Hi,
I just wanted to try and get to the bottom of a fairly long standing issue with my FTTC connection. I have already raised a support/fault query, however after 30 days with no let up or resolution I felt that maybe I would have more luck here.
I suppose a little background information would help...
I have been a Plusnet broadband customer for a little over 15 months, with the first 9 being standard ADS at 3Mbps and the last 6 has been with the Unlimited FTTC, as I am merely metres from the cabinet it's all hooked up at 80Mbps. Lovely job, online gaming, no problem, streaming movies also no problem. Having everything, (PCs, consoles, on demand telly, sure signal for my mobiles etc.) working in harmony, it was a god send.
Then, one fateful night, on the 21st April... A month ago, at about 7PM I was trying to download something on an iPad.... Hmm that's odd, why's that taking so long?? It was an online newspaper, not exactly overly rich content, just a flashy PDF really. So, I thought nothing of it, these things happen, maybe the router wanted a reboot, could it be the BT Modem?? Gave both the obligatory off and on again treatment and tried again.... Hmmmm that's odd I thought, not much better. Better run a speed test..... Hmmmm not good looks like I'm getting maybe 16Mbps. Best see if my sync speed has dropped. Filled in the online fault report and gave the faults line a call as it took 3 days to have my connection sync speed corrected once before. Ran a few more speed tests, just to confirm the issue, download speed was dropping like a stone.
They shortly after acknowledged an issue during the evenings, with speeds dropping as low as 3Mbps. I was advised that the SLA was three days, no problem, things can take time, I work in IT support, I know the drill. Anyway three days come and go and the faults team have had me run more speed tests, try and run a TAP3 test, oh that doesn't work. Oh yeah, the chap on the phone says, there are known issues with that test.
Now on the 28th, the fault gets raised to the supplier for the 1st time, after more tests it shows the fault is still there.
I then have the first of two OpenReach engineer visits. This is now 1st of May, so a week and a bit into the saga, in the morning. I'm at work and advised by the missus, at home, that the engineer "kindly" removed the phone extension cabling in the house, leaving me with one of four phone sockets working, only to confirm he can't see any fault and leaves it like that. Test the connection when I get in from work, still really poor and dropping. So I'm no better and having to get the phone extensions reconnected,something I am reluctant to do so until the issue is resolved.
The second engineer was booked as soon as confirmation of the continued fault was made, to come out 2 days later.... again in the morning, again no fault, he said he would swap out the modem to save me getting stiffed the call out fee.... Thanks.... So the engineers can't see any issue, but come 6-7PM the gradual decent of speed still continues, with it returning to normal a little after midnight. I've make another call and they want to book another engineer...... 'Seriously', I said, 'unless the engineer can be there when the fault is present and causing issue, what else will they do?'. Fair point, no BT engineer will do callouts after 7PM, so back to taking speed tests.
I was asked to take speed test results throughout the evening to document what was occuring. I just seemed that it was day after day, speed test after speed test. Finally on the 8th some progress, or so I thought. A message comes through saying that I shouldn't need to do more speed tests, it's an issue with theach 'HOT Virtual Path', can I produce nightly BQM data.... No problem, I thought, send one off each day for a few days, easy!
A few days after on the 15th , guess what, it's not an issue with the Virtual Path, but it's been passed on for further investigation. Fine, more progress, I guess.....
Now the only 18th, the issue has been accepted by the supplier for investigation, this rings a few bells, supplier was advised weeks ago, but I've been told 'Give us 48hrs'. No problem, so given that was Saturday 48hrs was today and I hadn't heard anything all day, so gave the faults team a call.
'Oh sorry, someone is just dealing with your account as we speak, give me a minute to find out what's going on'. Apparently according to the supplier it's 'been resolved'. Yay, you may say, a happy ending.... 'Not so fast', I say, not wanting to sound awkward, but I'd like to confirm that, and if possible confirmation of a date on which it was corrected. Unfortunately no date information was available, so the skeptic in me keeps the chap on the line while I run another speed test.... 14Mbps. That doesn't seem fixed to me, offer to confirm with further speed tests throughout the evening for validating my thoughts. As low as 5Mbps at its worst.
Now I'm not sure what the course of action from here is, obviously SLA's don't cover this, another week in limbo I expect, when what I really need to know is, who is responsible, what are they doing to resolve the issue, what time frame are they working to and why does it take a month to resolve? Am I needing to speak to someone further up the ladder?
I would be grateful for any insight, assistance, suggestions and technical support. Obviously all I want is to be able to use the Internet reliably at the speeds I am paying for, nothing more, nothing less.
Thanks in advance.
