[FTTC] Just Installed

[#1]

Just had  BT out and the job was done in about 20 mins.  No time for tea and biscuits!  I was a bit confused as to how this would be installed but all is clear now.  I believe that FTTP isn't available in NI yet so it's only FTTC at the minute.
When I was asked if I had my hub and I produced something other than a BT Affinity Hub the engineer looked a bit shocked.  This was the first job that he did that wasn't for BT Affinity so he didn't know that other routers could be used.  Once again I see more evidence of BTs lack of communication.  I must compliment the engineer though as he didn't leave until he made sure I could get connected.  At first this didn't work for me after I configured the router and even though I was receiving an IP address it wasn't until I performed a hard reboot that it connected properly and brought up a web page.
I'm using the WNR1000 and I've just done a speed test:

Not bad for having just connected it!

....And here's a ping test too:

[#2]

Nice what speed where you getting before?

[#3]

Ha....I was capable of getting 3.5Mb but I was only getting about 3 or just under.
Hurray for fibre!

[#4]

Just thought I'd post my speeds for today...

[#5]

Looking good
Thanks for the feedback too. I've seen a few people saying that our install is the first the engineer has done that wasn't BT Infinity. Although they have way more customers than any other ISP on FTTC so far. We're at 185 and one of the biggest after BT.

[#6]

Bit of an increase in speed tonight which is impressive.

[#7]

Here's another update on speed.

I did receive some sort of outage on Thursday 11th November around midnight.  Internet was connected but I was unable to resolve any web pages either by domain name or IP address.  I tried changing the DNS servers, rebooting both the router and ONT didn't make a difference.  Went to bed so not sure what time it came back on.  Was there an issue then?

[#8]

Interesting had same outage experience on morning of 12/11. Went away of own accord.
Made me realise how unused to broadband outages I am. Can't remember last time it happened.
As this is a trial was expecting more problems. Happy enough to trade a minimum of 10 times
broadband speed increase for one short outage in 3-4 weeks.

[#9]

Today's test.

I've been noticing some delays in browsing the web on a number of occasions.  It was quite slow at about 9pm so that's why I ran the speedtest.  Is this just down to it being at peak time?

[#10]

Yes. BT are hitting congestion/capacity issues with FTTC in some areas, and as more cabinets / exchanges get connected the slowdowns may continue.
on a side note... I recently downloaded some patches for linux at someone else's house and wondered why it was going so slow, until I was reminded they only had a 1Mbs broadband connection.
Interesting how quickly you get used to the faster FTTC connections - very similar to when I moved from dialup to broadband - initially you get the 'WOW it's fast'  then after a few weeks you are no longer surprised at the speed and it becomes the 'norm', until you are brought back to reality using someone elses broadband connection.

[#11]

Yes you definately do get used to it.  Even my mum's 8 meg or so connection seems slow to me!
The speedtest I've just run now is a big differnce.

[#12]

I've just speedtested again as my browsing was incredibly slow.