Offcom & broadband speeds

Ive seen several reports in the press in recent months about offcom being unhappy about misleading line speeds promised by ISPs.

I've been experiencing very slow speed on my line recently and wondered if offcom would be interested in the case - or do they not get involved in individual cases? For example would they fight on my behalf for a rebate on my subscription for failure to fulfill the contract or is that small fry for them?

No, Ofcom says "we do not handle individual disputes or complaints"!

You can tell them about problems and they might note it and see if they get a lot of similar complaints and then they might do something.

However, your 1st recourse is to first register the complaint using the formal complaints procedure of your ISP. If that fails you may then, and only then, take it up with your ISP's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.

For example would they fight on my behalf for a rebate on my subscription for failure to fulfill the contract or is that small fry for them?

Worth asking whether the failure to fulfill the contract the you're referring to relates to you not achieving, for example, 24Mbps on an "up to 24Mbps" service? If that is the case then there is no failure unless the service provider in question committed to you that you would get a line speed of 24Mbps rather than "up to" that speed.

or do they not get involved in individual cases?

got it in one.

ok thanks folks. pretty much what I'd expected.
And yes N.L., as you say the contract says speeds "up to 8mbps" so 0.5mbps is well within their SLA. In fact come to think of it so would 0.0 mbps!

If your issue is to do with line speed you don't have a case unless the company promised a much faster speed on your line than you are getting. Otherwise, it is probably a function of you being on a long line and only just capable of getting any form of service at all.

NB I assume you've checked for faulty filters, faulty electrical equipment, dodgy in-building wiring (extensions etc), and that the speed you're getting is the best you're likely to get on your line?

If you tell us the ISP and package, and post your line stats (see here for help) we may be able to suggest why your speed has degraded. All sorts of things can go wrong.

What speeds do you get and what did you get previously? The links to what samknows says about your exchange would be useful, in case the problem is the ISP not the line and a migration may be the answer. It also gives us info that lets us check elsewhere for exchange congestion.

(Edit - Just found your Nildram thread . The package and exchange details would still be useful.)

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 27-Aug-10 13:33:16)

I have done a hard reset on my zyxel router (reloads firmware) a few days ago to no avail.
Today Ive had everything from 6 mbps at 7 am gradually degrading to 2.5 at noon.

Stats now:-
upstream
relative capacity occupation: 53%
noise margin upstream: 22.0 db
output power downstream: 18.0 dbm
attenuation upstream: 7.0 db
carrier load: number of bits per symbol(tone)
tone 0- 31: 00 00 00 02 24 45 77 78 88 77 87 77 76 54 54 00
tone 32- 63: 00 00 00 78 89 9a aa ab bc bb bb aa 99 9a aa aa
tone 64- 95: 0a aa aa a9 9a 99 bb ba ba bb bb bc cc cd 2d dd
tone 96-127: cc cc cc cc cc cb bb bb bb aa aa aa 99 9a 99 99
tone 128-159: 9a aa 9a 99 99 a9 a9 aa aa aa aa aa a9 a9 b9 99
tone 160-191: 98 99 89 99 99 99 9a aa aa bb bb bb bb ba aa ab
tone 192-223: ba ba ba bb ab bb bb aa aa aa a9 66 66 76 77 78
tone 224-255: 88 88 89 99 99 99 99 99 87 65 00 00 00 00 00 00

downstream
relative capacity occupation: 100%
noise margin downstream: 0.5 db
output power upstream: 12.0 dbm
attenuation downstream: 12.5 db
carrier load: number of bits per symbol(tone)
tone 0- 31: 00 00 00 02 24 45 77 78 88 77 87 77 76 54 54 00
tone 32- 63: 00 00 00 78 89 9a aa ab bc bb bb aa 99 9a aa aa
tone 64- 95: 0a aa aa a9 9a 99 bb bb ba bb bb bc cc cd 2d dd
tone 96-127: cc cc cc cc cc cb bb bb bb aa aa aa 99 9a 99 99
tone 128-159: 9a aa 9a 99 99 a9 a9 aa aa aa aa aa a9 a9 b9 99
tone 160-191: 98 99 89 99 99 99 9a aa aa bb bb bb bb ba aa ab
tone 192-223: ba ba ba bb ab bb bb aa aa aa a9 66 66 77 77 78
tone 224-255: 88 88 79 99 99 99 99 88 87 66 00 00 00 00 00 00

exchange is not congested Ive been told by ISP but they did say there was heavy congestion on the trunk I'm on out of the exchange and which they "might" be able to move me from. broadband availability is adsl /adsl max only, no LLU services or 21CN etc

As you discovered my ISP is Nildram. Package is Broadband 10 (obsolete but theoretically up to 8 mbps with 10GB peak limit which I'm not anywhere near)

My speeds over recent years (from memory):
2006-2007 5 to 6 mbps
2008 2 to 4 mbps (summer 2008 was a bad time I think that was around time when tiscali acquired nildram but speeds did subsequently recover a little)
2009-2010 3 to 4 mbps
In recent weeks dropped agaian ; last week averaging 1.6 and this week been as low as 0.5 in evenings .
cheers.

Ignoring the (start of) the carrier load, only easily understood graphically as presened by the likes of DMT, can you find the connection speeds as well please?

The downstream noise margin is strangely low. With your attenuation I would expect it very high, possibly approaching 20.

The problem seems to be pure congestion somewhere. What exchange is it though please, even though there is no LLU? It would be worth an independent check. (Given that there is no LLU you were right not to go to O2!)

Frankly the solution would seem to be a migration. How much do you pay, and is the line rental separate? What is your main sort of usage, eg gaming, browsing, TV catchup and so on?

Ok thanks for your input, I dont want to get too far into this here for various reasons.
My view is the issue is with Nildrams network and their tech support have told me twice now that the slow speeds are due to congestion on tiscali trunks. Ive requested that my VP be moved to another trunk but they say that bcs this has to go via Tiscali Cap Planning Team it can take a month or so.

Ok so yes meantime I'm looking at alternatives in case they dont move my VP within a reasonable timeframe. I actually didnt realise that most of the O2 packages required LLU so thanks for that essential tidbit! I'm happy to hear any other recommendations - Ive looked at Zen but their packages dont suit as Im kind of in between their 10GB and 50GB packages - Im currently around 10GB but need a little room for growth. IDnet seem like a possibility. Ent.net seemed good option for me but they seem to be having network issues themselves just now according to their forum on this site. Any others you suggest? I dont do gaming, dont need static ip. Just streaming eg youtube, bbc, spotify and downloads and a POP3 (but I would consider sep POP3 provider). Prefer 1 month contract. I cant bundle landline phone as Im under 12m contract.