Upstream more sensitive than downstream?

andrue · Apr 18, 2012, 08:19:17

My connection went live on Monday and although the downstream looks good - 36Mb/s - the upstream seems a bit poor at 7Mb/s.

I realise there's going to be the usual overhead but the downstream overhead appears to be only 10% (which is lower than I'd expect) whereas the upstream seems to be 30%. I didn't get to see the engineer's figures but he said I was syncd at 40/10 and I doubt there's more than 500m of cable between me and the cabinet.

Are those speeds typical for a 40/10 connection?

zappaDPJ · Apr 18, 2012, 08:43:59

I was given the same info when my FTTC was installed, 40/10.

This is what I'm currently getting...

Steve · Apr 18, 2012, 08:45:06

I get 7-8 mbps upstream on a good day, however for me 1-2mbps would be fine upstream.

Bill · Apr 18, 2012, 09:41:56

Quote from: andrue on Apr 18, 2012, 08:19:17
My connection went live on Monday and although the downstream looks good - 36Mb/s - the upstream seems a bit poor at 7Mb/s.

I realise there's going to be the usual overhead but the downstream overhead appears to be only 10% (which is lower than I'd expect) whereas the upstream seems to be 30%. I didn't get to see the engineer's figures but he said I was syncd at 40/10 and I doubt there's more than 500m of cable between me and the cabinet.

Are those speeds typical for a 40/10 connection?

Downstream looks fine, the upstream seems a bit low but not disastrously so.

A lot of people who've recently gone on to FTTC seem to be having trouble with lower (sometimes much lower) than expected speeds, there's a suspicion that BT are having problems somewhere that they're not admitting to (now there's a surprise!)

andrue · Apr 18, 2012, 11:06:43

Quote from: Bill on Apr 18, 2012, 09:41:56
Downstream looks fine, the upstream seems a bit low but not disastrously so.

A lot of people who've recently gone on to FTTC seem to be having trouble with lower (sometimes much lower) than expected speeds, there's a suspicion that BT are having problems somewhere that they're not admitting to (now there's a surprise!)

Heh. It's a newly enabled exchange (went live two weeks ago and I'm on port 6) so could well be teething troubles. I suppose I shouldn't complain since I now have more than three times the downstream and seven times the upstream

psp83 · Apr 18, 2012, 12:43:38

Quote from: andrue on Apr 18, 2012, 11:06:43
Heh. It's a newly enabled exchange (went live two weeks ago and I'm on port 6) so could well be teething troubles. I suppose I shouldn't complain since I now have more than three times the downstream and seven times the upstream

My upstream on 80/20 can range from anywhere between 10Mb/s - 18Mb/s.

When I first got it I was getting around 18Mb/s all the time, now it stays around 12Mb/s mostly. It seems like BT backend can't handle all the FTTC customers yet.

.Griff. · Apr 18, 2012, 12:54:54

QOS is enabled by default in the Huawei modem and the vast majority of people who have unlocked their modem and turned QOS off have seen a 1Mbps increase in upload speed.

andrue · Apr 19, 2012, 08:37:40

There's an interesting comment here:

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4114829-re-typical-speeds.html

My own thought at the moment is that it's a flaw in the TBB tester. I'm rather loathe to suggest that since it's been my preferred tester for many, many years but when 1 out of 3 testers shows an odd value you can't help but wonder. Unfortunately I can't test my upstream from work because the office connection isn't up to it (you gotta larf - I work for a multinational, multi billion dollar company). I'll have to get a friend to help.

.Griff. · Apr 19, 2012, 12:00:08

The TBB speedtest is, and has been, giving false results for a long time to many FTTC users. All attempts to get Seb or Andrew to admit to this has been met with resistance and arrogant "it's not us" replies.

Just ask Bill (member on here and mod on TBB).

pctech · Apr 19, 2012, 13:25:20

Makes you wonder if the results for ADSL are accurate.

Might be better to try speedtest.net but make sure you select a server in London near to IDNet's POP

andrue · Apr 19, 2012, 13:49:26

Quote from: pctech on Apr 19, 2012, 13:25:20Makes you wonder if the results for ADSL are accurate.

I've been using the TBB tester since I first got ADSL - ten years ago now. There was one patch where I got low results but that coincided with other people reporting network issues and appeared to be down to a faulty switch on one of Be's interconnects. Other than that I've had no real problems with it. The results have tended to be lower than other testers but on inspection that's been because it's more realistic.

Other testers give figures that are correct for my sync speed but TBB gives results that are correct for what I actually download. Hence as is often said - TBB measures usable achievable throughput whereas other testers give you the best you can hope for.

If TBB was reporting low figures for both directions I'd be not be doubting it (assuming it matched my download experience which it usually does). The only reason I'm pointing a finger at TBB is because it's only the upstream where it disagrees. I'm still half expecting that a test of the upstream will show that TBB is correct and the others are wrong and that's why I started this thread asking about upstream.

But you know what they say:There's lies, damn lies and then there's speed testers

When all's said and done all you're doing is testing the bandwidth between you and the one site in the world you never really want to download from. I use testers to keep an eye on my connection - it's just that right now I'm in new territory so don't know what to expect.

andrue · Apr 26, 2012, 12:46:43

Things have progressed somewhat thanks to the staff at TBB. It does now appear to be a TBB specific problem. That's not to say they are to blame. Merely that for some reason the TBB speed tester is maxing out at around 5Mb/s upload for me.

More information in this subthread:
http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/newsite/t/4117037-re-speed-test-results-from-tbb-over-fttc.html

.Griff. · Apr 26, 2012, 13:30:23

Two years late but at least they're "partially" admitting their speedtest isn't perfect.

andrue · Apr 26, 2012, 20:20:05

And what do we make of this?

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/newsite/t/4117734-re-speed-test-results-from-tbb-over-fttc.html?ms=true

Most curious that Speedtest.net pings to London have changed from 45 to 39ms.

Actually the TBBQM shows the drop as well.

Ardua · May 18, 2012, 08:57:19

Just to add my stats to this forum. A recent BT Speedtest indicates that I am on a 77.43/20 IP with speeds of 72Mbps down and 8.04Mbps up. I have yet to see an upload speed in excess of 10Mbps. What I am struggling to understand at the moment is why when I am clearly on a sound 80/20 connection, my Fritz!Box System Log is showing DSL training and a DSL connection of 44160/11040.

andrue · May 18, 2012, 13:20:13

Quote from: Ardua on May 18, 2012, 08:57:19
Just to add my stats to this forum. A recent BT Speedtest indicates that I am on a 77.43/20 IP with speeds of 72Mbps down and 8.04Mbps up. I have yet to see an upload speed in excess of 10Mbps. What I am struggling to understand at the moment is why when I am clearly on a sound 80/20 connection, my Fritz!Box System Log is showing DSL training and a DSL connection of 44160/11040.

What are you using to test the upload? The TBB tester still produces results that grossly underestimate readings for upload speed.

Ardua · May 18, 2012, 13:34:06

Quote from: andrue on May 18, 2012, 13:20:13
What are you using to test the upload? The TBB tester still produces results that grossly underestimate readings for upload speed.

The figures above were from BTSpeedtester. I have slightly higher figures from other speedtesters - just under 10mbps upload. All tests using a wired LAN connection.