This topic

FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 23:57:53 GMT

I've had a flawless service since getting the 500Mb speed package. But since the fortnightly reboot of the router early yesterday morning (20th) I noticed the fast speed test didn't quite reach the 500 download speed, and my file transfers had dropped from 67mb per second to 47mb per second. But I put this down to a mishandled router reboot issue and was prepared to wait it out until the next reboot.

But by the early morning of the 21st the full fibre signal went down with the ONT displaying the LOS light. The phone goes down too when this happens.

On calling the number suggested by an automated voice, and trying to lodge a fault it suggested I talk to the BT customer service, only to be told it was out of hours and cut my call off!

How do I lodge a FTTP fault, if this happens again?

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

imjolly — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 09:15:36 GMT

phone BT CS during working hours either 150 or 0800800150 from mobile and report fault

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 13:42:44 GMT

So does anyone know why my connection used to show slightly above the 500Mb speed with a download speed of 67MB/ps consistantly, to now barely reaching 480Mb with a variable speed transfer between 47MB/ps and 53MB/ps ?

Will the problem correct itself to go back to how it was before?

I can't imagine its congestion, especially when I'm not on the 1Gb (900Mb) service. Why can't the node handle my 500Mb connection?

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 13:54:00 GMT

@Bowdon

FTTP is a contended service, up to 32 users can be sharing the 2.5Gb backhaul, so you can never expect the full speed all the time, you may get 500mb when there are fewer people using it. I expect that you are now sharing the backhaul with more users. If everyone was using it fully, you may only get 78mbs.

BT quote up to 500mb, so you are likely to get less than that.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 13:56:30 GMT

Wouldn't my having a LOS suggest there is a fault somewhere?

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Keith_Beddoe — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:07:19 GMT

An optical signal is either there or it isn`t, there is no partial on/off.

Your loss of signal was more likely due to work taking place on the splitter, to add more customers, so you are now sharing your connection with more people. They do not have to be BT Retail customers, they could be from any provider that sells FTTP.

The only customers who get a higher guaranteed minimum speed, are business customers who pay more for their connection.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

licquorice — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:27:18 GMT

@Keith_Beddoe wrote:

An optical signal is either there or it isn`t, there is no partial on/off.

That's not strictly true. There could be a splice with very high attenuation bordering on the LOS threshold. Or a cable being mechanically kinked by something intermittently.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 09:12:01 GMT

It's just gone 10am here and I tested the speed again using the fast.com site. It's very inconsistant and as been coming in at 420Mb.

Isn't there a way for BT to test the fibre connection if I select a fault on the website and it'll test it?

Something is wrong with the connection. It shouldn't go from being consistant for 4 months and then suddenly start dropping speed. I refuse to believe that the 500Mb package is congested level at all times of the day. If that was true then the 900Mb package would have no chance. My current speed now is below their Stay Fast Speed Guarantee for that package.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 10:25:52 GMT

Ok, I just did the BT speed test and its showing the speeds I used to get. So there doesnt seem to be an issue between the BT network and the Smart Hub 2.

So what is causing these speed problems? It must be something either to do with the hub (maybe the firmware that got updated last month), or a cable at my side.

I'm doubting its the cable at my side as that wouldn't have led to the LOS light coming on.

I'm wondering whats going on? It's very odd.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Checked2013 — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 11:16:40 GMT

There does seem to be a lot of misinformation being posted regarding FTTP, especially by those that don't have it or have never used it.

If you are getting intermittent LOS then that needs an engineer to come out and check that out.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

iniltous — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 13:14:04 GMT

If LOS ( loss if signal ) comes on , even briefly, then the connection is lost and the system is down ( so no speed ) if it was a brief outage then comes back on ( after successfully rejoining the PON ) the speed will be as it was , you don’t get a situation where the headend negotiates a lower speed to aid stability or anything like that….obviously you shouldn’t get LOS at all, if you do it needs reporting , no point speculating what it could be , it could be anything, OLT, dodgy splice, ONT , ONT tail contamination etc.
While the system is up , providing your profile is correctly set , your connection speed is what you pay for , this is between the OLT ( headend ) and ONT….any third party speed testers are not under OR/BT control and any results from them are indicative at best .
You share your PON with others , a splitter is 1/32 but this is restricted in practice to a maximum of 30 ( it may be less ) , but obviously an early adopter may have pretty much the entire PON bandwidth to themselves ( 2.4GB down/1.2GB up ) but as more customers join the PON , because the bandwidth is shared , if some of these are intensive users , ( basically hammering their connection all the time ) it can affect the bandwidth available to others, testing at quiet times , could give an indication of this.
As already said , first and foremost, if you are getting LOS , it needs investigation

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 13:20:37 GMT

I'm going to wait to see what happens when the router reboots again in 2 weeks to see if it corrects itself.

These problems started on the previous reboot just over 2 weeks ago. Then as it was coming up to the next reboot thats when the LOS happened.

I did BT's own speed test and it said I was getting the speeds I was before. If this is accurate then it suggests that the router isn't fully working as it should. Hopefully on the next reboot it will fix itself. If it doesn't I'll bring it to the FTTP teams attention to see what they suggest.

I find it difficult to imagine that me on my 500Mb connection isn't able to reach 500Mb at any time of the day. I'd imagine at some point of the day I would be able to reach 500Mb (it usually tested at 520Mb) on a speed test.

I was the first to connect to the pole when FTTP became available. It only became available around here in May. The problems started in August.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

JonMace — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 15:27:42 GMT

500Mb is 62.5MB you are comparing different units together

1MB = 8Mb

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 15:46:31 GMT

@JonMacein your example wouldn't the 62.5MB be the transfer rate of a 500Mb connection?

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

JonMace — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 16:02:45 GMT

62.5 MB would be high for a transfer rate because of overheads so anything near that on a 500Mb connection is great

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 16:06:05 GMT

It got up slightly higher than that as I think they provision over 500Mb on the connection.

But since these troubles started its been down at 43Mb. But it doesn't stay there consistantly.

I'm going to wait until the next router reboot and see if it corrects itself. I'm hoping it will.

I got my fingers crossed lol.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Bowdon — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 17:19:17 GMT

I tried doing a reboot of the router today. But still the same result.

I got 440Mb on the fast.com site, and 447Mb on the thinkbroadband site.

I think something as gone wrong somewhere along the line, especially with the LOS going off.

Before all this all my tests came back to at least 500Mb.

I should add that the upload speed seems unaffected. I'm getting the 70Mb.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

JonMace — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:28:24 GMT

440 on a 500 connection sounds fine to me

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Checked2013 — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:31:13 GMT

@JonMace No, that's not okay, plus with the LOS light keep coming on there is definitely something wrong that needs attention.

Re: FTTP is becoming unstable

Keith_Beddoe — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:36:23 GMT

@Bowdon

You will get up to 500Mb, depending on how many other users that you share with, are doing. It likely to vary quite a bit. If you are getting 440-470mb, then that would be near the top end.