Slow Uplink Speed

[#1]

Hi,

I have PlusNet both in my flat in London, and in my main house in the country. 

The country place has Fibre (just) and I get a about 10 Mb down, but only 0.4 up. 

The town place is (ironically) not in a Fibre enabled area, so I just have a regular ADSL+ connection there, and I also get about 10 Mb down and 0.4 up.

In both cases, 0.4 up seems to be a ridiculously low number, and I would really like to get a bit more - especially if have to copy data between the two places.  I have had the lines checked, but there seems to be nothing PlusNet can do to change the ratio between uplink and downlink.

Can anybody tell me if this ratio is typical or is it just the way PlusNet has things set up ?

I have always been happy with PlusNet, but am considering trying another provider if they can give me a better uplink speed (obviously I realise I would have to sacrifice a  bit of my downlink speed).

I have also posted this in the regular broadband section as it affects both my Fibre and my ADSL2+ connections.

Cheers - Mark

[#2]

Hi Mark,

Everything depends on the physics of copper wires...

Rural / FTTC -10Mbps DS rather sounds like you are on the edge of FTTC viability.  Do you know how far you are from the green cabinet?

Urban / ADSL2+ - again it depends on line length - sight of the modem line stats would be useful.  It might be the case that your US synch has not been uncapped.

Where did these figures come from?  BT Wholesale speed tests?

[#3]

@Townman I've advised him to contact plusnet to get the upload cap removed, if it's capped. His fibre upload speed is below the estimated. See this Thread

[#4]

@Marklichfield If you can PM me your username I'll get that looked into.

[#5]

Thanks for the reply. 

For the Fibre Connection:  I am not sure how far away the cabinet is, but it has to be at least 1km which is far as I have managed to follow the overhead wires before they go underneath the nearest 'A' road. I do know the cabinet number, but can't find the physical location (I've tried looking through planning applications). Actually, I was wondering if it was actually inside the exchange in which case it would be 2.3km.  The speed figures came from Speedtest.net. 

For the ADSL2+ connection: I've attached the WAN status page from my modem (a Draytek 2760n).

[#6 · Accepted solution]

@Marklichfield The upload on your ADSL line was capped so I've placed a order to uncap it which should complete tomorrow.

With regards to your fibre line there isn't anything we can do I'm afraid as your estimated line length from the cabinet is 1862.5 metres.

[#7]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks very much!  That will certainly help. 

With regard to the Fibre connection, I understand that I am stuck with line length, but what is it that determines the split between up and down ?  Do you know if it is a protocol based limitation, or a function of the equipment in the exchange ?  Or is there some other factor ?

Just to explain my thinking: I was thinking of adding a second line and paying a separate provider for 'bonding' - if the limitation was equipment, then perhaps I should get the second line from a different provider who perhaps could support a different down vs up split ,,,,,

Cheers,

Mark

[#8]

Its down to the technology I'm afraid.

Someone will be able to give a much more technical explanation then myself but basically fibre speeds drop quicker over distance then ADSL speeds.

[#9]

It's due to how the frequencies are allocated to upstream and downstream, which I think is a fixed limitation of the technology and how it has to co-exist with ADSL. The VDSL2 used on FTTC starts off using the frequencies used by ADSL for upstream as upstream, and the frequencies used by ADSL for downstream as downstream.

At the lowest end of the VDSL2 frequency range, there's the very small US0 band, contributing a small amount of upstream bandwidth, then there's a large downstream band, then a large upstream band. For such a long line, probably most or all of your upstream bandwidth is from US0, with the higher frequencies on the other upstream bands being unusable due to the line length (higher frequencies have higher attenuation with distance).

All FTTC providers have to use the same Openreach cabinets, which will operate in the same way for all providers.

[#10]

Hi Mark,

Seems like both of my surmises were correct - your fibre servuce is over the edge of viability (1.7km) and your ADSL was capped.

As for fibre speeds, they are very much a matter of the underlaying BTw product  - 40/2, 40/10 or 80/20.  PlusNET use 40/2.  It would be a mute point if 80/20 would actually deliver a better US experience, if for no other reason than PlusNET will not offer the 80/20 product on a line which will not deliver more than 40Mbps.

Plusnet does not offer bonding, however there are other ways of skinning cats, for example @Anonymous Has two lines with a load sharing router.

HTh?

Kevin

Edit: the absence of cross posting warning here is a real irritation - I nearly missed ejs' concurrent post.  His explanation of the US frequency band allocation rather suggests that the higher US products are unlikely to deliver any meaningful benefit.

[#11]

Thanks to everyone for their help and useful comments. 

Hopefully Matthew's intervention will improve my ADSL+ service, but it sounds as if I am stuck with a low uplink speed for my Fibre.

I guess my first port of call should be a second line and since my house only had one line before, it is just possible that the second one will have slightly better characteristics. I can start with load balancing and see if that improves it enough (I did this before in my previous house) - and look at bonding it it's still an issue after that.

A propos of bonding I have talked to a supplier who will provide a bonded service on top of any carrier or combination of carriers for 2-4 lines - but of course it's not cheap!