Unlimited fibre extra - Disappointing speeds

[#1]

Fibre service just started today but the attainable speeds I am getting suggest my profile has been set to 55/10 rather than 80/20. Can someone please run a GEA test to check my line?

[#2]

Hi @jclau 

Your profile is 0.128M-80M, which is correct. 

A GEA test on your line shows your router syncing at 48.4Mbps. This is within the Estimated Speed Range which our supplier is providing for your line. 

What speeds are you noticing throughput wise form your side? 

Thanks, 

MoR

[#3]

Hi MoR, thank you very much for taking the time to check my line.

Well, I am getting the same speeds as with TalkTalk, the reason why I switched to PlusNet. I thought I would get a new line with PlusNet but apparently not. So it will probably behave the same way as with TalkTalk with the download speeds going down progressively over time.  The line must be faulty because of the big difference between the attainable and actual rates as may be seen from the router's report below. And the max rate is also disappointing because my house is only about 100 metres from the fibre cabinet. Would it be possible to move my line to a new port?

Data rate:	9174 / 48355
Maximum data rate:	9328 / 54789

[#4]

@jclau have a look at the How to Speed up your Internet on the MYMateVince site

You would have had a port change when you moved from TT, so if you are getting the same speeds it is likely to be another issue.

Is your phone line quiet? Dial 17070 option 2 from a corded phone.

[#5]

@Mustrum thanks for your link and advice. I have the router currently plugged into the test socket of the Master box and so the speeds I am getting are the best I would get. I don't have a corded phone to do the silent test but there are no noises when making/receiving calls on the digital phone.

[#6]

Hi @jclau, while fibre doesn't have the same 10 days ADSL has, we have been advised more recently by Openreach that there is in fact a similar training period. Apparently this can take up to 30 days.

With this in mind it may just be the connection stabilising

Having said this, the connection/data rate you've mentioned at 48.3 Mbps is performing within the 44 Mbps - 61.9 Mbps estimates.

[#7]

hi Harry thank you very much for your input. The download speeds  may be within estimates but my grievance is why my estimates should be so low when I am only about 100 metres from the Fibre cabinet. Interestingly, using the BT Broadband checker, I find my neighbour's house which is behind/adjacent to mine only some 15 metres away, has got a better estimate of 80 - 78.5 Mbps vs my 66.9 to 48.1 Mbps.  And checking up on other houses served by the same Fibre cabinet, it appears that the lines going in a certain direction have impacted speeds. Is it possible that these are being connected to slow/faulty ports in the Fibre cabinet. If so, can we try moving my line to a different faster port please?

[#8]

Hi @jclau 

Whilst I understand that this must be frustrating, I'm afraid that we as an ISP no jurisdiction over line quality or routing. 

It is solely up to our suppliers to decide whether or not they wish to change the way in which a specific line in connected. 

I'm really sorry about this. 

Kind Regards, 

MoR

[#9]

Hi MoR, actually I am not questioning the quality and routing of the lines. I just suspect  my line has been connected to a port that is compromised/faulty. BT must have flagged it for its broadband checker to come up with its estimates. How come all the houses from the cabinet up to my house all have 80ish Mbps downloads?  I know it's possible to do a port change because a BTOR engineer suggested this when he came to check my line just before I switched to PlusNet. So may I have a port change please?

[#10]

@jclau,

To answer your question regarding a port change it's not a process we are able to just request happens. There's no automated processes for a port flex or reset on fibre. We would need to raise a fault and ask that the engineer take this action/or recommend a new port be mapped following a visit, but it would be at their discretion.

If you want to go down this path then we can do, but as you're within estimates and there are no other obvious issues on the line there's always a chance of charges going down this route - if the engineer doesn't find an issue, determines there's nothing that can be done. 

I've gone through the addresses within your area and it seems as the house number increases the speed estimates decrease, but your description makes it sound like everyone but you has an estimate of 80Mbps and that's just not the case. 

This is three house numbers down:

Two and One down (they have the same estimates):

Yours and one number up:

2 numbers up from you:

[#11]

hi JOLO, thank you for delving deeper into the matter. Please let me explain further for you to get a clearer picture.

The Fibre cabinet is located in another road behind my house some 100 metres away. I've checked quite a few addresses in that road and they all have max 80 Mbps Download and 20 Mbps Upload. But in my road, addresses 32 to 1 have either max 75.5 DL/20 UL or max 71.2 DL/20 UL, and addresses 33 to 50 have either max 66.9 DL/18.3 UL or 61.9 DL/16.1 UL. This leads me to believe that the lines in the other road are connected to faster ports in the Fibre cabinet.

I would also like to point out that my UL speed is well below estimates. Does this not warrant a visit by a BTOR engineer?

Attached is a simplistic drawing of the houses in the housing estate.

[#12]

Thanks for the clarification.

Either way your speeds are within the estimates of your line, and while I'm happy to arrange an engineer visit, it's likely that the engineer will return the job to us as right when tested incurring a call out charge of which we'd pass £65 on to you.

It's worth noting that it's rare that an engineer would move a fibre line to a different port at the cabinet, unless that port is proven faulty. As you are within expectations it's likely that they won't move you.

If you're happy to accept the risk and go ahead, please report a fault to us at http://faults.plus.net letting us know over here once you've completed it and we'll be happy to pick it up and arrange this for you.

[#13]

Hi Gandalf, thanks for your input. I was really hoping that you would have confirmed why the estimates for my road are set so low in the first place. It has occurred to me the reason is because the underground telephone cable on its way to my road goes past an electricity substation. Fair enough to start my speed at the bottom of the range but I would expect the DLM to put up my speed towards the top of the range if there are no errors on my line. Is there some sort of capping applied to our lines, either software or hardware? If software, can you please nudge the speed up a little bit? If hardware, a port change may be indicated.

I'll continue monitoring my line but in the meantime can you please do another GEA test and post it here.

Thanks.

[#14]

Hi @jclau

Thanks for coming back to us.

GEA test as requested below.

** INTERNAL **

KBD

GEA Test Detail

Circuit ID	NA	Service ID	BBEU32218039

Test Outcome	Pass
Test Outcome Code	GTC_FTTC_SERVICE_0000
Description	GEA service test completed and no fault found .
Main Fault Location	OK
Sync Status	In Sync
Downstream Speed	50.9 Mbps
Upstream Speed	9.2 Mbps
Appointment Required	N
Fault Report Advised	N
NTE Power Status	PowerOn
Voice Line Test Result	Pass
Bridge Tap	Not Detected
Radio Frequency Ingress	Not Detected
Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise	Not Detected
Cross Talk	Not Detected
Estimated Line Length In Metres	649.5
Upstream Rate Assessment	Low
Downstream Rate Assessment	Reasonable
Interference Pattern	Not Detected
Service Impact	No Impact Observed
Home Wiring Problem	Not Detected
Downstream Policing Discard Rate	0.0
Customer Traffic Level	Upstream and Downstream Traffic Detected
Technology	VDSL
Profile Name	0.128M-80M Downstream, Interleaving Low - 0.128M-20M Upstream, Error Protection Off
Time Stamp	2018-11-29T15:45:00

Parameters	MIN	MAX	AVG
Down Stream Line Rate	40.0 Mbps	50.9 Mbps	47.3 Mbps
Up Stream Line Rate	8.4 Mbps	9.9 Mbps	9.3 Mbps
Up Time	0.0 Sec	900.0 Sec	869.1 Sec
Retrains	0.0	1.0	0.0

Current and Last 15 Minute Bin Performance
Parameters	Last Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)	Current Traffic Count(Upto 15 mins)
Start Time Stamp	2018-12-12T15:16:34.037+00:00	2018-12-12T15:31:34.037+00:00
Ingress Code Violation	0	4
Egress Code Violation	0	0
Errored Seconds	8	4
Severely Errored Seconds	0	0
Unavailable Seconds	0	0

[#15]

Hi RandallFlagg, many thanks for attending to my request promptly.

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