Hi All,
Just an update from my discussions with Plusnet today:-
There is no further progress
What a crying shame I hear you say. He'll be around for a bit longer mithering us to death then.
I am now achieving 22 Mb downloads which is more than my originally estimated speed of 14.6 Mb, so tough!
That is apparently
quite good for a line length of 5283 m. Does that length ring a bell
Walter?
It is the figure that Plusnet quoted to me today, just to prove I have a long line & my expectations are too high
Plusnet have not capped my profile. It is currently being reported via Plusnet as 20 - 30 Mb, even though they say it is set at 37 Mb at their end.
When I mentioned that their own ticket system had previously reported it as 20 - 40 Mb, the response was that it does go up & down
a bit. I fully accept that comment, but by 11 Mb or so?
Plusnet don't know or apparently care why my speeds have dropped. They were more than I should have been achieving anyway.
They are certainly a lot more than my previous 1 Mb via ADSL. I don't believe that to be a fair comparison from a technical support staff member.
I can request another engineers visit though, to do the tests that the "special" engineer should have done on Tuesday (when I waited at home all day for nobody to turn up), & again yesterday when the "special" engineer just replaced the BT modem & let me see the stats that we can't normally see because the BT modems are locked/disabled.
I may have to pay £144 + VAT for this visit though, if the engineer can't find a fault.
Well, if the engineers don't actually run the "right" tests, they obviously won't find any faults.
BT have not capped my profile either. My current 22-23 Mb speed is proof that I cannot achieve anything faster?
Do I still have an intermittent fault? I won't know until I lose connection or experince a crackly phone line again.
I suspect I still do have though as no "special" tests or work has been carried out on my line.
By "special", I mean at least the TDR test that the "special" engineer could have/should have carried out yesterday.
I had no idea at the time that the JDSU that he had in in hands could have at least carried out that test.
Has the new & improved version 2B BT modem "fixed" everything? I don't know, maybe (apart from my speeds).
Have I ever achieved decent speeds? Yes, as confirmed by Plusnet viewing my speed test in their ticket system.
Have BT ever proved that I have ever achieved decent speeds? Yes, as I confirmed in Plusnet's forum
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,96832.0.htmlThere it is
razpag. The proof that I have searched for high & low!!!! I suspect you were beginning to think that I had never really synced at anything over 30 Mb.
It actually got better than that for a good few days. I didn't keep checking speeds then though, beacuse everying internet-wise was instant.
I might have to edit the very last sentence in that post, regarding the accuracy of Plusnet's availability checker.
What I meant
at that time was at least it showed I could have FTTC, when the providers, BT, were saying it wasn't even available for me.
Can Plusnet examine their own logs of my decent connections as proof? No, they were auto deleted when BT reset my profile last week.
Do I really have a line length of 5283 m? Maybe, right back to the exchange (for phone purposes only)
What is my reported line length for FTTC broadband purposes? BT & Plusnet don't know. I estimate around 800 m or less from driving the route of the overhead cables that I can see to the cabinet (PCP 51) that BT have confirmed I am connected to.
What line length does my attenuation of 30.2 dB & SNR of 5.9 dB downstream suggest? Plusnet don't know. I can't ask BT as I'm not allowed to speak to them & I don't know how it is calculated for FTTC
How do BT & ISPs estimate likely speeds before signing up for FTTC? I don't know, Plusnet don't know except that "various" factors are taken into account. Maybe BT know, but are just keeping it a secret.
Do I need to consider the effect of interleaving now? Not at the moment. I have seen today's Plusnet report that confirms it is OFF for both uploads & downloads.
My neighbour, in the other half of the semi that I live in, does NOT have FTTC installed. Ah, good, what line length is reported for her ADSL connection? 5283 m. Well at least that proves that BT & ISPs are using irrelevant figures for estimating FTTC speeds, or does it? It is the length that Plusnet quoted to me today, so it must be, musn't it?
Is this whole thing an exact science? It would appear not at the moment, at least as far as those providing the service between them are concerned.
Are there many others in a similar position to me? I don't know, but I would imagine so, apart from those who live next to the FTTC cabinets.
Will this thing ever get resolved? Hopefully, given time.
Is it really the big deal that I have made it out to be? I think so, a loss of 10 - 12 Mb download speeds seems too significant to ignore.
Are download speeds guaranteed & stable. Absolutely not.
Why not? Too many variables. Even someone switching on a hair dryer or their flashing Christmas tree lights next door can have an effect.
Does my neighbour switch hers on a stupid o' clock in the morning & cause my disconnections? I have never heard the hairdryer & it's the middle of summer FGS.
Is this a waste of time? I hope not for my personal case & I hope that once I have all the answers it may be of
some help for others in similar situations.
Is there a reliable database of FTTC real user achievable speeds & connection statistics? I have not managed to find one. I might start one off with a link to Kitz.co.uk.
Obtaining connection stats is probably the biggest hurdle, unless you collar the friendly engineer when he installs FTTC, or turns up to "repair" your faults.
Why are the BT modems disabled for obtaining connection stats. I don't know. Maybe it is just to make it too hard to prove you have a sub-standard connection?
Thanks all for tolerating this ranting & rambling from me (for now).
Paul.