Spinning Plates....

[NigelGreen]

Today I have received an announcement from BT that my broadband service is to be upgraded on the 29/03/2010.

Hurrah we all say at last an upgrade!!

Important news – we’re updating your BT Business Total Broadband service

At BT, we are committed to giving our customers the best levels of service and that includes the speed of your broadband connection. We have invested in a new broadband network that will help us offer faster speeds. To help you prepare for the roll-out of our new faster broadband, we will transfer your BT Business Total Broadband service on XXXXXXXXX over to the new network on 29/03/2011.

So what is this upgrade? 

After we have transferred your service to the new network, you may be able to get download speeds up to 20Mb. Again, our FAQs page at bt.com/speedupgrade will tell you more about the speed available in your area and how you can re-sign.

So is this Bt infinity? no it does not appear to be. it appears to be called 'Next Generation Broadband' and offers only upto 20mb. But my local exchange has been upgraded to Infinity(Aylesbury) except the local area had not been enabled(Fairford Leys) and we have been 'enjoying' 2.5mb.

I really was looking forward to infinity not because of the greater download speeds but because i can change to DSL giving better UPLOAD speeds.

So if this UPGRADE is not to infinity(BTs lastest offering and the only one to which you can therefore apply the tag 'NEXT GENERATION')  surely it is an UPGRADE to the PREVIOUS GENERATION broadband.

It like dealing with a dodgy car salesman..you just can't get straight information from BT about whether, when, why not on upgrading their services. As a small business it is important to be able to plan implementation of web based services and where to place them. 

[Tracey]

Hi NigelGreen,

In the statement it does state -

After we have transferred your service to the new network, you may be able to get download speeds up to 20Mb. Again, our FAQs page at bt.com/speedupgrade will tell you more about the speed available in your area and how you can re-sign.

It is an up to 20Mb service, the speed of your broadband depends on the length of your line from the exchange, if you click on the link above it will give you the speed to expect from your line, also gives you the details on how to re-sign to an up to 20Mb product as you have to be on a 20Mb product to obtain the high speeds if your line is capable of accepting higher speeds.

Hope this helps

Tracey

BT Business Forum Moderator

[NigelGreen]

Yes its an up to 20mb service but it AINT BT INFINITY. I fully understand the email that was sent out.

As BT INFINITY is being touted as the new messiah anything less that that is not NEXT GENERATION. As a lot of people getting BT INFINITY already have 'up to 20mb' then up to 20Mb is LAST GENERATION. Its like a Morris Ital(if you know what that is.. a sheep dressed up to look like a fancy new lamb hence my reference to spinning plates..Alister Cambell would be proud of this bit of spin). So unless this communication is REALLY bad and the offering is INFINITY by another name....

Oh I will take the 20mb and be glad of it but its not what it should be and it glosses over the facts.

Further i notice that a lot of the packages change shape..i mean basic pricing drops but you have to pay adds on for things like openzone minutes which where bundled with the current BROADBAND OFFERING so its not clear whether if we 'do nothing' we just carry on getting a slow connecton or if  we are automatically put in the correct package(and who is going to decide what the correct package is as the various options change)

My biggest issue is that i want to get a faster UPLOAD Speed because currently i am paying for offsite hosting and I frequently have to upload large files to my clients and its just not at a fast enough speed on the current setup. I was hoping  for INFINITY which does have a DSL option but i don't think the 'NEXT GENERATION' is going to give me that(and lets face it its about time a recently built estate- my house is 1.4 miles  from the AYLESBURY exchange by road)  was getting better than 'up to' 3mb, especially as the Aylesbury exchange has been INFINITY enabled and many parts of the town have got INFINITY.

Oh and I did click on the link...it was not operational yeterday when the email came in.and guess what it still leads to

http://business.bt.com/broadband-and-internet/internet-access/broadband/renew-or-upgrade. 

'We've just launched our new BT Business Broadband range of products, right now we're improving these pages so you can resign or upgrade to our new products.

We're really sorry for the inconvenience, it's going to take a few days before you'll be able to resign or upgrade online.'

and i was not trying to resign just to find out what speed i would be getting.

As a company BT keeps shooting itself in the foot. You simply cannot understand how frustrating it is to do business with you. You cant say when/whether/orNever to the INFINITY question your refer customers to SAM KNOWS..except Sam Knows Nothing and as far as i am concerned(not caring two hoots about openreach or anything else) SOMEONE SOMEWHERE knows why BT is NOT installing INFINITY in this area or what the obstacles to installing it are and whilst I may be a 'one man' company there are a lot of businesses around here(i can throw a stone from here to the trading estate nearly) and they are in the same boat.

[NigelGreen]

Well on the 29th March BT UPGRADED my line to the new 'upto 20mb' line. If i got 5mb i would be happy if i got 4 it would be better than a kick in the teeth. I am getting SLOWER than i was before the upgrade (before is was stable on about 2.5mb and now its going between 1.3 and sometimes up to 2.6mb)and when i go to the BT line checker the MAX speed for this line is now 3.5mb up for the 'previous generation' of 3.0mb(never saw 3.0!). So these spinning plates look dead wobbly to me and if that is the sort of performance 'upgrade' everyone who is told 'next generation' is coming, i suggest BT stop wasting money telling us about it REALLY a 10-20% upgrade is not worth spending the millions on that this campaign must be costing them and i would prefer they spend money installing Fibre Optic. 

Anyone from BT like to tell me i am wrong?

[JohnE]

Ultimately, the performance of an ADSL line will largely depend on the distance to the Exchange and the quality of the line.  Distance to the Exchange is not always obvious, the line may "meander" before reaching your premises.

Unfortunately, there will be some lines which are not improved by much in the changeover to ADSL2+ although these are in the minority.  I am sorry, NigelGreen, that your line is apparently behaving like this.  It may be worth your while speaking to the technical helpdesk, they will be able to determine if your line speed is below the fault threshold for the line. 

[WaltJabsco]

Your upload will increase on this next gen though. Probably double (goes up to 1 meg I think).

Because of the price change associated with Fibre you specifically need to order it. BT wouldn't just switch you onto that without your say.

So if fibre is available to you then you can have a chat with sales.