BT Infinity options

[KeyboardDemon]

Following on from peterb's thread on the 200gb monthly allowance I noticed I have BT Infinity on the Unlimited 2 option which should give me 76mb download and 19mb upload speeds, what I'm getting is 38mb download and 9.5mb upload, which is the exact service that is offered to people on the BT Inifity Unlimited option 1 service.

I spoke to BT today using their chat service to see if I could either get my speed increased or my tarif dropped so that either the service matches the level of payments I'm making or the level payments match the service I'm getting, after more than an hour of trying to get the guy to understand my point I was disconnected from the chat and told that there is nothing wrong with my connection.

He was saying that I am getting a better service than the service I signed up to when I joined, yet BT are advertising a service at a price that I am paying and not allowing me to get the same service that other customers get at that price. He did mention that I might not be able to get the full service so I checked the line using the BT line checker and it came back with 52mb dl and 12.5 ul.

Where do I stand with this?

I want either to have my bill lowered to the Unlimited Infinity 1 price or the speeds increased to the maximum that I can get on my line and then I would stay at the Unlimited Infinity 2 price. Does that sound unreasonable on my part?

[herulach]

You don't say where in your contract period you are, but generally they're under no obligation to reduce your costs if you're within your initial (12 month?) period. It sounds like they've tiered their service since you bought it, in which case although might expect them to allow you to move, they're not obliged to.

[KeyboardDemon]

I signed up for an 18 month contract in December 2011 so I think I should be out ok with moving if I need to, but I don't really want to, I just want to get what I feel is a fair deal so if I'm paying for the top tier service then I think that I should be entitled to get it or if I can't get top tier and only get the second tier then that should be what I pay for, but I think second tier service at the top tier price is just right.

[scaryjim]

38/9.5 might be the best you can get, depending on how recently your exchange and street cabinet have been updated. I assume the BT line checker is an actual line test, not just an estimator? If it's an estimator then you might actually already be getting the best service you can. If it's a proper tester then your line is clearly profiled beyond 38/9.5 and they're just the maximum real world speeds you can get. Either way I'm not sure there's a lot you can do legally (as you don't have a minimum guaranteed speed in your contract), and if BT are unwilling to investigate then leaving might be the only other option.

[KeyboardDemon]

38/9.5 might be the best you can get, depending on how recently your exchange and street cabinet have been updated. I assume the BT line checker is an actual line test, not just an estimator? If it's an estimator then you might actually already be getting the best service you can. If it's a proper tester then your line is clearly profiled beyond 38/9.5 and they're just the maximum real world speeds you can get. Either way I'm not sure there's a lot you can do legally (as you don't have a minimum guaranteed speed in your contract), and if BT are unwilling to investigate then leaving might be the only other option.

According to BTs line checker the best I can get is 52 dl and 12.5 ul. The thing that I am frustrated with is that I have to pay more but I get less, I think that is wrong, if I was getting the service I'd be happy to pay for it.

[scaryjim]

According to BTs line checker the best I can get is 52 dl and 12.5 ul. The thing that I am frustrated with is that I have to pay more but I get less, I think that is wrong, if I was getting the service I'd be happy to pay for it.

I guess I see your point, but it sounds like the service when you signed up for it was slower, and you've slowly been bumped up until you've hit your wall. Which BT line checker did you use? Is it just the thing on their website where you put the number in?

[KeyboardDemon]

Yeah, that's the one.

[Schern]

Is it worth calling to cancel? Usually the cancellation team are a lot more helpful than the frontline staff and can do deals a la Sky "I want to cancel and move to Virgin" "Ok sir let me see what I can do for you".

I've got Infinity 2 and the line checker suggested I should get the speeds you mentioned 52meg down, 12ish up but I actually get the full 75 meg down and 18 up!

[artturnip]

Okay Sir, I'll just transfer you through to cancellations.

Cancellations = Customer Retention

If you threaten to leave then they'll probably do everything in their power to keep you with them.

[Marc_92]

I would be careful, I've just had talktalk fibre installed with an estimated download of upto 29mb. I've had 2 engineer visits and both have said I can only get just under 15mb which isnt exactly ideal but it will have to do. The openreach engineer told me when you run a an estimated download/upload test online, they are expecting your area to have the thickest copper wiring etc.

[artturnip]

From what I've been hearing from people TalkTalk fibre tends to have lower speeds than BT and Plusnet fibre

[Marc_92]

I think it all depends on the distance between you and the exchange and the diameter of copper cable from your house to the cabinet.

[artturnip]

Yeah that's definitely a factor. A good router also helps with better speeds

[Marc_92]

Yup, I've had to fork out for a new router as the talk talk one provided is a piece of ass. I've read good things about the home hub 5 as BT was my original choice for fibre but talktalk gave us phone+fibre for £19 a month for the first year so cant really complain!

[artturnip]

Wow that's a rather good deal Yeah we've got the HH4 and it seems to be pretty good so far.