21CN broadband trial in my area - should I take part?

Minerva69

I have been emailed by my ISP to ask if I would like to take part in a trial of 21CN broadband as it is being enabled at my exchange. If I take part in the trial and give my ISP some feedback I will receive a month's free broadband and be among the first customers to be offered the up to 20Mbps service when it is launched. I understand that our phone & broadband may be disrupted during the trial.

Has anyone else here taken part in a similar trial, and is it worth doing or will it be more trouble than it's worth?!

S0litaire

If you can get on it go for it!!

It's BT's version of Fiberoptic Cable broadband.
They put fiberoptic cable to the box in your street then from their it's copper cable to your home (like normal) but you'll get upto 20Mb when the system goes fully live.

Don't know about the actual quality or speeds you'll get (since you will be the first testers!) but it can't be worse that what you already get ...can it? ^_^

espresso

S0litaire wrote: »

If you can get on it go for it!!

It's BT's version of Fiberoptic Cable broadband.
They put fiberoptic cable to the box in your street then from their it's copper cable to your home (like normal) but you'll get upto 20Mb when the system goes fully live.

No it's simply BT's rollout of ADSL2+ technology, which has been in use by it's competitors e.g. BE, O2, Sky etc. for quite some time now. One of the inherent advantages of ADSL2+ is the speed boost attainable on longer/poorer phone lines similar to speed boost from basic ADSL to max ADSL.

GunJack

yeah, approach this with caution....check out some of the issues on the forums at dslzone.com and kitz.co.uk.

Its a good theory, but longer/less than perfect lines are the ones showing the most problems so far....Minerva, what are your line stats like currently ???

S0litaire

Sorry thought the OP was talking about BT's FTTC (Fiber to the Curb) rollout that's starting in a few areas. (I've seen it mixed in with the 21CN rollout in some reports!)

Minerva69

GunJack wrote: »

Minerva, what are your line stats like currently ???

I don't really check my speed/stats very often! I am on an "up to 8Mbps" service with Zen as my ISP at the moment. I'm not sure what info you require, but here is my speed test result from Think Broadband, I am 1.67km from the exchange according to SamKnows, and my router (BT Voyager 2110) info at the moment is:


Line Rate 4256 Kbps (downstream) 448 Kbps(upstream)
Noise Margin 15.2 dB (downstream) 19.0 dB (upstream)
Line Attenuation 43.0 dB (downstream) 21.0 dB (upstream)
Output Power 19.7 dBm (downstream) 11.9 dBm (upstream)

I will check out the forums you suggested, thanks.

patman99

If you decide to be a tester, ask your ISP whether they will be giving you a higher download cap. Its no use going for an 'up to' 20mb/sec if you only have a 40Gb/month limit (like AOL & Demon), then you will chew through this at an alarming rate.

My exchange will be upgraded soon, it's one of the 12 that act as links between London and the continent, and a crew were busy ripping-up redundant BT cable 4 months ago and replacing it with Fibre optics.

Minerva69

Still haven't decided what to do, but I have to decide by Weds this week. Could someone have a quick look at the stats I posted above please? The forums on dslzone and kitz were a bit too technical for me!

espresso

Minerva69 wrote: »

Still haven't decided what to do, but I have to decide by Weds this week. Could someone have a quick look at the stats I posted above please? The forums on dslzone and kitz were a bit too technical for me!

A downstream attenuation of 43db suggests here that you probably should be getting a higher speed than you are getting at present, however the predicted difference between max ADSL and ADSL2+ is not that great i.e. 6304 to 7904kbps.

M4RKM

I'm on ADSL2+ already with o2 broadband, and if you're offered things as a freebie, i'd go for it.

To convert your line to 21CN they'll do it overnight, and then there should be no disruption to anything else... you will see a faster speed.. i'm out in the sticks, and could only manage about 1.2 meg with ADSL, when i went ADSL2+ this is now up to 2.5 meg.. so a considerable increase for me...

FTTC (Fibre to the CABINET) is the next phase, but involves lots of digging, and is only being trialled, wheras the 21CN is something everyone will get soon..

M

GunJack

Minerva69 wrote: »

I don't really check my speed/stats very often! I am on an "up to 8Mbps" service with Zen as my ISP at the moment. I'm not sure what info you require, but here is my speed test result from Think Broadband, I am 1.67km from the exchange according to SamKnows, and my router (BT Voyager 2110) info at the moment is:


Line Rate 4256 Kbps (downstream) 448 Kbps(upstream)
Noise Margin 15.2 dB (downstream) 19.0 dB (upstream)
Line Attenuation 43.0 dB (downstream) 21.0 dB (upstream)
Output Power 19.7 dBm (downstream) 11.9 dBm (upstream)

I will check out the forums you suggested, thanks.

right, your downstream SNRM should be optimised at 6db (your ISP should reset this for you, contact tech support), and you should sync not far off the full 8Megs.

I would check if your bell wire is disconnected at the master phone socket (see the tutorial on DSLZone here: http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php). This and a reduced noise margin should let you sync way up on what you are getting now. At 43dB, wou should sync around 10-12Megs on 21CN. Do the bell wire and your attenuation should drop a few dB, allowing you to sync even higher


In theory, do the bell wire, and 21CN should work very well for you, go for it