SSE broadband feedback

gamb2

After 9 months of SSE supplying both my telephone and broadband I feel I can report on my experience. The deal I got was even better than the one that is currently on offer and I can report that the changeover of both my phone & broadband was effortless, in fact, I was even away on the day that it occurred.

My line speed was immediately double that which it had been with BT (12Mbps-13Mbps in contrast to 6Mbps). Everything works and a long-standing intermittent telephone line clarity problem was dealt with by Outreach within two days.

The only mixed feelings I have concern the telephone support. Once one gets through to them I have received really helpful information from a knowledgeable person, however, the wait to speak to someone is not impressive at up to 20 mins.

Other than this, I have found this an excellent service and thanks to MSE all this for approximately half of what I was paying before.

Incidentally, I made the mistake at another property of switching to Plusnet and discovered that the changeover there left me without broadband for more than a fortnight, 30-45 mins. to speak to their customer support and the speed is half that of the previous BT. In comparison, SSE is a paragon of virtue!

kuepper

emailed them a week ago about switching and not heard a thing

guygamps

Hi, I am currently in deadlock with SSE trying to get them to release me from my contract since the performance has been so bad (from day 1)

Seeing the download speed measurements from DPC1979 is interesting, since I have also noted the download speed very variable.

But there isn't a follow up to the story is there? So.. can I ask (DPC1979) what did you do about those download speed results?

Guy

saynotofastway

My download speed has been rubbish of late. Up and down all the time. Gonna take this further in the new year

SuperAllyB

I applied to switch phone and broadband from BT to SSE before Christmas and got an e-mail today from BT about the switch, but only regarding line rental - they seem to think I'm keeping my broadband with them. Is it normal to get both notifications separately or should I be on the phone to them? Gut feeling is to wait a few days given the time of year but feedback would be good, ta.

vlad

According to SSE BT always do this and its nothing to worry about, BT have emailed,phoned and text me more in the 10 days since they found out i was leaving than EVER before, they show utter contempt for their customers.

Rogbrad

My experience of SSE!
At the end of June 15 I tried to transfer phone and broadband provision to SSE (from the horrendous TalkTalk). I completed the on-line application (several times) but failed at each attempt. Finally rang the phone line & was told that the site couldn't handle some addresses. Then SSE couldn't see my phone details on the TalkTalk system & I had to work hard to make things happen, even though Ofcom advised that SSE should just take care of everything. It then took until until the 10th of August to have the phone line connected. A letter, received on the 13th and dated the 10th, advised that transfer was due on the 10th.
There were a series of missed appointments, calls promised to me but not kept, engineer bookings promised but not made, as well as 1571 activation being promised but not actioned. Broadband was finally connect on the 18th September, 5 weeks after the phone, and two and a half months after my first contact.
I had chosen SSE Superfast Fibre and was advised that the *minimum* broadband speed would be 22 Mbps - part of the reason I chose that option. It has never been above 10 Mbps! I have complained about this and asked for the current fibre-to-cabinet connection be maintained but with a cost reduction as the service is clearly not "Superfast" and doesn't come close to the promised minimum speed. I have not had the courtesy of a response to this suggestion but 3 other suggestions, the last of which is to leave SSE. The other 2 are to switch to standard broadband, with no minimum speed quote, or to carry on paying for Superfast and accept the service as is.
I have been offered £20 compensation (on 3rd Sept) for the failed broadband connection visit but this has not been actioned. I have also claimed compensation for two further SSE failings but these have simply been ignored.
With significant persistence I have been able to get some agreement with them but I am far from happy. SSE are far more expensive than TalkTalk and only slightly more functional.
I feel that their sales procedure promises a lot yet delivery can be far from adequate. How can they promise a minimum broadband speed and be so far out (promised 22Mbps min, actual 10Mbps max) - they had all relevant information!

On a positive note Broadband does work, albeit far from "Superfast" and the "advisers" are UK based and generally helpful.

neviril

Unfortunately another update from my experience.
I have written before in this thread about the horrendous customer service and it taking almost 3 months to get the internet installed. Well, they somehow managed to make the whole experience worse and worse.

In August I missed my online job interview due to the internet not working anymore (it worked for less than 2 weeks from installment and then it stopped) they solved this 17 days later, which resulted in me not starting a job until November!

Throughout November and December my telephone line (which I need to speak to customers) has deteriorated (very bad crackling noises) but every time it miraculously started working again. Then end of December due to flooding the internet was down for 2 days so I couldn't work for 2 days (unpaid of course) then the 28th of January internet suddenly stops working and since then it has been on off on off etc, plus my phoneline goes on off on off as well (it goes completely dead sometimes or comes back on with bad crackling). On the 5th I finally get an engineer over, (after endless phone calls in which I ended up crying from frustration ) who says he can not fix the issue!!!!
Now SSE says a specialist will have to work on it and it would be fixed by Monday, then yesterday I called them again, No it hasn't been fixed yet and won't be until Wednesday..
To be honest I do not have any faith in this issue being fixed tomorrow and in the mean time I have lost 7 days of work, 56 hours, which are unpaid. I am on the verge of losing my job here I am already down more than a weeks worth of pay and I'm not sure how I'm going to pay any of the bills next month.

Please forget about SSE, there's absolutely no good reason to go with them, they can't do anything for you if the line develops a fault. Customer Service is polite and all smiles but they don't care and they can't do anything for you.

stevenpc

i have to say my experience with sse has been 1st class my phone line did develope a fault and i contacted support via my mobile they checked at there end and said it was a fault on the exchange.The next morning i had a visit from an engineer and he checked the phone line.he updated my phone box and fault was still there he then went to the cab box and fixed it at that end and walla steady spead 15-16mbps.Thats 4-5 mbps faster than i ever got from tt.all sorted within 24hrs of contacting them.this was several months ago and has not faultered one iota since then.:j

Rogbrad

I was with TalkTalk before switching to SSE. TT weren't going to unbundle our exchange and too many users on their bandwidth so speed at busier times was almost non-existent. The switch was a nightmare! I won't bore you with more. I went for SSE's SuperFast Fibre option (Fibre to the Cabinet.) I was quoted a minimum speed of 20Mbps - I've never had more than 10!
The router - I'm not happy with it as I can't get anywhere near the same coverage as with the old TT (small, single) router. With FTC one also has a two part system - the Technicolour router and a BT "modem". These two both run quite hot, especially if stacked (the obvious approach) so they obviously consume quite a bit of power, certainly a much less elegant and compact arrangement than TT's, ans poor performance. SSE prices are also way more than TT, even comparing like for like.
Plus point - customer service is UK based and they try to be helpful - but they are piggy-backed on BT! Nuff said...