Broadband speed reduced to 8Mb

I have just looked at my router and I'm now getting a connection speed of 8Mb downstream and 512K upstream. I was getting 16Mb downstream and 1Mb Upstream.

Has anyone else been taken of the 16Mb service?

I have not had any notification of any change either by email or snailmail, nor by phone.

Also, when I tried to contact customer services by phone I got a message telling me that the number is out of service!!!

Well, I just got off the phone with Pipex.

I phoned the tech department who said there is nothing they can do about it. They put me through to Customer (dis-)services. The person I spoke to told me that Pipex are unable to supply an up to 16Mb connection. I informed her that I was on a 16Mb connection yesterday and that I have been since I signed up with Bulldog (who sold my account to Pipex last July), and that I have not had any notification from Pipex about any change to the service.

She told me that Pipex can only supply upto 8Mb.

When I asked her to explain how it is that I was on 16Mb yesterday she said that I hadn't and that I have been on 8Mb since July. This is not the case. I am a CCNA qualified network technician, so I do know what I'm talking about.

Eventually she said that my account had in fact been changed over to Pipex's servers today.

Has anyone else found themselves in this position today?

Does anyone know the legal position?

As far as I understand the law, I signed up with Bulldog for a 16Mb service. Pipex bought the acount and are therefore bound by the same contract. Pipex have now breached the contract by failing to provide the service that my contract says I'm entitled too. Is this correct? I've never had any communication from Pipex about any change to my contract.

I would guess that your only options are;

Take the shafting and get on with your life
Ask for your MAC and migrate (as long as you do not rent your line from BD)

You cannot be in contract or at least they have broken it.

If you rent your line from BD you will have to return to BT first BEFORE choosing a new ISP.

Do Not say you want to CANCEL as you will find yourself cut off very quickly, both BB & telephone.
There are previous posts about how to the return to BT and costs with time scale.


.

Cheers,

That confirms what I thought.

I'll be going back to BT then to Be in the very near future.

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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our descendent.

In reply to a post by pcservices:

I'll be going back to BT then to Be in the very near future.

Assuming you're on a bulldog/pipex/tiscali fully LLU line (you had to be for 16meg):

The most important thing to do is to not tell Bulldog/Pipex/Tiscali that you're leaving!! Ring BT direct and ask for the "customer options team" and insist on this. Once you get through to the options team then you need a "return to donor".

BT will then organise moving your line back to their equipment, usually takes a few days. You have to wait for this to complete and you'll then have phone but no broadband. Now you can order a new ISP.

Downtime without Broadband seemed to vary between 5 and 10 days last summer.

Good luck.

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James - be* Pro, AnnexM = sync: 19.7meg down/2.0meg up - 3db profile

Well, I've just been on to Pipex/Bulldog/Tiscali again. I still am not getting incoming calls. The message to the caller is still that the number is un-assigned.

This time however, I was told that their 'engineers' have identified a problem. They say it's a problem with the routing information used by one of BT's switches. They've informed BT about the problem and that it should be fixed when the system 'spools' overnight.

I wait with 'bated' breath... But I won't hold it!

Meantime, I have got a date for my line to be switched back to BT so that I can go over to Be Pro. However, BT say they can't do the change-over until the 16th March

jchamier, unfortunately I didn't see your post until after I got on to BT. Cheers for the advice though.

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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our descendent.

happened to me.

conn died on monday. got it back yesterday and now am stuck on 8 meg.

am moving to Be.

so just to confirm, call BT do a return to donor, once that's active sign up with Be (or O2 in my case?)

any specific need to contact bulldog once the line is activated with BT to make sure it's canx or will it be done by default?

ta

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1st ISP - Demon - Dialup
2nd ISP - Pipex 512K, then 1Mb
3rd ISP - PlusNet 2Mb, kicked off after being placed on the bad boypipe
4th ISP - Zen 2Mb. no probs at all.
5th ISP - Bulldog 4Mb then 8Mb, now 18Mb

In reply to a post by tomos:

so just to confirm, call BT do a return to donor, once that's active sign up with Be (or O2 in my case?)

Yes, do exactly that. Make sure you ask the first BT person to answer that you want the "customer options team" and keep insisting until you are transferred. Most BT agents don't know how to do a RTD.

any specific need to contact bulldog once the line is activated with BT to make sure it's canx or will it be done by default?

Once your line is a BT line again (and the ADSL signal has gone); it is a good idea to call Bulldog to ensure they have closed your account.

The pain is the downtime

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James - be* pro - Draytek 2820Vn = 17.7meg/2.3meg - 3db profile

ta matey

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1st ISP - Demon - Dialup
2nd ISP - Pipex 512K, then 1Mb
3rd ISP - PlusNet 2Mb, kicked off after being placed on the bad boypipe
4th ISP - Zen 2Mb. no probs at all.
5th ISP - Bulldog 4Mb then 8Mb, now 18Mb

Hmm..I was on Bulldog 16Mb dervice but was cut off for an "upgrade" two days. Now my router syncs at 8050/575 kbps. Oddly enough, every time I reboot the router it resyncs at exactly the same speeds. Have I been downgraded ??