80/20 FTTC trial

[#1]

Can you add me to the trial please - the additional upload rate would be handy.

[#2]

digital and halster65, unfortunately your exchanges haven't been included in the first phase of the trial, although they should be added when we get to the 2nd phase, keep a look out as we'll post details about how to take part in the second phase of the trial next month.
unbound - looks like you're the lucky one as your exchange is in the initial trial area. I've sent you an invite ticket out, if you can have a read through and reply back then I'll add you to the trial.

[#3]

Quote from: dave

unbound - looks like you're the lucky one as your exchange is in the initial trial area. I've sent you an invite ticket out, if you can have a read through and reply back then I'll add you to the trial.

Thanks for that Dave (commented on the ticket).
On an aside with it, it is worth sourcing an N300 router for this, or will the WNR1000 be sufficient (might have to change it anyway as it doesn't like by Galaxy S, but there you go....)

[#4]

I've got a couple of N300 routers available (Zyxel NGB4604s), give the Netgear a go to start with and see how it works and I'll send you one out when I place the order to compare against (I need to send the list of lines in to BT to check first hence the 5pm cutoff point).

[#5]

That's what I call timing then Got in just in time..
Will see how well the N150 works with it to start with (Hopefully I can bend my mobile to work properly with it) - If not I'll daisychain my old ADSL router (with the modem disabled) on the LAN side for my mobile.
dick:quote

[#6]

Hi Dave.
I originally applied to get into the first phase of these trials but my FTTC cabinet mustn't be be ready yet. You mentioned about a second phase of the trials sceduled for February. I was just wondering if you can confirm at this stage weather I will be able to join that one? I have also checked the wholesale checker and by the looks of it BT might be ready to upgrade the cabinit soon as the D/L speed is currently set as 40meg and U/L speed is set as 20meg.

[#7]

Could I possibly be on the trial please? 🙂

[#8]

Hi dave,

Quote from: dave

digital and halster65, unfortunately your exchanges haven't been included in the first phase of the trial, although they should be added when we get to the 2nd phase, keep a look out as we'll post details about how to take part in the second phase of the trial next month.

If the OLDHAM exchange is included in the 2nd Phase & if you are interested in trialing current sub-40Mb connections,  I would like to register my interest in taking part.
Currently my connection syncs between 23Mb & 29Mb (more recently apart from a recent hiccup it has been closer to the 29Mb).
Alex R could vouch that I would give lots of detailed feedback.

Paul.

[#9]

... I have just added the "pro" add on to my PN Extra Fibre and WOW! What a difference in performance. All the Speedtest sites are now reporting consisitent results, as opposed to the wildly fluctuating values I saw before. The results also actually match the SamKnows data I was seeing. I'll report the results from SamKnows after a couple of days further monitoring.
Adding the Pro option actually makes the extra speed between "up to 40" and the now "up to 80" noticable.....
I am using the ZyXEL router that PN have supplied.

[#10]

Hi Dave, I get full 40Mb sync and would be extremely interested in testing this out for you guys and BT.

[#11]

@ashgeo -
I have a couple of questions about your reports here...
You originally reported around 62Mbps from the speedtesters, and now show a result of near 65Mbps from speedtest.net, also telling us that you get that consistently. Was the 62Mbps a consistent and/or peak result for speedtest.net before you added Pro, or did it sometimes go up to 65? I'm talking about the non-managed periods here, of course 😉
After Pro was added, did the (non-managed) results from the Samknows box show any change too? Both in speed and latency?
And finally, you mention "All the Speedtest sites are now reporting consisitent results, as opposed to the wildly fluctuating values I saw before." Are the "sites" different variants of Speedtesters (speedtest.net, BT, mybroadbandspeed, TBB, etc), or do you mean different servers at Speedtest.net (eg London, maidstone, Newbury, etc)?

[#12]

@WWWombat
My line switched to the 80Mb trial on the night of Jan 9th/10th. Attached are the results from speedtest.net and my SamKnows device to date. Once a bit more time has elapsed I will be able to post more.
SamKnows has resported fairly consistent results (outside of the managed periods), whereas speedtest.net fluctuated wildly regardless of server and time of day. I've more results on my other PC from speedtest.net.
As I only added the pro add-on at lunchtime today we will have to see how this changes the results reported by the various speedtesters. However as soon as I added pro speedtest.net reported 65meg (or thereabouts) instanty. Also I noticed the difference whilst on the web etc.
mybroadbandspeed.co.uk never reports above 52meg and also fluctuates wildly.
I have also attached the results from the BT Speedtests I've carried out.
I will post latency reults in due course.
All my tests are using a wired connections as I find wireless results can be a bit here and there.
Hope this answers your questions!
Regards,
George

[#13]

I've just done another speedtest.net test and attached is the image of the test.

[#14]

So the 80/20 change has gone through. Upload is vastly improved (1.6Mbs to 12Mbs), but download around the same as on 40/2. I'm ~700m from the box, so should see some improvement (getting around 31Mbs downloads off the test). When the OR guy installed it, the sync max'd on 40/2, so would expect it to be higher now.
I'll need to rerun the tests wired to the router as it does tend to be a bit 'bursty' - causing the download test to misbehave a tad (when on 40/2 I did get a download rate of 115Mbs on one test!)
Is there any way to interrogate the OR modem to see what it thinks is going on in terms of sync speed? The connection settings page on Plusnet is misreading badly, having not changed from 20Mbs over the last couple of days (even though I've been getting download rates in excess of that).

[#15]

@ashgeo - Thanks for those figures. A quick look certainly shows the variability - so I guess we're starting to trigger all sorts of queues across the internet; it'll be interesting to see the ongoing impact of pro after a few days.
@unload -

Quote from: unbound

When the OR guy installed it, the sync max'd on 40/2, so would expect it to be higher now.

Was the original install before the 17a profiles kicked in? If so, you certainly ought to be getting more now.

Quote

(getting around 31Mbs downloads off the test). I'll need to rerun the tests wired to the router as it does tend to be a bit 'bursty' - causing the download test to misbehave a tad (when on 40/2 I did get a download rate of 115Mbs on one test!)

Around 30Mbps is about the maximum I get when testing wireless; you really do need to be wired to be able to see the full capability.

Quote

Is there any way to interrogate the OR modem to see what it thinks is going on in terms of sync speed?

The OR Modem has its web interface and the telnet interface deliberately crippled, so you can't access this information unless you are willing to hack the modem (or hack a spare one from ebay).
However, you can find out BT's value for the IP profile when you run a speedtest at http://www.speedtester.bt.com/ - it tells you the profile value when performing the downstream test, and again on the result page. The sync speed is probably around 3.3% higher than the profile value.

Quote

The connection settings page on Plusnet is misreading badly, having not changed from 20Mbs over the last couple of days (even though I've been getting download rates in excess of that).

A plusnet profile of 37Mb seems to allow full speed on 40Mb lines; a profile of 20Mb is an old one that used to mean "unlimited" back in the times of the first trial, and I suspect it still means that.