Hope someone might be able to provide some advice.
I live in London and have been living in the same flat for the past 2 years.
My current ISP is BT and I'm on Option 3 (£30 pm).
Since day one our inet connection has been really slow. Initially we were told we can expect line speeds of approx 3.5 Mb/s, but after we moved in the connection constantly bombed out. After several phone calls to BT's support centre and hours and hours on the phone to their call centre in India (and being asked numerous times re type of router, microfilters, power cycling etc.) I eventually spoke to one of the managers who informed me that our line can only sustain a stable speed of <500 kb/s.
I wasn't happy about this, but any case, what can you do. At least we had a reasonably stable connection.
However, over the past two months, things have gone downhill. They constantly try and increase the line speed over the 500 kb/s threshold, which means our inet is more off than on. Even when it is on, I get massive lag spikes when playing CS online, which has resulted in a new mouse as well. I spoke to my nextdoor neighbour who works in IT and works from home, thus expecting he would not be able to live with the type of problems we're experiencing. He explained that he had the same problems when he moved in, but 1) had the master socket replaced and 2) had a new phone line installed. He is with Plus Net and after the changes, he is getting a stable connection of 2.75 Mb/s downstream! Same distance to the exhange etc.
Well, I've tried ringing BT ISP and explained to them in detail that I wish to replace my line and the master socket, as I know that the copper wiring and / or a combination of the two is the source of the problem. At present, I'm getting nowhere as BT Wholesale have now apparrently put a note on our number / profile that the max speed expected is 500 kb/s and a fault cannot be raised if this is being achieved. Phoned PlusNet with the view to migrate to them to try and get the issue sorted, but they had the same issue. If BT Wholesale indicated that you can only achieve a speed of <500 kb/s, their hands are tied.
If I ring the phone department to complain, they tell you that as it is a "broadband" problem and not a line problem, they can't really do anything and if they do send a BT Techy out to investiagte and there are not any problems associated with the "phone" element, they will backcharge me £160 for the visit.
I'm more than willing to pay the £120 (or something in this region) to replace the line & socket, but it seems they are simply unwilling to do this.
I'm thinking of writing to Ofcom to complain, but has anyone had any similar problems and managed to resolve these, or alternatively, does anyone know of another ISP who does have a better contractual arrangement with BT Wholesale to resolve issues such as these?
And...I can't get cable and there isn't Wimax in London yet...
Any ideas????
I live in London and have been living in the same flat for the past 2 years.
My current ISP is BT and I'm on Option 3 (£30 pm).
Since day one our inet connection has been really slow. Initially we were told we can expect line speeds of approx 3.5 Mb/s, but after we moved in the connection constantly bombed out. After several phone calls to BT's support centre and hours and hours on the phone to their call centre in India (and being asked numerous times re type of router, microfilters, power cycling etc.) I eventually spoke to one of the managers who informed me that our line can only sustain a stable speed of <500 kb/s.
I wasn't happy about this, but any case, what can you do. At least we had a reasonably stable connection.
However, over the past two months, things have gone downhill. They constantly try and increase the line speed over the 500 kb/s threshold, which means our inet is more off than on. Even when it is on, I get massive lag spikes when playing CS online, which has resulted in a new mouse as well. I spoke to my nextdoor neighbour who works in IT and works from home, thus expecting he would not be able to live with the type of problems we're experiencing. He explained that he had the same problems when he moved in, but 1) had the master socket replaced and 2) had a new phone line installed. He is with Plus Net and after the changes, he is getting a stable connection of 2.75 Mb/s downstream! Same distance to the exhange etc.
Well, I've tried ringing BT ISP and explained to them in detail that I wish to replace my line and the master socket, as I know that the copper wiring and / or a combination of the two is the source of the problem. At present, I'm getting nowhere as BT Wholesale have now apparrently put a note on our number / profile that the max speed expected is 500 kb/s and a fault cannot be raised if this is being achieved. Phoned PlusNet with the view to migrate to them to try and get the issue sorted, but they had the same issue. If BT Wholesale indicated that you can only achieve a speed of <500 kb/s, their hands are tied.
If I ring the phone department to complain, they tell you that as it is a "broadband" problem and not a line problem, they can't really do anything and if they do send a BT Techy out to investiagte and there are not any problems associated with the "phone" element, they will backcharge me £160 for the visit.
I'm more than willing to pay the £120 (or something in this region) to replace the line & socket, but it seems they are simply unwilling to do this.
I'm thinking of writing to Ofcom to complain, but has anyone had any similar problems and managed to resolve these, or alternatively, does anyone know of another ISP who does have a better contractual arrangement with BT Wholesale to resolve issues such as these?
And...I can't get cable and there isn't Wimax in London yet...
Any ideas????
