BT Business Broadband - Unacceptably Slow

[mc_blue]

Hi all,

I've previously spoke with BT regarding the speed of our broadband connection and they have advised that there is nothing they can do.

I have been informed that the Birchfield ward (B44 postcode) is not going to have fibre optic cabling installed in the future!

The current speeds achieved are as follows:

1.59 MBPS download
0.20 MBPS upload

These times are simply unacceptable for a home PC let alone a business with a minimum of eight machines or at once plus numerous other wired and wireless devices.

Anyone else had such issues in the past and if so how have you resolved them?

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Regards

Edited by mc_blue on Monday 18th March 22:29

[mjb1]

How far are you from the exchange? That sort of speed usually suggests well over 2 miles.

Sam Knows is a useful website: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/CMBIR It looks like it's enabled for ADSL 2+ (up to 24MB), and the LLU operators are probably the same.

You could try satellite broadband, but it's quite expensive if you use lots of data (streaming etc).

[Mr Overheads]

send me a pm and I'll make some enquiries to see if any suppliers can do better.

[mc_blue]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Where I live is a mere few miles away but the results were as follows:

Download Speed 5.81
Upload Speed 0.91

That's on a standard wireless domestic connection also via BT!

[anonymous-user]

are you plugging straight into the master socket that comes directly on a cable from the telegraph pole?

i.e. not plugging into a socket that is connected into the network via a mile of cable in the building?

[Mr Overheads]

Have you fitted one of these?
http://www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-iplate---bt-bro...

[mc_blue]

JPJPJP said:

are you plugging straight into the master socket that comes directly on a cable from the telegraph pole?

i.e. not plugging into a socket that is connected into the network via a mile of cable in the building?

Hi not sure what you mean exactly? The router is connected directly to the master socket in the office.

[mc_blue]

Also, it seems to have got worse and worse but official line from BT is that it is perfectly acceptable.

[plasticpig]

Unfortunately there are many places in the UK where that is the typical speed for broadband. If you really require faster speed then the only option is to spend more money.

Probably the cheapest option is bonded DSL where you have 2 or more ADSL lines joined together. Other options include a leased line and 3G depending on your usage and how much you are willing to pay.

[mc_blue]

What about EE/4G network?

[mjb1]

mc_blue said:

What about EE/4G network?

You'll be disappointed with it.

What speeds do your neighbours get?

[Mr Overheads]

mjb1 said:

You'll be disappointed with it.

What speeds do your neighbours get?

I'm on EE 4G on my iPhone and it's brilliant, can get up to 20Mb sometimes, but usually around 10Mb (central Leeds)

Also switched to EE at home broadband and we get between 20Mb and 37Mb (North Leeds suburb).

[surveyor]

I had an issue with speed getting worse (it eventually went to something like 1kb).

It took my usual email to Ian Livingston (CEO) before anything swung into action. If your getting messed about try this route.

Certainly don't go for 'call centre ping pong' BT's got a huge back office and it can go on for ever.

[mc_blue]

One thing I don't understand is how or why it has got so much worse. There have been two distinct times in the last 12 months where it has just slowed down and stayed that way. I believe it was well over 6 mbps over 12 months ago and cannot fathom how they can just make it slower.

[BliarOut]

Google REIN, it's a sod to track down. Open reach had to disconnect everyone from my pole to track down the problem. Turns out a dog had chewed a monitor cable in the house three doors down.

[T1pper]

We run a business and dispite several failed attempts to get BT to supply broad band via the phone line even though we were told for our location it was possible it was not sucessful.

We moved to a company called Too Way broadband it is a satilite set up we installed the dish ourselfs and the service has been reasonably consistant running 6 PCs on a network.

As for the cost you will need to contact them directly as the tarifs vary upon useage but with the poor contection from the phone line it has been worth it in staff wages alone.

If you can not get broadband we found it is really the only relistic alternative.

[mc_blue]

Have just spoke with someone extremely helpful at BT who has advised me that there is a problem at their end of the network and that they will be keeping me updated with progress. So fingers crossed the speed will improve. I was previously advised 5 Mbps would be achievable, which although not amazing is sufficient for what we do.

[vxr1]

Same problem here, for the past couple of months it's been cutting off but I've had to live with it. I called BT and they said it was working fine and couldn't find a problem. More recently it's been so slow I've had to go home and work from home at times (luckily I live 5 miles away from work). I think we're going to have to change to AOL soon as at home we're on AOL and it works perfectly all the time

[mc_blue]

Had an engineer from Openreach come over who checked the line and noticed severe interference, it was supposed to be a dial tone but was just all over the place. Wanted to kill the connection there and then but we rely on it for work so going to try and arrange a PM appointment sometime. Love the fact nobody points this out to you and when we called over a year ago we were advised that it was normal speed!

[vxr1]

mc_blue said:

Had an engineer from Openreach come over who checked the line and noticed severe interference, it was supposed to be a dial tone but was just all over the place. Wanted to kill the connection there and then but we rely on it for work so going to try and arrange a PM appointment sometime. Love the fact nobody points this out to you and when we called over a year ago we were advised that it was normal speed!

Hope you get it sorted, so annoying when you're trying to get work done!
I'll try and get someone to come and look at ours from BT as doing it over the phone doesn't seem to work.