Made the Move to FTTC

Ardua · Apr 11, 2012, 13:58:03

Decision day came a couple of weeks ago when my FTTC cabinet was enabled - one of the first on the WMMAL exchange. I agonised over which ISP to choose for FTTC and after listing the pros and cons for the millionth time I veered towards a move to BT Infinity. I phoned BT a couple of times and differing advice should have made me question my decision. However, the price and the goodies on offer seduced me into placing an order. I then started getting e-mails asking me to do 'this and that' to set up accounts etc but when I tried I was asked for an order number that I didn't have and/or the system did not recognise my secret password. After an hour or so on the phone, I cancelled the order which I have to say was done incredibly efficiently. They obviously get a lot of practice! One short e-mail to IDNet and my fibre order was completed earlier today. I still get account e-mails from BT which is a small price to pay for my lucky escape.

This morning I had the pleasure of 2 OR engineers and the installation went well until the senior engineer left. All that 'tyro' was left to do was plug in the modem and test the connection using a hub that he had with him. Things didn't go well and he took to his phone out into the garden to seek advice. After 10 minutes he came back - armed with his laptop - to show me that my order did not include 'engineer install'. A quick test of the socket 'Passed OK' and he was off. He didn't give me to time to explain that an IDNet name and password might be needed. I am sure that he will learn as he does more non-BT installs.

As I was left with a modem and a few cables, I elected to go straight for my trusty Fritz!Box - Eureka. I have a 40/10 connection with a max attainable downstream of 124.4 and upstream of 32.86, Profile 17a, downstream SNR of 28 and LA of 9 and upstream SNR of 22. The CRC error rate is .02 rather than .2 min and I have a Ping of 8. Looks like a pretty good connection to me. The only downside of using a FB (which is also a DECT base station ) is that I have lost CLI on my phone line.

Steve · Apr 11, 2012, 15:30:13

I had similar problems once the engineer arrived at home, he did however connect the modem but was most concerned re the lack of a BT HomeHub, after giving him several reassuring pats on the head I managed to convince him that the billion 7800N would work fine as a router. I think he still left puzzled as to how I managed to get an internet connection.

psp83 · Apr 11, 2012, 18:01:15

I was lucky, the one that installed my modem knew how the 7800n worked and had no problems connecting it to the router

Quote from: Ardua on Apr 11, 2012, 13:58:03I have a Ping of 8.

Don't get used to this ping though, it will change.

From what I've seen and heard, alot of people start with a low ping and it increases slowly over a period of time.

Mine started at 10ms, then went to 30ms+ now its around 19ms.

joe · Apr 12, 2012, 08:38:53

psp83 is right to suggest your initial euphoria will be tempered over time.

when I first joined the 80/20 trial on 10th Feb my speedtest.net results were

d'ld: 74.88 u'ld: 16.98 ping: 15 isp: IDNET server: Milton Keynes

today:

d'ld is dropping and continuing to do so.

A couple of other points about speedtest.net - isp is now called Infinity Developments with 3 stars and not idnet with 5 stars - Why?

At the beginning of this week I lost all my previous results with speedtest, hence writing out the 10th Feb set - i never had to log into speedtest in the past but now I do.

Steve · Apr 12, 2012, 08:44:45

IDNet and Infinity Developments are one and the same - http://www.idnet.net/support/termsandconditions.jsp , why the change on speedtest I've no idea?

I would agree that the ping rate is likely to change as evidence suggests that a similar rate to adsl2+ is to be expected ( I think you get about 2 working days on FTTC before interleave is applied)

Bill · Apr 12, 2012, 09:39:08

Quote from: joe on Apr 12, 2012, 08:38:53
psp83 is right to suggest your initial euphoria will be tempered over time.

In fairness I think "will" should be "may"...

My speedtest results sinci I went on to fibre:

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=14b9d5b2ecf7c55f6abb56aa3ed0d15c&ria=0

Pings to the servers in that graph have remained at ~20ms, if I request "best server" I get ~9ms, same as always. Sounds like local congestion is rearing its ugly head for others, there are signs of it here as the variation in speed tests get slightly worse.

Steve · Apr 12, 2012, 10:28:38

I think your probably right Bill, you need to see that obvious stepped changed in ping response on a TBBQM.

Ardua · Apr 12, 2012, 12:34:33

Wow - this is all a bit too technical for me. All I can say is that a day in I have never seen such a low error rate. My minor success is that I have got CLI to work again on my line (fortunately, before my OH had noticed that it was broken). When connected to ADSL2+, I had my phone line double filtered to stop the FB from re-synching every time the phone rang. As the months passed, I just forgot that I had done it. Yesterday, I removed the filter as OR fitted a new box, filtered faceplate and data extension lead - no CLI. I replaced the in line filter this morning and Voila - CLI works.

psp83 · Apr 12, 2012, 12:54:39

Quote from: Bill on Apr 12, 2012, 09:39:08
In fairness I think "will" should be "may"...

My speedtest results sinci I went on to fibre:

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=14b9d5b2ecf7c55f6abb56aa3ed0d15c&ria=0

Pings to the servers in that graph have remained at ~20ms, if I request "best server" I get ~9ms, same as always. Sounds like local congestion is rearing its ugly head for others, there are signs of it here as the variation in speed tests get slightly worse.

Here's mine, as you can see. Download, Upload & Pings are getting worse for me.

http://www.speedtest.net/results.php?sh=f9526573875884066e3c146fa73ae1f2&ria=0