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1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Hi all,
Me and a mate were having a bit of a discussion about broadband and speeds. He lives in Plaistow and is connected to the LNADK (Albert Dock) exchange, he gets nearly 18mbit when he's like 1.5km away from the exchange.
Im around 1.7km away (according to SamKnows), and I get like 3.2mbit, but im on LNUPK (Upton Park) exchange.
Question is why is there such a big difference? Is one exchange slower becuase its in a poorer area (Albert dock serves docklands i belive, so it may have a better service quality), or is it just my line thats rubbish? (Fitted in 1988 as far as ive checked) - Plusnet said I would get up to 4mbit, but im just curious to know why
Router stats below:
Connection Speed 4039 kbps 443 kbps
Line Attenuation 45.0 db 25.4 db
Noise Margin 10.2 db 15.7 db
Does anyone know why its slower, or is anyone on LNUPK and getting speeds like that?
Thanks,
Aman.
12 REPLIES 12
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

The first thing to try is to connect your router to the test socket and report the stats again
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

your exchange does have 21cn, so you might get higher, what does the BT check show
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html
FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Quote from: Oldjim
The first thing to try is to connect your router to the test socket and report the stats again

I did that, thats the spec from the testsocket.
pierre_pierre:
BT ADSL thingy shows 3mb to 8mbps,
Just wanted to know why someone on a different exchange is getting a much higher speed than me, even though theres only a 200m difference.
Im not complaining or nothing, but im just curious why theres such a massive difference.  Ive asked BT if they can move me to a different exchange, they can, but someone on the phone from bt quoted a cost of around £18k + There wont be much inprovement. So thats out of the window.
If its of any interest, I can literally see the two BT Cabinets down my road (50m away) from my house.
Aman.
itsme
Grafter
Posts: 5,924
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Your attenuation suggest that the cable length is 3.3km and your speeds are not that far off for that cable length. Have you spoken to the neighbours to find out what speeds they are getting?
FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

The person living directley accross me is getting around 6mbit on sky, and is on the same cab i think (cant be sure but most likley), Thats also another reason for my curiosity - Like I said, Will a 200m difference cause a over 14mbps drop?
dick:quote
itsme
Grafter
Posts: 5,924
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Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

It may be 200m as the crow fly but the cable length can be much more than this.
FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

True, but it cant be THAT much longer, can it?
Do exchanges based in more 'poor' areas (such a Newham, London) have slower speeds than others?
Thats the only logical reason I can think of right now..
dick:quote
Hary
Grafter
Posts: 90
Registered: ‎16-09-2009

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

If you put your exchange LNUPK in here  http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/ you will see it is on Amber
status meaning overloaded at times.
This may not affect Sky as they use LLU (?) a different system
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Something is adrift as even with a 10dB noise margin you should be getting a better sync speed than that
Note that exchange status will have no effect on sync speed
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Hi there,
I suspect your line may take a roundabout route to the exchange, I've just checked and the estimated speed for your line (from BTs database) is 4Mb. I'm just running a check now which should hopefully give us a figure for the line length, that should give us a clue as to whether it's a fault or just down to the amount of wiring between your premises and the exchange. I'll update as soon as it's run.
EDIT: Line length for all lines from your DP (distribution point, the green box) is showing as over 3km which will be why the slow speeds. There's not really anything we can do about the length of the line but if you run a BT speed test - http://www.speedtester.bt.com - that might give us something. Please post the results and we'll have a look for you.
FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Hi Matt,
Thanks for your reply on this.
Whats kind of interesting is that the exchange is only 1.7(ish) km away, and the lines going from the cabinet are as long as 3km - And im sure theres bt cabinets just down my road!
Roundabout route may be right, but wouldnt BT plan their route, so they dont have excess copper and cabling to save costs?
BT Speedtester doesnt run on the line, it gives the following error:
"The Performance Tester is currently unable to run a speed test for your broadband connection. Please try again shortly, however if this problem persists, raise the issue with your service provider."
Thanks,
Aman.
[Moderator's note by Dick (Strat):  Full quote of preceding post removed, as per Forum Rules  Please use the 'Reply' button. ]
FoolishlyWise
Grafter
Posts: 256
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎16-02-2010

Re: 1.7km away from BT Exchange - Only 3.2mbit?

Ah, Something else ive found:
Looks like I know some sort of ID for the cabinet I could be connected to (As theres two for my postcode)
Cab for my postcode could be: LNUPK P78 or LNUPK P87 with something called an uplift of 5.67 and 9.73 respectiveley.

Anyone know how I can locate them? BT dont want to help it seems, got fobbed off on the phone about not being able to give me the locations becuase I could 'Attack the cabinet' weirdly  Huh
Thanks.