BT Broadband useless during peak time (i.e. daytime)

SideB

Hi there,

I switched to BT broadband back in January after moving home, because even though it was considerably more expensive than my previous provider O2, due to the costs involved in setting it up at my new address (which had no lines) it was cheaper to do it with BT. When I took out the contract they told me on the phone that the service would be no different to that of O2 though because BT still supply them apparently (I was on the same exchange at both addresses).

Yet for the past few months the BT speed has been considerably slower; this isn't noticeable during normal web browsing usually, but as soon as I try and download anything or watch any video, it is quite evident. During peak times I literally cannot watch videos on iPlayer on Youtube and I've stopped downloading large files altogether since on BT because it takes so long.

I've been in and out of the country since January on work, and now I'm finally back I want this sorted. I spoke to BT today and they did a line check which said my speed was fine, and they said based on this although they could escalate my issue it is unlikely anything could be done. I asked to speak to the cancellations department who told me they couldn't do anything without the technical team's authorisation and when I asked to be put through to someone who can authorise it they cut me off.

Basically this is really frustrating me now, because I'm paying £45/month for line rental, unlimited calls, and "20MB" broadband when I could get it considerably cheaper from another provider, and actually get the service which I'm paying for from them. The way I see it BT hasn't kept to the contract because when I took it out they said it would be the same as O2.

Does anyone know what I could do in this situation/how I could escalate it?

Thank you

bod1467

Were you previously on O2 LLU service? Or the O2 Access service? The latter is indeed a reselling of BT, but the former is actually served via the BE network - the only BT part of the chain is the physical line to the exchange.

The BT network is well-known for throttling various protocols and also throttling in general during peak periods, especially on busy exchanges.

SideB

bod1467 wrote: »

Were you previously on O2 LLU service? Or the O2 Access service? The latter is indeed a reselling of BT, but the former is actually served via the BE network - the only BT part of the chain is the physical line to the exchange.

The BT network is well-known for throttling various protocols and also throttling in general during peak periods, especially on busy exchanges.

Presumably the LLU then. How does one distinguish between the two when joining though?

I'm just unhappy with BT because I was promised the same service as that I had with O2 and it's nothing like it. Surely that's breach of contract?

RHYSDAD

Our work BB is meant to be 'upto 20 meg' download speed (according to BT) Do you know what we average at the moment? 240kbps....
It's why i'm personally with virgin. I pay for 10 and get at least an average of 8.......

macman

SideB wrote: »

Presumably the LLU then. How does one distinguish between the two when joining though?

I'm just unhappy with BT because I was promised the same service as that I had with O2 and it's nothing like it. Surely that's breach of contract?

You were either on O2 LLU or O2 Access-it will say on your bills. Completely different products. O2 LLU is great, Access is dire.
Post your exchange name and someone can advise the LLU options on it, or do an exchange search on www.samknows.com
Your contract is up to 20MB. If the line will only support 1Mbps, that's all you will get. That's not breach of contract.
What actual speed are you getting now (in and out of peak hours), and what speed does the BT line checker say that your line will support?
http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome
If your new house is further out from the exchange than before, your speed will drop. That is basic physics and not resolvable on an ADSL service-only a cable or FTTC service will improve that.
However if the problem is in peak hours only, that points to contention issues, which is the penalty for being on BT rather than on a decent LLU network like O2.
Post your router stats using an ethernet connection from the BT test socket behind the master socket split faceplate:
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#34

SideB

macman wrote: »

You were either on O2 LLU or O2 Access-it will say on your bills. Completely different products. O2 LLU is great, Access is dire.
Post your exchange name and someone can advise the LLU options on it, or do an exchange search on www.samknows.com
Your contract is up to 20MB. If the line will only support 1Mbps, that's all you will get. That's not breach of contract.
What actual speed are you getting now (in and out of peak hours), and what speed does the BT line checker say that your line will support?
http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome
If your new house is further out from the exchange than before, your speed will drop. That is basic physics and not resolvable on an ADSL service-only a cable or FTTC service will improve that.
However if the problem is in peak hours only, that points to contention issues, which is the penalty for being on BT rather than on a decent LLU network like O2.
Post your router stats using an ethernet connection from the BT test socket behind the master socket split faceplate:
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#34

Say I was to return to O2 though, how could i make sure I got onto the LLU? My exchange is Stoneygate (EMSTNYG).

Well if I do a speed test online it says my speed is around 1MB, but if I try to download something or view iPlayer/Youtube it simply doesn't work, especially during the daytime/evenings (early mornings are fine). My download speech is more like 100kb/s for some reason, this is regardless of where I download from.

Surely it is a breach of contract if they said I'd get the same service as that which I got with O2?

macman

Yes, Stoneygate is LLU for 02.:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMSTNYG.
What does the BT checker say your line can support? What are the comparative speeds peak and non-peak?
You can't compare the speed you got at another property-that may have been next door to the exchange, you may now be 5 miles away.
Have you tried the O2 line checker to see what speed that is indicating at your new address? That's your comparison point.
Going back to 02 (even if you could now) might solve the contention issues, but it won't speed up a line that is inherently slow due to distance.
Router stats?
PS: did you really expect BT to say, 'no sir, it'll be much slower'? Your contract says 'up to 20MB. You'd have to prove mis-selling.

SideB

macman wrote: »

Yes, Stoneygate is LLU for 02.:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMSTNYG.
What does the BT checker say your line can support? What are the comparative speeds peak and non-peak?
You can't compare the speed you got at another property-that may have been next door to the exchange, you may now be 5 miles away.
Have you tried the O2 line checker to see what speed that is indicating at your new address? That's your comparison point.
Going back to 02 (even if you could now) might solve the contention issues, but it won't speed up a line that is inherently slow due to distance.
Router stats?
PS: did you really expect BT to say, 'no sir, it'll be much slower'? Your contract says 'up to 20MB. You'd have to prove mis-selling.

The BT checker says "Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 8Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 7Mbps and 8Mbps."

I didn't explain properly before, but this property we are in at the moment was one we used to live in and had O2 broadband with, we moved out whilst building works were being done and are now back. The O2 speed was around 2MB/s from what I remember and stayed like that consistently.

And at the end of the day, BT said they'd give the same service as O2 and they're not, so I should be able to cancel if I want to...

macman

Then something wrong with both services if you never got more than 2Mbps before with O2!
Post your router stats and someone can take a look, anything else is just speculation.

SideB

macman wrote: »

Then something wrong with both services if you never got more than 2Mbps before with O2!
Post your router stats and someone can take a look, anything else is just speculation.

Sorry I may be wrong with my units here! 2MB is different to 2Mbps right?

Because with O2 downloads would go at around 2MB/s but on BT it's more like 200kb/s which I thought was the same as 2Mbps. My BT contract is up to 20Mbps, which is what I actually got with O2...

On BT a speed test shows that I get a good speed, but as soon as I download/watch videos it drops down, so this is where the problem lies with BT.

macman

200kBps is 0.2Mbps. A tenth of your previous speed.
You couldn't have got 20Mbps with O2-your line will only support about 7Mbps. You may well have been on an up to 20MB tariff-not the same thing.
If the speed drops only when you download or stream, then it sounds like you are being traffic shaped by BT, as bod suggested. Which broadband tariff are you on-all but the highest package is managed.
Without router stats no-one can tell you any more.