Cancel BT. No internet 2 months

[Louq]

I am considering cancelling my BT contract.

started in July with 900mbs and the speeds are averaging 300mbps and often the internet drops out completely. Unfortunately I’m in an area where the mobile signal is patchy as well and therefore having no connection is risky particularly as I moved to the area to support my elderly mum who has needed emergency help a few times this past month and was unable to reach me.

i am contracted for 900mbps but guaranteed speed is 700mbps  but real speed is usual 200-300mbps on a good day.  in two months the internet has reached this maybe twice to my knowledge as I run a speed test daily. However it drops after a few minutes and so there’s two issues 1) the speeds are too slow for normal household usage 2) the speeds fluctuate so much that there is no reliable bottom line because the internet drops completely on occasion.

I flagged this many times now. 
BT can’t help. They told me the engineer tweaked something and they have managed 710 but this was not verified at my side.

Furthermore Saeed from BT customer support technical told me he would follow up and that my complaint would not be closed - it was a long winded and strange phone call as he was pushing hard for me to close the complaint.  I felt pressured but didn’t give in and insisted he follows up as I was not receiving a normal service. He told me he would arrange to send an engineer or that I could do so at any time by clicking on the link he sent when I returned home.  So I did exactly that and it took me to a page that said ‘your complaint is now closed’!

Saeed had closed my complaint after I asked him to please leave it open. This call was recorded.

im now fed up not having stable internet and extremely low speeds since July and I want to leave BT. 
even when I opened a new complaint 3 days ago nobody followed up with me.

i tested the LAN and it corresponds to my wifi and also behaves erratically.

is it worth going to Vodaphone as someone I know in the  area has this and says its super fast and reliable and cheaper too.

any suggestions welcome thanks.

[Kimberlin]

@Louq  Only if BT agree that it cannot provide you with the minimum guaranteed speed on your package, you might be able to leave your contract penalty free. If they don’t agree, you’ll potentially be left hundreds of pounds out of pocket as you’ve only been on the present contract for a couple of months.

How have you been measuring speeds? Using Ethernet cable or over WiFi? Are you getting broadband solely over mobile signal?

No one can really tell you whether moving to another ISP will solve your problems. In some cases, especially in very rural or remote areas, something like Starlink might be your only viable alternative.

[iniltous]

The chances are there is nothing wrong with your service as far a speed is concerned, it’s just the way you connect and measure speed , and TBH , even if there was a speed issue , 200-300Mb is fast , your assertion the speed is too slow for normal household usage isn’t true , normal household useage can easily get by with 50Mb , browsing , emails , etc is not bandwidth intensive, watching a UHD video is around 25Mb , HD video around 5Mb , so unless you have 8 TV’s watching a UHD film online simultaneously even your supposed 200Mb is adequate , but if you are paying for 900Mb you almost certainly will be getting at least the guaranteed minimum.

Thats not to say you don’t have a problem, but the way FTTP works , generally it works or it doesn’t , you could have a problem of losing your connection but this wouldn’t result in poor speed , you would be disconnected and gave no service for a period.

What you need to do first is, is check with a wired device and a one modern enough to make use of the Gb speed available, using WiFi devices  has too many variables that your provider isn’t responsible for or can mitigate, WiFi only indicates the limitations of WiFi , not your connection.

if your  service is unreliable, keep an eye on your ONT , the thing your router is connected to , does the LOS (red) light ever come on (it shouldn’t) .

The way FTTP PON’s work is everyone connected to your splitter (that’s upto 30 people) have identical performance so if there were a network problem (congestion for example) then everyone on the PON is affected, you could have an individual issue , like your router or the ONT being defective, but to start you need to have a reliable baseline , testing with a wired Gb capable device .

[Louq]

"How have you been measuring speeds?" Using BT's own website

"Using Ethernet cable or over WiFi?" Both

"Are you getting broadband solely over mobile signal?" the broadband is provided via smart hub 3 and transmits a good strong wifi signal but the speeds are lacking

"Only if BT agree that it cannot provide you with the minimum guaranteed speed on your package, you might be able to leave your contract penalty free." This is incorrect. I am not obliged to wait around for BT to decide when it wants to follow up. Internet is considered critical infrastructure and in any case if there is a breach of contract I am entitled to leave. However I would prefer to resolve things - just seems BT is totally disinterested/ incapable of doing so.

The family who lived here before had Starlink apparently.

[garybs29]

The 700 is to the hub not to devices, as long as getting it to the hub BT are supplying what was agreed.

Also when did internet become critical infrastructure? It's not, ultimately if speed to the hub is 700 you're getting what wa sagreed

[Louq]

"but to start you need to have a reliable baseline , testing with a wired Gb capable device" - Unless you are suggesting something different - I have already used the ethernet cable to test - it correlates consistently to the wifi

As mentioned the issue is two fold - one is the 'average speed' which has been measured daily when Im home. Over two months. I disagree it's fast enough because plenty of movies on our large screen dont stream well and we need to wait until the speed catches up. 

Second issue is that there are drops down to 30mbps which I have captured so 'getting by' is not what Im paying for. This is with LAN not WIFI

Finally if what you describe was the standard BT aim to deliver and contractually offer then fine but that isn't the case -they offer a stable continuous service of at least 700mbps and they offer guaranteed speeds for a reason.  But if I want to drop the average down I would measure the speed 6 times a day or only when it drops. Then it would be closer to 100mbps. 

This contract is proving to be a drain on our time and resources and affecting our response time to urgent situations.

[Kimberlin]

@Louq  If the previous occupants had Starlink, then that probably answers one of your questions regarding overall service issues in your locale.

Do you genuinely require 900mbps broadband? It could be argued that many households simply don't need those speeds. It seems the ISP's are constantly encouraging customers with various deals undercutting some lower speed packages, to get people onto 900mbps + speeds, the advantage to the ISP being, that obviously if customers don't renegotiate every couple of years, the 900mbps package ends up attracting a larger monthly income for the ISP. In my own situation, I have 500mbps with a partner working from home and over 30 devices connected at any one time and the speed is perfectly adequate. Then again I'm on FTTP using my own router and the connection is 100 percent rock solid 100 percent of the time.

You're clearly unhappy with BT and their responses to your complaints. As this is merely a customer to customer forum and is essentially not a direct conduit to BT, then apart from 'advice' from other forum members, you're actually wasting your own time and resources posting here. You'd probably be better off just asking to cancel your contract.

[Louq]

The replies here so far are strange in that they imply Im asking for things like 900mbps speed when I have clearly detailed the issue is Im receiving a small fraction of this. Telling me Im wasting my time based off a pointless reply and talking about how fast your service is - good for you. 500mpbs may be good enough for you - that doesn't mean anything. But just to answer your Q - it would potentially be good enough for me as well I hope but I have yet to receive it for a consistent few minutes!


I do hope there are some customers out there who have encountered similar issues and how they dealt with.

@Kimberlin meanwhile and since BT didnt bother to follow up to the complaint I will now request cancellation

[Louq]

"critical infrastructure" - can you live without any internet for a few days? I don't have a mobile signal / very weak but it works in one of the bathrooms in the house...I guess Ill move there when my FTTP is not working!

It should be clear from my post that Im not getting anything like 700mbps so I guess I need to update my original post to mention this one more time

[Louq]

I said "started with 900MBPS" - this means I started a BT contract for 900 mbps. To be clear I have never received 900MBPS or even close.