BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

[Overlag]

just a question or two for people that might have an idea whats going on.

Ive had Infinity almost as soon as it become live, had 38mb/2mbit (or was it 1mbit, i cant remember) for a while, then upgraded to Infinity 2 when i could, and was getting 45mb/5-6mb, not bad for my line length.

over the last year or so thats gradually dropped to 24mb/4.5mb sync speeds and both my ISP (Aquiss) and BT seems to think its "fine" for the line, and as long as its working they dont seem interested in helping. Is there anything that i can do to help or get back my line speeds?

I keep thinking about dropping BT altogether and going for VM but i hear horror stories about them.

 

[kindai]

Well BT survey ordered on the 1st for new FTTP pricing. Previously was 3500 + 36 month contract at 300 quid a month or so.

Hoping by being the first in my area (to hoover up the new discount structure), plus the local business subsidy I can get FTTP into my house for ~£1000 cost to me.

 

[MissChief]

just a question or two for people that might have an idea whats going on.

Ive had Infinity almost as soon as it become live, had 38mb/2mbit (or was it 1mbit, i cant remember) for a while, then upgraded to Infinity 2 when i could, and was getting 45mb/5-6mb, not bad for my line length.

over the last year or so thats gradually dropped to 24mb/4.5mb sync speeds and both my ISP (Aquiss) and BT seems to think its "fine" for the line, and as long as its working they dont seem interested in helping. Is there anything that i can do to help or get back my line speeds?

I keep thinking about dropping BT altogether and going for VM but i hear horror stories about them.

Definitely sounds like a fault to me. Ask if Aquiss have run a service test and what the result was. You may need either a DLM reset or perhaps an FTTC3 visit which Aquiss are unlikely to book because it's possibly the most expensive Openreach visit type.

 

[andy_mk3]

just a question or two for people that might have an idea whats going on.

Ive had Infinity almost as soon as it become live, had 38mb/2mbit (or was it 1mbit, i cant remember) for a while, then upgraded to Infinity 2 when i could, and was getting 45mb/5-6mb, not bad for my line length.

over the last year or so thats gradually dropped to 24mb/4.5mb sync speeds and both my ISP (Aquiss) and BT seems to think its "fine" for the line, and as long as its working they dont seem interested in helping. Is there anything that i can do to help or get back my line speeds?

I keep thinking about dropping BT altogether and going for VM but i hear horror stories about them.

It could be a fault. I got fibre as soon as it came out too, and got a solid 40mb connection. Over time this dropped to 16mb.. BTO investigated and found a line fault, so they switched the pair of wires to the cabinet, and fitted a new line from the pole to the house. It was fine for ages but over the years it has dropped to around 28-30mb, which I am told is due to congestion of the cab filling up with fibre connections.

 

[Sparx]

Well BT survey ordered on the 1st for new FTTP pricing. Previously was 3500 + 36 month contract at 300 quid a month or so.

Hoping by being the first in my area (to hoover up the new discount structure), plus the local business subsidy I can get FTTP into my house for ~£1000 cost to me.

@kindai understand prices changed from 1st Feb, what are the prices now for consumers? Survey/upfront/monthly? Never could make out as it was wholesale price I thought on the new OR table.

Also is there an ISP you can order from as a consumer?

 

[kindai]

@kindai understand prices changed from 1st Feb, what are the prices now for consumers? Survey/upfront/monthly? Never could make out as it was wholesale price I thought on the new OR table.

Also is there an ISP you can order from as a consumer?

I'll let you know the pricing when it comes through as an equivalent.

Basically now they front load the build cost, and reduce the monthly contract (from 36 to 12 months) and the monthly contract cost (£150 to <£100).

But, part of it is you get a £700 contribution from OR, £700 for every PON you pass, and £50 for every house you pass from your house to the nearest fibre aggregation node. If you know where your node is, happy days.

So based on the old £3500+£6480 cost, lets knock of £80 a month for the actual internet contract, thats near enough a £7000 investment over 3 years.

Lets frontload that, and see how far I can get it down...

Thats 63 houses, being conservative, there could be another 9 on my street, plus I dont know what the "catchment" is so that could grow. And 2 likely PONs

So 63x50 = 3150 + 700 OR + 1400 PONS = £5250.

£1k from local grant = £850 tab for me to pick up for full 1GBPS capable FTTP.

 

[Swinbag]

Hi all,

Just looking for some support/ direction on an issue with our infinity 2 service if possible;

Basically, we’d been running at ~76 down for 2 years with no issues previously, however in June last year it dropped to ~50 seemingly overnight.

We were also experiencing a number of disconnects each day, probably 2-3 I would guess.

Openreach sent out an engineer who replaced our Master socket with one of the dual-types (5C I believe?)

Since the engineers visit in September, the line is back syncing at ~77 again but we’re still getting a number of disconnects from the internet each day – hard to say how many exactly as I’m out at work but I would guess it’s anywhere from 2-5 per day.

The average DSL uptime whenever I log into the HH5 is never more than 10 hours on average - the hub itself isn't restarting, it's just dropping the connection.

Is there anything I can try or do we need another engineer? Was thinking of binning the home hub in favour of something new, but I’m so far out of the router game I haven’t a clue what’s considered ‘decent’ anymore.

5. DSL uptime: 0 days, 05:22:20
6. Data rate: 19978 / 79903
7. Maximum data rate: 31083 / 78943
8. Noise margin: 12.5 / 3.9
9. Line attenuation: 18.5 / 16.2
10. Signal attenuation: 18.2 / 16.2
11. Data sent/received: 1.2 GB / 17.2 GB
24. Modulation: G.993.2 Annex B

Not sure if the stats will help at all - they go a bit over my head, to be honest - any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated! Cheers.

Update: I've just found that our broadband disconnects whenever the home phone rings - assuming we'll need an openreach engineer?! Feels like I'm back on 56k hah

 

[Caged]

You need a working microfilter

 

[Caged]

I'll let you know the pricing when it comes through as an equivalent.

Basically now they front load the build cost, and reduce the monthly contract (from 36 to 12 months) and the monthly contract cost (£150 to <£100).

But, part of it is you get a £700 contribution from OR, £700 for every PON you pass, and £50 for every house you pass from your house to the nearest fibre aggregation node. If you know where your node is, happy days.

So based on the old £3500+£6480 cost, lets knock of £80 a month for the actual internet contract, thats near enough a £7000 investment over 3 years.

Lets frontload that, and see how far I can get it down...

Thats 63 houses, being conservative, there could be another 9 on my street, plus I dont know what the "catchment" is so that could grow. And 2 likely PONs

So 63x50 = 3150 + 700 OR + 1400 PONS = £5250.

£1k from local grant = £850 tab for me to pick up for full 1GBPS capable FTTP.

My understanding was that the exemptions aren't just giving you money because they have to put a node in - you pay for the full build and then as a recognition that you've made it cheaper for other people to get the service you receive a discount per node installed and per house passed. I'd expect upfront costs to be higher than EAD in pretty much every instance.

 

[kindai]

My understanding was that the exemptions aren't just giving you money because they have to put a node in - you pay for the full build and then as a recognition that you've made it cheaper for other people to get the service you receive a discount per node installed and per house passed. I'd expect upfront costs to be higher than EAD in pretty much every instance.

Theres so many takes on the new pricing, until we get some actual figures its all guesswork.

Soon as I have it in writing, ill be sharing here obviously.

 

[Caged]

Could do with somebody with access to the Openreach Infrastructure Discovery tool to give you a screenshot of your local area with the duct maps on.

Also am I right to believe the initial desktop survey is free of charge, and then the actual survey performed once the order progresses is chargeable if the final price is declined? So you have nothing really to lose by getting it to the desktop survey point.

Are you going with Cerberus or FluidOne?

 

[kindai]

Could do with somebody with access to the Openreach Infrastructure Discovery

Do you know anyone? I know most of the ducting layout anyway, theres just 1 part I am unsure of, and also if I have the aggregation node location correct.

Also am I right to believe the initial desktop survey is free of charge, and then the actual survey performed once the order progresses is chargeable if the final price is declined? So you have nothing really to lose by getting it to the desktop survey point.

Correct

Cerberus

 

[Caged]

I have a couple of people I can ask, will see how I get on. If Cerberus are delivering you a desktop survey though they should have no trouble providing you with a map from the tool.

 

[kindai]

If Cerberus are delivering you a desktop survey though they should have no trouble providing you with a map from the tool.

The survey is provided by OR, Cerebus dont have access to the tool from what I understand as OR dont want people knowing where their major optical nodes are in the streets..

 

[Swinbag]

You need a working microfilter

Phone is plugged into the socket on the 5C plate the openreach engineer installed, was under the impression a MF wasn't needed? There's nothing connected to any other phone sockets in the house...

 

[Caged]

Time for your ISP to raise a fault then. Have you tried in the test socket just to make sure it’s not your wiring?

 

[Overlag]

It could be a fault. I got fibre as soon as it came out too, and got a solid 40mb connection. Over time this dropped to 16mb.. BTO investigated and found a line fault, so they switched the pair of wires to the cabinet, and fitted a new line from the pole to the house. It was fine for ages but over the years it has dropped to around 28-30mb, which I am told is due to congestion of the cab filling up with fibre connections.

Will have to talk to them again and see if they change their mind.

 

[MichaelAwkward]

Anyone elses infinity playing up today? Our Smart Hub is constantly cycling orange flashing, purple flashing, and solid orange lights. Staying connected for 10-15 mins at a time. Just rebooted it and it's connected again now.

 

[Caged]

Are they any issues showing on https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/help-support/local-network-status-checker

 

[Meatball]

Anyone elses infinity playing up today? Our Smart Hub is constantly cycling orange flashing, purple flashing, and solid orange lights. Staying connected for 10-15 mins at a time. Just rebooted it and it's connected again now.

Yep I’m having issues too, W3 area in London.