New Fibre connection but really slow / erratic speeds

Hi,

I've used BT for the last 12 months on a normal telephone line and averaged about 12mb. Fibre was recently made available and I saw a deal with SSE for free unlimited super fast fibre which I took them up on.
It was installed last week, technicolor TG589vac router and all was well. When I did a speed test i was getting between 48/60mb great.
It was over the weekend that I noticed the internet seemed to slow down.
When I tested it again it was showing 1.5mb. Over the weekend I tested it numerous time and was getting between 20 and 1mb, so erratic.
The strange thing is, I get differing results depending on who I use for a speed test.
For example tonight if I use speedtest.net i'm literally getting 5mb as I type.
On the think broadband test i'm getting 10.2mb
On the bt wholesale test, i'm getting 21mb.
Another strange thing is, if I use the speedtest.net app on my phone which is next to me as I type and test, is only showing .5mb.

A massive difference.
I gave them a call today and they still say that the connection still needs to settle down, but its been nearly 10 days now.

Is this normal or do I have a problem. Its driving me mad.

Any help is appreciated.

Remember you only do speed checks with a 'Ethernet' cable to your router not over WiFi !.

Yes, I should have said in my post, I always test on my iMac using wired connection. It was just that I was making an observation about my phone, being in the same room as my computer and router and getting completely different results.
Thanks

I would avoid SSE even if it was FREE! They are rubbish service! Not good as Plusnet.

It is a known issue see here:
SSE Slow Speed


SSE has some serious congestion issues. It is very cheap for a reason.

I would check if you can get out in a cooling off period and if so - I would run a mile personally.
Alternatively, given the service is so poor, check if they will release you from the contract. I can help with writing a letter of complaint if required.

The good news is given how poor the service is known to be, you can easily evidence the issues, and despite being in a contract, if the service provided is unsatisfactory the law is on your side. Should this go as far as the ombudsman you would almost certainly win the case.

I am very sorry you are with this provider and suffering but trust me there's always a way out.

Keep speed tests logged, perhaps even setup an account here to log every single speed test.

Many thanks for the reply. I initially signed up with plusnet but they messed me about for about 4 weeks and I managed to sack them off without them actually providing the service.
With SSE the cooling off period has come and gone. It took them 14 days from signing up online to them installing the fibre so that gets them out of that.
When I rang up they said to keep a log of the speeds from the bt wholesale speed checker but like I said earlier, they seem to always be way higher than any of the others.

Another thing I might add is, on the router software main screen, it shows the downstream and upstream speed and download says 41mb, I've gone straightaway to thinkbroadband checker and it say 11mb. I just cannot work it out.

The router measures the line connection speed and the speed tests are showing what you can get over that connection.

So the speed tests will always be below the connection speed, how far below depends on how busy the ISP is and various other issues.

The short and simple is that SSE sold at such a low price everyone rushed to buy it and the downside is the very variable speeds you are now seeing. Given you are unable to actually try the service you should be able to make a good case for being able to leave early. Evidenced also by the way SSE has withdrawn from the various affiliate schemes to try and is now only taking signups from existing SSE energy customers.

Just wished I'd have seen the thread on here regarding SSE before I swapped. This is going to be a long drawn out process. It takes about an hour to be able to talk to anybody. Then they only want the btw results. Arghh.

If I could take you up on your kind offer.I wouldn't mind a bit of help with what I should say in my complaint. I'm going to go through the complaints procedure tomorrow and just need a little guidance to be taken seriously.

Thanks

In reply to a post by grooster:

Just wished I'd have seen the thread on here regarding SSE before I swapped. This is going to be a long drawn out process. It takes about an hour to be able to talk to anybody. Then they only want the btw results. Arghh.

Ok, firstly do not worry, secondly snail mail (ie royal mail) is your friend. Do not even bother with the phone, it is for the script monkeys.

For the next 7 days, do speedtests over and over again, ensure they are over a wired connection so the ISP cannot argue the slowdown is wireless.

Do BT speedtest and also speedtests here, this way you have two sources. The BT speedtester will be faster, this is the nature of how it works. The speedtester uses a high number of threads at once (multi threaded).

It works like this. Say I am an ISP with 10Mbps backhaul between 2 houses. If both homes are downloading, each home gets 5Mbps each.

Now here is where it gets interesting.

I am an ISP, with 10Mbps backhaul between 2 homes.
HOUSE NUMBER 1:
House 1 is doing a standard download (single threaded)
HOUSE NUMBER 2
House 2 is doing a multi threaded download, with 9 threads (multi threaded)

There are effectively now 10 download streams in total.
1 stream to house number 1
9 streams to house number 2

House number 1 gets 1Mbps
House number 2 gets 9 Mbps.

Multi threaded hides the congestion here, like the BT wholesale checker.

The above is a very simplified example.

Anyway, the process to take, write a letter, with the recorded speedtests, post it to SSE, ensure it is clear this is a formal complaint. Provide the ISP the opportunity to resolve the issue ie by allowing you to leave. Within the letter detail that after 8 weeks you will seek ombudsman involvement. Ensure the letter is sent using signed delivery.

Also, at the same time, fill in the complaints form online at https://www.sse.co.uk/help/contact-us#q1 - ensure you select the reason for contacting them as you want to make a complaint.

In many ways, email and letter is best as there is evidence of the complaint.

Again, a contract is not enforceable if the service is congested to a level where it falls to 1Mbps... The provider is well aware of issues themselves as well.

If you want to save money, there are cheap providers such as talktalk where congestion is rare, but customer service is poor.

You also have the option of contacting another ISP, switching over, and disputing with SSE overtime regarding the fees. The ISP cannot stop you leaving. Ensure you get plenty of evidence if you do take this route.