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!!

[MHC]

I've asked my contact for a comment on the "system already knows".

I undertsnad it will drop the sync until a happy level is found but it does seem to be a little erratic.

Have you had a look at the PM and link ...

[Jdatkin]

Sorry,

         had a look at the link. but havent had much time to try any of it out yet, but ill keep you posted!

Thanks again for the links

Jonathon

[MHC]

You understand the need for teh PM though!  

Any results - let me know in a PM.

[Moby]

I just wanted to register and sympathise with Mr Atkins' situation.

Your experience sounds incredibly similar to mine (8 weeks of intermittent ADSL/broadband service, drop-outs, engineers who say the opposite to the last engineer, engineers who don't turn up).

Trying to deal with BT (Business, Openreach, Wholesale, whatever) is very hard work and is eating up so much of my working day that it leaves very little time to run my company.

I also keep being told that they are very sorry and that they understand my frustration. I am currently waiting to find out if we can get an engineer for tomorrow rather than the 12th of June but Openreach seem to be amazingly laid back about answering emails.

Mind you 15mb-20mb sounds amazing - at the moment Infinity is not an option for us (nor is Virgin cable or we'd be off like a shot). We're getting a max of 4 - 5mb when we get service, speeds drop at 10am through to about 1/2pm and often cut out completely. We have been offered a REIN test but - get this - I was told today that they offer this as a gesture of goodwill only and the engineers have to do it outside their normal working time (i.e. if they have spare time once they have finished their work).

All the excuses/reasons you have been told have been given to us too. Basically we are 6 miles from the exchange and the attitude at times seems to be a shrug of the shoulders and "What-do-you-expect?" attitude. Well, I EXPECT a service 99.9% of the time and a decent speed of connection seeing as I am paying the same amount as the people sitting next-door to the exchange who are getting 20mb speeds for the same mooney.

It strikes me that the "up to" clause and the various get-outs in the contract are all one-way. I'm sure that if enough of us stopped paying by direct debit and offered to pay based on performance/service they might buck their ideas up a bit.

If service cannot be guaranteed, neither should reward.

I'm awaiting a call first thing in the morning to see if an engineer will come. I'm not holding my breath....

[MHC]

I have some more information for you ... I will get round to putting it in a PM later on.  

[Jdatkin]

UPDATE FOLKS

The SAGA continues im afraid folks!!

Eventually kind of gave in to the reality that it was taking far too much time to try and tackle it so ended up settling for the 2-24mb connection.

I was spending that much time chasing it i was unable to actually run the rest of the business' !!! its just not rite!

UNTIL...........

Last wqeek the connection went off again!! and would not come back on!

Anyway new modem later, speed now dropped even further to 16-17mb?, 1.5-2.2 upload, and ping latency of anything from 50ms-225ms at some points!

Anway started a new thread, but thought id repost on this one so you can see just how much of a debarcle this infinity lark is!

PLEASE - ANY ADVICE IS APPRECIATED