Weird results with BT broadband checker

Can anyone tell me why when I put in my number into the BT broadband checker
it says upto 1Mbit, and I may require a visit from an engineer, but if I try
the phone numbers for other people who share the same telephone pole iwht my
property, the result is upto 2Mbit? How strange is this? Their phone line
is the same length as mine, some are even longer, as I am closest to the
pole! Whats the crack here then? Incidently I already have a very
reliable 1Mbit connection, but just thinking toward the future when 2Mbit or
more could be the 'norm'....

John

"John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Can anyone tell me why when I put in my number into the BT broadband
> checker it says upto 1Mbit, and I may require a visit from an engineer,
> but if I try the phone numbers for other people who share the same
> telephone pole iwht my property, the result is upto 2Mbit? How strange is
> this? Their phone line is the same length as mine, some are even longer,
> as I am closest to the pole! Whats the crack here then? Incidently I
> already have a very reliable 1Mbit connection, but just thinking toward
> the future when 2Mbit or more could be the 'norm'....

It could be that as you have ADSL, the checker result for your line is based
on an actual line test/stats/

However, the other lines may not have ADSL so the checker is guessing in
those cases.

Does your modem/router provide any line stats?

Even if you can't get 2MB now - BT are expected to relax the line test in
future, so you may be able to get it later.

Regards
Sunil

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:02:29 -0000, "John" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> How strange is this?

its a line guesser. You might be on a different thickness or age of
cable somewhere back up the line, or it may just be an error. When
they start doing downstream rate adaption it won't matter anyway.

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:02:29 -0000, "John" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>> How strange is this?
>
> its a line guesser. You might be on a different thickness or age of
> cable somewhere back up the line, or it may just be an error. When
> they start doing downstream rate adaption it won't matter anyway.

Will downstream rate adaption allow lines that currently cannot get
broadband (probably because of distance from exchange) to get some sort of
service?

I've just checked my parents' cottage in Yorkshire and the current status
is:

"Your exchange has broadband.

However, despite an engineer's visit to your premises it has been proved
not possible for your telephone line to support broadband service. Please
accept our apologies. We are continuing to look for alternative
technology solutions and this site will be updated with developments as
they happen."

which sounds fairly final and irrevocable.

I can't say that I'm unduly surprised: BT have enough of a job providing a
decent 24x7x365 phone service to the village: every month or so all the
phones in the village go dead (no dialling tone, and ringing tone for
incoming calls) and BT keep "fixing" it but the fault keeps coming back.

"Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4245a54f$0$11315$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Will downstream rate adaption allow lines that currently cannot get
> broadband (probably because of distance from exchange) to get some sort of
> service?

No.

At the moment, downstream rate adaption is only planned for speeds above
2MB.

> I've just checked my parents' cottage in Yorkshire and the current status
> is:
>
> "Your exchange has broadband.
>
> However, despite an engineer's visit to your premises it has been proved
> not possible for your telephone line to support broadband service. Please
> accept our apologies. We are continuing to look for alternative
> technology solutions and this site will be updated with developments as
> they happen."
>
> which sounds fairly final and irrevocable.

Have you tried applying for Zen's 250K service? It sometimes works where
512K services fail too...

Regards
Sunil

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Martin Underwood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:4245a54f$0$11315$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Will downstream rate adaption allow lines that currently cannot get
>> broadband (probably because of distance from exchange) to get some sort
>> of service?
>
> No.
>
> At the moment, downstream rate adaption is only planned for speeds above
> 2MB.
>
>> I've just checked my parents' cottage in Yorkshire and the current status
>> is:
>>
>> "Your exchange has broadband.
>>
>> However, despite an engineer's visit to your premises it has been proved
>> not possible for your telephone line to support broadband service.
>> Please
>> accept our apologies. We are continuing to look for alternative
>> technology solutions and this site will be updated with developments as
>> they happen."
>>
>> which sounds fairly final and irrevocable.
>
> Have you tried applying for Zen's 250K service? It sometimes works where
> 512K services fail too...

I might suggest that they apply for something like this. It would be useful
to know what precisely BT mean by "proved not possible": is it merely
house-to-exchange length or is there something more sinister. If it's some
form of multiplexing on the line to serve the whole village from very few
wires, then I imagine everyone there is totally buggered! I believe BT did
say a few years ago when several new houses were proposed, that they
wouldn't be able to give the houses telephone lines, which does rather
suggest some form of multiplexing which was running at capacity.

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:09:17 -0000, "Martin Underwood"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Will downstream rate adaption allow lines that currently cannot get
>broadband (probably because of distance from exchange) to get some sort of
>service?

only if they were to let it adapt all the way down to 64k would it
extend the range significantly. The 256k service is a halfway house,
only Zen retail this AFAIK.

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 19:52:14 -0000, "Martin Underwood"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> It would be useful
>to know what precisely BT mean by "proved not possible":

the wording is intended to cover the situation where ADSL is enabled
on a line, it doesn't work, the users gets the ISP to get BT out, the
BT guy can't get it to work either and flags it as "proved not
possible".

If these events didn't occur then have another go.

Various devices that prevent it from happening are usually identified
as "incompatible serivces" or "incompatible plant" on the line.

Phil
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices :-)

--

I had a very similar problem until recently, i.e: 512 Kb/s for my line, 2Mb/s
for ALL my neighbours lines according to the BT broadband line checker. I
reported it as a line fault and the BT engineer finally tracked it down to a
defective faceplate splitter on the BT box in my house. After fitting a new
splitter, my speed immediately increased to 1 Mb/s then gradually to 2Mb/s
over the next day or two. I don't know why it didn't jump to 2Mb/s
immediately.

AAR


On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 15:02:29 +0000, John wrote
(in message <(E-Mail Removed)>):

> Can anyone tell me why when I put in my number into the BT broadband checker
> it says upto 1Mbit, and I may require a visit from an engineer, but if I try
> the phone numbers for other people who share the same telephone pole iwht my
> property, the result is upto 2Mbit? How strange is this? Their phone line
> is the same length as mine, some are even longer, as I am closest to the
> pole! Whats the crack here then? Incidently I already have a very
> reliable 1Mbit connection, but just thinking toward the future when 2Mbit or
> more could be the 'norm'....
>
> John
>
>

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "John" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Can anyone tell me why when I put in my number into the BT broadband
>> checker it says upto 1Mbit, and I may require a visit from an engineer,
>> but if I try the phone numbers for other people who share the same
>> telephone pole iwht my property, the result is upto 2Mbit? How strange
>> is this? Their phone line is the same length as mine, some are even
>> longer, as I am closest to the pole! Whats the crack here then?
>> Incidently I already have a very reliable 1Mbit connection, but just
>> thinking toward the future when 2Mbit or more could be the 'norm'....
>
> It could be that as you have ADSL, the checker result for your line is
> based on an actual line test/stats/
>
> However, the other lines may not have ADSL so the checker is guessing in
> those cases.
>
> Does your modem/router provide any line stats?
>
> Even if you can't get 2MB now - BT are expected to relax the line test in
> future, so you may be able to get it later.
>
> Regards
> Sunil

Hi Sunil!

The only other reason I can think that the speed is questioned on my line,
is that the line has been installed since 1977 and has never had any
replacement cable to the house from the telephone pole since it was
installed in '77. The telephone pole was installed specifically for our
phone installation in 1977 and all the others around here have been added to
the pole since. There are now more than 16 users connected to this pole. I
am faily sure that everyone on this telephone pole go down the same cable
that has been installed since 1977.

Yes the details are below according to a Netgear DG834G MkII.

--------------------- DOWNSTREAM ----- UPSTREAM ------
Connection Speed 1152 kbps 288kbps
Line Attenuation 48dB 25.5dB
Noise Margin 8dB 28dB
--------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you make of these? The 1Mbit service is 100 percent reliable

John