Sorry state of broadband regulation

timswf2

I just wanted to point out how utterly useless regulation is of broadband service standards. Talk Talk is continuing to provide a slow service to my elderly mum despite her paying for faster fibre. She's connected to a cabinet a mile away despite there being one in the road - with capacity - you can see from the front door. CEDR told Talk Talk to comply with fixing this by providing  a new connection but all they did was issue a new contract. I complained to OFCOM about CEDR but all they do is log it as part of their statistics. Over a year on CEDR refuse to reopen the case and insist Talk talk complied because the company said it had. That's not a proper independent disputes service. 

Neil_Jones

timswf2 said:

I just wanted to point out how utterly useless regulation is of broadband service standards. Talk Talk is continuing to provide a slow service to my elderly mum despite her paying for faster fibre. CEDR told Talk Talk comply with fixing this by providing  a new connection but all they did was issue a new contract. I complained to OFCOM about CEDR but all they do is log it as part of their statistics. Over a year on CEDR refuse to reopen the case and insit Talk talk complied because the company said it had. That's not a proper independent disputes service. 

All internet providers are dependent on Openreach and the line between the exchange and the property.  If this is insufficient to provide a decent speed then there is little anybody can do.  This is why broadband and internet are sold as "up to" packages, because outside of Virgin, there is no guarantee that you will get a certain speed; if you're lucky enough to be somewhere where you can get the full 80Mbps package, then well done, but if you happen to live in the middle of nowhere and your line only supports 3Mbps, its tough but that's what it is.  The likes of the CEDR don't get involved in the technicalities of the service and can't tell Openreach to fix the exchange/line because your agreement is not with Openreach, but TalkTalk.

You may have found that the speed issue occurs regardless of who you were with.

Zellah

OP, your beef should be with Openreach, not TalkTalk. It is Openreach who decide which cabinet your copper line goes to, not TalkTalk. 

unforeseen

It is fairly common that the cabinet nearest you is not fed from the exchange that your line comes from.

littleboo

Zellah said:

OP, your beef should be with Openreach, not TalkTalk. It is Openreach who decide which cabinet your copper line goes to, not TalkTalk. 

Not really. The line is fed from the cabinet that the line is fed from, there is no decision to make. They cant just decide to patch a line to a new cabinet.

Zellah

littleboo said:

Zellah said:

OP, your beef should be with Openreach, not TalkTalk. It is Openreach who decide which cabinet your copper line goes to, not TalkTalk. 

Not really. The line is fed from the cabinet that the line is fed from, there is no decision to make. They cant just decide to patch a line to a new cabinet.

Actually Openreach CAN and DO reroute copper lines to nearer (new) PCP/FTTC cabs if it means a massive uplift in speeds for the users. Its not very common but its definitely been done. However this is done en-masse, its certainly not done on an individual line basis. So in the OP's case, if they really do have a new FTTC cabinet a stone's throw away from them, then chances are Openreach will automatically migrate a bunch of lines to this new PCP/FTTC (or AIO) cabinet(s). But the decision if/when to migrate such lines rests with the Openreach network planners, not with the CPs.   

littleboo

Well yes, OR do change their network from time to time, you're talking about a network change which involves streetworks, ductwork, cabling etc, which are presumably going to be be even more unusual for copper services as the focus is now on fibre. The point remains, day to day for the vast majority there is no decision on routing made by Openreach, it is what it is. The OP might be led to believe by your post that OR can simply switch his line to a new cab, which I think we agree is not normally possible.

iniltous

The salient point should be, is the individual speed predicted by the provider is being delivered ( not the headline speed )  ,if it is,  then it doesn’t matter if the consumer thinks they should get better , the fact is , if a company says 30Mb and you get 30Mb, then that’s all they have to supply, even if others get 80Mb.
If there is a closer cabinet , and the consumer thinks that could deliver 80Mb if they were connected to it, is nothing more that conjecture, the consumer or the ISP doesn’t get to chose where OR spend their money.
 If the consumer is ‘promised’ 30Mb and only gets 10Mb, chances are there is a reason , possibly a fault, possibly the end uses own equipment or set up, but the ISP should investigate it ( even if the investigation comes with a warning of possible charges if it’s something the customer is responsible for ) 
If the customer is paying for a product that the line can never deliver, they should consider downgrading to something more appropriate