Errors on Unlimited Fibre Extra service

[#1]

I have the above service delivered to my property via overhead line from a telephone pole. The line goes into my loft, and then connected via ordinary telephone wiring (originally installed for analogue extensions) to the Master Socket in the dining room on the ground floor (two story property). This was set up by an Openreach engineer about 4 years ago,

I contracted for the above service, which has a minimum guaranteed rate of 50Mbps, but I am only getting 42Mbps. Openreach tested the line, and saw a LOT of errors. They then tested the exchange, delivery line etc, which all seemed clear, until they got to my loft, and the internal wiring, where they got 'confused' about how everything was connected. Leaving aside the last, would it be unreasonable to expect >50Mbps service where the last 25 meters or so is over ordinary ordinary telephone wiring? Openreach didn't see it and say 'no way', and I don't really want to run another cable between the loft and the dining room unless I REALLY have to.

Thanks

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from ADSL Broadband to Fibre

[#3]

Hi @mobeydick,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with the speeds. I've reviewed the case and have raised a response via the open fault ticket on your account, which can be accessed here. Please let us know once you've had the chance to respond and we'll be happy to pick this back up for review as soon as possible.

[#4]

Thanks for reply. What I was hoping to get from this question, however, is whether it is reasonable to expect a higher speed Internet connection over such a set-up. If not, then no need for an engineer, will just have to either live with a lower speed, or pull in (what I hope is) a higher quality cable.

[#5]

Hiya @mobeydick, thanks for getting back to us.

Due to the way that your wiring is set up, this could mean that you'll struggle to get the expected speeds. If you have extension sockets connected, this could also cause some issues. To be honest, I think to determine if you can achieve the expected speeds with the current set up we are best booking another engineer so we can get their thoughts on this and see if there is anything they can do for you.

If you add a reply on the ticket, just give us a nudge on here and we can pick that up for you.

[#6]

Hmm, Plusnet agree an engineer visit was required, and asked for dates. I provided 3 (earliest this Monday pm). Next I see is that the fault has been cleared (unspecified reason) and all is well! Ticket cleared! They then gave the line speed etc info as 73Mbps (which is, and always has been, the connection speed). However the throughput speed (after restart and several attempts) is now less than 30Mbps! I was complaining that it was 42Mbps, so it has got worse with the fix, so far. MAYBE it will ramp up over the next 24 hours, but I have my doubts...

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Sunday 12 September 2021 | 12:20:21

Ping

26 Ms

Download

28.60 Mbps

Upload

16.68 Mbps

Summary Advanced Test

The system is currently busy. Please try again shortly, however if this problem persists, raise the issue with your service provider.

[#7]

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@mobeydick wrote:

I have the above service delivered to my property via overhead line from a telephone pole. The line goes into my loft, and then connected via ordinary telephone wiring (originally installed for analogue extensions) to the Master Socket in the dining room on the ground floor (two story property). This was set up by an Openreach engineer about 4 years ago,

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Do you need the extension wiring ? Consider asking the Openreach Engineer to install a new line from the telephone pole through the outside wall of the dining room, or somewhere more suitable.

[#8]

They were only willing to install a new line by drilling through the exterior wall from the inside out. This often 'blows' bricks  - making a chunk of the brick fall off - but I have 100 year old render, which may well have fallen off in a big slab. You are supposed to drill from both sides.

I suggested as part of the test that Openreach test a temporary cable run inside the house between loft and master socket, so I would know if this fixed the issue. If it did, I could run the line properly myself, later.

If it showed that a non-interupted line between pole and master socket was needed, I could at least drill the hole in preparation. I do need an analogue extension line for phone and house alarm, but this could come off the master socket, as now (presumably).

[#9]

Hi @mobeydick

I'm really sorry to see you're still having speed issues.

I've looked into this for you and I can see your throughput's restricted at the old sync speed by a profile on our side.

I've increased this profile now to match your new sync speed of around 72mbps. Can you reboot your router and retest? 

Although it's a little worrying you're only getting 30mbps as the profile was previously at 42mbps....

Let us know how it goes.

[#10]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Reset router and this is the result:

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Sunday 12 September 2021 | 17:42:56

Ping

22 Ms

Download

66.70 Mbps

Upload

16.50 Mbps

Which looks hopeful. However, I have seen hi speeds before, which gradually reduce due to high error rates. BT performance tester still shows "Too Busy" for detailed diagnostics.

Anyway, thanks for your help: I  will monitor for a day or so to see what happens.

(Incidentally, I originally started investigating all this due to drop outs ("internet not available") which were frequent enough to make watching BBC iPlayer and other streaming services a bad experience. Never had this until a month or so back. Will also monitor this aspect.)

[#11]

Thanks for getting back to me @mobeydick

I'm glad to see your speed has improved at the moment, keep an eye on it and let us know how it goes.

[#12]

I saw my line had dropped and recovered at 2:30am today, and I suspected a speed drop, but BT Line Test still shows above 50Mbps (slightly down from 63Mbps yesterday):

Summary of Performance Test

Timestamp

Monday 13 September 2021 | 10:22:31

Ping

25 Ms

Download

59.77 Mbps

Upload

16.44 Mbps

I also tried some large file downloads yesterday, and achieved a true throughput over approx 10 minutes of >60Mbps. So the '"many errors" Openreach said they were seeing on the line does not appear to be affecting throughput much.

[#13]

Thanks for the update @mobeydick

I'd recommend keeping an eye on it and let us know how it goes over the next few days.

[#14]

The BT Line Test continues to show a throughput of 58-59Mbps, which is very good compared to what I HAD been getting. Longer duration download tests confirm this a accurate. The line appears to be stable.

So thanks for your help with this.

So, that leaves me with a question: was the only reason I have not had full speed since the beginning of my Extra contract, and the reason that I had to sit indoors waiting for Openreach engineers to trace faults on the line, and stop them drilling holes in my walls, was that there was an incorrect profile set on my line?

Thanks

Mobydick

[#15]

I’m glad to see your line’s holding strong at a good speed. 

The profile on our side should always match the IP profile of the line which in turn is automatically set to between 90-96% of the sync speed so for our profile to have dropped, the IP profile/sync would’ve dropped. 

Sometimes though when a sync speed improves, we can be a little slow to update our profile our side so your throughput is restricted at the previous sync. 

In summary basically we’d have needed an engineering investigation to fix the underlying issue to bring your sync speed up to the level it is now.