Why is PlusNet line speed faster than Sky?

[Scubbie]

How do I get their hand big enough to include me ;-)

A lot of new people within Sky's call centres were trained up on changing broadband profiles recently. What I think happened is that someone found that they could set up someone on Fastpath. Previously this was banned and I think that you will find that it still is.

For this reason I do not think that you will have much joy in getting Fastpath enabled on your connection.

[Shonk]

you wouldnt want it on a line as ropey as yours anyway

My line is capable of 22.8 meg and i drop it down to 19.5 with a 12db margin
to minimize errors

your error rate would be through the roof on fastpath

[Scubbie]

I think, just to clarify, that the issue is with the wiring. It isn't Sky's fault.

However, if there is any noise on the line, then you would stand a chance of getting someone out to look at it.

For info, my connection went the other way. I have a faster connection now with Sky than my previous ISP. I appreciate that it is annoying when you can see two connections following similar paths. It really does depend on who the connection is put together though.

The existing copper network was not really designed for broadband usage. FTTC should be regarded as a stepping stone towards FTTP which is designed with both telephony and broadband in mind.

[losip]

My distance from the exchange is not Sky's fault, and the loss of 50.5db is something that Sky can do nothing about. But the performance of the ISAM when presented with a copper pair with these characteristics IS something that Sky are responsible for.

The line is absolutely silent on a quiet line test; more so than the PlusNet line where I can hear faint buzzing so to achieve a noise margin of 7dB at 4095kbps is poor. The Line Speed Calculator confirms that I could expect better and gives a result that corresponds with the speed I do actually get on the PlusNet line.

So, three possibilities that I can think of:

1. Additional noise at frequencies too high for me or my phone to reproduce
2. Additional distance introduced at the exchange in going from the MDF to the Sky frame as opposed to the BT frame
3. Poor performance of the ISAM as compared with the Infineon MSAN used by BTW

Frankly, I don't think I stand any hope of getting anything done by Sky, based on my experiences with their call centre so far. I'll start looking for another LLU supplier with unlimited broadband.

[IWasNotTheEnemy]

Go for o2, I can't fault them

[timc]

Go for o2, I can't fault them

Apart from the heavy traffic management of some of the packages and greater cost than Sky.

Would some of these sync speed issues be caused by a mismatch of the router's chipset with that in the exchange?