BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

[Muska]

I’ve recently upgraded to BT FTTP 900, so far the speeds are improved but nowhere near what I was expecting. I’m guaranteed a minimum download speed of 700mbps but all devices I’ve tried are only achieving about 300ish. My upload is perfectly locked at 100+.

Is this normal behaviour as expected for WiFi devices with a BT Smart Hub 2 router?

 

[Brutos]

I’ve recently upgraded to BT FTTP 900, so far the speeds are improved but nowhere near what I was expecting. I’m guaranteed a minimum download speed of 700mbps but all devices I’ve tried are only achieving about 300ish. My upload is perfectly locked at 100+.

Is this normal behaviour as expected for WiFi devices with a BT Smart Hub 2 router?

Are you connecting wireless you will never get full speed. Try connecting wired to the Hub and see what speeds you get.

 

[robj20]

I’ve recently upgraded to BT FTTP 900, so far the speeds are improved but nowhere near what I was expecting. I’m guaranteed a minimum download speed of 700mbps but all devices I’ve tried are only achieving about 300ish. My upload is perfectly locked at 100+.

Is this normal behaviour as expected for WiFi devices with a BT Smart Hub 2 router?

You're hitting the limits of WIFI not your internet connection. Cable as many devices as you can.

What did you upgrade for?

 

[RT123]

Gone with EE - £35 a month for 500mbps (+unlimited data on my SIM) - CS should be similar to PlusNet as they are part of the BT group, I believe?

Are the BT/EE Hubs decent or will I need to upgrade it?

 

[robj20]

Gone with EE - £35 a month for 500mbps (+unlimited data on my SIM) - CS should be similar to PlusNet as they are part of the BT group, I believe?

Are the BT/EE Hubs decent or will I need to upgrade it?

£36.50 a month for 24 months doesn't seem too bad.

 

[RT123]

Just noticed that the BT Wholesale availability on my address says "UG congested duct"

Is this going to cause problems or should it be fixed by my install date (10th)?

 

[batfink]

Are you sure virgin using the Openreach duct? 99.9% of the time they have their own underground network of boxes and ducts (the street boxes labelled CATV are virgin) Very rarely do they use BT boxes and ducts.

100% certain. The houses were built before Virgin installed in this area and the whole street is block paved which makes new cable installs more difficult.

All the streets around me have had channels dug into the tarmac for virgin to lay their cables however they told us that they had an agreement with Openreach to use their ducts so they didn't need to dig up the block paving.

It does seem odd that Openreach have stopped just around the corner with the FTTP install bearing in mind it should be relatively easy to get fibre to the houses due to the ducts.

 

[Muska]

Are you connecting wireless you will never get full speed. Try connecting wired to the Hub and see what speeds you get.

You're hitting the limits of WIFI not your internet connection. Cable as many devices as you can.

What did you upgrade for?

Thanks both. I’ve no issue with a wired connection, and what I’m getting over WiFi isn’t an issue, I just wasn’t sure what to expect.

Thanks for the replies

 

[cliffy]

How did you manage to get the 1.6Gbps for that price?

Sorry thats a typo, should say £64. The rest is correct though

 

[killsta]

Issues with backhaul performance/migration and customer service going downhill quick.

I'm on Zen FTTP and never had an issue with performance or latency. Can't say I've really had to use CS though!

 

[WJA96]

I'm on Zen FTTP and never had an issue with performance or latency. Can't say I've really had to use CS though!

There are effectively two means that Zen get your data to/from the ‘internet’ - one is their own, and one they share with Openreach and their own one can be extremely troublesome. I’ve not had it myself but plenty of Zen users have complained bitterly about it. Where it’s good, it’s great. Where it’s not good, it’s very bad apparently.

 

[ChrisD.]

I'm on Zen FTTP and never had an issue with performance or latency. Can't say I've really had to use CS though!

As mentioned they have two backhauls, one is their own and they are migrating users to it. They migrated me and as a result my ping to London went from 6ms to over 20ms, and I struggled with consistent pings/speeds afterwards. CS attitude was '20ms is perfectly fine and your speed is above our maximum, go away'. I managed to get out of my contract as they broke Ts&Cs by changing my connection for the worse without informing me. I moved to Aquiss and all the issues magically went away. I suspect they've invested heavily in their own network and want to reduce their BTW usage hence the migrations.

With that said, some people have been migrated and their connection is perfectly fine, and Zen CS is a step above the likes of Vodafone/TalkTalk etc, so if you don't perceive any issue then don't go looking for any.

 

[Broken Hope]

You're hitting the limits of WIFI not your internet connection. Cable as many devices as you can.

What did you upgrade for?

Funny because my WiFi has no trouble downloading at over 1Gb.

5GHz with 160MHz channels

 

[robj20]

Funny because my WiFi has no trouble downloading at over 1Gb.

5GHz with 160MHz channels

Why is it funny?
WiFi is hugely dependent on environment.
What if they are using 5ghz 40 width, or even 2.4ghz, or in the other room, or in the garden.

 

[Broken Hope]

Why is it funny?
WiFi is hugely dependent on environment.
What if they are using 5ghz 40 width, or even 2.4ghz, or in the other room, or in the garden.

Because you said he’s hitting the limits of WiFi like WiFi gets no faster than 300Mb and that’s all anyone should expect from it which isn’t the case.

Even 80MHz channels will do 600-800Mb.

 

[WJA96]

Funny because my WiFi has no trouble downloading at over 1Gb.

5GHz with 160MHz channels

It’s REALLY unlikely. You’re probably looking at the simplex figure (the one they quote on the box and advertising). Your actual throughput is probably half the number you think it is. What kind of access point/WiFi router are you running?

 

[robj20]

Because you said he’s hitting the limits of WiFi like WiFi gets no faster than 300Mb and that’s all anyone should expect from it which isn’t the case.

Even 80MHz channels will do 600-800Mb.

He is hitting the limits of WIFI.
It's a limitation of WiFi that's holding back the speed, the limitation being most likely wifis susceptibility to environmental factors.
Even sat next to my AP like touching it I don't get the theoretical max speed. Sync speed might look impressive but that's not the same as actual throughput.

Edit: WJA96 beat me to it.

 

[Broken Hope]

It’s REALLY unlikely. You’re probably looking at the simplex figure (the one they quote on the box and advertising). Your actual throughput is probably half the number you think it is. What kind of access point/WiFi router are you running?

I’m not confused by sync speed.

I’m using an ASUS ax86U I know how much they are disliked on here but works fine for me.

 

[WJA96]

Not being smart or anything but always test your WiFi slightly away from the antenna because it has a wavelength and if you’re inside the initial wavelength then you have to wait for a signal to bounce off something and get reflected back to you.

While the wavelength of 5GHz is only 6cm if you’re closer than 6cm then you’re in a dead zone as far as direct transmission is concerned. 90cm is perfect for testing 2.4GGz, 5GHz and 5GHz traffic. So not too close to your router!

 

[robj20]

I’m not confused by sync speed.

I’m using an ASUS ax86U I know how much they are disliked on here but works fine for me.

What speed is your internet connection?