Paying for a Service I’m no longer getting! But on a 12 month Contract (HELP)

[CaptainCrash]

Have been monitoring the speeds day and night.... at best 800KB ... normal 200kb.
They say that they are upgrading the exchanges to cope with all the new customers in the UK but they can not give me an ETA which worried me. how long should i wait? Want to give them a chance but dont want to be fobbed off over the phone saying it will be done.... One day?

I know I said in my earlier post that you can't expect a guaranteed speed with consumer ADSL, but 200kbps is ridiculous, and it's barely "broadband" in any popularly accepted sense.

I do think there's a potential breach of contract here, and you should ask them to provide you, in writing, with a firm timescale in which they intend to put things right (not just a vague estimate). If they say they can't or won't do that, tell them that you'll wait a reasonable time (say 1 month as per Gooner5's post), and then if things haven't dramatically improved, you'll be offski and they won't get another penny out of you.

If you took advantage of the 30-day "trial" period offered by 02 when you first signed up, and you were getting a consistent 5mbps throughout that period, you have a good argument that you consequently agreed to the 1-year contract term on that basis, in the reasonable expectation of that service level being maintained.

If you want to quote the Ofcom code of practice at them, that's fine, but I think in any case you're already well covered by existing consumer law (which is *not* a voluntary arrangement as far as they're concerned).

To be honest, if you did decide to terminate the contract, under these circumstances I'd be very surprised if they tried to make life difficult for you.

[Rabs]

Have been monitoring the speeds day and night.... at best 800KB ... normal 200kb.
They say that they are upgrading the exchanges to cope with all the new customers in the UK but they can not give me an ETA which worried me. how long should i wait? Want to give them a chance but dont want to be fobbed off over the phone saying it will be done.... One day?

Dont let them fob you off, 'soon' isn't good enough as you could be waiting forever - make sure you keep all speedtests etc logged and log a complaint using their official complaints procedure in writing and recorded delivery. They usually have 28 days to reply (may need to check their T&C's for exact length but this should be the norm) - if you cant come to some satisfactory arrangement by then it should escalate further.

It may be long and drawn out so you may actually get the upgrade before the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction so to speak. Worth a try anyway, when I used to work in TT 2nd Line bandwidth less than 30% sync speed was considered unacceptable - the 'upto' waffle ISPs try to get out of it with is just carp and dont be fobbed off by it.

[malice19]

I know I said in my earlier post that you can't expect a guaranteed speed with consumer ADSL, but 200kbps is ridiculous, and it's barely "broadband" in any popularly accepted sense.

I do think there's a potential breach of contract here, and you should ask them to provide you, in writing, with a firm timescale in which they intend to put things right (not just a vague estimate). If they say they can't or won't do that, tell them that you'll wait a reasonable time (say 1 month as per Gooner5's post), and then if things haven't dramatically improved, you'll be offski and they won't get another penny out of you.

If you took advantage of the 30-day "trial" period offered by 02 when you first signed up, and you were getting a consistent 5mbps throughout that period, you have a good argument that you consequently agreed to the 1-year contract term on that basis, in the reasonable expectation of that service level being maintained.

If you want to quote the Ofcom code of practice at them, that's fine, but I think in any case you're already well covered by existing consumer law (which is *not* a voluntary arrangement as far as they're concerned).

To be honest, if you did decide to terminate the contract, under these circumstances I'd be very surprised if they tried to make life difficult for you.

Dont let them fob you off, 'soon' isn't good enough as you could be waiting forever - make sure you keep all speedtests etc logged and log a complaint using their official complaints procedure in writing and recorded delivery. They usually have 28 days to reply (may need to check their T&C's for exact length but this should be the norm) - if you cant come to some satisfactory arrangement by then it should escalate further.

It may be long and drawn out so you may actually get the upgrade before the complaint is resolved to your satisfaction so to speak. Worth a try anyway, when I used to work in TT 2nd Line bandwidth less than 30% sync speed was considered unacceptable - the 'upto' waffle ISPs try to get out of it with is just carp and dont be fobbed off by it.

Thanks for your time and support on this . Your advise will help me next time i speak to O2 if this is not resolved soon.

Cheers!

[McPhee]

I was just about to make a similar thread. Every few weeks our internet connection (AOL, 2mbps) grinds to a halt. I'm not talking about short periods of time either, a week plus at a time. Here's today's speedtest.net result;



It's like that 24/7. Downloads over Steam etc. are between 10 and 15kbps and my ping in games fluctuates like mad (from about 60ms to 800-odd).

The advice in here should come in handy, gonna give AOL a ring now and see what's up.

EDIT: Case point, just ran Speed Test again and got 77kbps down, 7 up and a ping of 999. It took 15 minutes to run the test and the results page won't load (hence why there's no image)

[x2o]

Hi have you checked it's not your house connection their is a guide here you should check out http://www.dslzoneuk.net/socket.php

Try checking your filter as they can fail.

Check your not getting interference or cross talk from wires around your house etc....

Good luck and hope you get it sorted.

[malice19]

Today was a better day on the speed front.

D/L:912kbps
U/P:329Kbps.

Not sure if its a case that most of the village have some thing better than surf the net today (down the Pub) or O2 starting to do some work?

[suley]

speedtest.net/result/417955039.png
thats mine but that i get at uni home service, what i generally find with o2 at my other house is i usually get around 900kb + to around 1.04 downloading from rapidshare what you have to remember its also the speed at what the site is letting you download, as for speed tests sites they can vary aswell

[malice19]

I thought i would let you all know that O2 have seemed to have sorted the traffic overload. It has been better since 5th of April.

Thanks for all the help and posts!

[Rabs]

Excellent, its been long winded but you got there in the end

[goku127]

I'm currently on Virgin and the speeds have really dropped in the past 2 weeks. I have 10 meg but its running like dial-up. I was planning on moving to O2 if it doesn't get sorted soon. I hope it isn't a wrong choice to make.

[CaptainCrash]

I'm currently on Virgin and the speeds have really dropped in the past 2 weeks. I have 10 meg but its running like dial-up. I was planning on moving to O2 if it doesn't get sorted soon. I hope it isn't a wrong choice to make.

The OP's problem was with the Access 8 meg (IPStream) product - if you're considering one of the 02/Be Unlimited LLU ADSL2+ offerings, they use a different system and wouldn't have been affected by the same issues.

[malice19]

The OP's problem was with the Access 8 meg (IPStream) product - if you're considering one of the 02/Be Unlimited LLU ADSL2+ offerings, they use a different system and wouldn't have been affected by the same issues.

True, shame as that's not available in my area

[malice19]

Access 8 meg (IPStream) Sucks, getting piss poor internet again.... Have started using it more now im got time off work and noticed that even during the day its pants.... was good in the morning till about lunch time. After that its been a waste of time.

FFS!