Guaranteed minimum speed

[#1]

Last year when I signed up for Fibre Broadband I received on the 28/3/2018 an email from Plusnet which stated, and I quote, " We estimate your broadband speed should be between 35Mbps and 40Mbps and your minimum guaranteed access line speed is 32.3Mbps." This was the speed I was getting whenever I checked, however when I recently had cause to check my download speed again I found I was getting only 22.6 Mbs. On querying this with Plusnet support I was firstly told to run some tests using the test socket and to try different filters and if there was no difference to call back and an engineer would be booked to check the line (at a cost to me of £65 if the fault was at my end). On calling back the advisor I spoke to informed me that the speed I was getting (22.6) was indeed the guaranteed minimum speed for my service and no amount of protestations could convince her that I had been quoted, and had been getting, 32Mbs. Obviously I am not at all happy with situation and when I asked if there was a penalty for cancelling the contract I was told there would be a charge of £45, this I believe is not the case as the T&Cs state quite clearly that if the GMS cannot be met then I could leave at no cost. As a long time customer of Plusnet I don't want to leave, I just want what I believe I am paying for. As a comparison my neighbour, who is about 5m closer to the street cabinet than me, is getting a constant 40Mbs, but then he is with BT!

Could someone, hopefully someone from Plusnet, please explain to me the meaning of 'Guaranteed minimum speed' and why I was initially getting that speed but have now seemingly been throttled back to what is only 70% of that speed.

[#2]

Sorry to hear you're having issues and thanks for getting in touch.

It looks like the estimates/expectations of your line has since dropped since we've provided your minimum guaranteed speed. Your speed estimates as shown Here are between 26.6mbps and 40.5mbps.

Featured Products	Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)		Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)
	High	Low	High	Low
VDSL Range A (Clean)	40.5	26.6	7.7	5.5

There can be various reasons why estimates may drop, it could be the overall line is gradually degrading or there could be cross-talk which is interference from other connections at the cabinet. There's little we can do about that I'm afraid.

While we'd struggle to get this investigated by an engineer, testing your line is showing your speeds to be restricted at 25mbps by the dynamic line management(DLM) software at the exchange with no clear reasons as to why. It's possible that there was a fault previously which has been resolved but your speeds have remained restricted.

As we're discussing sync/line speeds this isn't throttling and we also don't throttle your throughput/download speeds.

I've arranged for your line to be reset which should be carried out within the next 3 working days. It's not an instant process unfortunately as we've got to pass the request onto our suppliers to perform manually.

If your speeds don't improve above your minimum guaranteed of 32.3mbps following the restriction being removed then we will allow you to leave your contact term free of charge, although it's probably worth noting the obvious that you'd likely receive the same sync speeds with another provider as they'd still be using Openreach, unless you go to a cable provider.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.