Full Fibre 900 speed question

[qs123456]

This pic shows my 2020 MacBook that is connected via Ethernet using 1Gig Port, cannot download at the speeds advertise. Same for every laptop in the house using Cat 6. 

Hoping its a faulty ONT.

I think I have to disagree with everyone here and kinda agree with the OpenReach engineer. Something is up with FTTP 900.

I had VM 500 package before and hit 600ish via Wi-Fi. With BT FTTP directly plugged into the ONT via Ethernet on a 2020 MacBook Pro that can handle the speeds I cannot get over 200mb mark.

I have spent hours on this, BT coming out tomorrow to take a look. There speed test shows I am downloading at 900mb+, however, I believe that speed test is the speed between my house and the Exchange. No other speed test fast.com, speediest, Google fibre, other shows these speeds. 

I can only assume, they are miss-selling and showing speeds between my house and the Exchange, not real world. BT keep saying it could be Wi-Fi issues when this is over Ethernet.

[Will168]

@qs123456 I know we've had conversations about this on the thread you started, but one thing I'm not clear on...when you say the BT speed tester, are you referring to the BT Wholesale Speed Tester or the one you run from your BT account after logging in with your BT ID?

If it's the former, then there have been many reports of the BT Wholesale tester showing wild speed results with Macs. I myself get a result of around 3.5 Gbps on that tester (2016 MBP), which is obviously not right. If you are seeing 900 Mbps on that tester, I would imagine that real world is actually only about a third of that. In which case, your service is not right and BT and Openreach need to figure out what is going on and fix it.

If it's the latter, then it means you are getting the 900 Mbps to the Hub and there is something wrong either with the Hub itself, your device, or something inbetween. It is not mis-selling, but there would surely be something wrong there if the Hub is receiving 900 Mbps and your device, which is plugged in directly via ethernet is only getting a fraction of that. There are overheads and losses to be expected, but not that much!

[Will168]

@qs123456 What specific ethernet adaptor are you using with your MacBook? I have tried a few on mine and the only ones I could get the full 900 Mbps through are the Apple thunderbolt adaptor, Belkin USB-C to gigabit, Caldigit Thunderbolt 3 dock.

I have a Microsoft  USB 3 to gigabit and that won't get anywhere near. Also, I bought a Cat 7 cable off Amazon previously before too, where the stupid thing couldn't transfer at more than 300 Mbps. So as stupid as these things may sound, have you tried to eliminate those things in the chain too, as part of your testing?

Wouldn't have thought it be a faulty ONT, as you're getting 900+ to the Hub.

[qs123456]

Hey @Will168  - I've got the Belkin and when I check on my managed switch it shows 1gig connected. I'm having this issue on all my devices connected via Ethernet. My sister had a HP Business Laptop, Mum has a Lenovo business device (working from home) same issue.

Wi-Fi is hitting 200mb as well. With VM I had 1Gig and got over 600 on a Wi-Fi connection. Its so weird, I don't know why I am facing the issue. 

If you can shed any other ideas let me know. I've tested my cables with my managed switch too, all 1gig connection. 

- You are right BT Wholesale test is a mess and after logging in I get 900mb speed test. I also have been given access to another speed test which shows device speed test and hub speed test as shown above. 

This is driving me insane, I can only assume faulty ONT box? or if the engineers wires up the ethernet port, maybe a doge job?

[Will168]

@qs123456 There are plenty of people on here that are much smarter than me, that might have some ideas too.

The screenshot you provided above, where is it from? I don't recognise the interface as being the same as my SmartHub 2.

[Will168]

@qs123456 For the sake of completeness, I've just done a direct PPPoE connection from my MBP to my ONT. It's a Nokia ONT > 1 metre Cat 5e > Belkin USB-C gigabit adaptor > 2016 MBP and still getting 910 Mbps down / 100 Mbps up on Speedtest.net and Fast.com.

Something is not right somewhere in the chain on yours.

Also, with the SmartHub 2, the wifi performance isn't brilliant. Never seen more than about 400 Mbps on wifi on mine and that was standing right next to it. Sounds like your VM Hub had better wifi performance.

[qs123456]

@Will168 - You are a very nice person. Thank you for doing that. Yes something is wrong with my setup. That speed test was sent to me from BT, you login to it (different login details to My BT account)

I will have an £80 bill added to my account if BT come out and deem nothing is wrong, so these tests you've done make me feel more conformable.

I will update this thread with the outcome of BT engineer. A friend is coming over tonight with a 10gig ethernet port on his Mac mini to rule out issues. Just don't want £80 bill and really want BT to acknowledge this issue..

[Will168]

@qs123456 No worries. We all just try and help each other on this forum. I can understand that you would not want to get charged £80 unnecessarily.

But the result for my testing is the same for the following scenarios and all return speedtest.net and fast.com results of 900 Mbps. For reference, the BT line speed tester (not the bonkers BT Wholesale one), reports a speed of 930.5 Mbps down and 112.0 Mbps up, from the Exchange to the Hub. So my overhead losses are in the region of 20 to 25 Mbps on the downstream and around 2 Mbps on the upstream.

• Direct PPPoE from the MacBook Pro into the ONT.
• Ethernet connected directly to the SmartHub 2.
• Ethernet connected to a Netgear unmanaged switch, in turn connected to the SmartHub 2.
• I also did it with 3 Netgear switches (2 unmanaged, 1 managed), daisy chained, just to be daft and still get just over 900 Mbps.

Good luck, hope you sort it out one way or another.

[gg30340]

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@qs123456 wrote:

I will have an £80 bill added to my account if BT come out and deem nothing is wrong, so these tests you've done make me feel more conformable.

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BT will not charge you £80 if the find nothing wrong with their equipment or wiring/cables etc or if no fault is found.

What they will do is charge you if the fault is found to be with your equipment or wiring/cables all of which you are responsible for.

While this link is for the copper network the same principles apply for the fibre netwrok.

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