Why is BT Business Broadband so poor!

[stuartgoble]

[title changed slightly by moderators]

I recently swapped to BT Business Broadband from the BT Total Broadband residential service.  And so far my level of customer satisfaction is in the basement!  Some of the early niggles we've grown used to, like the POP3 servers timing out all the time.  But today (and even worse tonight) the throughput has been appalling!

My router says it's holding the 7.6Mbps line speed it always has, but using Speedtest.net we're getting an abysmal 96kbps download (yes that's Kilobits per second)

I was sold Business Broadband on the basis of improved performance for the number of devices we have in the house given we are two home workers plus techie kids.  Right now we're using 3G dongles as they're more reliable than BT.

Come on BT - SORT IT OUT!!!

[BTHater]

We agree the service provided by BT to us was absolutely terrible with no connection for up to 3 days for over 17 months we have been in dispute.  The customer service I feel is absolutely appalling with foreign call centres putting us on hold for 17 minutes in one conversation no communication what so ever and when a manager stepped in to take over our complaint he told us we were liars and we only reported the fault 5 times! when management are incompetent you can't expect much from the staff, we are now with TALK TALK uk based call centres and no holding! we never got a response over our issues and our legal letters were ignored! in my opinion steer well clear!

[BTHater]

hear hear!

[BTHater]

this is exactly what happened with us as a company they told us that no fault was found despite us later discovering we had a faulty router from day one and it took BT 12months to the date to send us a new one! the manager there told us that we only logged the fault 5 times and we were exagerating!! rather than in my opinion, "I am sorry we are a complete bunch of idiots"  although I have a diary log of over 20 people we logged the fault with he still tried to defend BT.  We can honestly say we have never dealt with such a terrible company!  

[BTHater]

AndyWright Member we are with you 100% feel exactly the same we have been treated terribly and for days without broadband connection at all over a year period caused us massive damage as a new company.  BT customer service is absolutely shocking and the managers are useless. 

[Wilhelmina]

Hi, Just been reading your msg.

You had me in stitches, but on a serious note, you are so right.

The Broadband of BT is CRAP....... sorry for my language.

I really wish they pulled their socks up.

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@frank wrote:

I am totally fed up with BT! I have spent hours and hours trying to speak to somebody about the poor broadband connection that is needed for BT vision. When I do get to speak to somebody (usually in India) I am expected to unplug wires, move the hub etc etc. After doing this last time which took 75 minutes I was then told there was a problem with the service in our area! They are crap, crap crap. Problem is I hear that all the other providers are not much better. Why have we got people out of work while BT force us to talk to people on the other side of the world? Does anybody know a simple phone number where I can get hold of an British person who works with BT and give me the service I am paying for? Just got off the phone from a polite Indian sounding lady who was trying to get me to unscrew my BT plate on a Saturday evening for **bleep**s sake! I told her no; I wasn't going to spend my Saturday evening servicing their equipment. How long before the washing machine repair man asks me to dismantle the machine to see what's wrong before he will come out!!! I amy be getting older (50) but BT service is scandalous.

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[dazzlar3]

I have struggled with business broadband for so long, I even fell for the rubbish the sales guy gave me and signed up for a further 24months because he told me my speed would indeed improve towards the end of 2011. The speed did improve but not much it still goes on a go slow at peak times !! I live in a residential area but have business broadband and I feel like I'm being treated like a residential customer but paying 3x as much for the service !! Right now I have no internet yet again due to a business fault only in my area ! I'm using my neighbours bt residential internet which is faster than mine..... incredible and we live next door to each other so all that rubbish about "It's how far from the exchange you are..." is a load of tosh.

How Ofcom have not stepped in and fined BT for miss-selling internet to people is incredible, the service is below standard and if I was to leave I would still have to pay the rest of my contract period for this rubbish and if I wait until the end of my contract to leave I have to pay for leaving !!. Trying to speak to someone in technical is like platting fog seeing has most of them cannot even speak clear english ! I have never regretted anything I have done in my life except changing my broadband service to bt !!!

I am looking legally into this saga as surely there must be some kind of justice for all the forum members who feel let down, after all surely everyone of us who complain are not doing it just for fun and they are not isolated incidents.

I feel so let down and conned 😞

[MHC]

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@dazzlar3 wrote:

internet which is faster than mine..... incredible and we live next door to each other so all that rubbish about "It's how far from the exchange you are..." is a load of tosh.

 Trying to speak to someone in technical is like platting fog seeing has most of them cannot even speak clear english !

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On those two points.

Do you know that your line follows exactly the same path as your neighbours?    You may be adjacent but there can be significant differences in both line length and noise pick - both impact speeds.

Have you proved that your internal wiring is not an issue?   I have come across many where the customer wiring is the main cause of the problem.

Business Technical support are great - they all speak English are there 24 hours of the day and have a very good understanding of the product.   Yes, there might be a Scottish accent,   but that is never an issue and there are quite a few English working there too.

[paragon123]

Slow or intermmittent connection depends on a wide range of factors. Customer cooperation also helps since they will be asking you questions regarding in resolving the issue. 

I also like to point out that business customers are given priority so they should be helping you out on this.

[Bourntech]

A client of mine has had business broadband for a number of years. There was a problem with remote access and I advised him to go for a static IP address...At this point it went considerably pair shaped! We requested a static address 3 or 4 times (I  forget) and each time we were told yes no problem it would be implemented in a few days. Cut to several months later and we still don't have a static address. They have been incompetent from the start and we seem to be getting no further forward. Has anybody else suffered this issue or have any advice????

Regards Bourntech

[HowsThat]

BT are the largest telecoms provider in the UK which means they need thousands of staff that are based all over the world.  Unfortunately they internal communications is not that great.

Your best bet is use a smaller specialist business provider.  http://www.tptele.com provide business broadband with fixed IP addresses as standard.