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Author Topic: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20  (Read 10693 times)

bbnovice

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Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« on: September 30, 2012, 06:32:21 PM »

Hi,

I’m on BT Infinity FTTC on the 40/10 offer. My IP profile is 38.72/10.0 and I’m actually achieving 36.83/8.28 on a consistent basis.

I was tempted by the BT 80/20 free upgrade a while ago, but backed off after reading about lots of issues about this on the BT forums – particularly those customers who now seem to get lower speeds following their upgrade from 40/10 to 80/20.

I’ve now given it a while to settle down and the level of complaints on the BT forums seems to have reduced recently.

Anybody here have any thoughts or advice about the current situation regarding an upgrade to 80/20? It’s not vital for me to do this – but it would be a “nice to have” (particularly as its "free" - sort of!)
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Black Sheep

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2012, 06:54:30 PM »

As you're getting almost full speeds on your current package, I would suggest you will benefit from the upgrade. Go for it.
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Bald_Eagle1

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2012, 08:05:15 PM »

38.72Mb is the maximum IP Profile speed for the 40Mb service (96.79% of sync speed for FTTC services).

Some users who can just achieve the maximum 40Mb have seen DS speeds suffer when switching to 80/20, with maybe a slight increase in US speed.

What is your current speed estimate from BT Speed Estimate & do you have any idea what your attainable rate is (e.g. from an unlocked modem)?
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bbnovice

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2012, 08:37:27 PM »

Thanks for the prompt BE - I do have a BT forecast which I forgot to include in my original post.

The BT forecast is 55/18. I was surprised that the DS rate did not increase as much as I would have expected bearing in mind the US forecast is pretty close to the maximum than could be expected.

Unfortunately I've not been brave enough to unlock the modem yet so don't have any other stats.
   
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Bald_Eagle1

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2012, 09:12:15 PM »

Quite often the estimated speed is rather pessimistic, but not in every case

Unlocking your modem or obtaining a spare one & unlocking it would give you stats such as the following:-

Code: [Select]
Max: Upstream rate = 4980 Kbps, Downstream rate = 34468 Kbps
Path: 0, Upstream rate = 4999 Kbps, Downstream rate = 29010 Kbps

Discovery Phase (Initial) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207) (1972,2783)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963) (2792,3959)
Medley Phase (Final) Band Plan
US: (0,95) (868,1207)
DS: (32,859) (1216,1963)
       VDSL Port Details       Upstream        Downstream
Attainable Net Data Rate:       4980 kbps         34468 kbps
Actual Aggregate Tx Power:        6.3 dBm          12.6 dBm
============================================================================
  VDSL Band Status        U0      U1      U2      U3      D1      D2      D3
  Line Attenuation(dB): 8.3 54.3 75.3   N/A 21.9 64.2 0.1
Signal Attenuation(dB): 8.7 53.7   N/A   N/A 21.9 64.2   N/A
        SNR Margin(dB): 5.5 5.5   N/A   N/A 6.4 6.6   N/A
         TX Power(dBm): -4.4 5.9   N/A   N/A 11.4 6.4   N/A


Clearly, 80/20 is no use for my longer distance connection as I can't even achieve 40Mb.

I have attached an example of a connection that achieves the full 20Mb US sync speed, but only 65.822Mb DS.

We can see that 20Mb US is achieved at lower than tone 2783 (approx 12MHz).
Some DS bitloading is achieved right up to tone 3959 (approx 17MHz).

You connection may be able to achieve most of the 20Mb US, but is perhaps unable to use much (if any) of the higher frequency DS tones, therefore your estimate is only 55Mb DS.

Without access to your own connection stats, particularly the MAX rates (attainable rates), it would be pretty much anyone's guess as to what you would achieve if switching to 80/20.
« Last Edit: September 30, 2012, 09:25:12 PM by Bald_Eagle1 »
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bbnovice

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2012, 09:31:31 PM »

OK. Thanks for the info.

May go for the upgrade as it doesn't cost apart from extending the BT contract.
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Bald_Eagle1

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2012, 09:36:10 PM »


May go for the upgrade as it doesn't cost apart from extending the BT contract.


In the unlikely event that it doesn't work out as an improvement for you, can you easily revert to a 40/10 service without any penalty?
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bbnovice

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2012, 02:47:44 PM »

Don't know if you can revert back from 80/20

I will ask the question
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bbnovice

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2012, 08:22:30 AM »

Hi,

Could not find out if BT would reverse an upgrade if it didn't work out, so took a chance and ordered the upgrade anyway. It happened last night.

The stats are:

Old profile: 38.72/10
Actual achieved: 37/8
BT upgrade forecast: 55/18
New profile: 51.34/20
Actual achieved this morning (BT speed test): 48/9

Note that the actual speeds quoted are through a wired connection using a nearly new high spec PC running Windows 7 (64). 

So the actual speed has fallen short of the forecast. In particular the US speed appears to have hardly improved at all and is only 50% of forecast.

I'm happy to accept this though, as its not cost me anything, but I'm yet another user disappointed by the accuracy of the BT forecaster.

I'll try another speed test later.
   

 
 
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Bald_Eagle1

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2012, 09:28:47 AM »

Working your IP Profile backward, its 96.79% of sync speed works out at just over 53Mb, so not too far out from BT's DS estimate.

I THINK BT's speed estimates relate to sync speed (even though officially there is no way for users to check it on FTTC connections)  ;)
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Black Sheep

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2012, 02:52:12 PM »

Working your IP Profile backward, its 96.79% of sync speed works out at just over 53Mb, so not too far out from BT's DS estimate.

I THINK BT's speed estimates relate to sync speed (even though officially there is no way for users to check it on FTTC connections)  ;)

They are BE. I'm sure there must be some way of getting the stats from the modem ??  :lol:
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Black Sheep

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #11 on: October 03, 2012, 02:58:38 PM »

Hi,

Could not find out if BT would reverse an upgrade if it didn't work out, so took a chance and ordered the upgrade anyway. It happened last night.

The stats are:

Old profile: 38.72/10
Actual achieved: 37/8
BT upgrade forecast: 55/18
New profile: 51.34/20
Actual achieved this morning (BT speed test): 48/9

Note that the actual speeds quoted are through a wired connection using a nearly new high spec PC running Windows 7 (64). 

So the actual speed has fallen short of the forecast. In particular the US speed appears to have hardly improved at all and is only 50% of forecast.

I'm happy to accept this though, as its not cost me anything, but I'm yet another user disappointed by the accuracy of the BT forecaster.

I'll try another speed test later.
   

 
 

A prime example of how BT can't seem to win, whatever they do. The OP has gained approx 10Meg on the DS FOR FREE, and still there's slight dissapointment in an estimate that wasn't too far out.  ???

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bbnovice

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #12 on: October 03, 2012, 04:02:24 PM »



A prime example of how BT can't seem to win, whatever they do. The OP has gained approx 10Meg on the DS FOR FREE, and still there's slight dissapointment in an estimate that wasn't too far out.  ???
[/quote]

I take exception to that. I pointed out quite clearly that I was happy to accept the speed improvement, particularly as it was provided free.

I was particularly focussing on the US forecast speed which I regard as highly inaccurate (even allowing for the usual BT caveats)  - almost 50% out this morning. Over the day the US speed has gradually decreased until it is now the same as it was achieved previously on the old 40/10 profile ie 8. So the actual DS speed is now only 44% of forecast.

If I had been paying for this (eg as  a new user) I would be asking BT some much harder questions.

   
 
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Black Sheep

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2012, 04:49:44 PM »



A prime example of how BT can't seem to win, whatever they do. The OP has gained approx 10Meg on the DS FOR FREE, and still there's slight dissapointment in an estimate that wasn't too far out.  ???

I take exception to that. I pointed out quite clearly that I was happy to accept the speed improvement, particularly as it was provided free.

I was particularly focussing on the US forecast speed which I regard as highly inaccurate (even allowing for the usual BT caveats)  - almost 50% out this morning. Over the day the US speed has gradually decreased until it is now the same as it was achieved previously on the old 40/10 profile ie 8. So the actual DS speed is now only 44% of forecast.

If I had been paying for this (eg as  a new user) I would be asking BT some much harder questions.

   
 
[/quote]

Thats the point, you're not paying for the free upgrade. There hasn't been 24hrs passed since you were upgraded, give it a chance !!!

You don't need to take exception, I am merely pointing out the flip-side of the arguement. BT offer FREE upgrades, and STILL there's unhapiness. As I work for BT, I feel duty bound to leap to their defence especially when they're damned if they do, and damned if they dont. 
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kitz

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Re: Upgrade BT Infinity from 40/10 to 80/20
« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2012, 06:21:56 PM »

I think much of the problem here is that some of the more experienced users are used to being able to see their lines stats and see what is going on.   The router firmware being locked down is a PITA, and the speed estimates being so hit and miss.

Im also hesitant about going on FTTC because I have a horrible feeling that I may find myself in a similar position to BE :(
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