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Another GFast question

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 16:43:19 GMT

Hi,

I currently get just shy of 80mb. My cabinet is around 100m away. I have ran searches on several properties around me and they can all get higher end GFast speeds. This includes all houses on my street. My next door neighbour is estimated to get GFast at 257, but they don't actually have broadband of any type so cannot confirm this.

I have checked this on www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com using mine and my neighbours telephone numbers for an accurate result. I've spent some time checking on properties that surround me using address only as I don't have their landline numbers. It appears that it is literally just my property that cannot get GFast. I am on a small street of four houses who can all get it, all of the houses surrounding me on nieghbouring roads can also get it. These are connected on Exchange LOW MOOR served by Cabinet 27.

Does anyone know what the reason for this might be? I know this type of question has been asked multiple times, but I've not as yet seen any answers other than explanations of FTTC / GFast, FTTP, FTTPoD etc.

My specific question is why is my house seemingly in or near the centre of dozens of properties that can get GFast while I can't?

Given my limited knowledge I can only assume it must be down to things like an error in the OpenReach database against my landline/address, issues with the cable to my property alone, configuration in the cab relating to my connection.

At the end of the day I am unable to get faster speeds for the time being, but it would be really useful if someone was able to shed any light on this. A faster connection would be extremely useful with working from home and the nature of my job (regular large file transfers!).

Thanks 😊

My stats:

Re: Another GFast question

imjolly — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 20:32:04 GMT

Try phoning 08005874787 and ask

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 20:24:42 GMT

Thank you 😊

Can I ask, who is the number for?

Re: Another GFast question

pippincp — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 20:36:21 GMT

It's the number for the FTTP team who also deal with G.Fast.

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 18:57:37 GMT

Thank you kindly. I will post back any updates in the hopes it helps someone else 🙂

Re: Another GFast question

pippincp — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 20:59:48 GMT

I think you might find you arejust too far from the cab.

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 22:51:02 GMT

Thanks for the input. However, I’m in the midst of dozens of properties who call all get it bar me. I could understand if there was at least one other property that couldn’t too!

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 May 2021 13:34:50 GMT

Just thought I'd update this thread with the latest in case it helps anyone else.

I contact OpenReach directly who have been extremely helpful. They have passed the query onto the area G-Fast manager but as of yet have been unable to confirm when they can look at it. This dialouge has been going on for months, OpenReach have been emailing me every month or so to inform me that it is still on the agenda but that they cannot confirm when this might be. The have explained that now it's been passed over to the area G-Fast manager they will be closing the case so unfortunately I just to wait in the hope that the will investigate and fix any potential issue. I guess I will just have to epriodically check my stats to see if G-Fast does get enabled on my line.

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Sun, 02 May 2021 13:41:40 GMT

In other news - I have been having a torrid time with my ISP (vodafone). My line appears to have a fault on it - they have given me a fault number and said that they would be in touch within 72 hours with the results. This was 7th March and I have not heard back since. I contacted them, for the third time today but they just would not raise it as a complaint. They kept repeating that fact that the line test they had just carried out meets the minimum speed guarantee, but they would not listen when I explained that the speed fluctuates wildly. Why would they raise a fault then say there isn't one? Surely they should arrange for an engineer to visit my property?

I literally don't know what to do now. The issue is affecting both my wife and I professions are we are working from home. I have invested in top of the range equipment (separate modem and router plus new high quality adsl cables etc) but still no improvement. The only thing that's changed is that I'm now 20mb shy of why my top speed has been for several years.

I'm considering contacting BT to pay for a second line to be installed to see if that will resolve my issues. After months of research into this I can only assume that there must be something wrong with the physical line to my property as all of my neighbours are on G-Fast and trouble free. I can only dream of that luxury.

Any further help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Another GFast question

bkehoe — Mon, 03 May 2021 09:16:03 GMT

The fact you're not getting near your top speed with VDSL is exactly why G.Fast isn't available to you. Whether this is a line issue or distance, or a bit of both is info I can only guess about. When I saw your VDSL estimates and noticed the low end and hand backs are relatively low I suspected it, and further down the max sync speed of ~75MBit is further evidence. It's pretty rare to see a line that isn't almost perfect for VDSL getting a decent G.Fast connection.

G.Fast uses higher frequencies than VDSL so signal attenuation over the same piece of copper is much higher and thus requires a more perfect line to work. As Openreach wish to ensure that anyone taking up a G.Fast service has a trouble free experience they don't even bother showing availability if the estimates for an individual line drop below a certain point - I've a feeling this is a hand back of 100MBit but don't quote me on that.

So I'd suggest try to get the fault on your existing service fixed and then wait a few weeks for the openreach line checker to update and maybe you might get G.Fast showing. Beware though that if you're still towards the edge of coverage due to distance then often while you may get a higher download speed, the upload speed could be less than you may have now.

By the way, post the screenshot of your neighbours estimate of 257MBit. There's a high difference between that as a Max and a clean line or as a hand back threshold on an impacted line for example in us judging what's going on.

Re: Another GFast question

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 11:29:19 GMT

Hi,

I've popped back here to post an update. I'm so sorry @bkehoe , I had completely missed your response! Thank you for the detailed information.

My issue has now been resolved, but not like you might expect. I posted this originally as I couldn't get G-Fast even though all neighbours circling the cabinet quite a way from me could (we're all on the same cabinet). Unfortunately for me, I made the regretful decision to move my BB to Vodafone a couple of years ago. What HUGE mistake. I wont go into details, but had they explained that they would be moving me onto their own kit (slow and steady degradation of speed and reliability) I can't move away from them now as the exchange is over-subscribed. Essentially this means if I were to move, at present I could only get a max download speed of 14mb as my long standing place in the Open Reach Fibre kit hsa gone to someone else after Vodafone moved me.

Fortunately me (and I really mean that as I don't seem to be gifted with much luck), Three have fairly recently erected an unsightly mast near me, which means I can now get unlimited 5G broadband for £30 a month. This was advertised at 100mb but I'm getting a steady speed for 650mb+ down and 100mb+ up via WiFi alone- I've not even bothered to check hardwired speeds yet.

I'm fortunate enough to have line of sight from router to mast so I'm getting fantastic speeds.

So, for now at least I am happy to leave behind Fibre in favour of 5G. I’m holding out any hope that my property will get fibre until FTTP comes to my area, which could be as late as 2026!

Thanks to everyone on here who has contirbuted

Re: Another GFast question

gspearson — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:09:15 GMT

So this is nothing to do with BT at all?