SSE broadband feedback

wazza99

Just moved to SSE from BT on 9th, flawless switch, pleased with SSE so far. Not so BT who are a nightmare to leave !!

Just to balance the thread.

OurFriend

Signed up for the SSE phone and broadband super fast package about a month ago.

First issue was a £50 connection fee that was not mentioned at all until I signed up for the account - I nearly didn't continue with contract.

Second issue was that I received notification of a visit by an engineer, to connect us from copper to fibre, the day before they were due. Luckily we intended being home on the day the engineer was due anyway, otherwise it could have been another 2 - 4 weeks before they could reschedule a visit.

About two weeks AFTER the connection was made I received a letter notifying me that that we were due to be connected to fibre. Why would anyone send out notification of something that has already happened !

Initially our speed was great, in the 30Mb region, four weeks in and we now find streaming video etc a real problem - lots of buffering. Speed tests have shown 11Mb tops and often 1 to 2Mb in the evening. I used to consistently get 11Mb from plus net prior to changing (Everything apart from the modem and provider has remained unchanged).

I have just contacted SSE and complained about the poor speed. I have been asked to run a series of speed tests on BT wholesale, which I will do. I have the feeling this may be a slow and painful process.

Would I have signed up if I had known what I know now? Probably not.

I will report back as to how well they perform on the customer service front after I have given SSE a fair chance to solve the problem.

Doc_N

OurFriend wrote: »

Signed up for the SSE phone and broadband super fast package about a month ago.

First issue was a £50 connection fee that was not mentioned at all until I signed up for the account - I nearly didn't continue with contract.

Second issue was that I received notification of a visit by an engineer, to connect us from copper to fibre, the day before they were due. Luckily we intended being home on the day the engineer was due anyway, otherwise it could have been another 2 - 4 weeks before they could reschedule a visit.

About two weeks AFTER the connection was made I received a letter notifying me that that we were due to be connected to fibre. Why would anyone send out notification of something that has already happened !

Initially our speed was great, in the 30Mb region, four weeks in and we now find streaming video etc a real problem - lots of buffering. Speed tests have shown 11Mb tops and often 1 to 2Mb in the evening. I used to consistently get 11Mb from plus net prior to changing (Everything apart from the modem and provider has remained unchanged).

I have just contacted SSE and complained about the poor speed. I have been asked to run a series of speed tests on BT wholesale, which I will do. I have the feeling this may be a slow and painful process.

Would I have signed up if I had known what I know now? Probably not.

I will report back as to how well they perform on the customer service front after I have given SSE a fair chance to solve the problem.

You'll find, if my experience is anything to go by, that the customer service people are very good - helpful, friendly and efficient. The problem is, though, that there's a series of hoops that you have to go through.

SSE know full well that there are serious capacity issues with their supplier, Daisy, in the evenings, but it's difficult to get them to admit it. They try to pretend they know nothing about it. But in order for them to be able to substantiate their own claims against Daisy (possibly for breaching the terms of their contract) they need evidence, and it's SSE customers who are having to provide it via the BT Wholesale speed tests.

Once you've established that the problem exists they'll arrange for Openreach to come out and check your line. Costs you nothing, so you might regard it as useful - particularly as they'll fit the latest baseplate for you. They then go away and report all's well, and SSE then come back to you asking for further speed tests to be done.

I freaked at that point, as a result of which I can now leave at any point I choose - penalty-free.

It's a good deal if you use it mainly in the daytime, but not if you're an evening user. SSE tries hard with its customer service, but the real problem is the supplier they've chosen to use. Make enough fuss, though, and you'll get pretty much what you want from them, within reason. They know there's a big problem - they're just trying to manage it.

deanos

Im glad i was able to switch without penalty, now with BT im paying for 52mbs fibre and i get exactly that 24/7.

jmdnnlln

Ok I have had some input within this forum and I thought an update was in order.
Initially when I first took on SSE My download speed on P2P were appalling, however now and for the last couple of months things have settled down and I can drop in a download with speeds of 6-8 mbps. Movies are a breeze and my http connections are brilliant. so much so I have now dropped my Netherlands seedbox. Happy days :0

P999DSO

Because Hull opted out of a BT copper service. Kingston Communications provides the copper service in the Hull and some Bridgwater areas. Limiting the options for other services!!

P999DSO

SSE Broadband in Portsmouth is rubbish. SSE have a heavy presence in this area with their call centres being based here. However their Broadband service is unstable to say the least. Continuous buffering and major traffic shaping constantly. Compared to the Sky fibre service which was brilliant compared to the rubbish service from SSE on their Fibre service. I would personally avoid the SSE broadband service (via Daisy Communications) and stick with a company that has their own equipment in the exchange (like Sky do). Third party providers (like SSE) cannot resolve issues as they are "renting" the service from another provider. Frustratingly annoying!! Will switch back to Sky as soon as I can... Considering Ofcom intervention at the moment!!

foolishboy

P999DSO wrote: »

SSE Broadband in Portsmouth is rubbish. SSE have a heavy presence in this area with their call centres being based here. However their Broadband service is unstable to say the least. Continuous buffering and major traffic shaping constantly. Compared to the Sky fibre service which was brilliant compared to the rubbish service from SSE on their Fibre service. I would personally avoid the SSE broadband service (via Daisy Communications) and stick with a company that has their own equipment in the exchange (like Sky do). Third party providers (like SSE) cannot resolve issues as they are "renting" the service from another provider. Frustratingly annoying!! Will switch back to Sky as soon as I can... Considering Ofcom intervention at the moment!!

They'll let you out of contract, they've offered to do that for me for similar issues. I've been seeing heavy shaping/contention in Worthing area too, used to be OK in the day but even that's bad now. They're doing something to my line on the 11th which they seem to think will fix things, if that doesn't work I'm back to BT as there's no Sky where I am for fibre.

StarshipUK

This one is very odd. I work in IT support so know my stuff. My parents have the IT competence of a peanut, however said they could get to all websites (they use SSE Broadband who use Daisy) except Ryanair, on both their chromebook and PC. I remoted onto the PC and they were right. Checked the router and took the firewall to the lowest setting. All websites fine except accessing Ryanair. I then tried connecting on the same machine and web browser using a VPN and it can access the Ryanair website with no problems. They have tried contacting SSE tech support who are refusing to help and saying its their problem. I think its SSE blocking it or possibly Ryanair blocking SSE and nothing to do with the PC as it accesses the Ryanair site fine with the VPN. I just wondered if anyone else using SSE broadband is also unable to get to the Ryanair website.

forgotmyname

Done a traceroute? Changed DNS?