BT reducing my speed

Supatramp

For the last 2 nights my broadband has been very slow, down from 50/54 to single figures.  Tonight, switching off the Hub and restarting my laptop, I eventually got it up to 30.

I decided to have a look around MyBT, and found that my speed was confirmed around the 50 mark. but as my present contract expires in December they were wanting me to sign up to a new contract.  However, and although I'm currently on Fibre 1, their offers for Fibre 1, 2, and 3 were at a substantial increase, and the speeds quoted for all three, were around 30, which is what I eventually got my speed up to tonight.

So.............has anyone else got this scenario of reduced speeds, and will I get an improved offer nearer the time, and when I speak to someone on the phone?

TIA

Neil_Jones

Internet speeds are to an extent relatively automated.  A lot depends on the qualtiy of the line.  If its noisy your speed will drop, and sometimes a resync (which restarting the router does) will get you back up to speed.

JJ_Egan

Take it your laptop speeds are over unreliable wifi connection ??

southsidergs

If your speeds have dropped that much they've probably fell below your guarantee so why not just call them & get it investigated?

iniltous

Before you disappear down the ‘they are deliberately reducing my speed’ rabbit hole, a few simple checks are required, with a corded landline phone , call 17070 and perform the quiet line test, any noise present , report the line ‘noisy’, post your router statistics, this may help determine if a problem exists etc, both checks need to be done using the test port of the master socket to eliminate any ‘internal’ wiring issues 

molerat

southsidergs said:

If your speeds have dropped that much they've probably fell below your guarantee so why not just call them & get it investigated?

Got to love that joke.

I was told I could leave with no penalty as my speed was below the guarantee.  Where would I go ?  Any Openreach provider will give me the speed their system dictates which is now the lower speed.

milgo

Is virgin an option for you?

Carrot007

Could it be your modem?

I complained to plusnet for being under a while back. Ended up with near perfect 80/20.

However after a sorm/power cuts my modem/router died.

I used an old one however my speeds dropped to 40/20.

I got a cheap new modem/router (I would have asked plusnet but theirs is well useless as are most free ones (bt was ok a couple back).

Speed has gone back up.

It's however all to do with knowing the chipsets in the modem part. My new one was £30, however this is mostly because I have seperate wifi so do not need anthing built in (though actually nothing built in was more expensive, but still...).

Supatramp

UPDATE:  Complained to BT, confirmed there was a fault on the line,  engineer called yesterday.  Socket replaced, old one was reckoned to have been originally fitted when house was built 35 years ago, and wire from pole to house replaced with a newer, thicker/heavier one.

Speed immediately hitting 51 down and 18 up, so pleased with that.

Neil_Jones

The socket itself doesn't really do anything, its just a really chunky piece of plastic that functions as an adaptor.  On estates where cables run to a telegraph pole they're more exposed to the elements due to being suspended in the air.