This topic

BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

bobleonheart — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 17:34:39 GMT

Ok so here's the rub. I have recently noticed that the speed of my broadband connection is much lower than the speeds I am supposed to be receiving. For reference this is the BT Fibre 1 with Halo 1 package that I am paying for

50Mb - 50Mb

Your download speed

Your Stay Fast Guarantee 25Mb (note this has actually changed from 30 Mb down to 25Mb since I started having this problem see here:

Upload speed 10Mb - 10Mb

I have performed multiple speed tests over the past 2 weeks or so which all show consistent results of

19-20Mb download 1-1.25 Mb upload

This is actually an ongoing issue with BT. I have spoken to no less than 5 call center agents, 1 manager, had one engineer visit to the house and 1 line engineer visit which was promised but completely failed to ever happen.

When this fault was initially raised it appeared on my MY BT page as dropped broadband connection and has now been changed (as an entirely new fault) as "Landline -can't make or receive calls"

So ok... BT have absolutely no idea how to fix this issue and honestly have shown me over my time interacting with their support channels that they don't even know what the problem actually is. It's been dealt with so badly that I am still in disbelief. Anyway, they can't fix it so lets see if I can't get anywhere with some assistance from the community (that I should have never had to rely on in the first place). Here's the basics.

Quiet line test:

A-okay. confirmed by BT engineer during visit to property

Router Stats Technical Log:

Product name:

BT Hub 6A

Serial number:

+084319+NQ64358388

Firmware version:

SG4B1000E040

Firmware updated:

02-Nov-2020

Board version:

1.0

Gui version:

1.115.0

DSL uptime:

3 Days, 8 Hours 26 Minutes 52 Seconds

Data rate:

1.40 Mbps / 24.07 Mbps

Maximum data rate:

1403 / 24346

Noise margin:

6.6 dB / 3.1 dB

Line attenuation:

67.8 dB

Signal attenuation:

26.9 dB / 38.8 dB

VPI / VCI:

0/38

Modulation:

G_993_2_ANNEX_B

Latency type:

Fast Path

Data sent / received:

104 GB Uploaded / 58 GB Downloaded

Broadband username:

bthomehub@btbroadband.com

BT Wi-fi:

Active

2.4 GHz wireless network name:

BTHub6-PSTX

2.4 GHz wireless channel:

Smart (Channel 6)

5 GHz wireless network name:

BTHub6-PSTX-5

5 GHz wireless channel:

Channel 48

Wireless security:

WPA2 (Recommended)

Wireless mode:

Mode 1

Firewall:

MAC address:

24:20:C7:4D:A0:B5

Software variant:

Boot loader:

7.33.1

Broadband Checker Details:

elephone Number {redacted} on Exchange KILMARNOCK is served by Cabinet 18

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream HandbackThreshold(Mbps) WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date Left in JumperHigh Low High Low VDSL Range A (Clean)

VDSL Range B (Impacted)

66.5	47.3	16	10.2	40	Available	Available	--
64.5	40	15.6	9.1	32.4	Available	Available	--

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessWBC FTTP

Upto 1000

Upto 220

Available

1 Stage

ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) ADSL Availability Date WBC SOADSL Availability Date Left in JumperWBC ADSL 2+WBC ADSL2+ Annex MADSL MaxWBC Fixed RateFixed Rate

Up to 11	--	8 to 13.5	Available	Available	--
Up to 11	Up to 1	8 to 13.5	Available	Available	--
Up to 6	--	5 to 8	Available	Available	--
2	--	--	Available	Available	--
2	--	--	Available	--	--

Observed Speeds VDSLMax Observed Downstream SpeedMax Observed Upstream SpeedObserved Date

23.83

1.23

2020-10-23

Other Offerings Availability DateVDSL MulticastADSL Multicast

Available

Premise Environment StatusBridge TapVRINTE FacePlateLast Test Date

03-11-2020

Exchange Product Restrictions StatusFTTP Priority ExchangeWLR WithdrawalSOADSL Restriction

The premise/line is associated with exchange which is NOT part of current fibre priority programme.

The premise/line is associated with exchange where WLR is not withdrawn.

The premise/line is associated with exchange where SOADSL service is restricted.

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH Feed with no anticipated issues.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered.

For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (VDSL or G.fast) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Actual speeds experienced by end users and quoted by CPs will be lower due to a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 31 Dec 2012. The Formal Retirement date for IPstream is from 30 Jun 2014.

If you decide to place an order for a WBC fibre product, an appointment may be required for an engineer to visit the end user's premises to supply the service

In order to be eligible for handback, downstream speed should be less than Downstream Handback Threshold values.

Thank you for your interest

Things That May Be Of Interest:

BT website shows that my premises should be able to handle every package from Full Fibre Essential right through to Full Fibre 900

The engineer visited and confirmed using his equipment that the landline was iin perfect working order, there are no faults with the cabling in the premises and also performed a speedtest on his own equipment which showed results consistent with the ones I had done. The engineer checked for congestion and confirmed that the local usage should not impact the speeds I am receiving. He also stated that he was changing it from (or to) 5Ghz from (or to) the 2.4Ghz although I'm not sure this really matters as from what I understand this is simply the wireless frequency and my hub is actually connected to my computer via an ethernet and doesn't use the wireless. I might be reading that wrong and that may not be what it is but for the sake of clarity just know the engineer did this when he was here. This visit was on Monday and concluded with the engineer saying that he would escalate the issue and arrange for an Openreach line engineer to come out before Wednesday to check the line between the premises and the cabinet (which I actually believe is sitting directly outside my bedroom window no less than 20ft from the premises. I may be wrong but I've certainly seen Openreach engineers in that box.)

If you require any further information I will be happy to provide it.

My Speculation:

There's a toggle or slider somewhere on the BT systems which has not been set to reflect the speeds I should be getting. The reason that I say this is because everytime I run the BT speed test it returns the speed at 21Mb and 1Mb and then says these results are "good" or within the expected ranges... which they are not. They might be if my account was still set to be receiving what was promised for my previous package but they most certainly are not for the package that I am on right now.

I don't know if you guys will actually be able to help but honestly I'm much more curious as to whether or not you'll do any better than BT themselves. At this point it has become less about getting the problem fixed than it has about building up a documented history of how BT have failed to deal with this and just how hard they have failed. So yeah, to date BT has had 10 days to diagnose and fix the error consisting of conversations with 5 advisors each lasting somewhere in the region of 2 hours, 1 conversation with a manager which lasted almost 30 minutes and included a promise to credit my account with £20 compensation and a 1.5 hour engineer visit on my property. And so far I still have absolutely no idea what the issue is or whether it can actually be resolved.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

pippincp — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:03:20 GMT

As FTTP is available ask to be upgraded. Ring the FTTP team. 0800 587 4787

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

imjolly — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:10:46 GMT

Your hub shows a conenction speed of 24mb with attainable of 24mb and with noise margin down at 3.1 suggests G.INP is active. A download speed of 21mb is good and consistent with a connection speed of 24mb

i doubt you are going to get much faster on FTTC and I agree with @pippincp phone FTTP and get upgraded to. FTTP and whichever package you prefer whether same as you have of even speed of 900mb

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:16:50 GMT

Hello @bobleonheart,

I'm a Fibre 2 customer and I'm getting my promised speeds, once it dropped due to a cabinet been broken into by thief's but resolved now.

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

bobleonheart — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:41:10 GMT

It's good and consistent with a connection speed of 24Mb... but not with the package that BT actually sold me which said I'd be getting a minimum of 30Mb. They've been consistently month after month taking money from me for something that they can't and haven't been giving me. Surely BT must have been fully aware that those were the speeds that they could offer me so why would they sell me a package which guarantees more than they could provide me.?

And honestly Download speed is not my big issue. The reason I upgraded to this package was for the upload speed. I said this when I got the initial package too as I planned on doing some streaming. The fact of the matter is I'm getting 1/10th of what I was promised with the package I payed for and for some reason not one person has ever said... "oh you won't be able to get what we promised you."

I mean here I am 10 days into the process of trying to get the issue resolved, I've spoken to more BT advisors during that period than anyone else I've spoken to and not one person has said... "can't do it" Which seems to be what you guys are telling me. Is this not a problem? I've been paying for this package for in excess of 2 years. Are you telling me that it's never been possible at any point during that contract period for BT to supply me with what they promised me? Shouldn't at least one person from BT have told me this given that the information to do so is so readily available that I could get it myself just by visiting two sites?

It's also worth me pointing out that I have an appointment for the 24th to be upgraded to a Full fibre 100 package which I've been led to believe is fttp. But how should I know at this point seeing as I've just found out that nothing BT actually said can be trusted in any way shape or form. How am I to know that:

Full Fibre 100

150Mb - 150Mb

Your download speed

Your Stay Fast Guarantee 100Mb

Upload speed 30Mb - 30Mb

will actually be what I get? I know you guys are just members of the community but surely you must get why I'm so blown away by all this.

At the end of the day is there anything that I can do about the fact that BT lied to me about what they were going to provide me with and is there anything I can do about the fact that for the past 10 days they have very clearly been stringing me along with false promises that they are going to perform some kind of magical fix to give me what they promised me? I mean this is still an open fault at this point. BT is still keeping me under the impression that they are going to fix this and fix my speeds.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

pippincp — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:49:52 GMT

The Full Fibre 100 product is FTTP as opposed to the Fibre 100 product which is G.Fast.

You shouldn't have any speed problems with Full Fibre 100.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:50:53 GMT

Hello @bobleonheart,

I do understand where you're coming from, has you already said you already spoke to BT. You may already know about if you cancel during a contract you'll face a 'Cancellation Fee' unless their's a problem with your service. How many devices are connected to whatever BT Hub you have?

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:52:16 GMT

Hello @pippincp,

Man I'd love to have G.Fast but Openreach has no future plans for my local area / cabinet.

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

pippincp — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:55:08 GMT

All G.Fast plans are on hold while FTTP rollout is being concentrated on.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

bobleonheart — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:05:33 GMT

"The Full Fibre 100 product is FTTP as opposed to the Fibre 100 product which is G.Fast.

You shouldn't have any speed problems with Full Fibre 100."

Thanks I am glad to hear that at least. Still very annoyed that I've been paying £44 a month for 24+ months for a package that was apparently not even possible for me to get. It honestly feels like BT have had me over a barrel for 2 years having there way with me and there's nothing I can do about it.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:18:51 GMT

Hello again @pippincp,

Oh right OK 🤔! Thanks for the update on this 😃.

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

bobleonheart — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:30:04 GMT

"How many devices are connected to whatever BT Hub you have?"

I don't think that's actually that relevant as you'll note that the speed shown in the photo of the test is that from BT to the hub. If I scrolled the speed test down you'd see the speed to the device and although you can't do that I can confirm that when I did the speed to the device was not significantly different than to the hub.

In answer to the question though My PC is connected directly via ethernet and I have a tablet and Iphone which connect via wi-fi. Multiple independent speedtests performed on each separate device while it is the only thing connected return results with no appreciable difference from the one shown on the MY BT one. The hub itself is in fact one I received no more than 3 months ago as a replacement for a faulty one.

Honestly from what I'm hearing in here is that it's not a fault. It's a hardware and infrastructure limitation that prevents them from providing what they promised me and they never told me anything about it... and apparently still don't want to tell me. Not one advisor has actually mentioned FTTP or even suggested that any upgrade is required. In fact the very reason why I am getting the upgrade to Full Fibre 100 is because I looked into the two sets of statistics I provided in this post and how they relate to my position. (My apologies of course to imjolly who asked for these details in a previous post I made where I ultimately didn't provide them... and also thanks because it was knowing that you could tell something from those that prompted me to look into it while I was raising the issue with BT.)

The interesting question I am left with now is what will happen when the next engineer appointment is over as I spoke with an advisor at BT earlier today who has apparently arranged for an Openreach line engineer to arrive on the 16th to continue the process of trying to resolve this. I am simply left wondering whether or not they will ever tell me that they can't do anything more or whether they will continue on with the farce of paying all these peoples wages to pretend that there is the possibility of them doing something.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:37:30 GMT

Hello again 👋,

I was only trying to help, I'm on Fibre 2 which is the highest that my local area / cabinet supports no future plans for my cabinet. Anyway I've got all this connected:

Sky Q 1TB Main box (CAT 5, Ethernet. PORT 1 on the BTSH2)

Sky Q Minibox (WiFi)

My ASUS Laptop (WiFi)

Toshiba Smart TV (CAT5e on PORT 3 On the Network Switch)

HITACHI Living Room TV (WiFi)

Netgear Ethernet Gigabit Switch on PORT 2 with a CAT5e on BTSH2

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (WiFi)

2 Sony Android smartphones (both on WiFi)

My brother's PlayStation 4 (CAT5e, Ethernet on PORT 1 on the Netgear Ethernet Gigabit Switch)

My Gaming PC (CAT5e, Ethernet on PORT 2 on the Netgear Ethernet Gigabit Switch)

My 2nd brother's Gaming PC (WiFi, will be changing to CAT5e Ethernet gaming in Feb 2021)

iPhone 6s (WiFi)

I've got all that connected to my SH2 (SmartHub 2) and I'm getting my speeds, each month I'm getting line checks etc because I asked BT to do this for me and they said yes.

Anyway it could be the cable that is coming into your property.

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

licquorice — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 19:50:12 GMT

@bobleonheart The problem is that your hub stats don't stack up with the checker figures you posted. It would suggest that you are possibly served by aluminium rather than copper cable and it is having a serious impact on what it is believed your line is capable of and what it is actually capable of.

However, moving to FTTP is a no brainer and will give a vast improvement on your speeds.

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

bobleonheart — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 20:21:53 GMT

Oh yeah don't worry I'm definitely moving to FTTP. As far as I see it I've placed the order for it and the issue is now in the process of being resolved come the 24th when the FTTP is up and running. I just wish that BT had been able to play any part in the resolution of the issue and that they hadn't spent all that time sending out engineers and keeping me on hold on account of what either seems to be dishonesty at worst and incompetence at best. I mean literally I've come on here posted two lots of stats and within hours I'm being told what the problem might be, whether its fixable and how best to avoid it. BT should have been able to tell me all of this within the first phone call to them. Maybe they might need to send one engineer out just to double check the figures and the setup but at least by the second call they should have a basic idea of what to tell me. Here I am though 10 days later multiple calls to advisors and managers and not a single mention of FTTP.

Still really gets my goat that they sold me an upload speed of 10Mb when apparently only 1/10th of it would be possible. They are lucky I didn't start to stream way back when I intended to when I first got the contract because I tried a couple of weeks ago and couldn't even manage to do it a 360p without dropping like 50% of the frames. There's not really a great deal I can do about it now that I'm so far along that the contract has since expired and I'm only just noticing. (Which is another thing that gets me. My contract had expired and not one person thought to offer an upgrade. Possibly because when I upgraded my payments actually drop from the £44 I was paying to the £39 I'm going to be paying now for three times the speeds.)

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 20:35:33 GMT

Hello @bobleonheart,

I'd love FFTP in my area but Openreach haven't got any plans for it. Why BT isn't doing it I don't know. I need FFTP because I do have a heavy household etc.

Kind regards,

DanTMan64

Re: BT not providing broadband service I'm paying for

pippincp — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 20:45:19 GMT

@AnonymousBT isn't doing it because Openreach have no plans for it at present. As the FTTP rollout continues more areas will have plans for it. It cannot be done all at once.