Read If you have Aluminium(even if length is 300m) and thinking of getting Infinity2

[adamd]

Phonic,

How did you measure your errors?

What tool / product did you use?

I am on aluminium and sppeds are getting worse by the day.

Thanks

A

[phonic]

I used a graphing script to take the stats from the hg612 every Min. open reach engineers also confirmed the Ali when they came and also it is shown on the database for the area. One error is that it also states ECI hardware was installed in the CAB, but that is not case, as the ECI modem don't even sync up. The Ali is not a mistake, no copper cables at all.

[phonic]

Adamd, Have you had BT out? You will find they will be very open about the Ali and how they are feeling their way with vdsl at the moment. However, don't expect them to fix it, it just gets worse and worse, and all you get from retail management is 'it's a UP To service'. I'm down from 18mb upload to 9.5mb after 5 engineer visits download from 74mb to 52mb on a good day, it does not get better, only worse.. The engineers will admit unoffically its the Ali, but open reach will pass it over to retail as a throughput issue with customer equipment. No matter how you try to explain that line speed is not throughput, it gets you nowhere... Very disappointed. I would like to know the true cost of replacing the Ali. Anyone?

[phonic]

Deathtrap3000, not seen any over 5, away., and makes sense, no dinging up the road to the existing cab. Different areas, different contractors. It depends on the rollout plans. I guess we should be happy that they used copper to link the boxes....or did they....

[Bullitt]

what particular stats indicate ali in your opinion?

[ptan]

Hi phonic

Infinity gives me nearly 3 times down and 7 times up speeds over my old ADSL2 but as you say, ali is not good at all for VDSL.

I had an engineer out to check everything when I upgraded to Infinity2 but he did report that there are sections of ali in the service between me and the cab.

It is a great shame that the wonders of Infinity2 double speeds may never be enjoyed by quite a lot of people.

ptan

[Bullitt]

how can i tell if i have aluminium sections in my line?

[ptan]

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@Bullitt wrote:
how can i tell if i have aluminium sections in my line?

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An engineer will need to check exchange records etc or indeed check all connections for your service back to the cab.

Unfortunately, due to the network topolgies that were originally used, they never envisaged high frequency data transmission over pstn many years ago so sections of cable can be in all sorts of combinations of copper and aluminium and take all sorts of circuitous routes to your home

[Bullitt]

the engineer could just say anything to shut you up
what you need is evidence

[ptan]

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@Bullitt wrote:
the engineer could just say anything to shut you up
what you need is evidence

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The engineer who checked my line spent nearly all day. He was very thorough. He put a signal tester on my line and checked everything back to the exchange and cabinet.

Having worked at BT years ago, I know there can be aluminium in services. Whereas it is a good conductor of electricity, it is not good for high frequency signals. Since voice transmission is not affected by it, it was a suitable replacement for copper. But with the advent of VDSL it is proving to be a problem. Something that BT will now have to acknowledge and also factor in in their marketing of superfast Infinity.