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BT Line Speed?

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Friend of mine is getting very low broadband speed (less than 1mb). She had an independent engineer out to test the internal cabling and he said that it was a BT problem.

She rang BT and they have logged the problem and tested the line. They told her it was a line speed problem. They are sending an engineer out on Thursday to check things out.

BT said it would not cost her if it was a BT fault but I am wondering what the issue might be? What does a "line-speed problem" mean (other than the obvious). I am guessing they would not have volunteered to send out an engineer unless they suspected it was a problem that was their responsibility.

I would not like to see her landed with a heavy bill from BT since she already paid out enough to the independent engineer (foolishly, in my opinion).

Would be very interested in your observations.

Comments

  • Browntoa
    Browntoa Posts: 49,602 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    as long as her wirings ok to the test socket then she wont be charged


    if the "independent" engineer knows what they are doing then its definitely a line problem between the socket and the exchange
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  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    ...or just a long line that won't go any faster. Was it faster in the past and if so by how much? How is the speed being measured?
  • maybe a rat has chewed through some wires at the telephone exchange box
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  • stockton_2
    stockton_2 Posts: 336 Forumite
    edited 10 April 2016 at 1:00PM
    The speed has never been high but certainly a lot faster than she is currently experiencing. I did a BT broadband availability check and it is saying that ADSL for that exchange is no more than about 4 or 5 MB. The independent engineer said she should expect about 3mb.

    We never suspected a rat chewing through the cable NectarCollector because she has a big black cat (Barney) who does not take prisoners.:D

    addendum

    Apparently the BT guy she spoke to on the phone said the "line-speed problem" could only be resolved by sending an engineer out to fix the problem at her end.
  • iniltous
    iniltous Posts: 3,670 Forumite
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    edited 10 April 2016 at 3:42PM
    TBH, I wouldn't get to hung up on the terminology 'line speed problem' , it's not something OR use to describe problems in the external network, 'dis- disconnected', battery, earth, rectified short, things like that are terms the engineer may use, the customer service rep has probably made up this themselves, perhaps to make it easier for the customer to understand a line problem affecting broadband speed .
    The important thing is to prove the fault is on what Openreach are responsible for, normally done by checking the line in the master socket test point, but if someone who knows what they are doing says it's an OR problem, then it should be OK,
    when the service provider tests the line , if it is a detectable fault, they get an indication where the fault is, for example 'dis 1 leg @ 1.8km,' if they didn't give a warning about possible costs, perhaps the fault is obviously on OR's lineplant.
  • stockton_2
    stockton_2 Posts: 336 Forumite
    iniltous wrote: »
    TBH, I wouldn't get to hung up on the terminology 'line speed problem' , it's not something OR use to describe problems in the external network, 'dis- disconnected', battery, earth, rectified short, things like that are terms the engineer may use, the customer service rep has probably made up this themselves, perhaps to make it easier for the customer to understand a line problem affecting broadband speed .
    The important thing is to prove the fault is on what Openreach are responsible for, normally done by checking the line in the master socket test point, but if someone who knows what they are doing says it's an OR problem, then it should be OK,
    when the service provider tests the line , if it is a detectable fault, they get an indication where the fault is, for example 'dis 1 leg @ 1.8km,' if they didn't give a warning about possible costs, perhaps the fault is obviously on OR's lineplant.

    Thanks for detailed explanation. I was not sure whether the descriptor "line-speed problem" was a technical term or not. Thanks for clarifying that. The independent engineer certainly seemed to know what he was doing and advised her to ring up BT and report the fault.

    BT did not give a warning about costs so that is some comfort.

    I have looked at her BT sockets in the past and have to say that it all looks rather confusing. She has what appears to be a "Master socket" in the hall-way. But around the house there have been several extension sockets put in (by the previous occupiers). It is not possible (for me) to trace the routes of the various extensions as they appear to have been built in to walls or the plaster.

    The independent engineer who came out sealed off some of the extensions which he said were unusable or incorrectly wired.

    None-the-less, his clear view is that the current broadband problem is for BT (or as you say, OR) to sort out.

    I guess, if you were a BT engineer yourself, you will have seen some home-made BT extensions that looked a bit like a dogs breakfast?

    Thanks again for reply.
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