When is 500Mbps not 500Mbps ?

[Buzby]

When I was on Old Skool copper, whatever modem I had could show the line speed on the copper. This was good for checking the data rate before it reached my computer.

Now I'm on FTTP, 500Mbps supposedly, but how can I check this ?.

I tried a few speed tests, with my PC connected to the router by Ethernet cable, and all came out at about 350Mbps. This  is fast enough for what I need, but a lot less than what I'm paying for !.

Thinking a bit more, I decided to check what the Ethernet cable, supplied by TT with the router, was rated for. I found the cable is CAT5e, which I think is only rated upto 100Mbps. ( I just realised, there is another cable in the data path, the one between the ONT and the router. This too is CAT5e )

So, is my 350Mbps due to the CAT5e cables supplied by TT ?

If I find some CAT6a cables, will I get 500Mbs ?

Cheers,

Buzby

[Gondola]

One of the reasons for TalkTalk bringing technical support experts into the Salford HQ is to troubleshoot for customers those rare instances when things do go wrong. The system doesn't have to be overlaid and overburdened with customer fault reporting because for the most part customers cannot fix issues themselves. But for the issue you describe when the system hangs and a process does not complete then that ought to time-out and a report generated.

[Buzby]

"The ISP wants to implement an installation that works first time,"

That's a good intention, but when things go wrong it would be a lot easier for the ISP if the user could provide some useful info.

Just flashing a little light, or a message saying 'Oops ! We've got a problem', gives no clue as where to the problem is.

I've got another long running thread running about MyAccount not working properly. My suspicion is that it's a 'backoffice' database problem. It would be useful to the forum gurus if the page showed a message related to the database problem, not just the 'Whirling Dots of Doom'.

[Gondola]

I agree with you. The devices and their firmwares are multi-service products and inevitably are customised to suit the requirements of the ISP. The ISP wants to implement an installation that works first time, and provides a secure broadband and voice service that continues to work without need for support which is where every ISP is looking to make cost savings. 

[Buzby]

Ha ha !.

The ONT is a real beast of a machine !. It has the capabilities of doing everything you could ever want, including working as a fully-fledged router with built-in VOIP. ( I'm not sure it's got WiFi, I couldn't find any mention of that in the online documention. EDIT: The 2426 and 2427 have WiFi.)

However, my ONT has been seriously crippled !. 

( I know it's been crippled. I had long discussions with the fibre support team about how to access logs, and was told in no uncertain terms that end users had been locked out of the ONT. )

The FAST 5464 router also has the most unfriendly diagnostics logs I've ever seen.

It looks like this is the way of the future. Companies put stuff in our houses and on our networks, but don't let us see what it's doing.

[Gondola]

The Znid GPON 2424 ONT is an interesting device. It's future proofing your Full Fibre connection for up to 2.5Gbps downstream service although it does not have any 2.5Gbps ports only the normal up to 1Gbps ports. There are 4 x 1Gbps ports and the VLAN tagging per port would suggest the device may be aimed at business users or homeworkers requiring more than one broadband service sharing the optical connection. 

The specification appears to suggest that the ONT can act as a router and DHCP server so I'm hoping that's disabled. The specification also suggests it has its own Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n that I hope is also disabled because it would potentially interfere with the Wi-Fi of the Sagemcom Hub. The Sagemcom also has 4 x 1Gbps ports.

The ONT has 2 VOIP service ports although these would not be configured for TalkTalk Digital Voice and you'd use the green Phone port on the rear of the Sagemcom (after removal of a covering label) if TalkTalk have enabled a Digital Voice service for you.

Overall, the system has 1Gbps capability.

[Buzby]

It's very confusing about these CAT cables, there seems to be so  many different interpretations of the same standard.

Anyway, a test again this morning shows between 480Mbs and 530Mbs, so either I made some error last night, or the fibre really was slow !.

My config is a zNID -GPON-2424A1 for the ONT, and a FAST 5464 hub.

Neither of these is very good at letting the end user see what's going on !.

[Gondola]

You'll find that Cat5e cables are for speeds up to 1Gbps.

The eero 6 speed test via the eero app and the TalkTalk speed test will both give the speeds measured at the router preferably measured when there's no other usage of your broadband connection.  Connecting your device via a Cat5e or higher specification cable to the eero 6 or TalkTalk Hub should mean you get pretty much the same results as declared by the speed tests if your device has gigabit ports. I also like to cross check with fast.com.

If using Wi-Fi then the limiting factor is the speed of that connection if less than the speed of the broadband service.