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Fibre speeds

Stewthecue
Grafter
Posts: 95
Registered: ‎26-06-2009

Fibre speeds

I've recently switched over to fibre, following a year long wait, and all sorts of problems with my previous connection.
I know it may seem like all i do is complain about my speeds, and i really am genuinely over the moon with my fibre speeds. But I've just seen mentioned in another thread that the fibre speeds are capped a little.
However, i was curious as to what the caps are for. Just an example, the bt infinity check shows i should be getting an estimated 32MB down, and 10Mb up. upon installation the engineer suggested and later confirmed that due to the distance i am from my cabinet i should expect to get the full 40Mb, and his tests showed the line getting 40mb.
My plusnet profile is set to 37mb, and i'm getting 33mb for the most part. My upload is 2mb. It is still within the first 10 days, so could this potentially change?
To clarify, i'm in no way complaining. I'm just curious as to where the other 7mb is going, it seems crazy for there to be 7mb that i'm not harvesting.  Wink 
Is it a case of: plusnet set the profile based on the estimated line speed, rather than the actual speed?
56 REPLIES 56
knowdice
Rising Star
Posts: 381
Thanks: 19
Registered: ‎25-04-2008

Re: Fibre speeds

I think it's fairly common for the BT engineer to get a figure of 40mb when installing FTTC - that's a figure that I saw on my installation.
But, I'm not sure that that is a true indication of a rate that is sustainable over time and the various automated optimization strategies come in to play.
My installation has settled down with a downstream sync rate of 34284 with a SNR margin of 5.8dB I'm about 600metres away from the cabinet.
I got a "spare" VDSL modem off Ebay and have enabled the web interface on that so that I can monitor "true" sync rate.
A useful link - http://huaweihg612hacking.wordpress.com/ if you want to find out more...
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Fibre speeds

Faster than 2MB upload is charged more by BTw - Plusnet don't offer this option yet (looks like it will be sometime next year before it is available).
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
knowdice
Rising Star
Posts: 381
Thanks: 19
Registered: ‎25-04-2008

Re: Fibre speeds

Except for those that were on the trial  Cheesy
jelv
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 26,785
Thanks: 971
Fixes: 10
Registered: ‎10-04-2007

Re: Fibre speeds

Shhhh.... Don't upset the OP! Wink
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
StuartUK35
Grafter
Posts: 281
Registered: ‎09-09-2011

Re: Fibre speeds

my question is the same....
from the download speed side of things, why is the PN download speed reduced a little (my neighbours are with BT, and get a 38mb down pipe), i'm on a 38mb ip profile, but level out at 33mb.....
i'm around 100m from the cab (i can throw stones at it!)......
I dont care that much to be honest about the speed difference between PN and BT users, just curious as per the OP, as to where the extra speed bit goes! Smiley Smiley
knowdice
Rising Star
Posts: 381
Thanks: 19
Registered: ‎25-04-2008

Re: Fibre speeds

That's the problem then...stop throwing stones... Grin
Without direct access to your VDSL modem it's difficult to know exactly what's going on.
As I said above the BT engineer synced at 40mbs here on installation but I now sync at around 33-34mbs (33,760mbs this morning)
BT show a profile of 33,439mbs on their speed tester -but- my Plusnet profile shows as 20mbs as this was a trial install and I never had it updated.
From BT SIN 498 Issue 3.2
"At 1532 byte frame size 40Mbit/s VDSL will support 39.282Mbit/s Ethernet throughput."
And "The CP (Plusnet) is expected to shape the downstream traffic to match the actual VDSL2 line
rate in order to avoid excessive traffic loss.
So it could well be that Plusnet are overly aggressive with their traffic shaping/profiling...
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Fibre speeds

Hi Stewthecue,
During the FTTC trial, we found that the maximum thoughput obtainable was no greater than 37000Kbps.This is why we set the speed to 37000. The maximum sync rate is 39999Kbps with about 9-10% lost to overheads.
As for the upload, we are looking to make it available up to 10Mbps but not sure when yet.
Jojo Smiley
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Fibre speeds

@ StuartUK35
Quote from: Joanne
Hi StuartUK35,
It's not a 'cap' as such. The BT profile will be setting our profile, so the line is probably performing a little less than your neighbours.
Jojo Smiley
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Fibre speeds

@knowdice I've just upped your profile to 30000 to better match the sync you're seeing, hope it improves things for you.
Stewthecue
Grafter
Posts: 95
Registered: ‎26-06-2009

Re: Fibre speeds

Thanks everyone, that answers my questions.
For the record, i'm really pleased with my fibre. I was running at around 1.5 mb before June, then for some reason it dropped to 200k. I had an open ticket for aroudn 4 months (everybody at plusnet were incredibly helpful) and the problem was eventually resolved. a couple of weeks later fibre became available.
If you can imagine that, going from 200k to around 33Mb....  Shocked Grin
I'm very, very pleased. Was just curious.
Thanks again.
ctech500
Grafter
Posts: 255
Registered: ‎06-08-2007

Re: Fibre speeds

Quote from: Joanne
During the FTTC trial, we found that the maximum thoughput obtainable was no greater than 37000Kbps.This is why we set the speed to 37000. The maximum sync rate is 39999Kbps with about 9-10% lost to overheads.
As for the upload, we are looking to make it available up to 10Mbps but not sure when yet.
Jojo Smiley

According to the BT tester the maximum profile on FTTC is 38, PN's is 37 but the difference is too small to quibble about.
A increase in the upload speed would be useful though.
knowdice
Rising Star
Posts: 381
Thanks: 19
Registered: ‎25-04-2008

Re: Fibre speeds

Quote from: Matt
@knowdice I've just upped your profile to 30000 to better match the sync you're seeing, hope it improves things for you.

Hi Matt,
That didn't really help....speed test now comes in at 28,000 or lower vs previous 32,000ish  Embarrassed
I always thought that the trial 20,000 was a "place holder" that set a maximum profile of FTTC rather than an actual profile limit.
Can you change my profile either back to 20,000 (which may not work the same as it did previously) or say 33,000 as I have a physical sync of 34,284
Thanks
Richard
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Fibre speeds

Hi knowdice,
I've just moved that to 33000. Let me know how it goes.
Jojo Smiley
knowdice
Rising Star
Posts: 381
Thanks: 19
Registered: ‎25-04-2008

Re: Fibre speeds

Hi Jojo,
I have raised a ticket (49217837) but it hasn't been picked since Friday  Embarrassed
BT are showing my download profile as 38715 so could you set my Plusnet one to match please.
Also, my upload seems to have gone astray should be 10mbs (I was on the trial) but seems to have been set down to 2mbs since some time after 1st November  Cry
Thanks