Broadband speed's and deals

greylag
greylag Forum Participant Posts: 584
edited October 2017 in General Chat #1

Shocked to find my Plusnet broadband speed is only .44 meg and not the 15 meg I used to have.  I am now thinking of another supplier, will I get a better service and speed?  At this moment I am sitting on the phone with a stated 15 minute queue.

Yesterday the Plusnet advisor asked to me remove phone socket and start pulling wires around as the fault was not at their end.

I only feel a bit better for getting this off of my chest.

Comments

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited October 2017 #2

    I had a similar problem with EE. It was sorted after a few days when Openreach engineer was brought in. Main problem appeared to be a setting at the exchange. Although provider owns the problem it is not likely to be their equipment at fault unless they have provided a router that has faulted. They don't own the rest of the system of course and so a new provider may not sort the problem of itself.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited October 2017 #3

    Plusnet is part of BT, as is EE, and it does not matter what provider you go with at some point they nearly all have to use BT infrastructure ,we have just had a free upgrade via BT to 70meg,

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,038 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #4

    Anything via BT is slow. Not sure where you live greylag, but check if you can get cable service via Virgin Media. The difference is astonishing, especially for downloading. You can choose to have a Full Monty type package, which will include landline, TV services and super fast broadband, and some great deals on Virgin mobile phones, or just cherry pick the bits you want, compares well with likes of Sky and BT packages, neither of which I would touch with a barge pole!

    I did get Plusnet installed at my parents home, just for basic broadband and phone line, and on the whole have had no problems, but download speeds are pathetic compared with home and VM. Surprisingly, we pay little more for the broadband and land line! But VM isn't available everywhere, so good luck.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #5

    Could be the router. How long have you had it? 

    We had a similar problem a couple of years ago with our old BT router, it was working but at a snails pace. Upgraded to a newer model and speed increased dramatically, both routers were the ordinary broadband type. BT send periodic updates to the router, and I think it was probably a case of it had become obsolete and would no longer update, although of couse they never admitted that.

    There is usually a deal about that will get you an upgrade, for little or no money, if you sign up for another year.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #6

    We're not on Superfast broadband and not likely to get it very soon. We've upgraded all our equipment recently including the router, I've just checked and we're on 4.46 mb. The upgrades have improved the connection losses that frequently occur, we're not on a package and buy our equipment as and when we see a reasonable price for what we need. We are dependent on BT for the landline, half our village is on superfast, we're in the wrong half! The nearest cabinet is in the next village.

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #7

    "Anything via BT is slow."

    Not always, TDA. I have 61mbps download and 16mbps upload from BT Infinity. So much depends on location.

    Mind you, this site is always slow. frown

  • Kennine
    Kennine Forum Participant Posts: 3,472
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    edited October 2017 #8

    Greylag.. does all your devices show the same speed when connected to the wifi?,  have you tried connecting your device via cable direct to the router.?. Have you changed any router settings recently?. Was the Router supplied by Plusnet ?. Have you installed any extension phone sockets recently?. If the problem still persists it's down to Plusnet to diagnose the reason.  Keep at them until they find a solution. Don't be put off by their jargonese.  

     

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited October 2017 #9

    Even Virgin goes via BT switching infrastructure and at home apart from the cc website everything is noticeably faster since our latest free upgrade from BT and it is 76megs not as originally posted ,but even then it gets slower at busy times

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,857 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #10

    I think all Plusnet are trying to do is through a process of elimination trying to identify where the fault is. Remotely they can establish whether there is a fault on the line which there appears not to be. So the next stage is trying to establish whether the fault is unrelated to the phone line. This could be the modem/router as has been suggested. It could be the filter, has this been replaced recently? Now Plusnet could arrange for a BT engineer to call but if they establish the fault is not with their equipment you will be charged for such a visit. I have to say that I have been with Plusnet for years and they have always been pretty good at getting things sorted. From the original speeds quoted I imagine you are still on ADSL? I would say that Fibre Broadband, if you have the choice, is a lot less troublesome.

    David

  • greylag
    greylag Forum Participant Posts: 584
    edited October 2017 #11

    Second phone call after waiting over 30 minutes, they denied it was a problem at their end.  I told him that last evening another person told me to get down and remove the cover of my telephone point.  I did tell that at 21.00hrs I was not going to start dismantling sockets, hence the return call today.

    Today's advisor explained that the cover comes off so that the filter plug can be inserted to the inside plug point.  Ok I said, just wait until I get a screwdriver and I removed the cover and promptly cut off the phone line.  I know I should have been quicker thinking.

    I was so angry, I said let's go shopping and start all over again when we get back.

    I started to call again a couple of hours later and as I waited I did a speed check, lo and behold I now have 14 mega of download speed.  So it looks as though the advisor did something after we were cut off.

    I live south of Norwich, a part of the country where it is almost impossible to get a mobile signal, so I am not surprised to have trouble with broadband.  Also no fibre!

    Thanks for your replies.

  • EasyT
    EasyT Forum Participant Posts: 16,194
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    edited October 2017 #12

    You now have 4 times faster broadband than we do laughing

  • redface
    redface Forum Participant Posts: 1,701
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    edited October 2017 #13

    The other problem could be that whilst the kids are off school they are hogging most of the available bandwidth.

    That's what I usually find in my area.

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,857 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2017 #14

    Glad you got it sorted.

    David

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited October 2017 #15

    I remember when 56K was fast.

  • paul56
    paul56 Forum Participant Posts: 937
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    edited November 2017 #16

    Don't believe all the claims either - we were sold a Virgin all inclusive package of speeds up to 200mb download - yeh right! I have managed in the 70s but usually it hovers in the 20mbs. More than adequate I know but when you are sold "Up to 200 on our super fast..." Annoying. 

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,302 ✭✭✭
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    edited November 2017 #17

    More of a problem for us is the upload speed. We only have the standard BT broadband, but it gives us download speeds of 11 to 17 Mb, which is perfectly adequate. However, upload is only 1.3 Mb, which is a pain when you want to send a large file.

    Getting a higher upload is probably the only thing that will make me switch to infinity. However, not until the price differential is less, or I need a new router.