Warning: This post contains what might be considered a boring rant. Yet again I received a missive from BT after I arrived home from holiday. It is not the first such missive so I didn't get my hopes up too high. Which was just as well.
After having jumped through the hoops that BT has managed to created when one does log in to bt.com/upgrade-now I discovered that for over twice the price that I am now paying I could have ......... wait for it ....... The speed I'm getting now (when I'm actually getting that speed) which is between 1 and 2.5 Mbps. 2.5 not even 25. That's an improvement because last time I complained that my speed was down at between 0 and .5 Mbps when they tested it they got .9 Mbps and told me that that was all they were contracted to provide.
Now despite Jeremy Vine (who on his BBC fee alone can doubtless afford high-speed satellite broadband wherever he lives and it will doubtless be a tax-deductible necessity for his work anyway) uttering the inanity that people in the country live there 'because they want to get away from broadband and things' life today relies in so many ways on having access to the internet.
As we get older and the more remotely we live the more communication ability we require not just to keep in touch with people (which is a very important part of our physical and mental health and for which Skype and Facetime and the like are a real blessing) but for our everyday requirements even in dealing with the government where almost everything is now done on line.
Interestingly since I wrote this I decided to have another go at the upgrading procedure:
Now I don't know about you but my gut reaction is that 'Up to 17Mbps' may be strictly accurate but is totally misleading in that 3.5 (my previous offer said 2.5 which is the maximum that I can get and even then it tails away a lot) is nowhere near that. I should add that a engineer for BT Openreach said that I should get 8Mbps with no problems. However the line between the Green Box (where the fibre goes up to) at the top of the village about 750 metres away from the house is probably in a poor state of repair except for about 100 metres where it has been renewed when my phone went off.
How do the rest of you fare and is anyone else still with BT? I've been with them since I bought my first house. I understand alternatives are now available here but until quite recently Sky and others refused even to countenance provision to my number.
Interestingly today I have discovered that my next door neighbour is eligible for fibre broadband.
Let battle commence.
Interestingly today I have discovered that my next door neighbour is eligible for fibre broadband.
Let battle commence.
Just thank your lucky stars you are not with "Talk Talk" - the modern day equivalent of Fred Karno's circus. They managed to provide scammers with all their customers' details which is why I and thousands of other customers are bothered persistently by calls from Indian call centres that aim to rob us if they possibly can.
ReplyDeleteI've been with BT and its predecessor since I left home YP. The one advantage is ('was' if BT Openreach really does become truly independent) one half of the supply chain can't blame the other when things go wrong.
DeleteYou are well up on this one.
ReplyDeleteNot yet Red, not yet.
DeleteI have no idea how many Mbps (whatever they are) come down my line. I'm with Orange (which the EC forced the UK to sell to the French) and everything works OK.
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky person Cro.
DeleteIt sounds ridiculous, and I hope you will emerge from the battle a clear winner.
ReplyDeleteNo such problems here, but then of course I live in a city, and very near its centre, too.
Meike I would be content (if not necessarily happy) with 2.5Mbps if it were constant but I can never guarantee using using my computer never mind watching catch-up TV or Netflix.
DeleteIt must be so annoying. Spoiled with 50/50 fibre broadband myself, and usually working well. (On the few occasions when it doesn't, one still gets annoyed!)
ReplyDeleteI can only dream Monica.
DeleteJeremy Vine is a wazzock. How he has survived whilst wearing that girly scarf I don't know. The temptation to swing on it would be irresistible were I to meet him.
ReplyDeleteCameron fixed broadband, he promised us all supersonic speeds and I have never known him lie. You can't be reading the numbers right.
I completely agree with your assessment of Jeremy Vine, Adrian.
DeleteSorry you are in a situation to rant.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experiences on this side of the Pond, if a provider says connection speed is *up to*, then the customer more often than not will experience an uncomfortable bottom of that range.
I fear that that is often the case here too Maywyn although I know a lot of happy people in urban areas (and some unhappy ones too.
DeleteHow infuriating. We are with Waitrose. who are brilliant. They are friendly and helpful, and I recommend them.Did you get to speak to an actual human being?
ReplyDeleteFrances I have no problems speaking to a real human being and they are invariably pleasant and often helpful but they can only work within the parameters they are given.
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