Broadband speed question.

blackste

OK stupid question time.

Im looking at moving my service provider, and will most likely go with BE broadband. However, i was browsing the zen internet website, and when i entered my phone number, it gave me this infomation.

Estimated Maximum Download Speed*: 2.5Mbps Line enabled for "up to 20 Mbps": YesNow, to my stupid question. If i paid for an "up to 20mbps" service, would i be able to exceed the current maximum 2.5mbps? ie do they change something to give me a faster service, if i pay more for it? I say its a stupid question, because i dont think i can go faster, but if you dont ask, you dont find out.

thanks

kwikbreaks

If your line is only good for 2.5Mbps then going to ADSL2+ (the upto 20Mbps+ packages) will only bring a marginal improvement.

In general though moving to an LLU provider (like Be) from a BTw based package brings the not insignificant benefit of escaping the BTw DLM (Dynamic Line Management) and IP profiling (max speed set in bands - just missing a band can cost half a meg which on poor lines is quite a bit). Good LLU also tends to actually deliver speeds closer to the max possible during peak times when scrimping and savinig necessitated by BTw pricing causes many to slow down. LLU operators also tend to have more relaxed fair usage policies.

blackste

Thanks for the reply.

My speed is down to 2.5mbps at the moment, where it usually runs at around 4 to 5.5mbps. Im hoping moving to BE will show some improvement. My isp is giving me some crap about BT working on the lines etc, which is very coincidental that they work on them the first time i happen to call about an issue.

bod1467

Post your present router stats and I'll be able to estimate what you could get with BE. (I'm with BE).

kwikbreaks

Yes the router stats are what is needed for an accurate assessment - that's what I assumed you were quoting. If the line can do 4-5Mbps then there could well be a worthwhile improvement with ADSL2+.

Info on getting stats - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

ADSL2+ estimator based on ADSL attenuation from stats - http://www.dslzoneuk.net/maxspeed2.php

blackste

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 2464 kbps 320 kbps
Line Attenuation 61 db 15.5 db
Noise Margin 7 db 7 db

Is this the right info?

According to my isp, the line is being worked on at the moment, hence my poor BB performance. To add insult to injury, my filter stopped working, so that figure is straight from the master socket. I have previously had results from speedtest.net at 5.7mbps, but usually between 4 to 5.5mbps.

kwikbreaks

If you had speedtest.net results showing > 5Mbps on that line either the line has deteriorated markedly since that happened or something caused the result to be wrong (a common cause of duff results on normally reliable speedtest sites is Kaspersky AV).

As it stands your line won't support a download much over 2Mbps and moving to ADSL2+ wouldn't offer any significant improvement.

blackste

Im waiting to see the outcome of the alleged work that BT are doing on my line. Im fairly sure vodafone are feeding my BS. We shall see.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this.

kwikbreaks

I think they are feeding you BS too but your earlier higher speeds are puzzling because a 61dB line would be highly unlikely to be able to deliver that speed. I've never seen any reports where line attenuation has changed beyond a very minor degree (say 0.5dB - 1dB max) and that was probably only measurement errors.

bod1467

But look at the upstream attenuation.

15.5dB upstream should equate to 25-30dB downstream. Even if it was 30dB this would rise to about 32dB with ADSL2+ (because of how the technology works) ... this should be good for at least 12meg sync, possibly up to 15meg.

PS - your sig is so true! :wall:

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'm sure I read that BE won't take on lines over 3km long, which could well be an issue here if 2.5Mbps is the maximum speed estimate.

The line could well be less than 3km long and still only capable of 2.5Mbps (poor quality, aliminimum, etc), but it's probably more likely to be longer.