speed published gone down since I signed contract why? and what can I do? please

[jenfa]

Hi

I signed up to Infinity on 19 Dec 2011 due to the fact we are a long way from our exchange and our village didn't really have a broadband connection.  My contract paperwork states that my download speed should be 25.6Mb for several months this is about what I got.  In the April of 2012 I noticed a drop down to 22mb but profile still showed 26.14mb and after an engineer visit and ascertaining my hub was faulty the speed increased again.

NOW my speed is 20.22 at 6.49am and my ip profile says 20.68, if I look at my phone number in BT.com it states I can only get speeds of 20.68 why has BT reduced the speed I can get and not informed me that the contract I signed up to has changed?  They keep sending me emails to upgrade my infinity why should I if I'm not getting better speeds just worse?

thanks for any assistance

[ptan]

Hi jenfa

I had a similar experience to you. I have a sneaky feeling that real world data is being fed back into the estimation system and vice versa. Nobody could give me a real explanation to what was happening though.

My speed dropped for a while and the estimates "matched" it. I had to keep restarting my modem and that brought things back up to what I had been getting. This lasted for about 2-3 weeks but now I am back on my original speed even though it is ~10mbit higher than what the BT estimate is showing!

It may be that if you wait a while, you too will also go back to what you were getting.

Hope that helps

ptan

[Ectophile]

All the BT web site is telling you is what speed you are likely to get on your line.  If you already have broadband, then that will be the speed you are actually getting - it's more accurate than giving you some estimate!

Lines do deteriorate over time.  It's not BT being malicious by lowering your speed, it's just that something isn't working as well as it used to.  The grey area is how bad it has to get before Openreach will admit there's a fault and send someone to fix it.

[ptan]

Hi

I am merely reporting what I have *actually* experienced

No doubt, so has jenfa

ptan

[TheHorseman]

The contract between yourself and BT has not changed. The speed you are quoted is an estimate and is not part of any contract.

Note: I am not a BT employee just a customer.

[jenfa]

Thanks for your comments. My paperwork states a speed there Is no up to or estimate it says "you will get". Previously I had an engineer out when it dropped to 21mb because my line was supposed to get a faster connection and the engineer did get on his equipment 27mb. I will ring and see what they say. I did sign a contract on the information given which was you will get 25.6mb and to lose 20% for the same price is not good enough especially when they keep asking me to renew my contract for a better speed but it looks like my line won't take it anyway. Who knows?

[ptan]

Hi jenfa

I'd power cycle the BT modem and see if that takes you back to what you were getting.

Leave it a week or two and you may find, like me, that your speed goes back to what it was even though the published estimates would have us believe that we would not get what we were getting if we signed up for it now. 

ptan