Time for a re-think about PSTN/POTS?

A wouldn't bet on that!

Depends. ~15 years ago I made a setup for somebody with a 3G dongle suckered to an upstairs window, plus a USB cable to an old PC running a floppy Linux router distro. It worked OK and was fine for email and basic browsing, which was all that was on offer at the time. This was in the

What I would do though is have a smartphone or tablet with a data-capable SIM available, so that you have a backup connection in case of troubles. Part of the problem with the above setup is that you might need to google to fix something, which is tricky if your only connection is down. In the worst case you can do a mobile hotspot thing with the phone. In the OP's case they're planning on using a phone as their primary connection, so I'd be tempted to keep a second phone in case something happens to the first.

Theo

My vigor is connected to VDSL upstairs, and a long USB cable goes into the loft where a 4G dongle is mounted near the ridge, that works well enough for backup purposes. I only keep one of the Three Data Reward SIMs in it, 250MB/month is enough to run a quick test and keep it alive.

As theo said, the ISPs are quite conservative now compared to the old "up to XX Mbps" days, it says your line doesn't have bridge taps, so assuming your wiring is clean (face plate splitter and no internal wiring connected to router?

I'd expect you to get 15-20Mbps and 9Mbps should be accepted as a valid complaint ... 25Mbps is not out of the question for VDSL at about 1km.

I presume the 3Mbps you talked about was a speedtest measurement, not line sync speed?

In message <u7buo2$ufln$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, at 12:02:09 on Mon, 26 Jun

iirc their call charges are very expensive, and approaching 100% profit. So they are hoping customers forget and run up high bills. Or pay a big chunk for a calling plan (eg £12/month for unlimited UK calling).

Yes, speedtests via Ookla.

OK about conservative - except in their selling spiel. When the Plusnet runs full out, the download is actually very flat-top - just under

So the Observed Speeds reflects my earlier observations? Pushing it to get 4Mbps when I was on adsl2; with fttc, a maximum instantaneous speed of 13.09Mbps over an unknown monitoring period?

Fed up with complaining to Plusnet. All that I've had from them is a bill for a "our very best modem/router" - which made not a jot of improvement. As expected.

Splitter at Master Socket. Drop-wire from premise's eaves to pole. Then underground to Cabinet.

PA

No bell wiring here just three twisted pairs - This issue was solved by the BT I-plate some time ago. Over the thirty years here we've had 2 landlines then 3 then 2 then 1 - so 0 is the next logical step - I hope.

There's a regular diurnal cycle, so doesn't this point to contention?

I've occasionally noted hum amplitude-modulation on incoming speech, but not much. The line was my wife's business line so I never used it until her death - not much even after.

To all who use BT copper for Internet: I know someone who when on ADSL rather naughtily cut the ring wire at the master socket, and doubled his ADSL speed from 4Mb/s to 8Mb/s. Presumably this would also affect FTTC.

That suggests a congested backhaul link which could improve with a different ISP. I'd try talking to IDNET. best support ever.

If you are synching at 12Mbps that is what you should be getting - 10 at least anyway..

Unless quality is severely awful - your router should have stats in it you can look at.

But if the line itself is dropping back to say 4Mbps, then you have a local copper problem - again a better ISP will sort that out.

Are there any crackles or hisses on voice?

Very common to do that. Modern phones don't need the ring wire.

If it is necessary, there is a wiring fault.

I had a friend was only getting 5Mbps and I looked at signal strength and knew he should be getting more. He removed the face plate and went in straight and doubled his speed. That prompted him to look at the house wiring...total mess... and wrongly connected. He ripped it all apart and redid it correctly. Instant speed

Surely, the phone/ADSL signal comes in on a single pair and the ring signal is generated in the master socket for export to the slave sockets and that is your wiring, to do what you want with (within reason)?

Of course, it's just easier to do it at the endpoint.

Which on modern master sockets is connected to the user accessible bit - so nothing even remotely naughty about disconnecting it.

(and you can always add a plug in microfilter to a phone if you find it does not ring)

Looking at my bandwidth usage record, there has been quite a change over time...

Starting in ADSL days (this line load balanced with another of similar speed):

Date Down Up (GB)

September 2009 1.59 0.1 October 2009 3.52 0.26 November 2009 5.27 3.06

to just before we got FTTP:

November 2018 61.48 5.1 December 2018 67.73 4.75 January 2019 61.03 4.23

To just after:

February 2019 446.62 13.07 March 2019 495.29 12.83 April 2019 517.92 15.33

More recently:

April 2023 1747.67 151.91 May 2023 1150.38 136.41 June 2023 1563.11 103.55

So routinely now uploading 100x more than I used to download!

Correct.