Speeds not as advised.

First question to Forum so hope it is right place.
I have recently acquired FTTC at the higher rate of 55 to 78 Mpbs. When communicating with my provider I asked what the guaranteed download speed would be and was told "55 to 78". After several visits from Openreach due to slow and variable speeds my phone line was renewed. Engineer said that he was measuring 40Mbps and as I was about 700m from cabinet this was as good as it would get. Subsequent, frequent speed checks confirms this.
ISP has now contacted me to say that they are providing "50.3Mps down your line" which is above my "Minimum Guaranteed Access Line Speed of 47.2Mbps". They had never mentioned this speed before. BT Wholesale state that the Downstream Handback Threshold rate is 49Mbps. Checking the Router the maximum data rate is currently 50.165Mbps.
If I had known that I was only going to get 40Mpbs I would have signed up for the lower speed package which has a max speed of 38Mbps and cost less. I have a feeling that I am now stuck in this contract for 24 months even though my expectations from communicating with the ISP was for much faster speeds. If anyone has any advise I would be most grateful.

When you signed up you should have been given a personalised estimate of line speed. It is that which is important rather than what the package says. I assume from the 55-78 that this is BT Infinity 2 - you could try and get BT to put you on the lower package.

If you drop to an up to 40m product you will drop your sync rate from 50 to 40 and lose 20% of your speed.

I think at 50mbit you are above the level at which they will let you move down to 40.

If they are on BT then Infinity 1 is up to 55Mbps so wouldn't lose anything.

ISP is Plusnet and the lower band with them is up to 38Mbps. When I went through their upgrade portal, unlimited fibre and unlimited fibre extra were showing the same speed range at 30-40Mbps but unlimited fibre extra was more expensive. I went on to their "chat" to sign up and queried this with their agent. He said that it must be a mistake,that I would get a guaranteed 55-73.5Mbs and on that basis I signed up. Fortunately I have kept screenshots of the conversation. If going to the lower rate will mean a 20% speed drop, I might just have to bite the bullet and stick with the contract I have. Bit uneasy with that as it seems I was misinformed during the sign-up process.

You would lose the speed down to the 40Mb limit. BT use a different product that is up to 55Mb but I am not aware of any other ISPs that currently use that.

If you want the extra 10Mb then stay where you are.

If you want the reduced price then it would seem the agent steered you wrong so provide PlusNet with the screenshots of the chat to show you were missold and insist they downgrade you and refund the difference.

You could try asking PlusNet for a discount based on the bad advice from the agent but I suspect the best they would offer is to downgrade you.

Other thing to consider - and this may be a bigger component - is that on the lower PlusNet package it is only 2Mb upstream, I suspect you currently get more like 10Mb so if upstream is at all important then it may be better anyway to stay on the higher package.

This might be a case of misselling and an agent quoting an overall figure for the extra product, rather than your own specific estimate. A hint is saying guarantee and then giving a range, the guarantee figure should be a single figure and I don't like the use of the word guarantee as its a soft-one.

NOTE: A big difference in upload on the PlusNet ranges, since the cheaper service is capped at 1.9 Mbps upload, so may enter into the equation for some too.

Edited by MrSaffron (Fri 09-Jun-17 15:43:57)

Post deleted by Apprentice

In reply to a post by ian72:

When you signed up you should have been given a personalised estimate of line speed. It is that which is important rather than what the package says. I assume from the 55-78 that this is BT Infinity 2 - you could try and get BT to put you on the lower package.

It depends on who you talk to when you make the order.

When I ordered Infinity 4 end of last year there was no mention of the minimal speed at all and defiantly no mention of an up to speed, or what the speed will go down to in the evening.

A few times now I have lost up to 86% of my speed in the evening, its not too much of an issue.

So I am just saying not all sales team mention the speeds, maybe I was just a one off.

Paul

The estimates given by BT are the sync estimate not the throughput. So, on Infinity 4 they are irrelevant as it will always sync at the same speed.

In reply to a post by ian72:

The estimates given by BT are the sync estimate not the throughput. So, on Infinity 4 they are irrelevant as it will always sync at the same speed.

I am aware of that, it was where BT told me when I questioned the up to 86% speed drop in the evenings (granted its only happened the few times), that its not an issue until it hits 90% speed drop and that I was told this minimal speed estimate when ordering which I wasn't.

That's what I was referring to, i.e. speeds are not always mentioned when ordering.

Paul

That is because most of the current code of practice focuses on connection speed rather than what the public see on their devices i.e. a lot of the existing code is to deal with xDSL

The new code that is in the works with peak/off-peak introduction should mean it extends to a wider technology base and cover scenarios like yours.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

That is because most of the current code of practice focuses on connection speed rather than what the public see on their devices i.e. a lot of the existing code is to deal with xDSL

Oh I am aware of that, its a shame most of BT's staff isn't.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The new code that is in the works with peak/off-peak introduction should mean it extends to a wider technology base and cover scenarios like yours.

Lets hope so and hope it doesn't take long.

Paul

In place for May to November 2018

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

In place for May to November 2018

11 - 17 Months, not that long I guess.

Paul

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

This might be a case of misspelling and an agent quoting an overall figure for the extra product, rather than your own specific estimate. A hint is saying guarantee and then giving a range, the guarantee figure should be a single figure and I don't like the use of the word guarantee as its a soft-one.

NOTE: A big difference in upload on the PlusNet ranges, since the cheaper service is capped at 1.9 Mbps upload, so may enter into the equation for some too.

Is that because he typed it wrong? or was it mis-selling?

Lol - have removed the errant p

Just what sync speed are you getting at the router?

In reply to a post by sandroalfagt:

Checking the Router the maximum data rate is currently 50.165Mbps.

That's not your sync speed, which is the speed all ISPs & BT are estimating for you. That's a theoretical max. when you line would be tottering on the brink of instability.

What does the router report as actual line rate?

It's a toss up really. The unlimited up to 78Mb fibre product has a higher upload limit - up to 19mb. The up to 38mb (call it 40Mb) product defaults to a up load max of 2mb.

What is more important is what do you see here i.e. current line speed This is the current sync speed as seen by Plusnet (speedtests tend to be a couple of megs down from it) and that figure can change, either up or down. Whatever you do, try to avoid unplugging the modem. If DLM decides you have a dodgy line it can take days, weeks or even longer for the speed to go back up. Been there, done that.

Data rate is showing as 49960Mbps. Max Data rate is 52405Mbps.

Current line speed is given as 49Mbps.

So a full 10Mb/s above the next product down i.e. 38Mb/s. Unfortunately Fibre and what you get isn't always set in stone. I used to get 76Mb, now 66Mb seems to be my norm, although having just had OR carry out a number of repairs to the phone line that might change. Would I drop to a lower payment? No way, simply because I value that upload speed far more than I value the download. But at the end of the day it depends what you use the internet for.

Thought I would update on outcome. After another engineer visit speeds were confirmed to be as fast as they could be. Several emails later asked them for a discount or a deadlock code. They asked me to phone retentions which I did and they offered a further discount on my existing contract. After a bit of haggling I was happy with offer.
Thanks for all the answers.