BT speed gaurantee

Mixmyth

Start with a question: Who monitors your broadband speed for the BT broadband speed gauurantee?  A:  BT.  So, if you were to query it they can just claim that you are getting the correct speed.  They won't accept a customers or third party measurements.

My recentexperience in a nutshell:
About 15th Nov started getting slow BB speed.
About 20th queried with BT tech engineer over phone who confirmed many dropouts over 10 days.
Engineer sent out who agreed dropouts were from faulty wiring in street cabinet (crosstalk). My house layout ok.
Still problems, tech engineer in Ireland  states that the engineers Iv'e spoken to so far are wrong and that my speed is good and always has been, but will send another, better engineer out.
He arrives and shows me his device with a record of many dropouts in my speed and does some sort of street cabinet reset from my wall box, (theone fixed to the outside wall before the router).
Still no improvement so contacted tech again who said they would send an engineer, who didn't turn up at the door but BT claim he did something outside and fixed it but it wasn't fixed.

Point is that BT can choose where and when they test the line to suit them and then give the result they want to that suits them. Have registered a complaint, (for wht good that will do), and will be ending my contract without paying their penalty fee. When they take me to court for not paying I have comprehensive records of actual speeds/times/dates.

Thanks for listening.  Mick.

user1977

Did you want advice? If not then I think this would be better on

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/praise-vent-warnings

m-holland

Mixmyth said:

and will be ending my contract without paying their penalty fee. When they take me to court for not paying I have comprehensive records of actual speeds/times/dates.

good luck with that

Farfetch1

The speed guarantee is based on sync speed, not download speed.  This is continually logged, so it's not like they can deny it.

It's also easily accessible in your router stats so you can connect and screenshot it if you need to.

MalMonroe

Hi, before you leave and incur a penalty, why not wait until you receive a response to your complaint? Hopefully it was a written one.

Do you think you need a new router? Our old one caused problems for us. 

I've been with BT for quite some time now and whenever I have raised a complaint, it's been investigated and twice I've received compensation.  

Doing this - "ending my contract without paying their penalty fee. When they take me to court for not paying I have comprehensive records of actual speeds/times/dates" - will be detrimental to no-one but you. Your credit report will reflect the default and if BT do take you to court, there's no guarantee that you will win. It's a self-destructive move and BT won't care.

Unfortunately from what I can gather, no supplier is perfect. We stay with BT because it's been the best of a bad bunch for a while now. We've had previous bad experiences with two other providers, who shall remain nameless.

macman

How are you actually testing the speed yourself ? Wi-fi, or ethernet?

eskbanker

Mixmyth said:

Still no improvement so contacted tech again who said they would send an engineer, who didn't turn up at the door but BT claim he did something outside and fixed it but it wasn't fixed.

If the issue still isn't fixed then what have they suggested is the next thing to try? It's undoubtedly frustrating trying to nail down broadband issues but jumping ship to another provider is rarely the answer if the problem is with hardware, cabling or other network infrastructure that's shared by all of them.

From your description it's unclear if the issue is actually speed or reliability (if dropouts are happening)?

Mixmyth

I'm testing via Ookla (recommended by BT and others).  Its wired via electric system (BT Mini Connectors).  The signal was good until it was lost completely for 3 days then never really recovered.  BTW:  My system does not discriminate for lower popular usage times or other local outside factors ie: Saturday PMs and teatimes, so it can't be the set up in my house.  My issue is also with BT denying the speeds/dropouts that its own engineers are showing me.  Only BT can say that my signal is ok.  Do we have to trust them to report local speeds correctly, because no one else can?  What's the point in having a speed guarantee that no one can challenge? Thanks for the replies.  Mick.

PS:  Will wait for complaint contact from BT before I swap provider to the cheaper one with the same speed and, of course, its the same Openreach infrastructure anyway.

Rodders53

You are confusing BT https://www.bt.com/broadband  the Internet Service Provider and BT Openreach https://www.openreach.com/broadband-network who supply and fix the infrastructure.

Talk Talk (the ISP) do not send their technicians (and rarely engineers) out to homes, they get BT Openreach staff to visit.  So do BT (the ISP), Sky, Vodafone and a myriad of other ISPs.

So the BT ISP people stating 'no problem mate' are not the same as the people on the doorstep who fix - or in your case fail to fix the infrastructure. Nor do they have access to exactly the same data/information.

This village had a pile of regular faults that was eventually fixed by Openreach replacing some old ducted cabling.  Long before that, my own connection had an issue with Vodafone that CS there was less than helpful about.  I moved to TT as it was end of contract and a better deal, who were better:  Openreach found water in their box on my wall had corroded the connections.  Happy days.

You are at the mercy of the Openreach staff who visit site.

NB you need to use wired Cat5/6 ethernet connection to a PC/laptop into the modem router and ideally with the master faceplate removed so no extension phone wiring in place to demonstrate a fault or speed issue with your FTTC / ADSL line.  No other way will eliminate issues in the home {even when you know it's not in your hope this is a hoop that must be jumped through}.

BT minis are Powerline devices and the spawn of the devil.  I've used similar and they would not work at all reliably between my router ring main and lounge ring (via two RCDs in the consumer unit).  YMMV but I ran an ethernet cable to do the job properly.

Ectophile

BT aren't interested in the speed you get at the computer.  It's possible to log onto your home router, and it will tell you what line speed it's currently achieving.  That's the speed that BT use.

WiFi is unpredictable, and depends on what your neighbours are doing.  The plug-in powerline adaptors are also a bit hit-and-miss.  The connection you get through those can vary throughout the day, depending on what appliances are turned on.

MobileSaver

Ectophile said:

BT aren't interested in the speed you get at the computer.  It's possible to log onto your home router, and it will tell you what line speed it's currently achieving.  That's the speed that BT use.

^ This.

The only speed BT (or any ISP) will be interested in is the one reported by your router plugged into the master socket. If your router is reporting an acceptable speed then any problems are to do with your own internal systems and are down to you to fix.