BT extended my contract without my consent

After almost 3 months of god-awful service from BT's "wonderful super-fast" broadband service I've tried to get my MAC code to get the hell away from them.

Only to be told that back in April I apparently signed up for an upgrade to 20MB with an 18month contract. This was news to me but certainly explains why the broadband service has been awful (when it works at all) since May.

It's now with the resolution team in BT to check any records of a phone call, but I've got to wait another 5 days for them to conact me. ANOTHER week with a broad-band service of the kind I'd expect to get in SIBERIA.

Anyway - I got the impression that I'm certainly not the only one in this situation with BT. So anyone else out there thats been getting ripped off blatantly by BT like I am????

Seriously - I thought BT were a blue chip company but the treatment I''ve been getting in terms of a service, support from India and the quality of the engineers is far more in line with "Del Boy" Trotter.

Hi Krackerman,

With ADSL+2 this will be available to all BT customer who's exchanges have been upgraded. Only customer who receive speeds of 9Mbps or more will be asked to extend their contract as they would be receiving speeds over and above the current up to 8 Mbps service free of charge.

I do understand your frustration at being told that you have been tied in to a new contract and I ask you please PM me you BT account details and I will take a look at this for you.

Thanks

Patrick

Patrick,

I appreciate the response but as far as I know this is now with the "resolution" team and I'm told I can expect a call by Tuesday.

All I want now is my MAC code so I can find a supplier that can actually supply broadband. I've already been through Stephanie and Craig (who have been good) at BT support and I've had two engineers out, both who came with equipment to support 8mb and neither who had training to support 20mb. The last one even pulled out and threw away my BT I-Plate as he had no idea what it was!

I didn't even get a call from BT after the last visit to see if the issue was resolved! And trust me - it's not. The only enlightening information I got from the engineers is it's clear it's not a wiring fault. However both engineers pointed the finger to the ISP - BT.

Pinging google.co.uk [209.85.229.104] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=459ms TTL=48
Request timed out.
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=478ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=438ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=354ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=526ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=524ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=499ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=320ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=449ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=568ms TTL=48
Reply from 209.85.229.104: bytes=32 time=442ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 209.85.229.104:
Packets: Sent = 12, Received = 11, Lost = 1 (8% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 320ms, Maximum = 568ms, Average = 459ms

what does a traceroute look like ? If your issue is just the long ping times then it is unlikely to be the phone line etc.

a tracert or pathping to bbc.co.uk would be useful in determining where the fault lies.

As far as I can see it's happening at the first port of call beyond my ADSL router.

Tracing route to google.co.uk [216.239.59.104]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 302 ms 410 ms 471 ms 217.32.142.96
3 405 ms * * 217.32.142.126
4 499 ms * * 213.120.163.18
5 * 438 ms 446 ms 213.120.157.13
6 541 ms 572 ms 459 ms 213.120.157.178
7 416 ms * 499 ms 213.120.157.113
8 429 ms 414 ms 464 ms bristol-n-core1-l1.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.2.113]

9 * 544 ms 425 ms core1-pos0-9-5-0.ealing.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.1
3.66]
10 432 ms * 559 ms core1-pos5-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.74.
5.122]
11 573 ms 418 ms 473 ms 195.99.125.78
12 514 ms * * 209.85.255.175
13 598 ms * 411 ms 209.85.251.190
14 * 511 ms 511 ms 66.249.95.169
15 531 ms 575 ms 509 ms 216.239.49.126
16 500 ms 529 ms 487 ms gv-in-f104.google.com [216.239.59.104]

Trace complete.

Tracing route to bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 511 ms 468 ms 306 ms 217.32.142.96
3 448 ms 458 ms 505 ms 217.32.142.126
4 * 516 ms 447 ms 213.120.163.18
5 555 ms 475 ms 441 ms 213.120.157.13
6 460 ms 477 ms 502 ms 213.120.157.178
7 406 ms 434 ms 648 ms 213.120.157.113
8 407 ms 437 ms 526 ms core1-gig4-0-0.manchester.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.
2.81]
9 465 ms 397 ms 409 ms core1-pos0-1-5-0.ealing.ukcore.bt.net [62.6.204.
193]
10 590 ms 528 ms 486 ms core1-pos1-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [62.6.201
.82]
11 418 ms 403 ms 453 ms 194.74.65.42
12 499 ms * 424 ms 212.58.238.129
13 496 ms 328 ms * virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]
14 626 ms 468 ms 531 ms virtual-vip.thdo.bbc.co.uk [212.58.224.138]

Trace complete.

Tracing route to theregister.co.uk [212.100.234.54]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 * * * Request timed out.
2 512 ms * 469 ms 217.32.142.96
3 380 ms 434 ms 520 ms 217.32.142.126
4 397 ms 422 ms 417 ms 213.120.163.18
5 456 ms 437 ms 526 ms 213.120.157.13
6 462 ms 403 ms 442 ms 213.120.157.178
7 450 ms 409 ms 451 ms 213.120.157.113
8 537 ms 483 ms 485 ms core2-ge7-0-0.manchester.ukcore.bt.net [194.72.2
.121]
9 * 442 ms 401 ms core2-pos0-9-5-0.ealing.ukcore.bt.net [62.172.10
3.70]
10 496 ms 539 ms 458 ms core2-pos5-0-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net [194.74.6
5.126]
11 * 416 ms 517 ms linx.edge1.lon.rackspace.net [195.66.226.116]
12 483 ms * 419 ms vl911.core6a.lon3.rackspace.net [92.52.76.204]
13 518 ms 518 ms 449 ms aggr321a-2-core6a.lon3.rackspace.net [92.52.77.1
9]
14 594 ms 543 ms 462 ms 212.100.234.54

Trace complete.

And a ping to the local router...


Pinging 10.0.0.2 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.0.0.2: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 10.0.0.2:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

Interesting observation - this morning I fired up the PC and opened up a VPN to work.
For the first 10mins response was great 30-40ms.

But after 10mins or so the latency went up through the roof and is staying there. I've noticed this a few times before. So that does not feel like contention. Feels more like faulty equipment at the exchange???

If they extend my contract there would be hell to play,

Well that's Tuesday here and no contact from the BT resolution team.

What a shocking surprise ... not.

In reply to a post by Krackerman:

Well that's Tuesday here and no contact from the BT resolution team.

What a shocking surprise ... not.

Today or next Tuesday?

They phoned a friend up about 4 days before her contract ended, she refused Bt £5 a month off and now waiting for O2 to connect her up, but then she is in a 02 LLU area.

I don't have that luxury, I think even if Sky unbundled my exchange I would think very hard about going for it. Even paying for a T.v licence it would still be cheaper and better than BT.


I can't wait until next year when Bt gets in touch and ask me to extend my contract,