Is G.fast or VDSL2 profile 35b turned on by default on a copper line?

Hi everyone,

this morning a van parked in front of our home, and worked on the Swisscom equipment located under the asphalt, just a few meters away from where the cables get inside of the building.

I had already been advised by Swisscom that my VDSL2 connection would be offline this morning, and I was curious to see what effects any changes would have on my internet speed.

Until this morning, my Zyxel XMG3297-B50A would sync at 120M down 40M up, using VDSL2 Annex B and profile 17a.

After the work was completed, my Zyxel synced again with the same protocol and profile, but this time the speed went up to 146M down and 51M up, yippie!

Nothing major, but still any increase in speed is welcome!

I then decided to go on the Swisscom address checker, and found this out for my address:

Ah, so faster speed is available! 525M down and 120M up mean G.fast, since VDSL2 profile 35b does max 300M/100M, right?

And since I already have Internet M, a higher speed would in fact be possible per my contract, up to 300M down and 100M up:

This would of course mean that I could run either G.fast or VDSL2 profile 35b, and since my Zyxel supports both, I should be negotiating 300M down and 100M up pretty easily, considering that there is at most a distance of 15m of copper between my router and the box in the street.

Maybe not G.fast, as the 500M/100M of Internet L is not available, so maybe it’s “just” VDSL2 profile 35b…

Still, I tried to see if my router could negotiate profile 35b or G.fast, but it did not.

I am still on VDSL2 profile 17a and 146M/51M.

Can anyone here tell me if Swisscom needs to change something on the configuration of my port to allow the faster protocols and speed to be negotiated?

Many thanks for any comment you might have!

Bye, Luca

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Black Mamba wrote:

for the negotiation it is undoubtedly preferable to first contact with the Holtine of Swisscom (level 1) and also the Technical Support (level 2)

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thanks @Black Mamba, I am on the phone now, waiting and waiting…

Meanwhile the Internet M page specific to my location has this notice:

which I don’t really trust, as I have 150M down and 50M up already… so I suspect there is something wrong somewhere.

I’d be really happy if I could double the Internet access speed by just talking to someone at Swisscom and having them change something on the DSLAM…

I will keep you all posted on the developments!

Bye, Luca

Finally I have some time to talk to support, and at level 1 things are not going all too well, sadly.

First I am told that my connection is offline, and that I am probably connected on some other network…

Then the L1 guy comes back apologizing, and saying that yes, there is a connection working to my place. Thanks, I knew that already, good that I convinced you!

Then, after explaining that I manage my own router, and that it is Swisscom approved, and that behind the router which is heavily customized I have a lab with switches, routers and servers, and that its configuration is not quite the standard, the L1 guy asks me to fully reset the router to its default settings. DEFAULT SETTINGS! Not a simple reset, really FACTORY SETTINGS!!!

Sorry, but no. My configuration is unique, and it would take me time to redo it. For what reason, still, I wonder?

Long long wait for him to talk to his supervisor, and now he came back saying that there was some misconfiguration on their side, and that he has also given me access to Internet L for free for six months, and that I should be receiving full speed on the line.

Ah, so there was an issue on the Swisscom side, after all… but I needed to heavily push back to make it happen, up to the point of starting to be a little upset, for the L1 guy to go back and do his job with a little more care…

I will now post this message, then proceed to reset the router. Let’s see what happens!

Man, it’s really difficult to let L1 staff understand that you know just a little more than Joe average user sometimes…

Bye, Luca

Nope.

After a full shutdown and restart, I am still at 146M down and 53M up on profile 17a.

The battle to get upgraded to G.fast, or to at least profile 35b is still going on with Swisscom…

The L1 guy said he would call me again before lunch. Let’s see if he sticks to his promise, first of all!

Will keep you posted.

L

Turned out that the L1 guy who promised to call me back did NOT do it, after all…

Another quick call back from L1 support yielded much better results, with a much more understanding and knowledgeable guy who perfectly understood the situation, and proceeded swiftly to the creation of an internal ticket to unlock the G.fast profiles on my copper.

He said that another technician would call me back in a couple days at most.

Now we’re talking, especially since this second guy said that getting 500M and 100M up with G.fast is very much likely.

Looking forward to the next step!

Bye, Luca

Ah! That would mean running a fiber from the building to the manhole where the DSLAM is installed (see the picture in the first message).

And that would also mean running fiber inside of the whole building, which is a PPE with 6 apartments, where 4 are owned and 2 are rented, mine included.

I should really start to make a point about making that upgrade, sometimes in the future. Not sure any of the neighbors is a big internet user, and some use the internet connection from the local cable TV service, too…

Do you know who pays for the fiber from the curb to the building? Is it Swisscom or the property owners?

What kind of equipment do you have to achieve those speeds, @Black Mamba?

For now, let me enjoy my 4x speed increase for no money expenditures!

Have a great weekend,

Luca

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Black Mamba wrote:

>… Do you know who pays for the fiber from the curb to the building? Is it Swisscom or the property owners?…

everything is explained in this article

FTTB, FTTB/S, FTTH and Convergent technologies

Your fibre-optic expansion | Swisscom

that specific question is not there in the otherwise nicely done document, @Black Mamba.

We are in an FTTS situation at this time here, and there would be additional costs in going to an FTTH situation, clearly.

Is the additional cost to run the fiber from the manhole with the DSLAM to the building completely taken care of by Swisscom? What about the cost to run the fibers inside of the building?

This document sheds a little more light, but not 100% of my questions are answered. Just check these FAQs:

I guess that I will need to wait until Swisscom will finally decide to activate FTTH in my area.

And maybe the DSLAM upgrade done in January 2022, less than a month ago, is a step in that direction.

For now, the 600M down and 150M up on G.fast are plenty enough for me!

Thanks, Luca