Max broadband speed: mine (20) vs neighbour (50)

[#1]

I'm wondering what I am able to do in this situation:

I have a telephone pole in my front drive, both my neighbours and I are connected to it. We are all on Plusnet and when I check my max speed online (via address) it says 20-25, and when I check theirs it's 50-70.

When checking speeds on site he get regularly 45-50, I get circa 20. We are all on Unlimited Fibre Extra.

I'm wondering what could be different that means the expectations and real speeds are so vastly different between the two houses? Where can I follow this up to make my speed to reach the same as theirs?

Appreciate some pointers, I've contacted Plusnet who weren't able to help (focussing on my WiFi instead) and Called BT who don't control the phone lines any longer and just tried to sell me their broadband (I forgot that's now Openreach).

[#2]

Thanks for your post @RandomNameGener and welcome to our Community Forums.

I'm sorry to see you're having speed issues. I'm a little disappointed to be honest with how we've handled things when you've rung. I've tested your line tonight and I'm seeing a range of problems. I've arranged for a bit of feedback to be passed onto the adviser so they'll know what to look out for next time. 

Your speed is firstly artificially restricted by automated software at the cabinet (the green box in the road) at 27.4mbps. There's what's known as a bridge tap detected along with a line issue. 

In addition, the estimated speed range for your line according to Openreach is between 35mbps to 51.4mbps, so just based on this your line's definitely under-performing below where we'd expect.

I'd recommend we arrange an Openreach engineer visit to investigate further. Could you reply to the support ticket I've logged on your account Here with when you'll be available?

If you can post back once you've responded, I'll make sure we book the engineer as soon as we can.

[#3]

Hi, huge thanks for digging into this. I’ve responded on the support thread.

Why would a tap be installed?

[#4]

No problem at all, I've booked the engineer visit and updated the support ticket with the appointment details.

A bridge tap is generally a wiring issue which could be internal or external.

In technical terms, they're what's known as "unterminated wires". Wikipedia could possibly explain it better than I can. 

Let me know how the visit goes

[#5]

What has happened to the good old unplug everything and plug just the router into the test socket via a dangly filter before getting Openreach out? 😀

[#6]

Ideally I agree we should ask that or arrange a Qube engineer (working on behalf of BT) to help, but more often than not I find the test socket doesn’t help resolve bridge tap issues, especially if star wiring is involved. 

Based on that and other issues I’ve seen when testing the line, I figured an Openreach engineer should be able to resolve all the issues detected in one fell swoop, and if the faceplate’s faulty, they’ll replace it.

Also the issue may very well be external so another good reason for arranging an Openreach engineer.

[#7]

Thanks @Anoush  whilst I agree it will give a quicker end result, and good to see a common sense approach  

[#8]

I thought I’d exercise some due diligence and try this but no dice; same result.

[#9]

You say that, but don't include any info - if using the PN router, sight of the Help Desk tab before and after will tell the story.

[#10]

I’ve attached them here, I did a speed test on each with no significant difference between the two. For reference there’s nothing else connected to the phone lines.

edit to images

[#11]

I see no attachments?

[#12]

Re-added them. I needed to scrub details from there.

[#13]

Thanks for the update @RandomNameGener, let us know how the visit goes!

[#14]

Will do - engineer booked for this afternoon (which is itself astonishing) so if there's a fix today that would be incredible.

[#15]

Fingers crossed for you! Hopefully they get this sorted for you.