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Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

lorisarvendu
Grafter
Posts: 341
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎26-08-2007

Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

This is not related to me or any Plusnet customer I know, but I just wondered what PN staff on here think would be the problem.
A work colleague (who is not with PN) lives in rural Nottinghamshire about 2Km from the cabinet.  He's been getting between 4 & 5Mbps d/l on his ADSL for the past few years now, but fibre has arrived in his area.  Estimates said he would get about 10Mbps d/l, so he signed up and it was installed 3 days ago.  Since then he's actually getting slower (less than 4Mbps) than he got on ADSL.
Is this not unusual in the first few days?  I know there's a kind of 10 day training period, but practically everyone seems to reach their expected speed within the first couple of days, and his has been stable at under 4Mbps since Wednesday.  He's naturally very disappointed, and although he's gong to give it a week before he contacts his ISP, I wondered what sort of things could cause this.
Could it simply be that the BT estimate is wrong and that's what he's going to get?  If so, what would make it slower than ADSL?
If this is the case, would BT (via his ISP) make an attempt to fix this, or might he be advised to go back to ADSL...or is he stuck on fibre now?
This is all unofficial and informal, and I would not pass it on as official comments from Plusnet staff, but I'm just very curious.
Cheers
-Dave
PS he hates me and my 54MBps.
A tortoise? What's that?
You know what a turtle is? Same thing.
4 REPLIES 4
Terranova667
Pro
Posts: 1,511
Thanks: 125
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎19-02-2014

Re: Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

Sadly estimates are just that a estimate of what could be possible, my estimate was 66Mb when i signed up for Plusnet fibre but on installation ect i get 63Mb,
Also It's not uncommon for those on ADSL to have less on fibre it's all down to how far from the Fibre cab you are and the quality of the final copper cable that goes from the cab to the home if that is of poor quality or suffering from interference or the elements then that would have a big impact as well, he also could have a fault that is giving him less so your work colleague should for sure question it with his ISP but it may just turn out that's the best he can get He wont know for sure without asking.
I wouldn't say he is stuck on fibre i would think if he cant get more on fibre than he did on Adsl they would let him downgrade back to adsl but only his ISP can answer that it depends on what their policy is. 

Pettitto
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 6,346
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎26-11-2011

Re: Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

2km is a very long line for FTTC, however it might be worth getting your friend to raise a fault with their provider after a few days as there *could* be a fault with the service.
Their ISP may be able to move them back to ADSL but is completely up to them Smiley
WWWombat
Grafter
Posts: 1,412
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎29-01-2009

Re: Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

I'm not PN staff, but I can answer this anyway...
Part 1
It is entirely possible that, on the same line, speed for FTTC is less than speed for ADSL.
The cause is because VDSL from the cabinet drops off far faster than ADSL does from the exchange. The VDSL speeds drop to zero after around 2-3km, while ADSL speeds can run out past 5-6km. For most people, that doesn't matter because they are far closer to the cabinet (where VDSL speeds are still high) while being a fair distance from the exchange (where ADSL speeds are middling).
However, for some unlucky people, they turn out to be a long way from their cabinet but that cabinet is very close to the exchange. It sounds like this is the case for your friends.
With an ADSL speed of 4-5Mbps, it sounds like they are around 4km from the exchange. With an FTTC estimate of 10Mbps, it seems like they are perhaps 2km - 2.5km from the cabinet (which your post agrees with). If the cabinet is around 1.5-2km from the exchange, then this gives you the right kind of setup to see lower speeds on FTTC.
Part 2
For FTTC, the modems attempt to run at best speed from the first plug-in. If DLM decides to intervene, it would normally occur 2 days after the install, and for the majority of cases that would be then end of things. For a bad line, DLM might decide to continue to intervene on subsequent days... but those cases are few and far between, and are likely to indicate that a fault needs to be fixed anyway.
So the speed you are seeing now is likely to be the best achievable under the current line conditions.
You would not normally expect speeds to increase at all.
Part 3
If they are getting below the estimate, then there is always the possibility of a botched install, or a fault on the line. Those would require an Openreach visit, especially if the original install was done by a contractor like Kelly's, rather than Openreach staff directly.
It could be an incorrect estimate, but that wouldn't be my first suspicion.
I'd probably advise going back to the ISP sooner rather than later. That way Openreach are likely to attend with it labelled as a bad original installation.
Plusnet Customer
Using FTTC since 2011. Currently on 80/20 Unlimited Fibre Extra.
lorisarvendu
Grafter
Posts: 341
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎26-08-2007

Re: Upgrading to FTTC - slower than ADSL! What would Plusnet do?

It's still 4Mbps after almost a week. He's got an engineer visit tomorrow, but unfortunately it's another contractor.
A tortoise? What's that?
You know what a turtle is? Same thing.