FTTC upgrade complete, download speed still low but upload speeds huge!

[#1]

Hi,
My connection was upgraded to FTTC yesterday lunchtime, and the install went smoothly so no complaints there.
The Openreach engineer showed me that the line was synching at 40Mbps down and 10 Mbps up, but when I connected through to Plusnet, the download speed was only 3.5-4Mbps. (Upload speeds are fantasically improved - up from 300kbps to about 8Mbps).
Is there something that plusnet need to tweak in terms of IP profile so that I can get the increased download speeds promised?
I have added comments to my initial ticket with the same information - ticket ref is 37167246.
Thanks,
Mike

[#2]

Mike, I am in the same boat but FTTC install just happened so its early days for me.
Is your upload still great but download the same as before?
Ta.

[#3]

What speeds were you getting on dsl pre-fttc?
as you mentioned its most likely related to your PN profile which just needs to be uncapped. (as with mine initially)

[#4]

Pre-FTTC speed was more or less the same as it is now (about 3.5-4Mbps) - hence my thinking that it was profile related. I might try giving support a call, as I am not sure whether they have picked up my comments yet (either here or on the ticket I raised when requesting to go on the trial.
Mike

[#5]

Yes I recommend giving them a call. I did that earlier and my speed has started to improve. Pre FTTC was 600K, this morning after FTTC the download was still about 600K now its up to 8Mb, hopefully it will continue to climb. Call support they will get things moving for you.

[#6]

Been there, done that! The support chap said that I would have to wait for the fibre team to pick up my ticket as it was their speciality.
Perhaps I selected the wrong option on the call menu system!
Hopefully someone will spot the comments on the ticket soon, as I am so close to faster broadband but just not quite there yet!
(Although the faster upload speed should help enormously if we ever get sufficient snow that I need to work from home again).
Mike

[#7]

Wednesday morning and all's well - except, of course, for my download speed!
I hadn't really expected anything to change over night - I think that I just need to be patient and wait for the comments on my ticket to be spotted by someone at Plusnet Towers.
Mike

[#8]

What is your PN profile set to - https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed
It should be fixed at 20000, if it's not then PN have not put you on the FTTC profile yet.
Note: the 20000 profile is a special one to allow full speed on FTTC.

[#9]

I phone support again yesterday, and emphasised the need for the profile to be reset. Although I was advised that I need to "plug the router in to the test socket" by unscrewing the faceplate - my profile does now seem to have been set to 20000. I don't think that the test socket advice would work for an FTTC connection anyway.
Speeds appear to be improving - and will hopefully continue to increase as the pre-upgrade estimate was for about 29Mbps.

Mike

[#10]

Does anyone know if its possible to directly query the Openreach modem to see what speed it is achieving to the cabinet?
I can see what the Netgear router is doing, but that's only the 100M ethernet link between itself of the modem!
I suppose I could always plus a computer directly in to the LAN port of the modem, but this strikes me as slightly risky from a firewall perspective!
Regards,
Mike

[#11]

I asked a similar question here
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,90976.0.html
Don't get excited

[#12]

I managed a few more tests this morning.
My standard setup involves a homeplug network between the router and my desktop pc (the master socket inconveniently comes into the house in a cupboard a long way from anywhere useful).
This morning I tested a directly wired connection between my work laptop and the router, which gave speeds of about 39Mbps download and 8 Mbps upload - which is more or less perfect.
I am now left with two choices (given that I am not about to rip up floors and drill through walls to install ethernet cabling):
1 - upgrade to homeplug AV, which should improve speeds across the ring main
2 - wait a few days until I get my (previously ordered) new computer with its built in wireless-n card and try that instead of homeplug. (I though that it was about time I upgraded, as my current PC is about 8 years old now, and beginning to show its age a little.)
I suspect that I will try option 2 first, and see how that goes before thinking about spending more money at this time of year!

[#13]

Homeplugs are often much slower than their claimed speeds so I'm not surprised what you are seeing. For normal broadband speeds they are fine (i.e you want be affected by the slow speeds as much) but are often found wanting at FTTC speeds. Even the newer 200Mbs homeplugs get nowhere near that speed.
How far away are you from the router and how many walls / ceiling are between yo and it? Wireless N does have improved range but it does depend on how many walls it has to go through, and how those walls are build (brick / plasterboard etc).

[#14]

There is are a couple of hollow block walls between where I am and the router(unfortunately the house pre-dates plaster board, which is much more wireless friendly). This is somewhat less than ideal - I would have liked to have moved the master socket at the installation time, but although I had read about a "Home Wiring Solution" which would have done the job, the OpenReach engineer hadn't heard of it!
I think that I will wait until next week to see how the wireless-n does before trying anything else.
If that's no good, then its a choice between paying for homeplug AV or a master socket shift (both about the same price, I think!)

[#15]

Just received my new PC and set it up in a test location (further from the router than where it will end up). Despite that, I was still getting close to 30Mbps down and over 8Mbps up via its wireless-n card - and that's with the router set to max out at 72Mbps.
Hopefully the wireless signal will be even better when I put the PC here (need to do a bit of backing up and file transfer before I decommission this one).
Generally quite pleased with the result - certainly better than I was getting via the homeplug - although it could be that the 8 year old PC is also a limiting factor.
MIke