Broadband Speed, Am I Being BS'ed?
Broadband Speed, Am I Being BS'ed?
Author
Discussion

GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
quotequote all
Hi all, upgraded my broadband yesterday from ADSL to Fibre, I was getting about 5-6MB/s with the ADSL, checking today it's absolutely the same, no increase in speed whatever. Also upgraded the router yesterday.

Phoned my ISP's technical support line, after 20 minutes on hold I was told that it was common for fibre to need time to "settle in" and it would become faster over the next 10 days or so.

It doesn't seem plausible to me, but I don't want to argue about it till I find out more, so over to you all, is this a reasonable explanation?

Thanks in advance.

boxst

3,806 posts

176 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
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What does http://dslchecker.bt.com say your speed should be? Just because it is Fibre (assuming FTTC) doesn't mean you'll get a speed increase.

GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
quotequote all
Looks like it should be 11.4-19.2 for VDSL Range A (clean) if I'm interpreting the table properly.

I did check whether there was an improvement in speed before ordering the upgrade...

boxst

3,806 posts

176 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
quotequote all
Fibre does take up to 10 days to settle down. It is really important to not switch off your modem during this time as the exchange monitors your line and if it sees errors (and a disconnection is an error) it will reduce the speed.


Gary C

15,352 posts

210 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
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Have you actually connected a VDSL router ?

Yes, VDSL can take time to settle, it should train when you turn on the modem, learn what spectrum is available. It then uses these channels to send and receive data. However, because external noise is often transient, this first attempt, is likely not to be able to reject all the noise your line may experience.

Normally it first syncs higher, then tends to drop back as errors are clocked to maintain a working noise margin. It may just knock back a few of the frequencies it uses to transmit data, but if its bad enough, it will start using more effective (and slower) noise rejection strategies. If the DLM in the cabinet kncks your speed back, it can take quite a while of low noise for the speed to recover as its designed to be quick to react to noise and slow to ease back to higher speeds. Somtimes it can even detect enough noise to drop your line onto a semi-permanent noise rejection strategy that needs the provider to do a reset at the local cabinet to resolve.

Whats your router ? You may be able to see the stats from it and determine what type of connection your getting.

Edited by Gary C on Saturday 20th July 18:32


Edited by Gary C on Saturday 20th July 18:33

Leicester Loyal

5,056 posts

153 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
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Give it a few days to sort itself out.

GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
quotequote all
Yes, I have a VDSL router. Since I'm only about 100m from the cabinet and I've a relatively clean line I was hoping for better. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

The_Jackal

4,854 posts

228 months

Saturday 20th July 2019
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Who is your ISP?

GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Plusnet.

Been with them 8 years and no issues at all with ADSL service, just very disappointed with this "improved" upgrade, not even close to hitting their minimum guaranteed speed and no sign of any increase in speed, hovering around 6MB/s since yesterday and I've been checking every 4-5 hrs, fastest 6.4 (today) and slowest 5.3 yesterday afternoon... same as I was getting with ADSL.

snuffy

13,436 posts

315 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
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I'm with Plusnet and about 100-200 yards (depends how the wire goes) from the cabinet and I got 70meg on the day it was installed. Before I got about 16meg on ADSL. Now I get about 50meg for some odd reason.

Mr Pointy

13,430 posts

190 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
GordonL said:
Plusnet.

Been with them 8 years and no issues at all with ADSL service, just very disappointed with this "improved" upgrade, not even close to hitting their minimum guaranteed speed and no sign of any increase in speed, hovering around 6MB/s since yesterday and I've been checking every 4-5 hrs, fastest 6.4 (today) and slowest 5.3 yesterday afternoon... same as I was getting with ADSL.
When I switched from ADSL to FTTC a couple of years ago the speed increase was immediate. The line dropped (Zen told me which day the change was happening) & when it came back up I was flying. I guess you have rebooted the router?

Can you get any Line Sync information out of the router you are using? It should tell you what speed you are synced at.

Stick your phone number into the Zen checker to see what they reckon you can get:
https://www.zen.co.uk/

bimsb6

8,802 posts

252 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
GordonL said:
Hi all, upgraded my broadband yesterday from ADSL to Fibre, I was getting about 5-6MB/s with the ADSL, checking today it's absolutely the same, no increase in speed whatever. Also upgraded the router yesterday.

Phoned my ISP's technical support line, after 20 minutes on hold I was told that it was common for fibre to need time to "settle in" and it would become faster over the next 10 days or so.

It doesn't seem plausible to me, but I don't want to argue about it till I find out more, so over to you all, is this a reasonable explanation?

Thanks in advance.
Speeds can bounce around a bit for the first few days but increase should be immediate unless there is a wiring problem .

caelite

4,282 posts

143 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
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boxst said:
What does http://dslchecker.bt.com say your speed should be? Just because it is Fibre (assuming FTTC) doesn't mean you'll get a speed increase.
That is the problem with UK infrastructure, much of our rural fibre network is in fact FTTN with direct copper lines to the exchange (with 500-2000m spans), rather than FTTC, which requires a cabinet on the street and a ~200m copper span. In my opinion it's typical government infrastructure mismanagement that causes this, the strive to have 99.9% of UK households on fibre & the grants provided to do so means providers push to build fibre only in name, rather than upgrading networks in a meaningful way.

Upgrading from ADSL2+ to FTTN can actually be detrimental in many ways as fibre is more susceptible to interference from deteriorated copper lines, meaning fibre upgrades can often lead to negligible speed increases, but reduction in connection quality in rural areas.

NiceCupOfTea

25,607 posts

282 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
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How are you checking your speed?

Are you doing through a wired or wireless connection?

What is your router?

I am getting some shocking latency issues but I think they are caused by the plusnet router.

Crafty_

14,220 posts

231 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
The "settling down" is actually called DLM - here is a bit of info on how it works and what it does https://support.zen.co.uk/kb/Knowledgebase/Fibre-O...

It is entirely possible that your connection speed will improve over the next couple of weeks.


GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Checking speed with the BT web page, direct ethernet connection to the router. I tried removing the filter to check if that made a difference, but nope.
I can understand that there will be a bit of speed variation but I think over 100% is fairly unlikely.

Crafty_

14,220 posts

231 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Mine started around the 20mb mark if I remember correctly, ended up mid-high 30s.

As someone said don't screw around disconnecting/reconnecting taking filters in and out, it can confuse DLM and artificially cap your speed.

parabolica

7,020 posts

215 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Did Plusnet send you out a new router when you upgraded? They did with me and I instantly went from 3mb to 35 on the day it went live, and that was using their router. 3 years in and I'm still using it; I had planned to buy my own but this one has been utterly reliable.

Gary C

15,352 posts

210 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Try to log in to your router.

It should have a diagnostics page. This will often state your sync speed and your operating speed.

If they are different, the DLM has reduced your speed to maintain an adequate noise margin.

What is your modem/router model ?

GordonL

Original Poster:

276 posts

232 months

Sunday 21st July 2019
quotequote all
Yes, it's a new router, it's a "Plusnet" FC92 apparently.

I only disconnected once to check the filter early yesterday morning, it's been undisturbed for 36hrs now.

I'll log in and see what I can find now, thanks.