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ossie48
Mentor

Poor broadband speed since joining

I moved from plusnet a few months ago. I had absolutely zero issues over many years getting a constant 66 Mbps with them.

With NOW my estimated speed is  59.7-66.3 Mbps

My guaranteed speed is  53.7 Mbps

I kind of hit my guaranteed speed straight off for a few weeks and no higher but now rarely get over 46Mbps, its just tailed away like its being throttled. This is with an ethernet connection. I contacted them over wifi issues and we split a few connections between 2.4 - 5ghz and that kind of solved those issues (but still flaky on the TV - Netflix etc)

I'm just wondering how the same copper cable that did me so well with BT / Plusnet is failing to deliver my estimated speed or even my guaranteed speed. 

BT / Openreach report a VDSL range A  of 68.6 high 52.3 low, impacted is 49 low.

The router is plugged into the old BT socket (previously the home hub was connected to it) Could it be a connection issue to the router or are there any settings I can change, or is it something up the line. I'm struggling with the latter though as the line has been rock solid for years and this low speed only materialised the day I connected to Now Broadband.

Any help is appreciated. 

 

16 REPLIES 16
redchiz1
Champion 2

@ossie48 

Have you noticed any issues with your voice service such as noise on the line?  Have you tried connecting to the test socket, if you have one?

Bear in mind the guaranteed minimum speed is as measured by your router, rather than speedtests. If you are falling below that when connected at the test socket then NOW are obliged to investigate and try to find a fix. If they cannot do so then you should be allowed to leave free of any penalty charges which may otherwise arise  from a minimum term contract. Call the support team as advised by @gavs82008 above.

ossie48
Mentor

Update. The result from the test socket is exactly the same as from the extension socket, I'll call them.

 

redchiz1
Champion 2

Did you try the router switch off for 30 minutes? Otherwise yes you should call them. 

ossie48
Mentor

Yes, I left it off for 30 minutes but no change. I've called them and they agreed my speed was too low (they apparently measured 49mbps) so have escalated it to Openreach. 

As I'm not technically minded I still can't understand how I can get 66mbps for years, change to Now and it drops overnight to their minimum guaranteed speed, then fades away even further.

I know plusnet are part of BT so what's the jiggery pokery happening behind the scenes to cause this when I moved away from the BT / Openreach umbrella. Do Sky / Now only pay for certain download speeds ?  I only moved as I assumed I would get what NOW said would be my 'estimated speed' as that was identical to Plusnet.

To me it sounds like something a little underhand is happening. I daresay something will be tweaked somewhere and I'll go back to my guaranteed minimum speed but not their version of my 'estimated speed' but thats the cynic in me and I hope I'm proven wrong.

That aside thanks for the help everyone and I'll let you know how this pans out.

Jayach
Elite 3

Nothing underhand I'm sure. When you change ISP, although you are still using the same copper wire pair to your cabinet you will likely be connected to a different fibre connection from the exchange. That connection could be faulty. Hopefully Openreach will find the problem and cure it. You should then have the same (or very similar) sync speeds you had before.

redchiz1
Champion 2

I doubt it is anything sinister, as you say exactly the same infrastructure is being used. More likely it is just that the copper network is gradually deteriorating and Openreach will only do the minimum required to maintain it as it will all be redundant in a couple more years. 

ossie48
Mentor

Just an update.

Openreach attended yesterday (fair play it was very quick) . There were zero issues with the line and they were getting 68mpbs right up to the router, even over the extension line. 

The issue was with Sky, or so they claim and magically I'm back up to 68. It was sorted within an hour or two ..I have no further details.

 

So in short, as suggested ring them.