Desperate: AOL Broadband Fault

Kmaid

Hi All,

This is my first post here at the MoneySavingExper and it is in sheer desperation. I have been a customer of AOL for the past 4+ years and have received broadband for the past 7 and up until just over two and a half months ago have happily been receiving a 1.5mbs broadband connection.

The problem started with degradation of my service until the download speed became unacceptably low at just under 0.25mbs and mid June ground to complete halt. I reported the issue in the week commencing 29th June. After completing all the regular diagnostic tests was informed a new router/contract was required to receive further technical service. I accepted this and the subscription was duly increased from £14.99/month to £15.99. The new router made no difference. The issue was escalated BT and over the course of 6 weeks I have had four BT Open reach engineer visits to resolve the issue. They have not been completely unsuccessful and has managed to improve the quality of the line by changing the pairs and removing two instances of radio interference in my area. This means my service now ranges from 4mbs to 0.25mbs with occasional disconnections from the original 1.5mbs to 0.1mbs and constant disconnections/complete loss of service. My connection is still unacceptable as it still suffers regular disconnections and loading web pages grinds to a halt for no particular reason.

I am also not alone facing these issues. I have personally tested one of my neighbours connection a couple houses away from mine which as far as I can tell is facing the exact same issue. The 0.5mbs connections they pay for was receiving just under 0.09mbs with regular disconnections. I have heard from a friend that one of my other neighbours whom I intend to visit in the next few days has been suffering similar symptoms but would like to run my own speed test and check their configuration before confirming that it is the same issue.

I am not a computer novice. I am a third year computer science degree student and programmed a hosting system to sell online streaming media through my own hosting company in my spare time. Having gone through my phone bill I have accounted for over 8 hours of calls over the past 6 weeks to AOL technical support to try and resolve this issue. Following their formal complaints procedure I sent them a letter on the 4th of August via first class mail and called in disgust on the 14th having not received a response in the promised 5 working days timeframe. They put me through to my case manager who was very unhelpful and said they have paid £800 for the engineers and have done all they can, that it wasn’t their problem if there is an issue with the BT infrastructure and that they could provide me with a 0.25mbs service or can have my contract cancelled. I asked them to provide me a letter of deadlock as they stated there was nothing further they could resolve the issue so I could take this up with the broadband regulator otelo without waiting three months from the 4th of August and not the date the issue was originally reported. He refused saying it was against company policy for a complaint only opened a week ago. I then under the advice of Consumer Direct quoted the “Supply of goods and services act of 1982” in the hope to get a better response to which he replied “have your legal team speak to ours.”.

I could complain about their tech support forever. You never speak to the same person twice and have to explain the entire situation to every person you speak with. Their level one support technicians seem to be trained to stop you getting through to second level support which is generally more helpful with a series of patronizing questions. Their level two support technicians range from helpful to telling me there are 10bits in a byte (there are 8). They have repeatedly failed to deliver on call backs and on two occasions flat out refused to put me through to a supervisor. There has been repeated disconnection mid call including one line test which disconnected the call just before the call centre closed. At least 40% of my 8 hours of time was wasted listening to the one song they have for hold music. If anyone is interested I will happily elaborate on these few topics as well as a few more.

I have a case number with both consumer direct and otelo however I have now exhausted all the options available to me without waiting three months to lodge a dispute with otelo which the AOL case manager assures me will take their side. I am not sure I should believe this as I cannot believe this is an acceptable level of service. I understand i can take them to court over the Supply of goods and services act of 1982 but I want a working internet connection not compensation.

I have gone well beyond what any regular consumer would attempt to resolve this issue and welcome any and all ideas. I’m desperate the internet is very important to me. Should I create a stink and contact local newspapers? Is there anywhere I should contact for further advice other than otelo and Consumer Direct? Should I just throw the towel in and move house?

A few technical details:
The new router I received is plugged directly into the test socket isolating it from my houses internal phone wiring. It is a new micro filter and cabling. The line attenuation is 56.0 dB and synchronises at 5120 kbps. My line is now rated by BT as only capable of 0.25mbs making moving to another provider impractical and will leave me in a worse situation without the history for getting this fault fixed. I have spoken with BT Faults department and there is nothing they can do. It is not a problem with the internal network and I have even tested with a Linux machine.

woody01

This seems to me to be a classic case of throttling.
Ever since CPW took AOL over, they throttle their customers at various points (usually 7pm - 12am though).
When CPW took over, and because they openly admitted to doing this, anyone could leave immediately without penalty. Many many did that knew about it, but AOL only gave a 30 day window of opportunity to do this.

KILL_BILL

get your mac code and go elsewhere

im with talktalk although their customer service is crap on the phone you get better help from their forums - have had a few disconnections etc but pay £18 for land line and broadband and get 8mb connection

socrates

I had all of these problems when I was with them - get the MAC code as stated above - and move to BeUnlimited - do not waste another minute!

Paul1_2

socrates wrote: »

I had all of these problems when I was with them - get the MAC code as stated above - and move to BeUnlimited - do not waste another minute!

I was AO Hell and have to say customer service was always terrible and their product wasn't much better. In my case I was too far from the exchange so had less than 1 meg broadband.

When I moved to Be it was a breath of fresh air and have had 2.2 meg on the same line ever since and their customer service / communication is excellent. MAC Code is the answer.

dinglebert

They've offered to cancel the contract. Grab that with both hands and go to a proper supplier.

Kmaid

They supplied me with their wholesale broadband check website and it says

For Telephone Number 014916XXXXX on Exchange ROTHERFIELD GREYS
Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that it is VERY UNLIKELY you will be able to receive fixed 512Kbps or 256Kbps broadband service due to the very long length of your telephone line. However, your order will be accepted if you still wish to order. An engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.Our initial test on your line indicates that your line may not support a reliable ADSL Max broadband service, with current technology. However, an order for 250Kbps broadband speed will still be accepted, but an engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the service.
If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.
Thank you for your interest.

Note: If you already have a Broadband service enabled on this line and you want to switch service providers, you will need to contact both your current provider and your new provider to get your service changed over new and existing service provider to have this service transferred.

I phoned up BT anyway to see if there is anything they could do for me and after getting passed round a few people all they could provide me with is the 0.25mbs service which is painfully slow. I rather leave it alone and suffer the disconnections with the 0.25mbs to 4mbs service I receive now. I have been receiving 1.5mbs for years with no problems up until two months ago what has changed any wont they fix it? It is infuriating :mad:.

I guess there is always the chance I would not be able to receive 0.25mbs due to whatever this fault is would that force my new ISP to fix the issue or would they just say “I’m sorry you weren’t really eligible to get broadband”? I am not convinced changing ISP will help my case at all.