This topic

BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:26:13 GMT

I’m not sure this is the right place for this or if it’s even allowed so feel free to move/remove if I’ve done wrong.

Anyway I’m at a crossroads and having a dilemma which I hope this group can help with.

My BT contract is due for renewal and as you know this means my price goes up quite a bit. Now I currently get a speed of 35-36mb and have a stay fast guarantee of 31mb.

When looking to re contract the best I’m being offered is 27-29mb and a stay fast guarantee of just 25mb as this is apparently the best that can be done.

As you can imagine I’m disappointed by this and I’ve been researching competitors and found Sky can offer me 44-50mb with a guarantee of 39mb.

I’ve had them do a full line check in order to confirm these speeds which they have done.

So here I am at the crossroads, so I stick with BT with inferior speeds or switch? I just don’t understand how Sky can offer far better speeds yet use the same Openreach infrastructure FTTC.

Your help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stuart

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

Keith_Beddoe — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:35:49 GMT

@AyrshireStuart

You cannot discuss other providers here, but bear in mind that your line connection will not change whichever Openreach provider you use, so you are not going be any better off by moving.

Have you contacted BT on 0800 800 030, and see what they can offer?

Use the BT Broadband Availability checker to see what your line will actually support.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:39:03 GMT

Ah I See, my apologies I’m new on here so not fully familiar with the rules.

I have spoken to BT about this and they’re adamant that the speed guarantee is lower than my current guarantee.

I just don’t understand how others are guaranteeing so much higher.

They mentioned it may be something to do with the traffic in the cabinet? This seems to be sensible to me as I know of a neighbour who is with a much smaller provider and is getting speeds of 50mb compared to my current 34ish.

Does this seem right?

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

imjolly — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 09:55:51 GMT

enter your phone number and post results remember delete number

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

post hub stats from hub manager then advanced setting then technical log information

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

iniltous — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:07:10 GMT

As already said, your ‘line’ and the equipment that delivers broadband will be the same regardless of staying with BT or moving to someone else, so the speed you get will remain the same if you move or if you stay, the figures you are looking at are ( IMHO ) not very informative, your predicated speed can be gauged by the BTw checker , compare that to your current router statistics which will show what your connection rate is and the maximum attainable rate,

The figures you quote are not some sort of cap, if your line can sync at ( for example ) 36Mb and the minimum speed guarantee is 25Mb , they don’t hold back your speed to that…it’s just a speed at which should you fall below it, the ISP has to get you back to that minimum or allow you to leave penalty free, the supposed ‘check’ Sk* performed is nothing more than BS, how can they check anything apart from the wholesale data.

Connection speed is going to be pretty much the same regardless of the provider , providing the same band of service is purchased , 40,55 or 80Mb , it’s the line length and quality ( which is the same regardless of provider ) that dictates how close to those figures you get , throughput is different as that could vary depending on how much bandwidth the individual ISP has available, a general rule of thumb though , is if a provider is ‘cheap’ , one way to be ‘cheap’ is to skimp on the backhaul bandwidth.

If your individual line should perform better, you may have a fault or your home setup may not be optimised, posting your router stats and info from the checker may help in that regard.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:07:14 GMT

Hi @imjolly and @iniltous thank you both for this.

Im not the most technical but when I enter my phone number in here it says what I’ve put in the picture. I’m not getting anywhere near 60mb+ am I reading this right? In fact I don’t even get the low speeds it says….but I may be in the wrong bit so your help would be appreciated.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

imjolly — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:10:00 GMT

can you post rest of the result apart from the notes below results

what about hub stats

can you check for line noise dial 17070 option 2 should be silent and best with corded phone

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:16:28 GMT

Hi @imjolly I did the quiet line test and it was quiet.

Trying to attach other pics but it’s above max allowed, let me try a new reply.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:17:55 GMT

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:23:48 GMT

@iniltous @imjolly I think that’s all info attached now.

You asked what it showed for BT wholesale as a new customer and interestingly their estimate is the same as the other provider and far higher than I get right now.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

imjolly — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:27:31 GMT

sorry the stats looking for is by going to hub manager then advanced settings then technical log information what you posted are basic connection speed

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 10:32:52 GMT

@imjolly is this it?

These are the speeds I’m getting, therefore is this the max regardless of provider? Therefore why does BT wholesale say much higher too? Dear me I’m confused.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

iniltous — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:08:08 GMT

It does seem your connection is below what is expected , how is your router connected ?, if your router is plugged into ( for example ) an extension lead that in turn is plugged into the master socket, that could ( if poor quality or incorrectly wired ) explain the relatively poor performance, to eliminate any potential ‘internal’ issues it’s advisable to connect the router ( even if only temporarily ) into the master socket test port , using ( if possible ) a new filter…if the router stats don’t change your internal setup may be OK, but there still could be an issue externally ( even if the quiet line test is OK ) , you may need to report your poor speed as a fault , but only after checking the internal parts yourself , as your ISP and Openreach are not responsible for those things….this may go some way to explaining the difference in what the ISP are predicting, S*y will use the wholesale figure , BT have your real life speed data, but obviously if there is a fault the real life speed may be worse than the predicted speed, if you changed you would still get the same speed, it’s just S*y would have to get the underperforming line upto scratch , same as BT will if you report it to them.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:03:28 GMT

@iniltous my router is plugged directly into the box, no extensions are used. It’s actually a fairly new router too.

When checking as a new customer in BT website it says fibre 1 is estimated between 40-50mb with a guarantee of 36mb. This is closer to other companies.

From what you’ve seen what speeds should I be able to get in your opinion? and how do I go about fixing this?

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

iniltous — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:33:37 GMT

Even if you only have one socket it’s still worth removing the cover to expose the test port and connect the router there, with a new filter if possible…if things don’t improve, call your ISP and report the slow speed ….even the predicted impacted speed is 44Mb ( and goes up-to 68Mb on a clean line ) ,have in mind though this is a range , even your line in perfect condition may not get anywhere near 68Mb ) your connection at around 32Mb is below the lower estimate, your ISP should get Openreach to investigate why your speed is ‘slow’.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:28:36 GMT

Thank you @iniltous ill give that a try.

It doesn’t really explain BT though when I call them they say the max my line can support is about 32?

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

stevebrass — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:33:36 GMT

Bear in mind you are dealing with BT retail. The stats you get from BT Wholesale may be interpreted/marketed differently by the various ISP's eg BT Retail, Sky etc.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

imjolly — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:35:10 GMT

the adslchecker is provided by openreach and BT like other ISPs use that information to give you an estimated speed when you take out a contract. however the checker cannot account for a customer having a poor line or even aluminium cabling instead of expected copper both of which would result in connection speed less than expected

as @iniltous posted try using the test socket with a filter and post the hub stats again to see if any improvement

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

iniltous — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:46:21 GMT

BT can see your current line connection , they probably ( erring on the side of caution ) base their assumptions on that data ( even if it’s at odds with the wholesale prediction and ignoring that the line may be faulty ) , other providers don’t have any live data ( they are not providing the service ) so all they can go on is the wholesale information.
I’m not suggesting this as a course of action, but if your current provider said minimum is 31, you get 33 so nothing to check, and you signed up with someone else , who guaranteed 43, and unsurprisingly when you connect you get 33 ( same as now ) , the new provider would get onto Openreach and say 31 is below what OR say is the minimum , so OR visit and try to improve things…if the wholesale estimate is wrong and 33 is genuinely all your line can deliver the new provider would have to let you leave penalty free…if you report low speed to BT ( after eliminating any internal issues by using the test port and a different filter ) they should at least investigate why your speed is below the wholesale estimate , you are coming to the end of a minimum term , so you have the option to move if your current ISP won’t accept that there is potentially an issue, but if you resign accepting 25Mb as a minimum then obviously getting the line looked at when it’s achieving 31 is more difficult.

Re: BT Speed vs competitors

AyrshireStuart — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 12:13:34 GMT

@iniltous @imjolly I’ve ran the test again and plugged into the socket as explained. Here are the results. Any idea what to do next?

BT are being less than helpful when I call and explain that as a new customer it shows far higher than I actually get and just say it is what it is.