POOR PRODUCT, BAD SERVICE

[Jdatkin]

I wont bore you to tears with the endless issues which include being cut off in error in January, Reconnected, then disconnected again because someone forgot to cancel the original re-provide order etc, or when it took BT 5 days to realise the problem with my broadband was because they had put 2 usernames on one dsl line.

And i wont mention beyond this point the incident when the tried to tel me that a fault was actualy because i dont have a phoneline!!!, even though they had called me on that very BT phone!!

ANYWAY - THIS MONTHS PROBLEMS................ 

I regraded my ADSL2 to Infinity 80/20 (Busines) a couple of days go. Was estimated to get 56 download and 18 upload, so chose the Infinity 80dl/20ul. At installation we got 30mb download which was quite a way short of what we was expecting!!

Have had problems with it dropping out and demanding new usernames etc.

BT sent an engineer out yesterday to check it, but he admitted he was actually a telephony engineer and not broadband trained!!! GO FIGURE!

He was very nice and spent hours on it but couldnt offer much resolution.

At one point he spoke to technical dept, and they said it could be that the Business hub 3 may be incompatible!!!!! AGAIN-GO FIGURE!!

One curious thing is that it has period where it refuses to work, giving just 0.3 - 0.7mb speed!!, BUT, if you turn off the router, then reboot it................

run a speedtest when the Broadband light is still ORANGE, i get speeds of 50mb-80mb !!!!!!!

As soon as the broadband light turns from orange to blue, the speed hits a brick wall, drops to 15mb - 30mb!

Also i usually use a simple gigabit ethernet switch (8port) from the GigE socket of the Business hub 3, then plug the pcs etc into that and its always worked great, but since we went infinity you cant connect through the switch?

Any Suggestions!!

Have tried calling BT - WAITED 2hr 15min to be answered only for the lady to tell me that 30mb way the best id get, even though there own tests suggested 56mb, and i have had speedtests show 50-80mb, but only when the Broadband light is Orange!!

She basicaly said its better than what you had on ADSL and thats that!!

I pointed out that i had opted for a 80/20 Infinity, but if i was only going to get 30 then i should be on the 40/10, but she said i should change as it could effect my speed!!, even though she said the max i would get would be 30mb!, it makes no sense at all.

I also questioned the fact that the original engineer that intalled the infinity mentioned that it was on a '40mb bearer' or '40mb pair' or something like that. When i pointed out that i had gone for the 80mb not the 40mb, he just said that he only does what the laptop tells him, and i would have to ring up.

I called, they just said that ' you should be on a 80mb connection', i pointed out i knew full well that i had asked for an 80mb, and that i was paying for an 80mb connection, but could they tell me why the engineer said it was a 40mb, and can someone actually physically check it!

She didnt know!

I asked the engineer the same thing about if i was on a 40mb or 80mb connection, and he said it seems i could be on a 40, which would explain the much slower than expeted speeds, but he didnt know how to check it physically as he is not a broadband engineer!

ALL BT STAFF JUST KEEP SAYING THEY JUST DONT KNOW!, BUT TRY TO FOBB ME OFF BY SAYING, ITS MUCH BETTER THAN YOUR PREVIOUS ADSL

I think its all shocking, and im really considering cancelling the planned upgrades of the other 2 ADSL line to Infinity.

IF ANYONE CAN HELP, PLEASE TRY!!

[Jdatkin]

Hi MHC,

            thanks for your reply, thought nobody was listening for a while.

I think you may have misunderstood the 44mb bit.

Im not getting 44mb in the office, im getting ranges between 0.15 - 25mb, the range is quite wide!!

The engineers poined out that i should be connected to a 80mb feed at the Cabinet, and then the speed is lost as it travels down the copper lines and drop wires to my premises to give something around the 56mb mark.

I fully understand the golden 'UP To' and i dont expect for one minute that i willl get 79mb.

The engineers, although pointing out that i SHOULD be connected to an 80mb feed at the cabinet, confirmed that the direct feed point AT THE CABINET is only 44mb, which THEY TOLD ME is not rite!, and tha it should be an 80mb feed!

So im not saying that i paid for 80mb and i expect 80mb in the office, but what i want, and what im told i should have, is, to be connected to a feed which has a top speed AT THE CABINET of 80mb, and i will then be accepting of the speed i get in the office.

Does this make it any clearer?

[Jdatkin]

Mid Afternoon again and im startling to feel ive been adandoned again!

Infinity helpdesk manager called back to update me conversation went:

MANAGER: Have you heard anything from any engineers today?

ME: No. Nothing at all

MANAGER: Oh i see, erm, we are currently trying to get through to someone to update us so i cant tell you much at present, but we will update you later.

So im sure you can see wjy im feeling like today is another NO SHOW with nothing being done to bring the situation to some form of resolution.

Its even more astonishing that this lack of communication, and action is still as bad considering this has been escalated!, god only knows what they do to you if your just plain old normal??

Any bets on how long it takes for them to get back in touch!

[ONejad]

The lack of moderator input on this thread is unsettling.

[Jdatkin]

Hi ONejad,

               the lack of any input, lack of customer service to a faulty product, the failure to fulfill engineering commitments and the lack of anybody giving a **bleep** from BT is all very unsettling. I was begining to think i was alone on this board for a while!

Anyway, as suspected, and feared, yesterday was a NO SHOW AGAIN BY BT, apart from a couple of calls from the manager at the infinity helpdesk there was nothing. And when he did call he couldnt update me, apart from;

"HOPEFULLY THEY MAY TRY AND GET SOMEONE OUT YOU TOMORROW", (Thursday)

Im generally sceptacle of a sentence that has 'Hopefully', 'May' and 'Try' in them!

There was ZERO COMMITMENT, reassurance or promise in that empty line.

Just to make things even more fun, it appears that the other line which was installed early, You remember, the one they installed a day early instead of fixing the previously installed, BROKEN one!!, THAT ONE IS ALSO FAULTY!!

It too suggests all is fine with the broadband light a nice blue colour, and the DSL light nice and green, but several times a day its as much use as a chocolate fire guard.

I wonder if anyone who frequents here, works for BT or lurks in the background can give us some figures on just how many faults appointments are missed?

Saying that, if they are never put on the system i guess it will kepp the failure to attend numbers nice and low!

What is frightening is my case is apparently 'ESCALATED' or BT CARE or something like that, and i was reassured that they swap these cases like flies within 4 hours!!! - MY EYE!

Bearing in mind the debarcle that this case has become, lets just try and imagine what it would be like for someone who cant really sift the lies and empty promises out, who cant speak up for themselves, who doesnt know how the system apparently works, or at least should do.

Lets imagine how much worse it may be for one of our own grandparents, they would probably just accept it and think that this is just how it is, or a disabled person who may rely on a bt service for their contact with the outside world.

I rely (FOOLISHLY) on services from BT to run my business, and im at the end of my tether with it and am loosing money and probably customers through it, which in my book is as serious as it gets, BUT, what about if it was more than business, what about those people who havent got it in them to fight for BT to correct a SHODDY BROKEN PRODUCT.

SHAME ON YOU BT, FROM RETAIL, WHOLESALE & OPENREACH YOU SHOULDNT BE ALLOWED TO USE THE WORD BRITISH IN YOUR TITLE.

And no, i dont give a **bleep** about which arm of BT is at fault, i pay my bills to BT, i dont care a  jott if your broken up into companies for your own gain or through regulatory compliance, i pay my money to you, who you pay is none of my concern, but you take your responsibilities far more seriously than you do.

Does anybody have a golden telephone number for the Chairmans Office!

I dont mean yet another helpdesk, which should drop the 'help' bit and be renamed the 'Call and wait on hold for 2 hours desk', i mean a telephone number for the chairmans office, where you can speak to a real person who can make decisions and get some action!

Come on people, there has to be telephone in that office!!

Will Keep Updating Through Today

[Jdatkin]

YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US, WERE ARE VERY BUSY, BLAH BLAH BLAH

ALTERNATIVELY, TRY OUR SELF HELP AT WWW. BLAH BLAH BLAH

Speedtest, although at least i could connect at this point!

[Jdatkin]

WOULD YOU BELEIVE IT!!!

Engineer just called, saying, Hello Mr Atkin, its me again!

They have chosed to appoint the engineer that previously came out, now you would normally think that continuity is a good thing, and usually i would agree, HOWEVER,,,, this engineer did point out that HE IS NOT A BROADBAND ENGINEER, ONLY A TELEPHONY ENGINEER!

And please dont get me wrong, I think hes a great chap, Extremely nice bloke, in fact he called in the day after he came last time just to check up, and his communication is absolutely second to none, i really like the bloke and he tried everything he could and was very open and honest and spent a lot of time trying to fix it last week, and spent a lot of time trying to get the rite people on the phone to sort it, but he himself pointed out that it really needs a traine broadband engineer.

WHERES THE SENSE!!

WHO DECIDES WHICH JOBS GET WHICH ENGINEER SKILLS SET!!!, or is it the 'SYSTEM' again!

You would think a fault that just will not go away, and one that has been escalated would have a person look at it and make a common sense decision about how best to get it resolved!

Any answeres to the above will be appreciated!

[MHC]

Sorry, 

Missed the point about VERY low speed and though you main problem was no getting close to 80 or 40.

I hope you are calling on the 0800 number ...     Whenever I need to call support the maximum wait time tends to be 1 or 2 minutes and when promised a call back, it may not happen at exactly the scheduled time but normally within the hour - a 10:00 AM call back seems to come though between 10:00 and 10:50 as the person it is allocated to could be on a long problem call already.

Whn I have needed a Manager to call me, again, never a problem.

[Jdatkin]

UPDATE,,,,,,,

The original enginner came yesterday, and he sent for another engineer, a broadband engineer.

The ran a whole bunch of tests, and concluded that the 'fault' which was previously found by the other engineers was only a ver minor fault, and when they unplugged the modem and router at this end it went away, so they was happy its nothing to worry about!!!!

Luckily it hasnt dropped connection since yesterday now, so things may be on the up, but its only through chance not through anyone at bt makeing any changes of any sort!

They have said if it continues they will look at re-flexing the port, or re-flexing the card. Apparently this means a powering down and then rebooting the port to my line, or the whole card which holds each port at the exchange or cabinet.

I wonder how long things have to be going wrong for, for this to happen!

There was no real conclusion sadly regarding the connection dropping. There appears to be confusion about why the router drops rite down to 0.1mb which makes access to the internet fail via computer, and when that happens you cant even get acces into the router! - ANY SUGGESTIONS!!!

There is a theory about the speed in general, i mean the bit where i can get 70mb speed when the router reboots and the light is orange. At this point the physical connection is ok, but authentication is not complete, so they reckon i get an open, or unthrottled link, hence the speed of 70mb.

Once the authentication is complete (the exchange recognises who i am and initiates my profile) the speed is cut back down to 30mb.

They said that this means i havent got a 80/20 connection as i was sold, and that im paying for!!!, their words!!!

They also they checked the speed at the cabinet, and its only 44mb, where it should be 80mb.

They said that their notes has asked them to reset the profile to change this, BUT, engineers cannot do this, they dont have access to this system. 

They assure me that its a software based change which needs to be made BT WHOLESALE.

I also mentioned this to the helpdesk manager who called me yesterday, and he said he would speak to BT wholesale, but clearly to no avail so far as:

MY INFINITY 80/20 HAS NOW DROPPED SPEED FURTHER:

20mb DOWNLOAD

5mb UPLOAD

Please remember before authentication is complete i can get a test speed of 70mb!!!!! 

Its definately not a contention issue, as im told there are only 2 infinity connections from that cabinet, both if which come to this site!, so i hope when i ring they dont try and say it could be traffic!

Will keep you posted regarding both connection dropping and the THROTTLED SPEED!!

Thats if anyone is out there!!

[Jdatkin]

HI MHC,

             forgot to say that yes i was using the 0800 number, and as you can see from the previous pictures it was a long way off 10 minutes wait to be answered!!

Also, just to show that my 70mb speed is not an exageration heres a screen shot from a speedtest i ran when the broadband light was orange before authentication was complete.

Bearing in mind that on 2 occasions when i called BT about the speed, they told me that 30 mb was the best i could hope to get and that i was on an 80mb connection i am now thinking, should this be referred to the Telecoms Regulator OFCOM, simply as it seems to me that BT are throttling back connections, something which i hear they have been told off for doing in the past!

Suggestions on this matter would be greatkly appreciated

[MHC]

Have you seen the PM