This topic

much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 16:02:27 GMT

I am moving to Maidenhead and my property has extremely slow fibre according to all ISPs, even though neighbours either side seem to have higher speeds according to ISPs. Spoke to a couple of openreach based ISPs and all said the same thing. I cannot understand how this happens, but guessing its a cabinet full situation? BT have suggested get an engineer booked in, or start a new installation to get a new line put in.

They are saying it is fibre, but min download of 5 and min upload of 1.7 which is ridiculous.

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Handback
Threshold(Mbps)
WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date
High Low High Low
VDSL Range A (Clean) 33.8 22.4 6.5 4.6 19.2 Unavailable Waiting list
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 33 18.5 6.4 4.1 13.6 Unavailable Waiting list
G.fast Range A (Clean) -- -- -- -- -- Unavailable --
G.fast Range B (Impacted) -- -- -- -- -- Unavailable --
Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install Process
FTTP on Demand 330 50 -- Available --
ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability Date
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 8 -- 5.5 to 12.5 Available
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M Up to 8 Up to 1 5.5 to 12.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 5.5 -- 4.5 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
SOADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) WBC SOADSL Availability Date
WBC SOADSL 2+ Up to 8.0 -- 5.5 to 12.5 Available
SOADSL Max Up to 5.5 -- 4.5 to 8.0 Available
SOADSL Fixed Rate Up to 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings Availability Date
VDSL Multicast Available
Exchange Product Restrictions Status
FTTP Priority Exchange N
WLR Withdrawal Y
SOADSL Restriction N

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 16:07:43 GMT

"VDSL Range A (Clean) 33.8 22.4 6.5 4.6 19.2 Unavailable Waiting list"

As you suspected, the cab is full. All you can do is take an ADSL service & keep checking for an available port in the cab. Note that there is no actual waiting list, just a case of who grabs it first.

Other options would be an AltNet if available or possibly 4G router is there's good indoor coverage.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 17:23:38 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

Is copper wire always laid under the pavement? I'm being paranoid and thinking it's under the house behind or across the road and impacted by their construction (both had major work recently).

What's the column in the checker to keep track of? The two on the right?

Funny thing is both side neighbours also say unavailable and no, but the openreach speeds quoted are higher.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

imjolly — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 18:22:20 GMT

You just keep checking dslchecker and looking for waiting list changing to available then place order

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 18:35:34 GMT

Thanks for your comment.

I'm a bit dubious of the 'unavailable' column as my london flat says that and I have fantastic fibre. The engineer fixed a bridge tap within the flat. Hoping it will be the same in maidenhead.

I hope to get the BT to send an engineer who can see if there is any other issue. property has been not lived in fully for a few years so maybe never investigated. Literally every other house on the street shows a better speed. maybe they got all the slots.

Any advise on how to 'force' an engineer visit with BT? I'm planning to request one and bear the cost as needed.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

iniltous — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 19:32:05 GMT

It’s unclear why you would think it dubious that a FTTC cabinet could be ‘waiting list’ due to no spare ports , when you have already personally experienced the result of a cabinet having no spare capacity, in that you were unable to order FTTC , which confirms the status of the cabinet as full ( obviously it had spare ports you would be able to order FTTC )

BT would only send an engineer to your address if you ordered something , and if FTTC is unavailable because the FTTC ‘cabinet’ has no spares , that would have to ADSL broadband ( not FTTC ) , only if it were necessary would the tech actually visit the property , if you did get an installation visit , as opposed to remotely bringing the property into service, the engineer could only provide what was ordered , and that would be ADSL .

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 20:15:47 GMT

Thank you for your reply. I see your point.

I'm hopefully the property shall lactually get better speeds, but will only know when I get there.

I've also just found out about bt's universal service obligation (uso) requiring minimum 10mbps speeds. Funnily that checker says my address has speeds greater than 10, but when placing order they said I'll get 5. I might try that angle too.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

pippincp — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 20:27:12 GMT

Have a read of this before trying that path. https://www.bt.com/broadband/USO

Note the word "eligible" and cost that may be involved.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 20:57:44 GMT

Thank you. Yes I've read through that. I'm guessing it's probably almost impossible to convince BT/openreach to do anything.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

Jackofalltrades — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 21:00:55 GMT

Where in Maidenhead are you moving to? I grew up there and still visit but I was under the impression good internet speed was abundant everywhere?

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 21:04:58 GMT

It's quite near the station, served by cabinet 12 according to DSL checker.

I don't think it's a town wide problem, just seems to be my property, even though neighbours either side and opposite are fine. I guess they took all the slots...

Cityfibre has recently dug up the street, but can't hold my breath for that as it can take ages to come live.

I'm feeling quite disheartened at my luck with this particular property.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

Jackofalltrades — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 21:16:39 GMT

Cityfibre has been doing a lot of work in the area. Last time I was down there they was digging up at the Cox Green end of Shoppenhangers Road/Ockwells Park

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 22:16:38 GMT

Yes they are digging all around this area currently.

I would happily stay with BT though, I'm just hoping there is a simpler solution to the speeds being so low. It seems every other house of the street is connected to fibre but mine.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

licquorice — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 07:01:51 GMT

All the other houses have taken all the ports in the cabinet there is no port left for you. Until one becomes spare, there is no solution

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

iniltous — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 07:39:24 GMT

Just because a particular cabinet has no ports spare today is no indication of it having no spare ports tomorrow, there will always be a certain amount if ‘churn’ , as people move out if addresses served by that cabinet , move to alternative providers, become a ‘mobile only’ household etc., who is to say that the address you are moving into had ( or maybe still has ) one of the FTTC ports in use , and that port was either recently made spare and was allocated to someone that may have also seen ‘waiting list’ initially, or perhaps the current occupant hasn’t yet advised their provider they are moving out , and when they do their port will become spare ( this assumes you are not moving into an address that has been vacant for months so unlikely to have had a recent working Openreach based service ) , basically there is no reason to assume there is no prospect of FTTC availability in the future, there probably will be.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 08:06:30 GMT

Thank you for your comments. I definitely have hope.

I guess I'll just keep chasing bt every week.

At the moment I've initiated a move on my current contract, which at the new house has a stayfast of 5download.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Oct 2023 08:21:16 GMT

@whynotaskwrote:
I guess I'll just keep chasing bt every week.

There is no avenue to "chase" BT & it's not their issue anyway, as it's Openreach capacity. All you can do, as already stated, is constantly monitor the DSL checker & place an upgrade order as soon as it shows availability. On the plus side, as there's no actual queue, you can theoretically grab the very next available port. But then so can anyone else, so the onus is on you to keep checking. But it's also possible it could be months/years before a port becomes free, or someone else simply gets there first.

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 05:56:01 GMT

Just checked the dsl checker and the 'wbc sogea availability' has just changed from waiting list to available!

The 'wbc fttc availability' still shows unavailable.

Gonna try and call BT to see if I can get a 'slot' though my activation date is a few days away!

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

iniltous — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 06:52:13 GMT

Because of the WLR/PSTN stop sell ( telephony if wanted has to be DV/VoIP ) then the checker shows FTTC SoGEA ( single order generic ethernet access) available and WBC FTTC ( wholesale broadband connect ) not available, this is exactly what you would expect .

Re: much slower quoted speed than neighbours - cabinet full ?

whynotask — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 07:33:39 GMT

Oh right, so it's related to phone lines rather than fibre 'slot' availability!

Thanks for clarifying, got my hopes up about broadband...