what if i don't get the speeds I'm promised?

markrduk

I have recently started a 12 month contract with Eclipse broadband. When I signed up to the service on their website they quoted my line should achieve speeds of 6-8mbps. However, a couple of weeks in, my connection has settled down and I am finding even at off peak times my speed is nowhere nearer this - little under 2 most of the time.

Do I have any right to come out of this contract given I am not receiving what I was promised or am I just going to get fobbed off by the company - blaming it all on BT etc!

I know that you hardly get what you're quoted, but surely this is out of order!?

I would be grateful if anyone has any clues on my legal position on this one!

Thanks

normanmark

Have you actually raised an enquiry with them as to why your recieving that speed?

Might be wise to go through their fault process first rather than seeing if you can get out of your contract early?

mrJ_5

they probably sell it as 'up to 8Mb/s', and 6-8Mb/s was what you should be getting - but this depends on the quality of your phone line, amongst other things.

When doing any speed checks, make sure you have only one computer on, and close anything else that use the connection, such as MSN, Skype, P2P - and any other web pages.

You'd never get 8Mb anyway, unless you lived in the exchange! The highest anyone can get is 7.1Mb.

Maybe go to www.samknows.co.uk and see what speed they say your line should get ... though all ISPs should get their data anyway from BT (like this website does).

Legally you cannot do anything about it, as you are getting a speed that goes up to 8Mb, ie. 2Mb is under 8Mb. It's like buying the fastest car in the world, but you cannot go faster than 70mph on our roads . . .

normanmark

Highest is about 7.2 actually

Also as well as checking your pc, check your phone as well for noise. High levels of noise have severe impact on line speed. If the line is noisy looking for any electrical appliances which could be operating around the area of the line/master socket as this also can have an effect on noise

HTH

mrJ_5

normanmark wrote: »

Highest is about 7.2 actually

Was close enough, though I seem to see 7.1Mb/s everywhere - but I won't argue over an extra 0.1Mb/s

normanmark wrote: »

Also as well as checking your pc, check your phone as well for noise. High levels of noise have severe impact on line speed. If the line is noisy looking for any electrical appliances which could be operating around the area of the line/master socket as this also can have an effect on noise

Christmas lights have a really do affect broadband - I just hope no one has their's up yet ... though Christmas always seems to be getting earlier and earlier every year :mad:

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Markrduk,

From experience it's really worth checking that you've got your hardware set up so that it's optimised for speeds up to 8Mb. Speeds up to 8Mb are very sensitive to internal wiring as a quick check I would recommend reviewing the following:

1. Ensure that you are locating your router off of the master socket. Connecting off of an extension socket can degrade the quality of service that you receive.

2. Eliminate any long telephone extension cords that you may be using in conjunction with the router. If your computer is quite a distance from the master socket I would recommend investing in hardware which will allow you to connect wirelessly or a very long Ethernet cable (and a router that has Etheret ports).

3. Make sure that you have 1 microfilter fitted to every phone socket that is in use.

4. If you are running a security software that has an Anti-Phishing filter I would recommend disabling just that filter. For some reason, particularly with McAfee that filter really intereferes with speeds. Just make sure that if you do receive any email that appears to be phishing that you do not click on any of the links.

Kind regards,
Samara

markrduk

I realise that when they say 8MB it is based on your line speed, but what I am saying is they told me my line speed should get me 6-8! I don't think between 1 and 2 is reasonable when they have specifically said my line should get 6-8. If I was getting 4-5 I wouldn't be complaining, but it's often little over 1!

I've tried using different equipment - unplugging everything else etc etc.

How can they say, "your line WILL get 6-8" and then not give me it!? Surely from a legal position they have miss-sold it to me? They have told me they are going to provide me a service they are not providing me with!

I have just been given the usual jib from them when I have tried to contact them. It's sooo frustrating - if they had been honest and told me my line was only going to get around 1mbps when I first signed up then I would have probably gone down the cable route to get the speeds! I certainly wouldn't have paid over-the-odds for an 8mb connection I am simply not getting. They know that only too well!!! How can they do this within the law!!???

normanmark

markrduk wrote: »

How can they say, "your line WILL get 6-8" and then not give me it!? Surely from a legal position they have miss-sold it to me? They have told me they are going to provide me a service they are not providing me with!

The estimated speed is merely a prediction, it doesnt take into accounts stuff like your noise on the line or ISP issues. They've provided you the ADSL service, if its not up to speed then they should raise a fault with BT Wholesale.

markrduk wrote: »

I have just been given the usual jib from them when I have tried to contact them. It's sooo frustrating - if they had been honest and told me my line was only going to get around 1mbps when I first signed up then I would have probably gone down the cable route to get the speeds! I certainly wouldn't have paid over-the-odds for an 8mb connection I am simply not getting. They know that only too well!!! How can they do this within the law!!???

Did you put your number into here?

http://www.adslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

That will give an estimation of what you line can handle & post up the results (remove the telephone number first!) here

markrduk

The BT wholesale website says:

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 2Mbps.Our test also indicates that your line should be able to support a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 5Mbps up to 8Mbps.
The actual ADSL Max line rate supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use, after which time the highest stable rate possible will be set.
If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.
Thank you for your interest.



However, my IPS told me (when I did the same thing on their site before signing up to the service) I would get 6-8... so have they acted wrongly just telling me I will get 6-8?



What is this you can get 2, but a max potential of 5-8 all about?



I think I have been conned!

normanmark

markrduk wrote: »

The BT wholesale website says:

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 2Mbps.Our test also indicates that your line should be able to support a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 5Mbps up to 8Mbps.
The actual ADSL Max line rate supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use, after which time the highest stable rate possible will be set.
If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.
Thank you for your interest.



However, my IPS told me (when I did the same thing on their site before signing up to the service) I would get 6-8... so have they acted wrongly just telling me I will get 6-8?



What is this you can get 2, but a max potential of 5-8 all about?



I think I have been conned!

Ok find out what product you're on from your ISP, if you're on the MAX ADSL product then you should be recieving a minimum of 5mb speed. As you're clearly not getting this i strongly urge you to log a fault with your ISP as a 'Slow Connection Rate' fault. They'll then investigate with BT Wholesale & advise accordingly

djohn2002uk

markrduk wrote: »

What is this you can get 2, but a max potential of 5-8 all about?
I think I have been conned!

The 2Megs refers to ADSL only.
The "up to 8Megs" is the ADSL Max service. Which is the one you are on.