We’ve been members of PlusNet now for just over a month and what a disappointment. Signing up was fine but once connected we took a massive hit on the broadband speed and frequently record speeds on
www.speedtester.bt.com as low as 20 kiloBITS per second. As you can imagine this makes PlusNet unusable and not fit for purpose.
Today we received a phone message (after about 5 days) to say that we are connected at 672 kbps with a profile of 500 kbps and this was the best that PlusNet (&BT) can do, given the line length. However, the real problem is not the sync rate but the actual operational speed. It now takes minutes to load web pages and other speed testers vary from about 8 kbps to 200 kbps. After joining PlusNet I’ve notice that BT Wholesale has also downgraded the announced line speed. At one point the advertised rate was 1.5 Mbps now we see 0.5 Mbps.
Our previous (LLU) ISP had many faults but they did get 800+ kbps down the wire and sync speed slightly higher. Five years earlier even Tesco could manage 500 down the same copper wire.
All of this leads me to conclude that BT has inadequate equipment and that PlusNet have appalling network loadings. Their fault testing cycle is too long and a whole month goes by repeating the standard little tests, resetting the router, waiting 3 days – all tactics to divert blame to the end user. Always delaying and repeating and never making progress.
Given that the government aims to have broadband at 2 Mbps in every home by 2012 PlusNet and BT have a long way to go.
