VDSL1 / Fibre 1 - Speeds stuck, maybe be able to go faster

[#1]

So, I upgraded my contract from ADSL MAX to Fibre 1 / VDSL 1 early this year. Since then, there has been work at my cabinet, and now the BT DSLChecker, Samknows, and even a Plusnet support rep say my line can go faster, even without paying for a VDSL2 upgrade. At the time, ,around 16-18mb/s was all the line could seem to do, but now the Plusnet rep said my estimate is much higher and i should be getting a faster speed. So, it looks like the sync speed is stuck as i've had no speed change and needs to be reset so the line can sync up to a higher speed. Not an expert, but it just seems like that. 

Is there any way to make this happen, or to check if a faster speed is actually going to be possible without an upgrade?

[#2]

Hi @Thomas5020

There's no difference between VDSL1 and VDSL2 for our FTTC packages.

We'd supply you with the fastest speed possible for the package you've ordered, for example Unlimited Fibre is up to 38mbps and Unlimited Fibre Extra is up to 76mbps.

As your estimates are between 35mbps to 52.1mbps, and testing your line is showing it is banded at 15mbps with no obvious reason as to why, so I've arranged for your line to be reset.

Whilst I'd expect the reset to be submitted on Monday and the line to be reset by Wednesday, due to this process being a trial I'd normally advise to allow about a week for the reset to fully go through.

If you continue to experience slower speeds than 35mbps following that, we'd need to progress this as a fault investigation but I'll keep an eye on this for you and we'll go down that route if we need to.

I hope this helps.

[#3]

Nice one

I'll hang around until Friday and see if there's any change

[#4]

@Gandalf

I had an increase of 2 megabits on Wednesday and Thursday, and by Friday my speed went back to what it usually was. 

My mate who lives 2 minutes walk away, who is on the same cabinet and is also paying for fibre get's pretty much the same speed, so if there is a fault I don't think it's with any of my equipment. 

[#5]

In terms of VDSL the distance from the cabinet is crucial and you can walk a good distance in two minutes. See.  https://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/2013/chart-bt-fttc-vdsl2-speed-against-distance

[#6]

That being said, somebody who is 30 seconds walk from the cabinet, my friend, should be getting a better speed than me. But they aren't they get the same speed as me. 

Also, since my area is using FTTC not FTTP, the distance between my and my mate is all standard copper. So, I believe most of the speed drop occurs between the exchange and my cabinet? (They're a decent distance apart)

[#7]

Sorry, but FTTC is Fibre to the Cabinet, so the cabinet will have the full speed available, no matter how far it is frm the exchange.

PS - to answer your original question, if you are using a Hub 1, then go to the help desk tab on the router, and look at the synch rate and attainable rate - the latter should give you an idea of what your line is capable of.

Try the same from the hidden test socket on your master socket, if the rate is much higher then your internal wiring is slowing you down.

[#8]

Sync rate is usally around 18000kbps, and i get slightly less than that which makes sense I suppose. And if there is no drop on the way to the cabinet from the exchange (my mistake) then evidently my estimated speeds are wrong, or there is a fault with the cabinet itself, or the copper wiring 

[#9]

Yes, or its your internal wiring. Have you got the max attainable speeds from your router? And what does the DSL Checker say your line should be capable of?

[#10]

VDSL Range A Clean Downstream Line Rate

High: 52.1 Low: 35

VDSL Range B Impacted Downstream Line Rate

High: 42.2 Low: 25.1

However, 'm not convinced that these results are correct. Because for ADSL MAX,, it is reporting downstream max as up to 3mbps. Which is far from the truth as I used to get around 6.5 on adsl max. So I take everything this says with a pinch of salt. 

As for maximum speeds, this is what my router says, if this is what you're looking for. 

Maximum data rate:

1266 / 18174

And currently, this is what I'm getting

Data rate:

1142 / 15425

Only reason I'm sort of ruling out my wiring is because people I know on the same cabinet who are, from a wiring distance perspective, closer to the cabinet who get identical speeds. So it just makes me think that there's something else wrong, or the estimates are wrong? 

[#11]

It only takes a minute to unscrew two screws to access the test socket, and is a far more reliable way to check. 

You should certainly be getting higher speeds that you are getting.

[#12]

If it's a more general problem then maybe the BT estimate is based on distance from the cabinet but the OP is one of the unfortunate ones connected via the dreaded aluminium cable and this hasn't been factored in to the official estimate?

[#13]

Already tried the test socket, no change. 

Done a BT wholesale speed test as well. Thought I might as well drop the result here in case it has anything of any use on it. Don't know why it says i can get 10 upload

[#14]

It doesn't say you can get 10Mbps upload speed, it says your upload profile is 10Mbps which is a fixed value and does not change according to your sync speed which the download IP profile does. 

Your speeds are extremely poor, can you get more detailed stats from the modem/router such as operating mode, attenuation and SNR values as well as the sync speeds, something is not right, the stats should help confirm if your line is still banded or not.

[#15]

Data rate:	1142 / 15425
7. Maximum data rate:	1299 / 18218
8. Noise margin:	6.5 / 6.4
9. Line attenuation:	48.4 / 30.4
10. Signal attenuation:	38.0 / 25.2

23. Modulation:

G.993.2 Annex B

Here's some of the information that should be relevant. If there's anything missing let me know.