Fair Usage and Net Speeds

housebug

We recently moved house and switched from AOL (which were quite good) to BT internet which, according to my husband, is the worst he's ever had.

We've checked that all equipment is working correctly but the Net speed in the evenings is so slow to be near dial-up standards. We are paying for 8MG but aren't getting anything like that. Calling BT customer service is a joke. They consistently insist that there's nothing wrong and they show us getting what we're subscribed to.

I'm wondering if its this "Fair Usage" policy the ISPs subscribe to thats slowing the connection speed down in the evenings.

Funny isn't it. The rates for the electric to run the computer go up in the evening. The Net speed drops! :rolleyes:

Hermann

A lot of BT customers are complaining of slow speeds.

BT did admit to congestion problems recently.

Here is a news item on the issue with a statement from BT.........

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3114-bt-retail-issues-statement-on-congestion.html

If you're not stuck in a long contract I'd look for another ISP.

housebug

Thanks for the reply. Its as we suspected then; put up or move. :rolleyes:

Hermann

Obviously its important to make sure theres no line fault or dodgy wiring in the house or interference from electrical equipment etc.

Always worth trying connecting using the test socket on the master telephone box ( ie remove the front & plug into the hidden socket) to see if that improves things.

However if you get good speeds some of the day and dial up speeds at times it does suggest congestion.

Hermann

You can also use BTs speedtester here ....

http://speedtester.bt.com/

It will indicate the speed profile assigned to your line as well as a test speed.

nmm

Hi, this sounds similar to our situation. Our speeds would drop from 6.5mb to 0.5mb during 6pm-12am every night, we phoned BT about it, they said we were being capped under the FUP as we had gone over one of their hidden limits. We asked for it to be removed as we were unable to browse or play online games, etc they said it would only be removed if we stopped downloading. We told BT to cancel all services.