BT speed capabilities

spurdog1

All

This may appear a small issue, but to me is a constant niggle.
We moved house 4 years ago, taking plusnet with us giving 3-6MB. For personal reasons I changed, keeping loyalty with BT.
I usually go through a comparison W/s, though cannot find any guidance (This does not mean I did not use comparison W/S's). I committed to 24 months at 10MB (only to find that my region (GL3) does not offer that speed, that has only last 3-4 months come to light. I've rattled round customer complaints and universal service obligations with various options.
1) An early exit fee of £185.00
2) an upgrade to "3" wi fi, which would cost £40.00+ for the broadband alone. The fact that I take the wi fi offer means I have to pay going rate for landline only. £19.00, not £5.0(as an extra)

Checking Uswith they still advertise 10MB for speed , which i believe BT should have spoken to me day 1, and said they camn only offer 3-4MB. To my mind they are in breach of their contract. Ofcom referred me to "universal service obligation" (which turns out to be part of BT). They referred me on to customer complaints.

They would listen to a pitch, to resolve the issue, so i suggested that as they can only offer half the 10MB, so how about half price for the contract. They say if i sign the next contract 24 months they will do it for £5.00 less (which is not on normal radar). It appears whatever supplier they always say 10MB, but they are using the same BT line, so their service will BE NO DIFFERENT. The only alternative in this region is Virgin Media (I don't want cables, and poor service.

Any thought outside the box for me, or should I take their offer? Their engineers arrives saturday free of charge, to optimise my service from BT, including another router. Their offer looks really mean. Its the principle of not giving what you agreed.

cheers for your thoughts
.

littleboo

What speed did BT tell you they would provide when you signed up with them?

spurdog1

10MB was from the comparison, but no confirmation from BT at all

iniltous

It’s not really clear what the issue is, when you sign up with a provider they give you an estimate for the speed you should get, if you don’t get that speed , they try to get your line upto that speed , if that cannot be achieved then you can leave penalty free.
Post your router stats and the results from the checker site ,  if you are a BT customer use your phone number but obscure it when posting the results

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

If you are getting what the wholesale checker site shows, then it’s irrelevant what a comparison site says, if you have any complaint , it would be with them not your provider , if the speed you get is significantly below what the wholesale checker site predicts then you need to speak to your provider about that....FWIW, if your line doesn’t have a fault , then changing provider isn’t likely to change your speed as the new provider will use the existing line ( and if you are on FTTC , the same equipment ) 

spurdog1

Not sure FWIW and FTTC definition.

Sounds from initous description It is my "bad" as I didn't check the speed available from BT at inception. I therefore "am stuck with 3MB" whoever i am with, unless i want to fork out £60.00 per month.
Report wont cut and paste.

JJ_Egan

I can confirm the BT  welcome sign up email has two big figures  download and upload speed and a guaranteed minimum .

Cisco001

Why '3' wifi cost £40+??
Three unlimited data 12 months is only £16 per month for 12 months. Get a router for £80.
Is there a reason you need landline? You can get unlimited minutes on mobile for £5...

spurdog1

https://www.bt.com/broadband/USO

What’s an affordable connection?

Ofcom defines ‘affordable’ as broadband costing no more than £46.10

J_B

spurdog1 said:

Not sure FWIW and FTTC definition.

FWIW = For What It's Worth

FTTC = Fibre To The Cabinet (A fibre connection to a nearby Openreach cabinet, then the copper wire carries the signal the rest of the way

iniltous

To give any helpful advice, more information is needed, but in general , the system you are on , and the line length will determine what speed you get , no provider sets out to under deliver, or deliberately reduce the speed you get , there may be alternatives, for example when I was on ADSL , the theoretical maximum speed is 24Mb ,but speeds are marketed at 17Mb average, I was 5Km away from the exchange and got around 3Mb , no faults, no restrictions by the ISP, simply the physical limitations of a line that long, when fibre to the cabinet became available , I switched , the cab is around 80m away, and I get the maximum the system allows 80Mb, some may get less is they are further away from the cab, this is marketed as 63Mb but I get way better than that , some may get les than 63Mb, using the average in my opinion is pointless, but that’s why they give you an individual estimate when you sign up with a provider, similarly if two providers were offering service using the same line and same product ( for example 80Mb FTTC ) the speed you get would be virtually the same from either provider, so other considerations should be used to decide which is better , like customer service, price, technical expertise etc.
without knowing what system you are on ( ADSL or FTTC ) and what is possible given the distance you are from the cabinet ( if you are on FTTC) or the distance from the exchange if ADSL, then it’s impossible to know if you could get better speed , or what you are getting is in line with the line you are on.....