ADSL Broadband Speed halved on renewal?

[#1]

Hi,

I'm a bit confused by what ADSL broadband speeds are offered/guaranteed, as I don't really believe Plus.Net have been working hard in the last 18 months to halve UK broadband speeds......

I renewed my ADSL service 18months ago and under 'broadband speed' I was offered "3.5M down 1M up with minimum guaranteed speed 0.8M"

I've just renewed for another 18months.  When I clicked through the email offer I was presented with "0.5-2M down with 1M up and minimum guaranteed speed of 0.4M".  (I assumed this was a rubbish marketing guarantee designed to induce me to pay extra for VDSL)

Then the email comes through to confirm what I've accepted and it says "We weren't able to calculate the estimated peak-time speeds for your broadband at the point you placed the order, but we'll continue to process your order as agreed with you. Your Minimum Guaranteed Speed wasn't available at the point you placed the order but we'll continue to place your order as agreed with you. "

Assuming that up to a certain limit that ADSL speeds are determined by line conditions, are there any other Plus.net specific factors that I should be aware of that could really halve my interenet speed going forward?  After >10 years with plus.net why don't you have a rough idea what the speeds on this line are going to be?

regards,

Andy

[#2]

Hi @old_fogey

Thanks for getting in touch. Estimated speeds are same for all providers on Openreach network. You can view estimated speeds for your line here

It is quite common for estimates to change after time due to  for example changes to infrastructure or amount of customers connected to same cabinet/exchange.

No provider can really change estimated speeds on any line as infrastructure belongs to Openreach.

Hope that answers your question.

[#3]

Thanks for the swift reply.   From your answer, if I undesand correctly, the reason I got an email with one speed then clicked to order within 15mins and got a different speed is that its Openreach that gives plus.net a different speed within those timefames and to understand why I would need to ask Openreach (which of course I can't do as I'm a retail customer and not a wholesale provider of internet services). 

The link you sent was useful, it gave the ADSL openreach product results for my line, which I've given below, with observed downstream speed of over 5Mbps that roughly corresponds with sync speeds reported by my router.  It gives a handback threshold of up to 3.5Mbps for ADSL 2+ services (which I've copied in case my service falls below that in the next 18 months), and also states Actual speeds experienced by end users and quoted by CPs will be lower due to a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

As I asked about 'factors... within... communications providers networks...' and your answer referred me to Openreach, the short answer to your question as to whether you answered my quesion is: No.  (even though the non-answer was useful)

ADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	ADSL Availability Date	WBC SOADSL Availability Date	Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 1	--	1 to 3.5	Available	Available	--
WBC ADSL2+ Annex M	Up to 1	Up to 0.5	1 to 3.5	Available	Available	--
ADSL Max	Up to 1	--	0.75 to 2.5	Available	Available	--
WBC Fixed Rate	0.5	--	--	Available	Available	--
Fixed Rate	0.5	--	--	Available	--	--

Observed Speeds	ADSL
Max Observed Downstream Speed	5.13
Max Observed Upstream Speed	1.04
Observed Date	2020-04-07

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your time on phone today @old_fogey

As discussed I have created ticket on your account, you can view it here

I hope that I've answered all your questions, even that few automated emails included different values - you've received another service notice on Wednesday with estimated speeds. If you will have any other questions, please get back in touch.

[#5]

Hi Tibzor,

Thanks for the call.  Irrespective of any and all of the variable estimates for the line speed for the coming 18 months, and what causes these to vary, what is most important is the actual service I will get and I'm clear now that there is nothing forseeable that will cut this in half!

Rather on the contrary, as the SNR margin on my line was 9dB you have increased the allowable sync speed.  So far (15mins later...) so good, my router re-synced at a higher speed (now: attainable rate 5636kbps, rate 4887kbps).

Regards.

Andy