36Mbps vs 76Mbps

ic1male · 9 Jul 2013 at 16:06

I see fibre ISPs are touting 76Mb as the top speed available. I'm just wondering what are the technical reasons behind me only getting a top speed of 36Mbps whereas my mum can get 76Mb? Is there something "missing" at my local cabinet or is it still to do with the distance (this time being how far from the cabinet rather than the exchange as was the case with ADSL2+).

bremen1874 · 9 Jul 2013 at 16:22

Distance still counts for a lot (as you mention to the cabinet rather than the exchange). Or you could just be in an area that hasn't been upgraded yet (assuming they still exist).

If you have the older Huawei HG612 modem you can unlock it and see what the line is actually capable of. There's a thread about it here.

KIA · 9 Jul 2013 at 17:06

You are far from the cabinet.

dave28 · 9 Jul 2013 at 17:15

Yea its the distance, now all the harcore online gamers are despirately trying to get houses within a mile of the exchanges to get very high quality fast internet.

ic1male · 9 Jul 2013 at 17:26

I found an online check thing which says I only get an uplift of 2.9 on my cabinet (2.9 * 14Mbps gives around 40Mbps which is right around the 36Mbps mark).

So it seems this "uplift" figure can vary according to cabinet. Anyone know what that actually signifies? I know it represents the speed increase over ADSL2+ but why is it not the same for every cabinet?

KIA · 9 Jul 2013 at 18:10

Uplift is a rough figure. It varies because not everyone is the same distance from cab & exchange.

glenimp617 · 9 Jul 2013 at 19:35

Just to let you know I am around 60m from the green cabinet and get sustained downloads of 80.5mb

upload is 19.5mb

That's with sky, not sure it matters?

Orcvader · 9 Jul 2013 at 19:47

dave28 said:
Yea its the distance, now all the harcore online gamers are despirately trying to get houses within a mile of the exchanges to get very high quality fast internet.

For FTTC it's about getting within a mile of the cabinet instead of the exchange

.

The cable between your home and the cabinet is still copper/aluminium OP, and this is now the main factor affecting your speed. The further you are away from the cabinet, the slower speeds you'll get.

I'm about 500m straight line distance (and I know actual wire length is much longer as it zigzags around the road :rolleyes:

) and I get 33mb down/7mb up.

BT will be trialling vectoring later this year however to try increase speeds across these metal lines, which should give those who are far from the cabinet much better speeds.

monkeyspank · 10 Jul 2013 at 09:16

ic1male said:
I see fibre ISPs are touting 76Mb as the top speed available. I'm just wondering what are the technical reasons behind me only getting a top speed of 36Mbps whereas my mum can get 76Mb? Is there something "missing" at my local cabinet or is it still to do with the distance (this time being how far from the cabinet rather than the exchange as was the case with ADSL2+).

There are different packages too. eg - you might be on BT infinity 1 and your mum is on BT infinity 2. Sky have two tiers as well - 38Mb and, for ten pounds more per month, 76Mb

ic1male · 10 Jul 2013 at 10:51

monkeyspank said:
There are different packages too. eg - you might be on BT infinity 1 and your mum is on BT infinity 2. Sky have two tiers as well - 38Mb and, for ten pounds more per month, 76Mb

No, it's not that. Neither of us are on fibre yet. Those are the theoretical top speeds we get in the line checker.

monkeyspank · 10 Jul 2013 at 10:59

Ah yes, sorry

ci_newman · 11 Jul 2013 at 09:07

ic1male said:
No, it's not that. Neither of us are on fibre yet. Those are the theoretical top speeds we get in the line checker.

In which case it is purely down to the distances involved between your house and the cabinet. The speed estimates do seem to be on the conservative side though, so you may find that you'd get closer to 40Mbps (I was estimated 60Mbps, actually get 75Mbps)

ic1male · 11 Jul 2013 at 10:30

What about the cabinet needing some work? IIRC, when BT Infinity first came out everyone could top out at 36Mbps. Then they brought Infinity 2 which doubled the speed. So maybe my cabinet has not been upgraded to this 2nd fibre stage whereas my mum's has?

KIA · 11 Jul 2013 at 13:00

ic1male said:
What about the cabinet needing some work? IIRC, when BT Infinity first came out everyone could top out at 36Mbps. Then they brought Infinity 2 which doubled the speed. So maybe my cabinet has not been upgraded to this 2nd fibre stage whereas my mum's has?

Not the case. Profile 17a has been available to everyone for a while.

ic1male · 11 Jul 2013 at 13:03

I went on a hunt this morning trying to find cabinet 5. LOL. I found cabinet 8 just down the road but 5's whereabouts is eluding me.

joelk2 · 11 Jul 2013 at 13:14

distance counts for everything.

i currently live close to the cabinet and get 70down 20up.

the wife was looking at a new house that she likes and when i checked, they are connected to the same cabinet so still gets FTTC yet the expected speed is 3.5down and 0.5up

StonedPenguin · 11 Jul 2013 at 13:22

Just moved into new house with cab literally 5 meters from my house, Sky fibre 40mb.
The house had to have a completely new line installed as there had never been one in before, only vm. The engy tested the new line and said it was capable of 104mb

Is the 80mb fttc from sky £10 a month more than the 40?