FTTC Expansion?

[#1]

I have seen some lines that get faster, some of the installs we have hit the maximum we've got set on our side (21Mbps) so I'd expect to see faster than that. We have had one that's slower and we've raised a fault on it, waiting to see what the response is. If it doesn't get above 14Mbps then I'll have a look into it and see what I can find out for you.

[#2]

Dave,
On Plusnets speedtest the highest download speed achieved since switch over on Mar 26th is 14608 which was today. The download speeds vary from 11591 to todays figure. Upload speeds seem to go upto about 6000 odd during the download test and then seem to be throttled back during the test to about 4100 to 4800 by the end of the download test.
When I use BT speedtester the upload speeds seem to be quite a bit higher reaching around 9000 on occasions but always higher than Plusnets upload speeds. The downloads speed on the other hand tend to be lower than those achieved on the Plusnet download tests.

I have also added some similar details onto ticket number 32330714 for your information.
One other thing. Do Plusnet have any plans to replace the current setup of using an Openreach VDSL modem and a modified Thomson router with a wireless router which includes a built in VDSL modem?  This would certainly help to get stats on line performance, which is not available with the current setup.
Trust this helps with your monitoring of the FTTC trial.
Bob Vaughan.

[#3]

I think I know why the upload speed is like that, I've made a change which might make a difference on that, there's a maximum speed on the upload on the Ellacoya systems on certain amounts of traffic, so I've just upped that to see if it makes a difference. Should take effect immediately.
At the moment there are no plans to switch to another modem/router combination as Openreach want in the early stages to do an engineer installation for every line. Somewhere down the line (like it did 8 years ago for ADSL) it will become a self install product and you'll be able to buy a VDSL router that does the job of both pieces of kit. I actually have one here for testing.
It does help yeah thanks, and please keep it coming, if the speeds continue as they are I might change bandwidth option on the BT side to make it prioritised on their network and see if that makes any difference.

[#4]

Dave,
Upload speeds on Plusnet speedtest now much better. Just got upload of 8363 and download of 14800.
Step in the right direction I think.
Bob Vaughan

[#5]

Yes, I'm now seeing upload speeds of around 8Mbps whereas something has been keeping the speeds down to 5Mbps up to now on the speed tests.

[#6]

It's interesting that the behaviour of Bob_V's broadband speed test with FTTC is similar to what quite a few people (including me) have experienced at lower speeds:
The downstream test goes normally. The upstream test starts normally, getting up to maximum speed (about 680kb/s in my case on ADSL2+), then, at about two-thirds of the way through - and the transition is instantaneous - it drops back to a lower speed speed (about 410kb/s in my case) and stays at that speed until the end of the test.
Bizarrely, if I run another test straight afterwards, the upstream speed doesn't drop and the recorded upstream speed is 680kb/s.
Anyway, having seen it happen to other people, I've decided it's not my machine/router/connection and I'll just live with it until someone decides it's a general problem and sorts it out.
Graham
ps. Dave's post above about crosstalk on FTTC is a bit disturbing. If BT's rollout is successful, then most people won't see speeds higher than current good ADSL2+ connections. That will produce lots of complaints for a service advertised as up to 40mb/s.

[#7]

Quote from: dave

I have seen some lines that get faster, some of the installs we have hit the maximum we've got set on our side (21Mbps) so I'd expect to see faster than that.

Hi Dave,
Why is it limited to 21Mbps? Do you see that being changed?
Tom.

[#8]

We built all the backend systems for ADSL2+ speeds which has a maximum throughput of 21Mbps. We need to build some updated profiles for FTTC which go faster than that, the upload speed is now done we just need to schedule some time for the downstream increase. It will get changed, I just don't have a date when it will be done yet.

[#9]

Dave,
Just an update. Speeds still very much the same. Upload around 8Mbps seems to be fine considering line speed is set at 10Mbps. Download is still less than half the linespeed. Linespeed 32Mbps downloads around 14Mbps. Connection seems very stable.
Bob Vaughan.

[#10]

Hi Guys,
Just caught up with all this FTTC stuff recently when my mate signed up for BT Infinity after realising that our parts of Basingstoke are go to go. He is getting 38Mbps down atm, and something like 8Mbps up. The line check states I'm good to go, but close to the wire with 15.6Mbps down and 5.9Mbps up.
Good to see we can give it a go on PN, but was wondering how the trial works? Do we stay on the same BB product with its usage restrictions and throttling at peak time, but just get a quicker connection when its not throttled?
Very interested to give it a go 

[#11]

I've been on the FTTC trial for about a month now.
For the first couple of weeks, I was getting 20Mbps download speeds quite reliably but that seems to have dropped-off quite a bit recently.
Tests with mybroadbandspeed over the last week have ranged between 3406kbps to 18475kbps, mainly being between 7 and 10Mbps.
This evening I have just ran a few speed tests and got the following results:
8644/4277 (mybroadbandspeed)
6570/4740 (speedtest.net)
4700/1200 (thinkbroadband)

I also did a large download from a UK mirror site and got around 7Mbps, so it's not just the speed tests that are slow.
FTTC is a bit of a culture shock as there doesn't appear to be any way of getting line stats from the modem so you only have speed tests to go on. Any thoughts on whether this may be some sort of fault or whether these speeds can be explained by contention.
Is anyone else with FTTC on the Basingstoke exchange seeing their speeds dropping off?

[#12]

Wish someone would remind BT that Scotland still exists. I have counted about 5 of the exchanges on the FFTC lists that are north of the border.

Living in hope.
podman

[#13]

Just an update to say that my line speeds have gone back up to 20Mbps down and 8Mbps up now which has been consistent for the last day or so.
I've no idea what caused the slowdown this week but at least it's gone back up.

[#14]

My post code is now showing on the BTw site. Which is better than before where it didn't shoe fttc.

Quote

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed between 20 to 36.2 Mbps and upstream line speed between 7.7 to 13.9 Mbps.

[#15]

Response to Podman:
from some news articles we are not getting many FTTC  yet: 

Edinburgh June/July-2009 proposal & Media announcements
BT fibre broadband rollout
9th July 2009 info:
Scotland: Edinburgh Corstorphine, Edinburgh Craiglockhard, (!sp.>"Craiglochart")
source PC Pro website
TheRegister.co.uk, 23 March 2009
•Dean - Edinburgh
ISPreview 9th July 2009
EDINBURGH CORSTORPHINE Scotland
EDINBURGH CRAIGLOCKHART Scotland
BT engineer working here the other day says he's doing Domestic premises in Dean/Stocky!
Ah well, soon...
Toby