This topic

What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:19:10 GMT

Hi there,

I have BT Fibre broadband but where we live this maxes out at around 20Mbit/s down and 6Mbit/s upload. Under normal circumstances this is okay, but with four of us at home working or studying over it concurrently with VPNs, Teams / Zoom calls etc. we all keep running into problems with video and voice call quality.

My first plan was simply to connect myself via my BT Mobile connection (and thereby free up capacity on the home broadband connection for the rest of the family) but unfortunately, even though I can connect to my work VPN over the mobile connection and some services work, I cannot connect to my work email server or network drives. I don't know why this would be (especially given that I'm connected over a VPN), but it's entirely consistent and my IT team haven't been able to work around this yet. I could set up my wife or kids to use a mobile broadband connection instead of me, but that would take them off our home network so they'd be unable to print, cast to other devices etc. so it's likely that this won't stick.

I'm left slightly at a loss as to how I can get more bandwidth for the family as there are no alternatives to Openreach in our neighbourhood. I could get a second Fibre line, but BT's only option would involve committing to £30/month for 24 months , plus I'll still only be getting half of the bandwidth that many BT Fibre customers get from a single line, which is a little galling. It might be worth it if BT offered some kind of channel bonding solution but they don't, so I'd need to run two separate local networks which would be a pain.

I'm going to look at alternative mobile broadband solutions on the basis that my connectivity issues might be specific to BT Mobile, but that has much of the same downsides as getting a second BT line (although it would probably be faster with shorter minimum terms available).

Any thoughts or suggestions anyone has would be gratefully received.

Kind regards

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:28:58 GMT

@rjlucker

Welcome to this user forum.

Have you checked what is available?

Enter your phone number into this form and display the results here, but edit out your phone number before you post the results.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

You may be able to allocate the bandwidth a bit more equally, using a different router which has traffic controls. Its usually upload bandwidth limitations that causes the problems, especially if you are using video calling.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

imjolly — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:46:02 GMT

please can you post the stats from your router (if hub enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser) and if HH5 then go to troubleshooting then helpdesk and if HH6/SH2 then advanced settings then technical log information .

Someone may then be able to offer help/assistance/suggestions to your problem

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:50:19 GMT

Thanks for your reply @Keith_Beddoe,

Following your suggestion I've attached the report. This appears to indicate that my VDSL performance is poor for the area, but I've had VDSL for about 10 years (initially with PlusNet before moving to BT and it's never been anywhere near 38Mbit/s). The highest download speed / sync I've ever had is around 24Mbit/s but this tends to deteriorate over time with sync speed settling down at around 20 (on BT - with Plusnet it would keep decrementing downwards until I raised a fault).

I've had various engineer visits over the years when performance has dropped below 10Mbit/s (or below 1Mbit/s on one occasion) and the line from my house to the pole was replaced a couple of years ago, but all this ever does is revert performance to the sort of level I have now.

Kind regards

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:57:39 GMT

You were showing a connection speed of 24.7Mbs on 14th January, which is only just above the lower limit for Range A.

Its possible that your internal wiring may be affecting the speed, or even a noisy phone line.

Is there any noise on your phone calls? Dial 17070 and select option 2, there should be no noise between the announcements.

What does your master phone socket look like?

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:57:46 GMT

Thanks @imjolly - router information screen attached below as suggested.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

imjolly — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:59:08 GMT

checker shows speed range 39/24mb and you could get anywhere inbetween

hub stats will help

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:00:54 GMT

@rjlucker

Something is not right there. I would suspect an internal wiring issue, or a very poor quality line.

You need to prove your wiring first.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

imjolly — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:01:19 GMT

from looking at your stats your noise margin is already down at 3db showing G.INP active and boosted you speed so doubt there is anymore

are you using the master socket? have you tried using test socket with filter

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:25:37 GMT

Thanks @Keith_Beddoe ,

Noisy lines do appear to have been a problem historically in our area (I believe it may be related to interference from the radio transmitters about 2 miles from here), which is possibly the underlying reason for the suppressed performance - although I understand that we're also quite a long way from the cabinet.

Our master socket is like illustration 6, although the phone line passes through a small (filter?) box on the way into the master socket.

I have one phone extension which runs about 5 metres to a telephone in the same room, but disconnecting hasn't made a difference in the past (although I'll give it another try as I haven't tried it recently).

Cheers

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:33:31 GMT

@rjlucker wrote:

Our master socket is like illustration 6, although the phone line passes through a small (filter?) box on the way into the master socket.

Richard

What does the filter box look like, as there should be nothing before the master socket? I wonder if its something that should have been removed, like an old DACS or WB unit?

I assume the home hub is plugged directly into the broadband socket at the front of the master socket?

Any extension wiring must come from the back of the bottom part of the master socket.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

imjolly — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 16:49:52 GMT

Is the filter box not just a junction box which connected the incoming openreach wiring to your internal wiring - normal 1 wire in and another 1 out to master

is the extension socket connected to the the master socket

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:32:09 GMT

Thanks Keith,

The internal wiring consists of a single wire from the phone socket on the master socket to an extension socket on the other side of the same room. Unplugging this from the socket does not affect performance or line noise.

I believe that the issue is with the line to the house which is both a long distance from the cabinet and in an area that has historically been prone to picking up radio interference from local transmitters. When engineers have been out (including when they replaced the cable from the post to the master socket) they've never achieved a sync speed of more than 24 Mbit/s when they've tested the line.

Cheers

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:36:12 GMT

Here's the master socket.

I was incorrect in my previous post - the phone line doesn't pass through the filter box; the filter box is mounted immediately above the master socket. This is all recent; a new line and new master socket were put in a couple of years ago.

Cheers

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 28 Jan 2021 21:44:23 GMT

@rjlucker wrote:

Here's the master socket.

I was incorrect in my previous post - the phone line doesn't pass through the filter box; the filter box is mounted immediately above the master socket. This is all recent; a new line and new master socket were put in a couple of years ago.

Cheers

Richard

That just looks like a connection box. A filter would upset your broadband.

Unscrew the front and see what is inside, I expect you will find just a connection strip.

Does your phone line come in from a pole?

Its possible that you are not going to be able to get a faster speed, but its always worth checking at the test socket, but you have to take the master socket apart, and you would need a microfilter as well.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

rjlucker — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 13:28:08 GMT

Thanks for all of your input,

I've attached a photo of the contents of the connection box below in response to the previous request.

As mentioned previously, the speed that engineers have been able to achieve in the past via the test socket have been consistent with the actual speeds I get, so I'm confident that any speed limits are due to the quality of the line into the house rather than equipment or wiring within the property.

Given the lack of viable options available from BT (or any other fixed line provider) I've signed up to 3 unlimited mobile broadband on a rolling monthly contract so that I can split connections within the house between the two (and can cancel if it doesn't work out). So far it appears to be working well and actually returns better speedtest results (except for the ping time) than my BT line for less money.

It's still frustrating to be paying for two separate broadband connections, but this seems to be the best compromise for me at the moment.

Richard

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 13:50:31 GMT

@rjlucker wrote:

Thanks for all of your input,

I've attached a photo of the contents of the connection box below in response to the previous request.

As mentioned previously, the speed that engineers have been able to achieve in the past via the test socket have been consistent with the actual speeds I get, so I'm confident that any speed limits are due to the quality of the line into the house rather than equipment or wiring within the property.

Given the lack of viable options available from BT (or any other fixed line provider) I've signed up to 3 unlimited mobile broadband on a rolling monthly contract so that I can split connections within the house between the two (and can cancel if it doesn't work out). So far it appears to be working well and actually returns better speedtest results (except for the ping time) than my BT line for less money.

It's still frustrating to be paying for two separate broadband connections, but this seems to be the best compromise for me at the moment.

Richard

That filter should not be in circuit, as it will affect your broadband speed. Not sure why its there.

You should be able to bypass it by connecting the in and out together without using any of the existing terminals. Just join the two loose ends together, and see if it improves your speed.

Be aware that there will be 50 Volts DC across the wires, so make sure your hands are not wet, as it will tingle.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

imjolly — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:34:21 GMT

where does the 2 cables at bottom left of master come from/go?

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

licquorice — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:38:37 GMT

We need to see all the connections in the master socket to understand what is going on.

Re: What options are there when Fibre Broadband isn't fast enough?

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 14:43:59 GMT

That reminds me of the filters we used to fit to prevent radio interference on phone calls, from nearby broadcast transmitters. This was before the days of broadband, and it looks like its never been removed. It may have been assumed that it was just a junction box.

Its not going to help VDSL.