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ADSL snail speed

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marksinton
Hooked
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎01-06-2017

ADSL snail speed

Hi, even though i have a 7mb speed normally, which is sufficient for my bog standard internet usage. Every week or so when I try to Zoom it drops to under 1 mb and becomes unusable.

I have had an engineer visit who found a monor fault, but by then the speed was back up to around 7mb.

 

This has meant that the service offered is not fit for service, by anybodies reckoning. I looked at upgrading to Fibre but the offer was outrageously expensive.

 

So Plusnet, either let me out of my contract (as you are not providing the contractual service), or offer me an upgrade to Fibre which is competative, or loose my business in February 2021. The choice is yours.

 

BTW, I have just spent 11 minutes in a phone queue, also not acceptable.

 

Regards, Mark Sinton

8 REPLIES 8
Baldrick1
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Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: ADSL snail speed

@marksinton 

Are you doing a speed check at the same time as using Zoom? If so the bottleneck will very likely be caused by the limited ADSL upload speed.

When you download there has to be a regular 'handshake' data upload. If Zoom is uploading then the handshake data has to wait, slowing the download. This is known as buffer bloat and the Hub Zero is not good at managing it.

You talk about the outrageous cost of fibre but with a bit of haggling should not be more than £5 per month.

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marksinton
Hooked
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎01-06-2017

Re: ADSL snail speed

Hi Baldrick1, That's very useful, thank you. However I did the speed test 3 times, twice with Zoom, then once without. All with the same sort of result - download of less than 1. I didn't bother with the upload speed. 

The speed did recover when I did the test again about 30 minutes later - up to 7.3mb download, and 1.5 upload.

 

It only does in 1 in 3 times I use Zoom, the other 2 times its OK.

 

Anyway, I tried phoning Plusnet, but as I said just sat in a queue for 11 minutes. I am intrigued as to haggling; how would you advise I go about it?,  do they answer quicker if you pick the upgrade option? or does that not put you through to a person I can haggle with. Because £5 extra I would go with.

 

Many Thanks Baldrick

Regards, Mark

Baldrick1
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Re: ADSL snail speed

Fix

@marksinton 

How you go about the upgrade depends on your current service. If you have broadband only then you will need to move your phone to Plusnet.

If you are out of contract and Plusnet are your phone provider then you need to look up competitive deals on a comparison website and pick a cheap mainstream one. ISPs like Vodaphone are often a good bet. Armed with that knowledge ring Plusnet and select the 'I'm thinking of leaving' option. This tends to get answered fairly quickly! Reject the first probably silly offer they make and ask then to match your competitive quote, don't bother with the Plusnet new customer deals as they have a stock answer for this.

If you are a Plusnet phone customer with a contract then it's probably still worth going down this route and seeing what you can get.

If your phone is with another company then you should do your sums. it's far better having both services with the same company as it stops having issues if say you have a boadband problem that's caused by a phone issue that's not showing up as a phone fault (it does happen). You might find it cheaper moving the broadband service to the phone company or the phone to Plusnet.

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marksinton
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Posts: 6
Registered: ‎01-06-2017

Re: ADSL snail speed

Many Thanks; I am a phone customer, but just a simple Sim only deal. I'll take your advice. Cheers, Mark

RealAleMadrid
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Re: ADSL snail speed

@marksinton  So you are not a phone customer in terms of paying line rental to Plusnet. If you are looking for a new deal they do not offer Broadband only contracts, you have to take landline phone and broadband.

Baldrick1
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Re: ADSL snail speed

@marksinton 

Something to keep in mind.

If you decide to stay with Plusnet and transfer your telephone line to them then if your telephone number is important to you then insist that transferring your current number is part of the contract and get it in writing via email and/or added to a ticket. Agents can be sloppy about this as presumably it's easier for them to just allocate a new number.

 

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marksinton
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Registered: ‎01-06-2017

Re: ADSL snail speed

Hi RealaleMadrid, your right of course, so technically I am a landline and broadband customer as well as my Plusnet Mobile SIM deal. But I have no landline phone attached.

 

Hi All, Plusnet offered me (on 2nd and final offer) a 38Mb, but at too high a cost; so I told them I would be leaving at end of contract in Feb next year.

I will just have to put up with the unfit for service contract I currently have as I do not have the energy (I am 70) to battle this lot through the small claims department of the legal service.

Thanks all for your input, and good luck with [-Censored-].

Mark

marksinton
Hooked
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎01-06-2017

Re: ADSL snail speed

Hi All, I had a Censored word, must have been rude eh. Minus instead of Plus with that Net on the end of both. Lets see if the Algorithm picks that up. Bye