BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

[TJM]

Yeah I've always been quite impressed because it's definitely on the upper end of what that distance should be achieving. The line is on a Huawei cabinet with an Openreach filtered faceplate.

You might have a lucky lack of crosstalk. My line was about 650-700m and hitting 50Mbps before Hyperoptic was installed in my block. A neighbour who has stuck with FTTC is now syncing at just over 65Mbps - he probably has the new 50 pair cable that was run from my block to the cabinet to himself.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Also what stats do people on here get with a Line attenuation of 15/16 dB? (It should be a 350-400m line) As since the last time Zen requested (Two weeks ago) a reset on my line its been on a 6.1 dB SNR target which has lost a bit more sync speed.

I've got a great quality line, I get the full 80/20 at 440m. It only runs past a few houses under ground which I think helps keeps the noise down on the line. I ordered on the day it went live and the initial maximum rate was 115Mbps @ 6db noise margin but cross talk started to knock that down as more people moved to it.

I can get FTTP now but waiting to see what the prices are like for 1000/500Mbps when they are available at the end of March. I can't see many folk swapping to FTTP near by as I assume all the houses get the full 80/20 on FTTC.

                     Downstream                            Upstream
Link Rate            79999 Kbps                            19999 Kbps
Line Attenuation     D0( 10.2) D1( 23.3) D2( 35.4) dB      U0( 5.0) U1( 19.5) U2( 28.6) U3(N/A) U4(N/A) dB
Noise Margin         D0( 3.4) D1( 3.4) D2( 3.4) dB         U0( 17.9) U1( 15.4) U2( 15.6) U3(N/A) U4(N/A) dB
VDSL2 Profile        Profile 17a

 

[Caged]

You might have a lucky lack of crosstalk. My line was about 650-700m and hitting 50Mbps before Hyperoptic was installed in my block. A neighbour who has stuck with FTTC is now syncing at just over 65Mbps - he probably has the new 50 pair cable that was run from my block to the cabinet to himself.

There's probably some truth to that, this area has blanket Virgin Media coverage except for about 5 houses (which includes mine).

 

[digitalwolf]

I have approached AA ISP, as Zen have now released me from my contract and will be offering a full refund.

So, while I need a tempory service while waiting on the one of the new lines I will see what they can do.

Also what stats do people on here get with a Line attenuation of 15/16 dB? (It should be a 350-400m line) As since the last time Zen requested (Two weeks ago) a reset on my line its been on a 6.1 dB SNR target which has lost a bit more sync speed.

My line syncs at 67/20 with 17.1db attenuation.

SNR is still 6db currently, waiting for DLM to reduce it after a recent ISP change.

100% BT round here so plenty of crosstalk.

 

[RSR]

Just placed the order with AA ISP to move my Internet away from Zen, so i'll see how this goes. I've just been looking over my order history and I have been with Zen since 2006

 

[Deleted member 138126]

Just placed the order with AA ISP to move my Internet away from Zen, so i'll see how this goes. I've just been looking over my order history and I have been with Zen since 2006

Why are you moving away from Zen?

 

[RSR]

Why are you moving away from Zen?

They are unable to fix my FTTC connection, as it was running at 80/20 stable for years but since October my speeds have rapidly decreased to the point my line now running at 47/20 which is only 7Mb off a 50% decrease in speed. After 9 BT engineers, they all report the line as working perfectly but they are unable to work out why my line has dropped, and I have been told this is the best I will now get on the line.

While I am waiting on my site survey to be completed for the final FTTPoD costs and I have the leased line costs ready to go, I have been recommended AA ISP from several different people to see if they are able to correct the issue.

 

[MissChief]

They are unable to fix my FTTC connection, as it was running at 80/20 stable for years but since October my speeds have rapidly decreased to the point my line now running at 47/20 which is only 7Mb off a 50% decrease in speed. After 9 BT engineers, they all report the line as working perfectly but they are unable to work out why my line has dropped, and I have been told this is the best I will now get on the line.

While I am waiting on my site survey to be completed for the final FTTPoD costs and I have the leased line costs ready to go, I have been recommended AA ISP from several different people to see if they are able to correct the issue.

Did you ask them for a New Line Provide or using your existing line?

 

[RSR]

Did you ask them for a New Line Provide or using your existing line?

Use the existing one for the moment.

 

[Avalon]

Use the existing one for the moment.

I really hope you don't live to regret that choice, personally i'd have insisted on a re-pull (new line) with Zen, but that's just me.

 

[RSR]

I really hope you don't live to regret that choice, personally i'd have insisted on a re-pull (new line) with Zen, but that's just me.

I can always go back to them, as I’m not tied down to a contract with AA ISP.

Another nail in the coffin though was I had zero Internet from 10PM odd till the early hours of the morning. Not helpful when you are on call this week.

If it all goes to plan, I’ll do away with the BT line but if not I’ll have another line installed.

 

[Orcvader]

Anyone else still using the Huawei HG612 modem? Due to an issue I had to have an engineer visit, and after he left I decided to recheck my equipment. I noticed the BT HH6 actually syncs higher than the HG612, with a significant difference of 63mb compared to 55mb download, and 20mb upload to 17mb. Not sure if it's due to me being on an ECI cabinet. Decided to use the HH6 for now since I really only used a 3rd party router for using my own DNS, but I can configure that device side.

 

[Bluecube]

Anyone else still using the Huawei HG612 modem? Due to an issue I had to have an engineer visit, and after he left I decided to recheck my equipment. I noticed the BT HH6 actually syncs higher than the HG612, with a significant difference of 63mb compared to 55mb download, and 20mb upload to 17mb. Not sure if it's due to me being on an ECI cabinet. Decided to use the HH6 for now since I really only used a 3rd party router for using my own DNS, but I can configure that device side.

Yes, I use one hooked for Sky Fibre hooked up to an Asus AC88U. I've no techy details but I get 90/20Mb being very close to the cabinet.

(As an aside, I just tried to do a speedtest and I'm only getting 40/20! Probably the BT engineers faffing about as they install super fast fibre)

 

[V_R]

Yep still use an unlocked one with an Asus 86U, super stable bit of kit for me. (Huawei cabinet)

 

[Armadillo]

I use one. My line syncs at around the same speed with whatever, but I've always found the hg612 to be far more stable. I did try out the Sky Q hub for a bit when I first went to sky, but hg612 was still better. Longest I ever saw the sky box hold onto the connection was about two weeks and would occasionally resync in bad weather (no speed lost, just a resync).

Hg612 rarely drops sync and it's not unusual to see sync times of 30+ days. So went back to my old setup of it +hh5 flashed with openwrt.

 

[RSR]

Another update from Cerberus today:

Current Status: Currently awaiting Mobile Planner to be assigned to survey. Next Steps: We will monitor and update progress.Next review: 28/02/20

Also my current line is due to migrate from Zen Internet to AA ISP shortly. I do have to give Zen some credit, they have given me a full refund from October as I paid upfront for the year. I have also given AA a heads up about the line and they do fill me with some confidence of fixing the line.

Edit: BT Openreach phoned this morning site survey is next week.

 

[MissChief]

Another update from Cerberus today:

Current Status: Currently awaiting Mobile Planner to be assigned to survey. Next Steps: We will monitor and update progress.Next review: 28/02/20

Also my current line is due to migrate from Zen Internet to AA ISP shortly. I do have to give Zen some credit, they have given me a full refund from October as I paid upfront for the year. I have also given AA a heads up about the line and they do fill me with some confidence of fixing the line.

That will involve Openreach again most likely, although their tech guys are supposed to be very good.

 

[RSR]

Yea I am fully aware of that, at least this time I should have a indiction of where the problem maybe, rather than finding a needle in a haystack.

 

[polomint]

Yea I am fully aware of that, at least this time I should have a indiction of where the problem maybe, rather than finding a needle in a haystack.

If it's any help...

...after multiple visits from multiple Openreach engineers (some more than once). Cable replaced from the socket to the box in the eaves (GT6 or something?), dropwire reterminated at the pole end (whilst a supervisor looked on). The dropwire was apparently some old school cable that they didn't want to replace. Well anyway, they decided they needed a REIN expert. He had a super special testing box supposedly and this traced the fault to where the 'old school' drop wire had rubbed through and when it was wet the signal was degrading or completely dropping out. Until then they kept looking elsewhere for the fault.

This was on a Zen FTTC connection.

 

[RSR]

If it's any help...

...after multiple visits from multiple Openreach engineers (some more than once). Cable replaced from the socket to the box in the eaves (GT6 or something?), dropwire reterminated at the pole end (whilst a supervisor looked on). The dropwire was apparently some old school cable that they didn't want to replace. Well anyway, they decided they needed a REIN expert. He had a super special testing box supposedly and this traced the fault to where the 'old school' drop wire had rubbed through and when it was wet the signal was degrading or completely dropping out. Until then they kept looking elsewhere for the fault.

This was on a Zen FTTC connection.

That's quite helpful, I have been wondering if it was something along those lines. I did ask about REIN and it was always dismissed every time as I don't really have disconnected but its dropping speeds as of today, I am down to 46Mb.

The local OpenReach Site surveyor phoned for the FTTPoD install today and it’s all been booked for next week, so this should be interesting to see what he says.

OpenReach did email and had the following update today:

Thanks for getting in touch with us about fibre broadband availability in your area.

I've looked into your query and can see that the cabinet that you're connected to hasn't yet been upgraded for fibre broadband.

The good news is that your postcode is in our plans to install our Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) technology in this area. This is a complex technology for us to install, but it delivers ultrafast speeds.

If all goes according to the plan and we don't come across any unexpected surprises, we hope to complete the work and start taking orders by December 2020. But I should add that this is likely to change if we come across any issues along the planned cable route.

My advice to you is to keep checking our website for updates. When FTTP is available and orders can be accepted, the information will be shown here:

https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre