Slow connection

[Jolyon_Mark]

I am a new customer to BT broadband after recently moving to a rented property. BT have only recently set-up my broadband connection (8days ago). Before signing up to BT I performed a check of BB services through Open Reach and Uswitch to compare prices. I received an email from Open Reach highlighting I could sign up for superfast BB as there is FTTC which is 300 yards away from my property. I signed up to BT and waited the 3 weeks for the engineer who came out 8 days ago.

I realsied the connection was very slow the follwijng day and when I performed speed tests. I saw was receiving a D/L of 2Mbps and 0.5 Mbps U/L. I spooke to BT and they informed me that this was the only service available on my road and that they were obligated to proivde only up to 1Mbps. When I spoke to someone at BT they commented that as far as they are aware this speed is good they believed and it cannot be improved. I highlight live in a market village with a 20K population and I am surrounded by houses, only a short distance from the cabinet, living wihtin an estate which is near the highstreet and local shops (tesco) (5 mionute walk) and 2 miles from the local main exchange. BT stated they could not help though any further.

I spoke to BT again the followign day after speaking to Sky (my exchange is LLU and Sky proivide BB packages) to see if they could prvide a better deal (BT is £32.99/month) and they did for £29.99/month with sky TV and a Q box so i wanted to cancel the contract with BT. Sky commented they could not provide a better connection speed though (cabinet/exchnage states that all they could provide). BT then up-saled me to the EE 4G data Unlimited service and even though I highlighted many times the reception for my EE mobile is poor where I live (1.5/2bars in teh garden - 1/1.5 in the house) I was told that the device will imporve the signal and provide up to 100 Mbps (definatley better then 3Mbps). I signed a new contract (£39.00/month and I provided my bank details). I then recieved confirmation through EE that my existing EE business mobile had a new device added. 2 days later (saturday) the device comes in the post. After hooking it up and testing the connection speed the best I can do was roughly 2Mbps+ with no upload and again a very high ping/latency (200/400ms). I realised this was not the device for me but recognised with a better router and an ariel booster in the right spot maybe i could pull a better signal but the costs were too high (£100 for the booster and £120 for the router). During this call I was informed that the issue I had with speed were not due to my connection but due to the fact the cabinet is oversubscribed and because I am the last connection I get the minimum amount they HAVE to provide (up to 3Mbps).

I highlighted then for me as I am the last one in line I get the poorest connection spped. Another BT engineer who visited me today stated that others on the same cabinet have superfast broadband (up to 60Mbps) as there is FTTC but he confirmed again the cabinet is oversubscribed so my service is downgraded to lees then 3Mbps. I highlighted that the service is not usable and I used an anology saying, if you sign up with a water utility company for water and the water compnay connects you but they only provide you with a trickle of water and say, 'Well you have water now and this is the minimum amout we have to provide so there is nothign you can do'. I cannot complain to OpenReach and have to rely on BT to ask them to sort it out but by all accoutns I have been told they won't. I agree with this sentiment and my thinking is why would OpenReach do anything or spend any money and why would BT do anything they get there money regardless as well. From the both it is a WinWin.

Here's my situation though. I have been diagnsoied with serious cancer and as someone who is self employed I have to pay my own way and there is very little in the way of benefits i can claim if i earn over £230.00/week. I am able to work from home still using virtual meetings whilst my treatment is completed and I recover (6 months) Universal Credit will not be enough so I have to work during this period. I need a fast connection to enable this and my two children, need the internet to keep them busy. Currnently only one person can watch online streaming services and when they do it will buffer and youtube reduces the resolution down to 480p. When gaming the ping is 250+ms so is unplayble. I cant even upload large emials as my clinet times out.

My impresion is BT have no way of forcing openreach to fix this and they have little apetite to complain either. I assme there are othes this must have happened to. What can be done, What can I do. I moved to this house on the basis it was able to have superfast BB. Open reach stated it did, comparison sites stated it is. Samknows confirmed it provides superfast BB. Its not my doing the area is more built up now and no one wants to spend money upgrading the cabinet. I dont want to stay with BT for 24 months when Sky is cheaper but I only have 6 days before the 14 days grace period ends and I am stuck. At least Sky providea a TV box. and is £11.00/month cheaper. Laughably BT have commented if I stay they will contact me when a higher BB speed is avialble but I highly doubt they will, and with me paying £32.99 or £38.99/month why would they. I feel it is a rip off when I am charged £32.99/month for less then 3 Mbps with 0.5Mbps U/L which is unstable if you actually want to use the internet.

Come on BT. Pleasse advise me. Advise the community. What solution is there?

Thanks from a frustrated and fed up user.

I thought this was hilarious after I checked to see if I was eligible for the Stay Fast Guarantee

Normal available speeds

Your normal available download speed will be between 8-16 Mbps

Your normal available upload speed will be 1 Mbps

Minimum guaranteed download speed

Your minimum guaranteed download speed will be 1 Mbps

Your Stay Fast Guarantee

You'll get £20 back if you don’t get the speeds we promise you.

[imjolly]

Enter your phone number or if no number then use your address and post results

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

If the cabinet is full with waiting list for FTTC then there is nothing anyone can do until someone leaves and line is free

If you are self employed then you should really have a business connection as you should not be running a business on a residential line

[Jolyon_Mark]

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)

50.6	35	9.1	6.5	32.4	Waiting list	Waiting list	--
49.5	32.4	9	6.2	27.4	Waiting list	Waiting list	--

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessFTTP on Demand

330

50

--

Available

--

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

Up to 2.5	--	1.5 to 4	Available	--
Up to 1	--	1 to 3.5	Available	--
1	--	--	Available	--
1	--	--	Available	--

SOADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) WBC SOADSL Availability Date Left in JumperWBC SOADSL 2+SOADSL MaxSOADSL Fixed Rate

Up to 2.5	--	1.5 to 4	--	--
Up to 1	--		--	--
Up to 1	--	1 to 3.5	--	--

Other Offerings Availability DateVDSL MulticastADSL Multicast

Available

Available

Premise Environment StatusBridge TapVRINTE FacePlateLast Test Date

U

--

--

--

Exchange Product Restrictions StatusFTTP Priority ExchangeWLR WithdrawalSOADSL Restriction

N

N

Y

FTTP is not available.

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

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.

For all SOADSL 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.

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.

Mildenhall exchange:Only single order products are available and ADSL and ADSL2+ products are not shown as available.However for premises that can only be served by SOADSL, BT will continue to accept ADSL and ADSL2+ orders until SOADSL is available.

Thank you for your interest

[Jolyon_Mark]

Thanks for the kind reply.

I agree a businees connection is needed but I work from home and I have not been offered one. BT is aware I am self employed and work from home I would add. I do not beleive this would chnage the speed of my connection but I would be happy to pay for one if it did.

I do not think (and i may be wrong) a cabinet can be 'full with a waiting for FTTC ' when FTTC means it has Fibre To The Cabinet already. I think I have misunderstood you somehow ;). Can i also add the informtion posted above is for the Dursley exchnage (2 miles away) and not the cabinet that is 300 yards away from my residence which is connected to the Dursley exchange with FTTC.

Can you qualify the statment 'If the cabinet is full with waiting list for FTTC then there is nothing anyone can do until someone leaves and line is free'. How will I know what the waiting list is. BT were no hlep when i asked them. I am not sure if there actulaly a waiting list and for all i know someone order BB from the cabinet and get a better speed becasue on the day they configured the cabinet better and had no idea i have been waiting. How would OpenReach know if a BT customer was waiting for a faster connection because they had been downgraded.

There is always something that can be done. Saying oh well I guess that this is the hard truth of the matter and then do nothign else but wait for some miricle does not seem like sage advice. What if open reach have had the cabinet oversubscribed for the past year and are aeware of the issues but refusing to do anything because no one is highlighting they should.

Providing me with an unusable internet service seems like something they probasbly dont want their network users to have. Its not like there have been a population explosion in my area or 200 new houses pop up recently in the last 2 yeasr using that cabinet. I expect this issue is known and ongoing and if its happening at this cabinet whats to say its not happening at the others around me.

[jac_95]

Hi @Jolyon_Mark 

The broadband availablity checker, https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL , shows detailed information aggregated from Openreach about your line and broadband service options that is available to your property.

It's showing that the cabinet that your property is connected (that has FTTC) is indeed full and therefore no spare ports in the FTTC cabinet to move you from your current ADSL based broadband to the VDSL based (FTTC) broadband service. 

Unfortunately in these cases it is a case of waiting and checking until there is a free port in the FTTC cabinet.

There is another option available to you though and one that is more oriented to business' and that's FTTP on demand. This is where you pay for full fibre to be deployed to your property. Usually offered by business grade providers see https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers

[Oxonian]

If you are desperate and are prepared to incur extra costs, why not try 5G Broadband from another provider ?