly to the BT faceplate, no problems so far.
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Remember you need to check your Current Line speed (Login required) which should match the BT IP profile.
Also you may be affected by http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/1362056380.htm
This is the current page of a long thread about the issues http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,111170.544.html
chrisdejongh
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎24-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Thanks for the advice guys. I have removed the BT modem and the PlusNet supplied router and now happily running just the draytek. Now with 2 boxes sitting in the attic. Re network issues anotherone I am seeing these speeds throughout the whole day, not just peak time. I have been affected by the peak issues where my speed has gone down to 1Mb so think this is not the same. And my line speed in Member Centre is the same is the BT speedtester profile. However this morning I downloaded something from Steam, and hit a peak download speed of 8.5Mb/s so that is a huge improvement., Still only getting mid 40s for the speedtesters though, so dont know if there is a problem with sustaining the desired speed. Oh well, still waiting to hear form the customer support people...
Bright
Grafter
Posts: 363
Registered: ‎02-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

@chrisdejongh
Just thought it worth also checking you're running the speed test with a computer connected to the router by an ethernet cable, and not using wifi?
Mordorf
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎20-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Quote from: chrisdejongh
Thanks for the advice guys. I have removed the BT modem and the PlusNet supplied router and now happily running just the draytek. Now with 2 boxes sitting in the attic. Re network issues anotherone I am seeing these speeds throughout the whole day, not just peak time. I have been affected by the peak issues where my speed has gone down to 1Mb so think this is not the same. And my line speed in Member Centre is the same is the BT speedtester profile. However this morning I downloaded something from Steam, and hit a peak download speed of 8.5Mb/s so that is a huge improvement., Still only getting mid 40s for the speedtesters though, so dont know if there is a problem with sustaining the desired speed. Oh well, still waiting to hear form the customer support people...

Have you noticed any difference in speed either way since using just the Draytek alone? I was wondering if I should try using the BT and PlusNet supplied modem and router to see if I get any faster speeds.
chrisdejongh
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎24-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

@bright tried it directly connected to router, via homeplugs and wifi, and all same result. High mid 40s. Absolutely NOT ruling out local factors but the tests are very consistent once you eliminate the current peak time issues.
@mordorf The draytek has made no difference Sad so I think this is not a local issue. Funny thing my BT IP profile says high 70s, my Plusnet speed says high 70s, but the speedtesters (both BTw and Speedtest) will only give 40s. As I said this morning I did get a peak download from Steam in the 80s this morning, so obviously the line can burst that high, but why is the average 20 Mb lower than estimated (69Mb) or even 30 lower than synced (79Mb)?
Chris
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Don't forget to keep the BT Modem and put it back on line if an Openreach engineer is attending any faults, otherwise you may end up with a bill.
You can also check that the Router isn't giving you any speed issues by connecting your computer direct to the ethernet port on the modem (don't turn off or reboot the modem).
You need to set up a PPPoE Dialler, depending on your OS, see
http://community.plus.net/library/broadband/fibre-help-setting-up-a-pppoe-dialler-for-windows-xp/  or
http://community.plus.net/library/broadband/fibre-help-how-to-set-up-a-pppoe-dialler-in-vistawindows...
If you have a MAC, there is something similar which Bright can advise on  Wink
Bright
Grafter
Posts: 363
Registered: ‎02-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

If the BT IP profile is high 70's then your DSL line has sync-ed at close to 80Mbit/s. So it doesn't look like a problem on the line itself. And you have a consistent result on both the Draytek and the BTOR+TG582n combos, so not the router either, I think (@Anotherone - the Draytek has a built-in VDSL modem, so I think that eliminates the possibility of faulty BTOR modem or Plusnet router...?).
A long shot, but is it possible the problem is something on your PC? (for example, anti-virus programmes have been known to cause speed issues occasionally). Do you have a different device you could test with?
Other than that, hopefully Plusnet may be able to turn up a network issue that's causing it.
chrisdejongh
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎24-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

Thanks@anotherone, just had an update from Plusnet CS to do a speedtest straight from the router, so will do that when little one allows! Thanks for the pointers on setting up diallers from windows, havent had to do that since old analogue modem days!!!
@bright Thought that as well... tried running speedtest from Ipad, android smartphone and other main desktop. Granted two of them are wifi only, and desktop is homeplug (200mbps) but all give same variance. I appreciate that local factors can play a role but to the same extent on 4 different platforms?... If needed I can run it off my wifes blackberry or kindle!!! Cheesy
The laptop runs directly from the router (now replaced with draytek vigor 2850vn so one in all solution) and gives same speeds, and with a burst speed of 8.5 MB/s this morning (I was very happy to see that burst speed), but the average speed is still mid 40s.
Chris
CX
Grafter
Posts: 750
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎16-09-2010

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

I have a Draytek Vigor 2850n and there are a few things which limit throughput.
First of all, it's inbuilt VDSL modem doesn't manage the same upstream speed as the OpenReach modem (in my case, an ECI modem). The ECI modem consistently delivers around 17Mbps actual throughput, whereas the Draytek sits at around 13Mbps. This occurs even if the modem has synced at 20Mbps upstream.
The next comments applied to both the inbuilt modem and the OpenReach modem through the Draytek.
When QoS was enabled, I couldn't get above 40Mbps downstream, so I had to disable it. It didn't matter if the line speed values were set correctly, or too high. There was a cap at around 40Mbps.
But even after disabling QoS, I couldn't get above around 55Mbps. There were a number of red herrings - first of all, manually configuring a 100Mbps full duplex link to the modem failed, so I suspected that the auto-detect was negotiating 100Mbps half-duplex. But that wasn't the problem in the end. I had been using a Three 3G dongle, as failover for my previous unreliable ADSL (although the failover never actually worked due to the PPPoE staying up), and after unplugging that I then get the full speed (approx 73Mbps). I haven't looked into it enough to determine whether it's just the presence of the USB dongle requiring CPU resources on the router, or the load balancing (I no longer have any connections configured other than FTTC on WAN2 - WAN1 and WAN3 are disabled) but the Draytek was limiting the speeds.
tl;dr...

  • Use the OpenReach modem in the LAN4 port as WAN2

  • Disable QoS on the WAN2 connection

  • Disable WAN1 and WAN3

  • Unplug any USB peripherals from the Draytek

chrisdejongh
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎24-02-2013

Re: New FTTC install, some questions regarding speed and routers

OK... wow what a list of things... seems like you had a rough journey. However I would like to point out that my conditions persist whether I use the draytek or the supplied PN/BTOR solution, so before I start down the route of checking out faulty equipment.. (BTW I have a Be modem similar to the PN one, would that work on this network?, just as another local equipment check). Have done as PN CS requested and conneted direclty to the BTOR modem, and got a 24 Cheesy at least its consistent Cheesy Damn I hope its not a virus on my laptop  Grin
Chris