Ultrafast 900 FTTP - Real world experience - Only getting 1/3 of throughput BT say I'm getting

[symbol-soup]

It's def capable as I can do transfers on my internal LAN. 

[Keith_Beddoe]

Have you tried setting the LAN network card on the laptop to 1000Mb full duplex instead of auto negotiate?

While I worked on BT Business provision (optical networks) it was quite common to see Duplex Mismatch issues where the customer interface was set to auto negotiate, and owing to link pulse timing issues, the speed and duplex state would continually chop around, resulting in poor throughput.

The solution was to always insist that the customer set their interface to 1000Mb Full Duplex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_mismatch

You may have come across this issue before.

[carlito000]

Certainly mine is always rock solid around 900  hardwired, your experience doesn't sound correct at all. 

Just some random thoughts. 

Is there some kind of "training period" on a new install where the speed settles down? Im sure I was told this, but we didn't use our connection for about 4 weeks after it went live as builders were onsite.

Are your  definitely using a cat 5e cable or above (this has caught me out LOTS of times with Ultrafast 900 FTTP)

Give multiple devices a try  for the speed test, not just a single laptop.

One other observation, speed tests run inside a web browser show slower speeds on my Win 10 laptop. If you download the native standalone Windows speedtest app I get the full 900mbps in the test. 

Sounds like you know your stuff, assuming cable and multiple laptops check out gut instinct is an external problem to your install presentation. 

Good luck!

[symbol-soup]

Hi Keith,

I hadn't got it set to full duplex as I hadn't seen that issue for a long time so thanks for the reminder 🙂 However after changing it, no difference unfortunately.

[Keith_Beddoe]

There had been other similar posts from people, mostly on the LAN side. What sorted their issue was interposing a gigabit Ethernet switch between the home hub LAN port, and their wired devices. Somehow the home hub was not liking the direct connection. You may like to try that with your home hub. I assume you have disabled the normal issue with the home hub, ie Smart Setup, which keeps trying to redirect the connection?

In your case, if you are getting the same problem on a direct WAN connection, then its unlikely to help, but there is no harm in trying, although you could not use the other ports on the switch as it would be a WAN connection. Who knows the hardware characteristics of the Openreach ONT.

I have seen many strange things with network connections, which often make no sense.

The other issue that can affect throughput is the MTU size, but I do not know what the correct settings are for the BT kit.

You also need to remember that you are unlikely to get the full 900Mbs all of the time, as you are sharing the connection with many other users. You do not have an exclusive connection, unlike a business user.

[licquorice]

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@Keith_Beddoe wrote:

The other issue that can affect throughput is the MTU size, but I do not know what the correct settings are for the BT kit.

1492 I think

You also need to remember that you are unlikely to get the full 900Mbs all of the time, as you are sharing the connection with many other users. You do not have an exclusive connection, unlike a business user.

Indeed, you are sharing 2.5G between up to 32 users.

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[symbol-soup]

I'm not actually running BT kit at my end. I use Ubiquiti Unifi equipment. My setup is ONT (Openreach) - Router - Gig E Switch - 4 hard wired WiFi access points straight back to the switch. Everything is hard wired Gig E as I live in a really old stone house.

I've only got the BT kit (SH2) plugged in when BT ask for it to do testing. One of the reasons I'm testing everything from the ONT is so that BT can't turn around and say it's because I'm using my own equipment.

The house is a long way from the exchange so we were running off a 4g connection previously. FTTP only became available to my area 2 weeks ago so I would be really surprised if the issue is contention, but it could be. My IP profile is correct but my gut feeling is that there is some limit/throttling being placed on my line as I never get above 350 download. Unfortunately two weeks in and I'm still not talking to anyone on the phone at BT that can do much apart from send an Openreach engineer / do a speed test to the SH2 and tell me they're getting full speeds. It's frustrating, but I'm hoping that after my 3rd Openreach visit today, it will get escalated.

[licquorice]

It does seem a bit odd that it is a constant figure, you would expect it to vary if it was contention.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The only valid test that BT would accept, would be a direct LAN connection to the Smart Hub 2.

I suspect you have issues on your own network which you have been unable to locate.

[symbol-soup]

I have negated it being anything on my LAN by connecting directly to the ONT.