Unlimited Fibre Extra Guarenteed 39.8Mb but only getting 5.2Mb

[#1]

Apologies for the lack of progression. We've not been getting much info on this.

Fingers crossed Monday brings some good news.

[#2]

it sounds like you will be due a hefty refund

[#3]

Hi Gandalf

I'm not having a go at you.. but can you elaborate what BTW mean by the following message you sent in a ticket?

This is in regards to the delay in D-SLAM issue for the below addres

Does that mean BTW are working on an actual fault that they have FINALLY diagnosed after all this time, or is this just the latest FOB OFF?

Despite the fact PN allowed me to upgrade to the highest priced FTTC, the speed didn't increase at all and our connection has been almost unusable for months now and I think I've been pretty patient up to now.

The engineer who visited (which was ultimately a complete waste of time) was pretty sure all that needed to be done was connect my line to the cabinet that's a stone throw away rather than the one that's almost 2 miles away. It all sounded so simple.

What's the next step, can I contact someone at BTW directly, or even in person at their HQ in Aberdeen?

They keep fobbing you off saying "they are working on the cabinet" or "working on the exchange" but surely it can't take this long. They've not even confirmed if I am on fibre or ADSL. I am sure it is Fibre as my nearest neighbour tested at over 30Mb using speedtest.net on his mobile and that was when he was standing in his front garden, so it's not an issue affecting the whole area.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable.... am I ?

I really want to LOVE PlusNet and recommend them, but the PlusNet of 2017 isn't the same as it used to be ten years ago when I first joined unfortunately.

[#4]

Does that mean BTW are working on an actual fault that they have FINALLY diagnosed after all this time, or is this just the latest FOB OFF?

The D-SLAM is usually located at the cabinet.

In other words, the maintenance is still ongoing and we've been advised to review it on the 25th.

Despite the fact PN allowed me to upgrade to the highest priced FTTC, the speed didn't increase at all and our connection has been almost unusable for months now and I think I've been pretty patient up to now.

I'll look into your account side of things when I'm back in the office on Monday.

What's the next step, can I contact someone at BTW directly, or even in person at their HQ in Aberdeen?

I'm afraid that BTW aren't customer facing, in that they'd generally only deal with ISPs.

They keep fobbing you off saying "they are working on the cabinet" or "working on the exchange" but surely it can't take this long. 

We're getting updated by a BTW Team Manager. As it's in everyones best interests to get this resolved as soon as possible, I'd like to think that they're doing all they can based on the info provided by Openreach.

This is reflected over here too: https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre

They've not even confirmed if I am on fibre or ADSL. I am sure it is Fibre as my nearest neighbour tested at over 30Mb using speedtest.net on his mobile and that was when he was standing in his front garden, so it's not an issue affecting the whole area.

Based on the facts I'd say your service is provisioned on fibre and it's possibly the maintenance that's making it look like there's no fibre available that our suppliers are seeing.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable.... am I ?

Absolutely not.

I appreciate the frustration and I'll try to speed things up on Monday when I'm back in the office but the answer might be that we may have to wait until the review date of the 25th. If nothing I'll see if we can get more info too on what's happening.

I really want to LOVE PlusNet and recommend them, but the PlusNet of 2017 isn't the same as it used to be ten years ago when I first joined unfortunately.

 I feel we're doing everything we can in this situation to get this resolved as soon as possible.

[#5]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, I appreciate it and didn't expect you to personally reply so quickly. It's not every ISP that does this, I'm aware of that, having been a TalkTalk customer (dreadful experience) before I decided to come back to PN.

The kids (three of them, all with tablets) put me in a bit of a mood earlier as with the current speed they obviously can't all "do their things" at the same time, which is what they were trying to do. They're on October break so the line speed has been completely saturated.

Fingers crossed the 25th has some good news. I suppose they specifically gave that date, so perhaps that's when the maintenance is due to be completed.. here's hoping.

[#6]

No problems at all.

Fingers crossed the 25th has some good news. I suppose they specifically gave that date, so perhaps that's when the maintenance is due to be completed.. here's hoping.

I'm hoping too. I've sent an email over to the manager we're in contact with, asking for a bit more info into this.

As soon as I hear back I'll let you know.

[#7]

With regards to the below update, can assume if the D-SLAM has been decommissioned at the cabinet, then i am indeed on an ADSL connection as suspected previously?

Have BT given ANY sort of indication as to how much longer they are working on this fault?

I really wish I could just speak to them to be honest. I appreciate you are escalating this to higher levels but they seem to be fobbing you (and I) off each time they reply.

This had been ongoing for months now and nothing at all ends to be happening.




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Our suppliers [BTW] have advised us that the D-SLAM has been decommissioned due to the maintenance work at the exchange.

In order to make the D-SLAM active again they need to wait for the work to be completed at the exchange. The work is related to the infrastructure which also involves 3rd party contractors so I'd imagine this can take time.

However, BTW have sent an escalation pro forma over to Openreach to escalate this further.

I'll provide an update as soon as we hear back from BTW.

[#8]

With regards to the below update, can assume if the D-SLAM has been decommissioned at the cabinet, then i am indeed on an ADSL connection as suspected previously?

I'm asking questions. I'll let you know when I know more.

Have BT given ANY sort of indication as to how much longer they are working on this fault?

We haven't been given a new date I'm afraid. I'll chase this up on Monday as well the questions I've asked.

[#9]

We've been advised that the maintenance work is for the fibre ports at the cabinet and your service is connected to the ADSL ports.

[#10]

Hi Gandalf

So.................. this potentially has nothing to do with my connection after all (this time)?

Have I "ever" been connected to the FTTC ports, or have they (or PN) never actually had me connected to fibre?

This would certainly explain how my next door neighbour gets over 30Mb but I have always had between 5 and 8Mb (never more than 1Mb up) since we had the connection installed 7 months ago.

What do we do from here, wait until maintenance is complete and then ask them to connect me to FTTC ?

[#11]

Okay I just read the ticket too. So BT are saying the speed I am getting at the moment is due to the maintenance, but that can't be right as I've always had this speed. It wasn't until I spotted that I should actually be getting 39.8Mb min that I raised the fault ticket.

So I'm not convinced the maintenance they are carrying out has any relevance.... although I really am hoping it does. 

Don't suppose they gave a rough estimate as to when it might be complete? 

(Router still shows it's connected as G.993.2 Annex B. Don't want to reboot it incase we drop even further!)

[#12]

@Gladstone This entire thread is total confusion in part caused by BT's stupid replies that FTTC was not available at the exchange.

Your first post shows modem/router stats with  "Modulation: G.993.2 Annex B" which is VDSL2 (i.e. FTTC) has this changed since you started this thread? If it has not changed you are still on VDSL2 but presumably from the further away cabinet. This does not tally with Gandalf's statement that you are on ADSL but frankly I would take any information from BT with a pinch of salt, you can't really trust what they are saying at all.

[#13]

Have I "ever" been connected to the FTTC ports

At this point I don't know.

Or have they (or PN) never actually had me connected to fibre?

We placed a fibre order and your line is testing as fibre, but somehow it looks like you're on the ADSL ports at the cabinet which is temporary I'm advised.

Okay I just read the ticket too. So BT are saying the speed I am getting at the moment is due to the maintenance, but that can't be right as I've always had this speed. It wasn't until I spotted that I should actually be getting 39.8Mb min that I raised the fault ticket.

Yeah I appreciate that. The recent update doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So I'm not convinced the maintenance they are carrying out has any relevance.... although I really am hoping it does. 

What do we do from here, wait until maintenance is complete and then ask them to connect me to FTTC ?

I think we'll have more of an idea when the maintenance is complete and line records once again show fibre is available.

Don't suppose they gave a rough estimate as to when it might be complete? 

I'm afraid not, but I'll keep you updated and I'll keep asking questions to get to the bottom of this.

[#14]

The router reports G.993.2 Annex B

The BT engineer who visited at the start of the thread told me we were connected to the cabinet that's 2 miles away rather than the one that I can almost see from the house (if it wasn't for the slight mound in the way).

Despite paying the top level FTTC package we've never had higher than 8Mb and in the last few months it's dropped to less than 6Mb. Speediest right now is 4.8Mb with 128ms latency (speediest.net)

I appreciate Gandalf following this fault through and giving regular updated but I do believe BTW are just fobbing both of us off.

[#15]

Hi Gandalf

Just noticed by ticket has been put on hold yet again for yet another week

I think we have now been moved to abysmal ADSL (if we weren't already on it) as streaming Netflix is now virtually impossible with it constantly buffering. Speedtest.net reported just over 4Mb but latency is over 400ms.

Is it possible for PN or myself to submit a formal complaint to your suppliers at this point? Would that even help getting some sort of answer?

I really don't want more hassle but this is based mostly on the fact they can't even provide a very rough estimate as to when the fault will be investigated / fixed. If they just told us everything will be as it should in 1, 2 or 3 weeks then at least we would know how long we're pretty much offline.

If you can include the following points to them;

• I'm guaranteed 39.8Mb on FTTC but only now getting just over 4Mb (was 5.2Mb, and never been more than around 8 or 9Mb). This has been an issue since we had the FTTC installed 7 months ago.

• BT (BTW? or Openreach?) tell us they are "unable" to provide even an estimated date when this fault will be fixed, as it's a "third party" involved with work at the cabinet / exchange / overhead lines.

• They have told us they have "decomissioned" FTTC in the cabinet and put me on ADSL and have done this without  ***ANY*** prior notice to myself.

• The first engineer who visited us told me the fault was "definitely" down to us being physically wired to a cabinet 2 miles away and we "simply" needed wired to Cabinet 15 which is next to us. He seemed certain this was the issue after he checked himself, yet BTW came back to say their "records" show we are actually connected to Cabinet 15. I strongly suspect their "records" might be wrong and would ask them if they have actually ever checked.....

Sigh.............