bt business broadband problem

sco0ter

For the past 8 months a friend of mine has seen his broadband speed decrease from 13Mbps to 0.13Mbps. most of the time there is insufficient speed to download email and they continually get time outs. over the past 6 weeks I have tested everything.

I know for a fact it is their hardware that is at fault as I can hook up my old netgear router and get a steady 8 Mbps with no drop outs or time outs. Bt sent out a replacement router after the first time I got the netgear working but when their new router stillreturned speeds of 0.13 -0.36Mbps they made my friend sign up to a new 1 year contract and said they would send out this new router that would definately work. They sent out a Bt business hub 3 and it was worse than the other older routers.

through experience of network and broadband I asked them to cap the speed of the line as the hub keeps syncing ar 13.424Mbps. they capped it at 9.5Mbps and we have had some success with this and even got the hub speed tested at 8.9Mbps but this only lasts a while before the noise margin creeps up from 7.2-9.7. this causes the hub to completelystop and only option is a restart.

Now nobody will talkto us. Thehub guys refuse to believe the hub isn't working and keep blaming other factors and also ignore the fact that I can get a steady line with an old netgear router.

I am now at a loose end of what we can do. using my old netgear is not an option as he would rather the line was fixed to work with bt hardware rather than 3rd party and now he is tied into a 12 month contract for broadband that either connects at 0.13Mbps or he has to reboot the router every half an hour to get decent speeds.

does anybody have any idea who I can contact to resolve this? getting technical with them is not an option and they have refused to send out an engineer 7 times. they will only send out an engineer if my mate pays for it even though we have proved its their equipment at fault.

thanks

steve1980

Is your contract directly with BT or through a third party?

If your old Netgear router works perfectly and gives you a decent speed then the fault is clearly with the BT Hub.

If your contract is with BT go through their complaints department and explain that you will not pay any fees until the router is working to a satisfactory standard.

heathcote123

When you put in your router, did you also put it a different filter? or was it the same one?

Any extentions on the line which haven't also been filtered?

Any difference using the test socket?

Ifg the netgears stable I'd just stick it in and be done with it. For the cost it's just not worth the time arguing with BT.

sco0ter

Thanks for the replies. First its a contract direct with bt. We have been through a complaints procedure but bt keep closing the ticket. We last dealt with a broadband manager but as I said he has now gone silent.

The router is connected into the test socket and has been for 6 months. I have tried 11 different filters as well as 5 different adsl cables and 5 different cat5 cables. I disconnect the entire workplace network and connect my laptop directly to the router. I have also tried with wireless. All readings are exactly the same no matter what I do.

I can't leave my netgear router in as it is a modified sky router that allows changing of the snr. I have to set it to 6.5 in order for a stable connection. As for leaving it in that is not an option as when it restarts it goes back to defaults and I need telnet in again. He has tried to tell them he won't pay until it's fixed but they just blame his equipment and say they will take him to court and cut him off. There is no alternative broadband provider for business that he can get. He needs a good speed connection as his business requires a lot of large drawings/ documents to be emailed. Who would be the governing body to complain to?

Thanks

heathcote123

sco0ter wrote: »

I can't leave my netgear router in as it is a modified sky router that allows changing of the snr. I have to set it to 6.5 in order for a stable connection. As for leaving it in that is not an option as when it restarts it goes back to defaults and I need telnet in again. He has tried to tell them he won't pay until it's fixed but they just blame his equipment and say they will take him to court and cut him off. There is no alternative broadband provider for business that he can get. He needs a good speed connection as his business requires a lot of large drawings/ documents to be emailed. Who would be the governing body to complain to?

Thanks

Buy another netgear router then. Is he paying you for all this time? It's just one of those things - I have about 40 dsl lines and we usually use cisco 857/877 routers. Occasionally you'll get a line where they just aren't stable, and a cheap router like a netgear or draytek work fine. I've always suspected it's a different firmware or bit of kit at the BT end when we get stuff like that, but trying to co-ordinate an intricate techinical difficulty with an organisation like BT is like ramming your head into a wall repeatedly.

Sometimes you've just got to work round them rather than with them - for the sake of a 50 quid router it's really not worth the time or effort trying to pinpoint a problem like that, even if it is 'their problem'.

paulwf

I had a similar problem with a BT router though don't know all the technicalities. After suffering with it for a year I popped up the road, got a generic router for £40 and everything has been fine since. I'd try that before spending any more time and effort on BT.

sco0ter

The router is not available to buy. It is a netgear dg934g it is flashed with a custom firmware based on the dg834 but is non compatible with it. The only problem is he has been told when he starts.using a third party router then they will sign it off as fixed and if the problem arises at a later date for example the line gets to a position that the netgear can't support it then he will have to pay bt to fix it as they have no responsibility to do so after you agree to use third party equipment.

That means that if the same thing happens with the netgear router as did with their router then all bills for engineers and such would have to be paid for by him to prove it was a bt fault and then he could claim it back as long as the damage was not caused by the third party router. As we have already proved it is a bt fault it would be stupid to then start using a third party router that could leave him open to very large bills in the future, especially as the bt router took 6 months to fail then who could say that if whatever is causing this got worse that the netgear would fail in another 6 month's and all they will do is blame the equipment.

As I also said the flashed router needs to be set up everytime it is switched off or reset hardly a good option.

Heathcote123. He is a friend so no money is exchanging hands. Also just tried netgear router 3 minutes ago and speed test now showing 4.2Mbps almost half it was last week. Had to leave the hub3 in as they were supposed to be testing but as there has been no contact for over a week decided to put the netgear back in to at least give him decent speeds but looks like that is now failing.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

BIL had same trouble, he uses a telephone hub on the wall to split two numbers and fax number to the same address the router wasnt compatable with the the BT buisiness telephone hub.

plug it in wouldnt sync up correctly and when the phone was in use noise margins crept up and stayed up causing the hub to sync at incredably slow speeds when the fax started up the routed would drop untill the fax had fininsh the the router would restart its sync.

this caused the who buisiness trouble as the computers are network to main server based and all the master cat software is based on having to likn to the server and internet for car REG's (motor factors) the pricing structure and evering was linked to the main server in another building at head office, they had no probs but were running off a different set up. took BT 5 days in wich to diagnose the hub wasnt compatable to the phone system and had to line bond to provide service this cost the company £200 as it was equipment causing the issues.

this was fixed by BT having to do some line bonding at the exchange moving the BB on one line and the phone on the other.

sco0ter

15 days since last contact with BT. Looks like nobody wants to talk to us, tried contacting them but get the old "we will call you back" excuse. Netgear now failed totally, hub 3 will hold a connection until you try to download anything over 3MB then it slows and needs restarted. Can't get anybody to comment or help anymore. Can't cancel as mate signed up for a 12 month contract in order to get the Hub 3 that he was assured would fix all his problems so cancellations keep blaming something in office. Anytime we are put through to tech support they say somebody is dealing with this and they will call us back. At a total loss now

Please note.... the system has been running for 4 years before it started to fail. It was running at 13.4Mbps right up until july 2011 then it started to deteriorate after 8 weeks the speed had went from 13.4 to 1.1Mbps and now we are lucky to get above 0.3.

wopdiddly

Dont get me started on BT, I switched to Virgin but they're no better.

fguk

Ive dealt with BT a lot in the last 7 years, and all faults have eventually been resolved. Eventually has taken somewhere between 10 minutes (at which point they deny anything is wrong but lo and behold it starts working just after your phone call), to 1-2 months later after numerous site visits by numerous engineers, and replacement of this that and the other by BT (we having obviously changed all client equipment up to the master socket, where it becomes their problem).

If this is BT Business Broadband, you need to escalate, you need to demand a site visit (they shouldnt refuse to come, only have the proviso that if they find its your equipment at fault, then you will have to pay the call out charge etc). Ive seen a few business owners baulk at this, but you have to persuade them to get over themselves, and agree to it. I cant tell you how many times I have been warned of the call out charge, but I can tell you, it has never been levied on my clients.

Taking what you have said at face value, it appears to be a line fault somewhere, if you have replaced all client equipment, right up to the master socket and into the test socket, which I think you have, then you are protected from any chargeback except by some very unlikely circumstances (which I cannot even imagine what they might be right now).

The other thing to consider, you should be able to get another working line and b/band, installed and ready to go (from another provider obviously) within 5 days if you are willing to pay for an expedited order process (£200 ish i think). If the business relies on internet connectivity so much, it won't be an issue to pay for 12 months BT contract just so that they can get on with what they are meant to do, make a profit.

Oh and technically speaking, it looks like the Netgear was more tolerant of poor line quality/drop outs/noise whatever, but as you have seen, it still doesnt have a rock solid connection. I doubt it could be that all other equipment you and BT have tried is faulty.

So, to summarise, get back on that phone with BT, tell them you are fine to pay the call out if it proves to be your equipment at fault, safe in the knowledge that you wont have to, and make the (usually excellent) BT engineers do their job, even if it takes three or four attempts.