Renewing broadband contract if cabinet is full

Pine

The very short version is that we had a broadband contract with BT, and have now changed to another provider. We were told that this was "like for like" however the speeds are much slower. We have complained and they advised this was the best speed available as the cabinet is full. We said we were told it was "like for like" and would not have moved otherwise. Their argument is that we would have had to move to a package with lower speeds with BT on renewal anyway, as the cabinet was full. I find this hard to believe - if we were renewing an existing contract wouldn't we keep the speed we had? Could anyone confirm? 

Many thanks in advance! 

Keep_pedalling

Presumably this is a copper father than a fibre service, so it is possible your new connection is routed on a different cable route to your original BT service and you are getting reduced performance on that route.

What service have you contracted for and what speed are you actually getting? How does this compare with the speed you were getting from BT.

Pine

Thanks so much for your reply. I will try and find those specific details, but the only part I'm querying is whether it's true that we would have had to move to a package with worse speeds if we had renewed with BT, or whether the new company is likely to be lying about this. 

iniltous

If you had renewed with BT then you would have remained on FTTC with BT, no one is downgraded the way your ISP has said simply because they renewed on a full cabinet , apart from anything Openreach are not involved in ISP relationships with their customers, in other words OR wouldn’t know you re contracted.
If the cabinet was already full when you enquired with the new provider , then FTTC speeds shouldn’t have been offered because the cabinet was full , to give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the last spare FTTC port was taken at precisely the same time your provider was offering you service, so you were just unlucky with the timing , or it could be your new provider told you any old rubbish to get you to sign up, hoping that the port you had with BT would not get taken by someone else , once BT relinquished it , and your new ISP could  get it back  after a very short period for you on ADSL , if that was  the case , they gambled and lost , but so did you .

If you were on FTTC and moved to ADSL by your new provider, once moved , the  FTTC port you had with BT becomes spare and available to every provider ( on a  first come first served basis ) , presumably that port has now already been allocated to another customer wanting FTTC , so the cab is back to being full.

Ports are not given up on renewal but are given up on migration to another ISP.

Pine

Thanks so much, that's exactly what I needed to know. 

Keep_pedalling

Pine said:

Thanks so much for your reply. I will try and find those specific details, but the only part I'm querying is whether it's true that we would have had to move to a package with worse speeds if we had renewed with BT, or whether the new company is likely to be lying about this. 

Sorry I misread your opening post, yes they are lying BT would not have gone to the trouble of getting Openreach to reroute your service it would just have been a paper exercise.

Eldi_Dos

@Pine
  You could enquire with BT to see what speeds are available to you if you where to take out a contract with them at the moment.

iniltous

If a cabinet is ‘full’ its full for every ISP , if the OP was with BT on FTTC , and the cabinet was already full ( ‘waiting list’ ) when they enquired with a different ISP , they shouldn’t have been offered FTTC speeds , if they were misled and the new ISP signed them up to ADSL , saying BT would  degrade them to ADSL at the end of the minimum term ,so they may as well use this new ISP ,  that was a lie.
When they moved (because of this incorrect statement ) , the FTTC port they had (via  BT ) would become spare ,and change the status of the cabinet from ‘waiting list’ to ‘available’ but if another consumer on the same cabinet ordered FTTC ( with any ISP  ) then that port is taken  by them and the cab becomes ‘waiting list’  again .

Obviously there is a natural churn on FTTC cabinets, people moving out , dying , going mobile only , using a different network etc,  all can change the status of  a cabinet from waiting list to available , so it’s possible that in the intervening period the cabinet may now have availability