BT slow broadband speed

hunkyidol

Hi, Just wondered where I stand with this.
I left Virgin Media last week and went with BT for various reasons. When I applied for service with BT they quoted a line speed of around 6 meg. It was a bit of a drop from virgins 30meg but needs must.
When the line was installed last friday I was getting between 4 and 5meg which was fine by me. Now however for the last few days i'm lucky to get 0.5meg.
Just wondered if BT are unable to sort this, do they have any kind of get out clause within the first month like other ISP's do?
Any info appreciated. Thanks in advance.

pcombo

Well BT broadband and BT Ip stream have a thing called line profiles., where it changes your line to faster and slower speeds throughout a 10 day peroid.

Or the system changes your profile automatically when it notices things such as error build up, or turning your router off constantly.

StaffieTerrier

We had a sudden drop in speed at our last place. We rang BT and they realised there was a fault with the line. The problem was fixed within a couple of hours.

Mark_In_Hampshire

There is a broadband code of practice which entitles the customer to leave within 3 months without penalty if the estimated speed cannot be achieved. However your 5Mbps is probably too near to the estimate to use that to exit but the 0.5Mbps is certainly far short.

There are two things - the speed at which the line can run (called the IP Profile) and the speed at which stuff loads for you (bandwidth). The latter will never be more than the former. The ISP needs to identify which is the problem and solve it. You do however have to give them the opportunity to put matters right.

As one previous poster said, repeatedly turning the router off and on can progressively drop your speed to next to nothing and it recovers in three days or so. The ISP can see if that's the issue.

hunkyidol

Thanks for the replies everybody.

I understand I must let them try and fix the problem first. So far they have got me unscrewing the front cover from the box on the wall and restarting the modem. Neither have made any difference but they have asked me to keep an eye on it over the next few days.
Fingers crossed it will resolve itself, i'll keep you updated

BT_company_representative

Hi hunkyidol

I have just seen your posts and would like to look into this for you to see what the problem is with your broadband service, if you would like me to take a look into this just checkout my profile section where you will find my contact details.

Regards David

NULL

hunkyidol

Thanks David, It seems to have picked up again since yesterday morning, so i'm hoping it may have just been settling down. It's giving me about 4meg now. This is providing there is only one person surfing at a time!

iniltous

If your ADSL broadband is new, then the first 10 days its in a training period, and that could lead to unstable speeds, after the 10 days it should settle down to whatever speed the line can handle..in cases like yours (although it can be frustrating) you just have to wait

debigjc

An interesting guide as to how broadband works and how to speed it up, without having to change your broadband supplier can be found at:

slowinternet.co.uk/broadband-info-pack

(I've installed the premium centralised filter and it definitely helps with speed and reliability)

Jason