Confused about ADSL2+ Change Over

[malcg]

Hi

I am a little confused over the communication I am receiving concerning the switch over of my exchange and just wondered if anyone has any insight.

On 17th October I got an e-mail saying my line would be switching to ADSL2+ on the 5th November.  Great news as I work from home and although I get good bandwidth on ADSL the increase would be great.  The e-mail said I didn't have to do anything.

The 5th November arrived and during that week I actually noticed my bandwidth dropped, not significantly but a definite drop in both up and down.  I there fore contacted Customer Services by e-mail to be told I would have to terminate my contract and open a new 12 month contract, two e-mails giving different information.  Interestingly I also check the exchange on the PlusNet site which actually said that BT were planning on the ADSL2+ upgrade during December, very confusing.

Having seen no change I then went on-line to chat to and agent (very helpful guy called Michael Burke).  I was informed that I didn't have to cease and reapply but they had received a note that morning that the CAPS were in the process of being removed to allow the line to reach their own level.  Since I am about 1.5Km from the exchange he was expecting (subject to noise) that I would get around 17Mb.

Does anyone know when this activity will take place?

I don't have a real issue but would just like clarification from all parts of BT to the actual situation.  It appears depending on who you talk to, or investigate on line, you get different answers.

I would love to move to Infinity but I don't think there is a chance of that in the next few years even though all the surrounding are has already been updated, just our small part of Eastbourne .

For information my line Stats are as follows:-

VPI/VCI	0/38
Type	PPPoA
Modulation	ITU-T G.992.1
Latency type	Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up)	17.2 dB / 27.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up)	16.0 dB / 5.5 dB
Output power (Down/Up)	19.8 dBm / 9.6 dBm

Thank to any one who can clear up the confusion.

Regards

Malcolm

[DaveA]

Hi,

There's two situations here, and I'll work through them in order of how they're likely to affect people.

The first one is the move to ADSL2+ in general.  What has been done in most cases up to now is that anyone who is on the old Max (up to 8 Mb) service would be moved on to the new ADSL2+ platform, but they would still get the same speeds they had before.

What they'd then need to do it start a new contract and regrade on to the full ADSL2+ service.

Now the thing is that this whole situation is about to change, as they're planning on removing capped packages soon, so anyone who regrades automatically will go straight on to 20 Mb, and anyone currently on a capped package will get moved.

Only thing is I don't know exactly when that's happening.

So there you go.

Now you mention that your speed went down.  Bear in mind that the regrade will have restarted the 10 day stabilisation period, as you're now on a completely different platform.  If, however, it's still slow after that then it's time to contact the Helpdesk.

Dave

[malcg]

Dave

Thank you for your response, much appreciated.

Just clarify my situation so it doesn't confuse others, the exchange itself has only just been upgraded to ADSL2+, so it is not just my line.  One of the confusing parts is that various WEB resources say this isn't going to happen until December.

Since I am still connecting at G.992.1 I am assuming my line has not yet been switched and will just have to wait.

Main concern is of the 4 methods I have been contacted (or contacted BT) I go 4 different responses.  I would just like a clear message.  I have no problem waiting just concerned this gives a very confusing signal to customers.

Regards

Malcolm

[malcg]

Despite repeated e-mails to BT support I still have no clearer picture and certainly no increase in line speed.

I have checked on the BT Line checker and it shows my line can have ADSL2+ NOW.  It does though appear that I will have to cease and rejoin to get this increase, even though I have an e-mail stating I would be changed over without having to do anything.  Why then would I stay with BT?  If I have to cease I will look around for other deals in the market place, with at least better customer services.

I find this whole confusion rediculos, even parts of BT having differnet information.  I work for a global company and I know the issues but we have customer services there to bridge the gap.

Regards

Malcolm

[DaveA]

Hi,

From my original response.

"The first one is the move to ADSL2+ in general.  What has been done in most cases up to now is that anyone who is on the old Max (up to 8 Mb) service would be moved on to the new ADSL2+ platform, but they would still get the same speeds they had before.

What they'd then need to do it start a new contract and regrade on to the full ADSL2+ service."

Dave

[bombinho]

---

@DaveA wrote:

Now you mention that your speed went down.  Bear in mind that the regrade will have restarted the 10 day stabilisation period, as you're now on a completely different platform.  If, however, it's still slow after that then it's time to contact the Helpdesk.

Dave

---

Well, you should know that the retraining onto a DSL2+ line should not affect the capped speed as any physical speed will be higher than the previous one anyway even if it only uses the original frequencies.

I just found the way the caps are getting applied and communicated as ridiculous.

For example on upgrading from domestic to business it might happen that the cap does not get lifted. On phoning in you usually get told that that would actually be the maximum line speed. And only on repeated contact telling them that this explanation contradicts the line measurements then it gets found out. "Oh he is actually on business, lets lift the cap."

And all over sudden the "line speed" increases on a click of the mouse.

And then you wonder how customers feel betrayed?

[malcg · Accepted solution]

OK I think I got to the bottom of this issue and it just appears to be a lack of communication.

When the Exchange was upgraded the people on the exchange with a "fastest possible speed" agreement should have been automatically upgraded but it appears a bit of paperwork to do this went missing.

This bit of paperwork was the trigger to remove the cap and let the line train to the new speed.

This also explains why sales, engineering and wholesale were giving out different messages.  As far as sales were concerned it should have been done but wholesale had not received the order to do the activity.

I am very grateful to the lady who got involved from customer services as this was eventually sorted out and I was actually upgraded today.  Currently seeing about 17M but it's the first day of the bedding in process.

A lot of aggravation cause by one little piece of missing documentation.

Regards

Malcolm

[DaveA]

---

@bombinho wrote:

---

@DaveA wrote:

Now you mention that your speed went down.  Bear in mind that the regrade will have restarted the 10 day stabilisation period, as you're now on a completely different platform.  If, however, it's still slow after that then it's time to contact the Helpdesk.

Dave

---

Well, you should know that the retraining onto a DSL2+ line should not affect the capped speed as any physical speed will be higher than the previous one anyway even if it only uses the original frequencies.

I just found the way the caps are getting applied and communicated as ridiculous.

For example on upgrading from domestic to business it might happen that the cap does not get lifted. On phoning in you usually get told that that would actually be the maximum line speed. And only on repeated contact telling them that this explanation contradicts the line measurements then it gets found out. "Oh he is actually on business, lets lift the cap."

And all over sudden the "line speed" increases on a click of the mouse.

And then you wonder how customers feel betrayed?

---

And that is exactly why they're changing it so that the capped packages are being taken out.  AND residential and business are separate ISPs, so the actions of one (and the packages they are on with the ISP they are on) are not directly relevant to the other.

Dave