Sorry, but another BT Broadband complaint

McRod

McRod

McRod

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,349
Location
Blantyre, Scotland.
Sorry guys, i can only assume you are sick of reading complaints about BT but i post this in the hope of someone being able to shed some light on this, or offer a solution or guidance.

For nearly 3 weeks now, my once normal 750kb/sec connection with BT has dropped to between 2kb/sec and 20kb/sec.

It`s worked flawlessly for me for the time i`ve had Max ADSL installed.

I came in to work on the Monday morning (16th April) and do what you normally do, check e-mails etc, check websites and discovered the speed was chronically slow. I rebooted both PC`s and the router hoping a simple reconnection would sort things out.

Nope

I replaced the filter with no improvement.

I started to dig a little deepers and ran virus scans on both PC`s and i changed the router over from a cheap "Trendnet" one i got out of B&Q for a better Netgear one i had but never used.

Still the same chronically low speeds. Virus check came back with no threats.

Has to be a problem with the line, i thought so i phoned BT Business Broadband and they had me do the usual tests.

"Youre line is showing no faults, can you run the speedtests blah blah"

So i went to www.btopenworld.com/speedtest and tried to download the small file. It wanted to take 18 minutes at 2.4kb/sec. Obviously something wrong.

We then went to www.bt.com/speedtester and it reported back that my line is set at 7150 but the actual throughput on the test was 17kb/sec.

I reported back these figures and then got a reply that Max ADSL is not guaranteed to 8mb and during peak times it ca drop etc. I said hang on a minute....these speeds are LESS than a 56k modem, it had nothing to do with contention ratio. The lady agreed and explained she was going to pass me over to BT Wholesale.

After about 10 days, i finally convinced them to send anengineer out to check and test the line.

Out he came, plugged in his laptop and ran some sort of line test. It reported no faults. As far as i`m aware he never tried to download anything, he just ran some test that came back with a few figures. He the installed a new master socket. This new socket no longer requires a filter.

Again he plugged his laptop in, went to some BT webpage and ran this test again and said that there is no fault on the line.

Fair enough.

I had brought my router and laptop down from home and plugged it in and got the same crap speeds i`d been getting with my other routers and PC`s.....anything between 0kb/sec and 20kb/sec

He shrugged his shoulders and repeated that his tests showed there is no fault and that i would have to take it up with my SP. He metioned something about a card in the exchange might be faulty etc. (The more i think about it, the more i realise how disinterested this guy was).

So having plugged directly into a new master socket with many variations of comms equipment and different pc`s, i still have this chronically slow connection of between 0kn/sec and 20kb/sec.

My only choice was to phone BT Business Broadband back and explain the problem was still there. They said they had closed the case because the engineer had reported no problem on the line.

Round and round in circles we go.

They then suggested a call some company called ITSM who are an independent IT consultant firm who, for £25, would try and solve my problem.

So, here we are after almost 3 weeks and BT Business Broadband are unable to supply me the service i pay them for and they have no clue how to fix it. All the while i`m having to ask clients to e-mail large files to my home email so i can copy them on to a memory stick and bring them into work. I then have to make the adjustment and e-mail them back from home.

It`s beyond ridiculous.

Can anyone advise on what my next step should be in order to get this resolved. BT seem content to pass me back and forward between BT Broadband and BT Wholesale.

To recap.

Chronically low speed.
New hardware (Routers, PC`s Laptops) tested on new master socket (Fitted by a BT engineer)
Virus scans completed
Speed tests carried out (The 3 step one using the bt_user and domain setting) showing a problem
All other equipment on the line removed whilst testing etc.

Any help or advice would be greatly apprecated

McRod
 
I know where you are coming from, and its not good.

I was in the same situation to yourself, and after BT sent me three different modem/routers and numerous line checks etc, i finally gave in and canceled the service with them.

Suffice to say, although i have been credited £54.00, im still waiting (2 months on) to get that £54.00 off them and into my bank.

I think that the rule of thumb is, if it works fine dont touch it and dont speak to BT. If it does not work as should do, again dont speak to BT as you are wasting your time and more so, YOUR money, i wasted so much money on phonecalls to them to get issues resolved, they really have NO idea what they are doing.

If you are able to vote with your feet like i did, do it, thats the only way to get them to see sense.

Im now with NTL/Virgin (out of frying pan into fire some would say), but i now have a Constant 10MB Connection and no problems at all, where as BT were struggling to supply me with a solid 1mb connection.
 
Bobcat said:
I know where you are coming from, and its not good.

I was in the same situation to yourself, and after BT sent me three different modem/routers and numerous line checks etc, i finally gave in and canceled the service with them.

Suffice to say, although i have been credited £54.00, im still waiting (2 months on) to get that £54.00 off them and into my bank.

I think that the rule of thumb is, if it works fine dont touch it and dont speak to BT. If it does not work as should do, again dont speak to BT as you are wasting your time and more so, YOUR money, i wasted so much money on phonecalls to them to get issues resolved, they really have NO idea what they are doing.

If you are able to vote with your feet like i did, do it, thats the only way to get them to see sense.

Im now with NTL/Virgin (out of frying pan into fire some would say), but i now have a Constant 10MB Connection and no problems at all, where as BT were struggling to supply me with a solid 1mb connection.
Click to expand...

Hi Bobcat,

i`ll need to give this serious consideration but my main worry was that if BT were/are unable to give me proper speeds, what chance would antoher ISP have ?

I assume it all comes via the same way so another ISP wouldn`t be able to give me any better?

I thought that`s how it works, obviously from what youre saying, thats not the case.
 
tolien said:
Tried the BT Speedtest (http://speedtester.bt.com), and what sort of stats are either router giving you (attenuation, SNR margin, sync rate)?
Click to expand...

Hi Tolien,

Thanks for replying.

Firstly, when i am able to actually get the speed test to work (It always times out) the stats are usually around this

IP Profile = 7000 kbps
DSL Connection rate: 448 kbps (up stream) 8096 (Downstream)
Actual IP Throughput achieved during the test was - 13 kbps

Line Attenuation:- Downstream=10.0 db Upstream=3.5 db
Noise Margin:- Downstream=10.1 db (jumps up occasionally to 10.2 db) Upstream = 24.0 db
 
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Well something is clearly not right!

The stats Toilen is talking about are usually found in the router settings pages. If you plug your netgear one back in, navigate to 192.168.0.1 in your web browser and find connection status or something they should be there. Then take a screenshot and post back.

hth,

aaazza
 
McRod said:
Hi Tolien,

Thanks for replying.

Firstly, when i am able to actually get the speed test to work (It always times out) the stats are usually around this

IP Profile = 7000 kbps
DSL Connection rate: 448 kbps (up stream) 8096 (Downstream)
Actual IP Throughput achieved during the test was - 13 kbps

Line Attenuation:- Downstream=10.0 db Upstream=3.5 db
Noise Margin:- Downstream=10.1 db (jumps up occasionally to 10.2 db) Upstream = 24.0 db
Click to expand...

i suspect its only those settings the engineer is looking at

everything is pointing to you receiving the full 8mb that your profile is set to.

I can see why BT are thinking its your problem, as all the numbers point to your line being fine. But it is quite obviously not ...

you've changed the phone socket, you've changed the router, you've checked your PC

only one thing i can think of is to try a different PC, or maybe try using a USB modem.

Either that or switch ..
 
Hi MrLOL,

The only thing i haven`t tried is an actual modem (as oppose to a router).

I `ll try that next.

As for the PC`s, i`ve tried 4 different base units and my trusty wee laptop which i get the full download speed with at home. I`m 100% convinced it`s not hardware related. I`ll try a modem instead of my router though, to see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for taking the time to reply mate.
 
McRod said:
Hi MrLOL,

The only thing i haven`t tried is an actual modem (as oppose to a router).

I `ll try that next.

As for the PC`s, i`ve tried 4 different base units and my trusty wee laptop which i get the full download speed with at home. I`m 100% convinced it`s not hardware related. I`ll try a modem instead of my router though, to see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for taking the time to reply mate.
Click to expand...

tbh i dont think the USB modem is going to solve it. The chances of 2 different routers exhibiting the exact same problem are tiny

and you're right, 4 PCs wouldnt do it either

Tbh i think it can only be BT, as degradation in the line like using a crap telephone cable would cause your line stats to change

your line stats are very good, implying your connection is perfect, but theres nothing comming through from the other end.
 
McRod said:
i`ll need to give this serious consideration but my main worry was that if BT were/are unable to give me proper speeds, what chance would antoher ISP have ?
Click to expand...

BT Retail (i.e. the ISP) have as much chance of getting sense out of BTw/Openreach as any other ISP. Indeed, some ISPs have a better record.

Those stats are fine, and your connection's evidently stable enough, so if they won't do anything and you aren't tied to a contract, the only suggestion's get out and either a) hope it fixes itself in the process of migrating or b) go to an ISP that can be bothered pushing your fault.
 
Thanks guys,

I tried a modem with exactly the same results.

Looks like i`ll need to try another ISP.

There seems to be no end of recommendations. :D
 
Had exactly the same problem for about 4 days, checked with different PCs filters, routers etc the same as you. Thankfully it seemed to work itself out on its own. I suspect a fault at the exchange as I watched it jump from 20k where it had been all day to 250kb and continue. Generally my BT line had been fine, I only get 2000k but that's expected due to distance from exchange.
 
mate, this happened to us and it got to the point where i was banging my head against a wall with BT.

after 2 years of fully sync'd at 2mb without a dropout, and a good 8 months sync'd at 8192kbps, we suddenly started getting a shedload of errors on the line, BEC, FECs, that sort of thing, and the connection dropped down to around 3mb sync, with only 512k download speed.

i tried everything new, test socket, new extensions, new filters, new router, nothing would work, so i got in touch with BT, insisting that there was some problem with the line in the house, they were not having it, no customer service at all, anyway i hounded them for about 2 weeks after they set loads of different stuff up for me to 'wait and see', in the end i got bored and asked for my MAC code, to which within 1 day i had an engineer at the house telling me that there was infact a problem with the line in the box outside, fixed it, no problem since.
 
We had a customer at work have a similar problem and it turned out that BT had capped the line due to it flapping. Might be worth the hassling your ISP to see if they can get these possibility checked out with BTW.
 
I know this is a bit late now but I would suggest switching ISP's is definitely your best option. I work for Openreach as a field engineer, if you're stats are fine and your line tests OK we're not going to do any more about it without really hassling us (you can have your complaint sent to the chairman's office if you are getting really annoyed with BT, this often gets a lot more attention focused on jobs). Occasionally there are faults on the line that our test equipment doesn't see and these can be almost impossible to find (no matter how hard you try!) If you have problems with a new ISP and your exisiting line there is a chance you can have your routing changed i.e. have a new line altogether with the same number, all it requires is a new bar pair at the telephone exchange frame then a new e/d side in the PCP (green telephone cabinets) and possibly even a new dropwire/lead-in (this depends on whether your property is overhead or underground fed). This may take away the potential for any faults on the line to be causing the problem although you have to remember that your new 'pair' (a telephone line consists of two wires a + b leg) will be running through the same cables from the exchange/pcp's so if there are faults with lots of pairs in that cable you may still have an issue. This can then take a seriously long time to fix as it requires a specialist team to come and lay new underground (or aerial if you're in a rural area) cables. I hope some of this info is useful...
 
Thanks McHammer.

After 4 weeks they called me yesterday to say they had in fact found a fault with my "virtual path" whatever the hell that is.

As it is quite a rare fault (which is affecting me and 4 other users on my exchange) it might take a day or 2 to trace where it actually is and fix it.

At least they have no admitted it but what a farce BT has become. It seems they are happy to pass the buck at every opportunity.
 
McRod,

I know for a fact that Blantyre is Virgin Cable, couple of my mates down there have it. If I were you I would go for this package with Virgin, even if its only for modem connection, I would seriously doubt that any ADSL provider would provide you with a better service. Cable around these parts are rock solid.

Regards

Vic
 
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Guys,
I have exactly the same problem.
Because of my distance from the exchange i could only get .5 of a megabit.
However BT told me I could upgrade now to probably 2Mbit or more. during the testing period of about 10 days my speeds were just over 2 Mbits and really fast. I was understandibly very pleased. However, now the test has finished the speed has dropped to worse than the 0.5 Mbit i was getting its now 200-300 Kbit download speed with the upload at max 300Kbit and unaffected.
Needless to say I contacted BT and they say that they cant find anything wrong and also my Router is not supported (they only support the BT one)
I am not very happy as the connection is so poor only one of the family can be on at one time. During the test all 3 of us could be on with no problems.
I now have a connection that is little better than my old dual ISDN.
Regards
Phil
 
A Virtual Path is a notional ATM route between the back of the DSLAM and the ISP. This explains it to some extent.

Philbill, you need to post the same statistics McRod did. Attenuation, SNR margin, current sync rate, IP profile.
 
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