How to go about formally complaining--speed problems

penrhyn

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 16376 kbps 920 kbps
Line Attenuation 16.8 db 0.0 db
Noise Margin 9.0 db 0.0 db

Most folks would be very happy with a sync of over 16mbps.

By how much does the sync drop in the evening?
Is your router plugged into an extension or the master socket?
Are you connecting wired or wirelessly with the router and does it make a difference.

Do you think the problem is due to data throttling by your ISP or the speed of the link going down?

FairyPrincessk

I've been reading up on internal complaints procedures and then on how to pursue it further when that happens. I've been taking screen shots of speed tests at two hour intervals today, and for most of them my DL speeds have been under 3mbps. This will almost certainly drop even further as the evening progresses and is typically worse during the middle/end of the week.

I don't know if it is due to data throttling, and don't even have a guess as to how I might know that.

Grim-its nice to know I'm not the only one. I'm attempting to pursue the same path--terminating my contract with Orange once I've taken things through the full complaint process, just trying to find out exactly what I need to do.

What I certainly will not be doing is stopping my direct debit without due process.

Agrin-thanks for the detail, this is exactly the sort of information I'm looking for.

Brewer--Since we haven't decided where we're moving yet I'm going to wait to investigate alternative ISPs for now. I am tempted to consider switching my mobile to O2 as well, if I decide to go with them. TBH my contract is £10/month and I barely even use that so I'm not opposed to going back to PAYG or doing some sort of bundle but it will have to wait until I know where I'm going. don't want to make the same mistake again!

penrhyn

Could you answer some of my points above?

FairyPrincessk

Penrhyn,

I recorded a DL speed of 1.99 last night and UL of .76

My DL speed hovered between 3 and 4 for most of the day and I considered yesterday to be a pretty good day.

Two your latter two points, yes we've tried both set ups for both power and connection and neither has made a difference. As I explained in my original post, I'm interested in finding out about complaints procedures. Perhaps I have not made myself clear, but I've actually been through the set up with my brother (network engineer) over the phone, and then been through it twice now with Orange CS and even Orange CS has admitted that there is nothing wrong with my set up.

What I feel ill-equipped to handle is the various procedures for complaints. However, if anyone else is reading this thread with similar questions, I've found this link very helpful.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/new/complain/official_isp_complaints_handlers.php

I appreciate all of the responses I've received and if anyone has any further suggestions for how to document and follow up an official complaint regarding speed I'd be delighted to read them.

macman

Unfortunately you have no grounds for voiding your contract on the basis of those speeds. Even 1.99MBps is well above the official (and laughable) definition of what is considered to be broadband. And you are on an 'up to' service'-you are not guaranteed 20Mbps or whatever your line will support.
Everything you have told us about the time difference points to this being a contention issue.
All you can do is switch to a decent LLU provider.

FairyPrincessk

Thanks Macman. I will continue documenting for awhile, and see if the problem returns (I actually consider the 1.99 an abatement of the problem, but was not keeping data before now). If/when it does I'll start the formal complaints system and see where it gets me. Otherwise I'll research more carefully when this contract is up.

macman

But you have no grounds for complaint...the OFCOM broadband definition is till set at 128KBps.
Ergo, you are receiving a broadband service of 'up to' 20MBps.
You can certainly ask them to release you from your contract without an ETC, but they are under no obligation to do so.
If the sum is not huge, it's well worth paying to get shot of Horrange.

FairyPrincessk

Macman,

This is why I will have to continue collecting speed data, as the problem is not manifesting at the moment, but has certainly been much lower than 128KBps at frequent but unpredictable times. Once I have documented this I will then proceed with my complaint. I was, unfortunately, naive enough to believe that when I claimed my speeds were so slow I was unable to load basic web-pages for hours on end this would be enough. Like I said, the speeds I have now, and have posted on this thread are wonderful compared to what I have been experiencing (indeed when the problem is manifesting I cannot get MSE to load to post anyway).

Unfortunately my financial situation is not such that I can afford to leave my current contract, and to be perfectly honest I do not expect the procedure to produce results before my current contract ends. I'm primarily interesting in pursuing this because I think it is important for consumers to complain when they aren't getting what they're sold.

grimsalve

My line dropped again last night and now the download speed is less than 1mbps. I spoke to someone relatively helpful earlier this morning and they happened to mention DLM again so I just googled it...

https://www.broadbandadvice.org.uk/Website/Special%20Articles/BT_DLM.htm

Interesting stuff!

What's been suggested next is an "SNR re-calc" (which is odd as I thought the whole point of DLM is that it's constantly doing this :huh:) - This might take a few days to complete but whatever happens I mustn't switch off the router so it sounds encouraging.