DSL broadband faster than fiber?

JabbaTheHut

I have Vodafone dsl broadband. I checked the Vodafone site to see if fiber was available, but was told it was not. Just for the gas, I checked Eircom.net and it told me it was. So a phone call to Vodafone was in order to see if they were able to provide me.

The guy on the phone told me that yeah, it was available, but at only 7 megs. but as it is I can get 11, without fiber. Upgrading to fiber would be a 4 meg drop down.

The fiber box is about 1.2km away from the house, but I was reckoning that if standard dsl broadband can get 11 mb over the wires, then surely fiber could not be slower.

Is this an odd phenomenon, or is it worth my while looking into this further?

dalta5billion

Check what Eircom are saying you will get with VDSL. I believe it's under "Discover the speed you will experience" or something like that.

ED E

Its totally possible that this can happen. If:

- You are quite close to the exchange(in dsl terms)
- The cab is much closer to the exchange than to you

Its also possible that something skewed the test. Verify the result with a few neighbours numbers.

JabbaTheHut

Just finished a chat with Eircom live chat. She says that it is indeed 7mb max for fiber. I asked if anything could be done, but was told there wasn't. I didn't expect she'd say anything but that really, given she was a sales rep.

ED. The cabinet is about 1/2 way between the exchange and the house. That's about 1.2km from the exchange, and another 1.2km to the house. I just found it strange that fiber is slower.

godskitchen

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

Just finished a chat with Eircom live chat. She says that it is indeed 7mb max for fiber. I asked if anything could be done, but was told there wasn't. I didn't expect she'd say anything but that really, given she was a sales rep.

ED. The cabinet is about 1/2 way between the exchange and the house. That's about 1.2km from the exchange, and another 1.2km to the house. I just found it strange that fiber is slower.

It's not fibre. It's fiber copper hybrid.

JabbaTheHut

I know that. That's why I mentioned that I can get 11mb over the same wires. You'd imagine that it should be the same at the very least, and certainly not worse.

godskitchen

JabbaTheHut wrote: »

I know that. That's why I mentioned that I can get 11mb over the same wires. You'd imagine that it should be the same at the very least, and certainly not worse.

Completely different technology. Plenty of info on the Web. One is adsl the other vdsl.

In my experience, at 1.2k you should get between 15 and 25mb on vdsl, unless you have a very bad quality line.

JabbaTheHut

Yep. I would have expected an increase, and not a decrease. The quality of the line is not too bad.

Line Attenuation Downstream 41 db Upstream 9.5 db
Noise Margin Downstream 8 db Upstream 20 db

ED E

Figures suggest 3000m of cable APPROX. Most likely the cable takes a direct route from exchange to cab and a roundabout way towards yourself. 1800m is spot on 7 or 12mb VDSL mark.

If you check the "exchange VDSL" thread you'll find my explanation on why the way eircom has done things is only good for short range acces. In any case, move to UPC, move house or wait a couple years for FTTH are your options. Enjoy.

JabbaTheHut

Lol, Ed. You've given me a few choices there. The way things are at the minute, it's not any real hassle to stay on the speed I have. Like anything, if the speed was faster, I'd go with it. It's not, and it's not the end of the world.