Switched to Plusnet FTTC, could Sky do any better?

[ray_dav]

For many years I had Sky Talk and unlimited broadband ADSL. Download speed was a reliable 11Mbps and I never had to report a fault. Recently I was tempted to change to FTTC and switched to Plusnet as their prices for up to 38Mbps fiber are better than the similar service from Sky. Before switching I noted from the the BT Broadband checker:
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm

that I should get at least (estimated) 27Mbps connection speed



In fact the connection speed I now get is about 20Mbps and the download speed is about 18.6Mbps which I'm not impressed with:


A visit from a BT Openreach engineer determined that there is no fault on my line, my line is not impacted and that the snyc speed of 20Mbps is consistent with the line length to the cabinet of about 1.2 Km. This begs the question as to why the speed estimate from the BT Broadband checker is so inaccurate, and it suggests mis-selling.

Fortunately the additional cost to me of the Plusnet FTTC service over the duration of the 18 month contract is between £1 -£2 per month, compared with the SKY ADSL + line rental so in that sense the situation isn't too dissapointing. Presumably if I had taken the up to 38Mbps FTTC service from Sky I would got the same connection speed as the underlying network is provided by BT Openreach, in that case though I'd have been even moe dissapointed at the cost from Sky would have been more.

Any one else had a similar experience switching to fiber with speeds being well below the estimates despite no line faults?

I'm already considering options once the 18 month contract with Plusnet is over. Maybe forget about FTTC as BT Openreach speed estimates are not reliable in my area and instead return to SKY ADSL, or even switch to Virgin Media which is available in my street. Would there be any point switching to an up to 76Mbps fiber service as that would probably just result in an increased cap in speed but the actualy sync speed would remain the same, or with that service is more power applied to the line to provide higher snyc speeds?

[Isitme]

I am not sure how you know your line is not 'impacted'. I believe this means there is interference on your line, probably caused by crosstalk between the several lines in the cabinet. Your sync rate is actually between the high and low rates in the impacted range. It was very noticeable when fibre became available, the first adopters found their speed reduced gradually as more lines were connected to the cabinet. There is a process being introduced which helps overcome crosstalk, it may not have been applied to your cabinet yet.

As the highest speed available on your line is well below the maximum speed of 80mb I don't think upgrading would increase your speed any. The only consolation is that you would be no better off with Sky, and you would be paying more.

[gorebrush]

As above, I had an estimate of 53 - got 60 to start with in 2012, currently hitting 80
all the time now

[seawright]

You may have got a higher upload speed with Sky fibre as Plusnet provide a 40/2 product whereas Sky Fibre is 40/10 (one of the reasons for the price difference) but the download speed will be the same as it is limited by line length (to cabinet) and noise. Are you able to get a noise margin reading from your router?

[bubblegun]

For many years I had Sky Talk and unlimited broadband ADSL. Download speed was a reliable 11Mbps and I never had to report a fault. Recently I was tempted to change to FTTC and switched to Plusnet as their prices for up to 38Mbps fiber are better than the similar service from Sky. Before switching I noted from the the BT Broadband checker:
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm

that I should get at least (estimated) 27Mbps connection speed



In fact the connection speed I now get is about 20Mbps and the download speed is about 18.6Mbps which I'm not impressed with:


A visit from a BT Openreach engineer determined that there is no fault on my line, my line is not impacted and that the snyc speed of 20Mbps is consistent with the line length to the cabinet of about 1.2 Km. This begs the question as to why the speed estimate from the BT Broadband checker is so inaccurate, and it suggests mis-selling.

Fortunately the additional cost to me of the Plusnet FTTC service over the duration of the 18 month contract is between £1 -£2 per month, compared with the SKY ADSL + line rental so in that sense the situation isn't too dissapointing. Presumably if I had taken the up to 38Mbps FTTC service from Sky I would got the same connection speed as the underlying network is provided by BT Openreach, in that case though I'd have been even moe dissapointed at the cost from Sky would have been more.

Any one else had a similar experience switching to fiber with speeds being well below the estimates despite no line faults?

I'm already considering options once the 18 month contract with Plusnet is over. Maybe forget about FTTC as BT Openreach speed estimates are not reliable in my area and instead return to SKY ADSL, or even switch to Virgin Media which is available in my street. Would there be any point switching to an up to 76Mbps fiber service as that would probably just result in an increased cap in speed but the actualy sync speed would remain the same, or with that service is more power applied to the line to provide higher snyc speeds?

Proof that Sky using technologies to reduce crosstalk on ADSL gives much better speeds than most other ISP's, for their LLU ADSL?
Your BT estimate is up to 8Mb/s for ADSL2+ but you were getting 11Mb/s from Sky.