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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Unstable connection - frequent drop outs, wild speed variations

My connection was fine up until about a week ago, however I have since started experiencing a very unstable connection.

 

It will drop out several times a day, sometimes for up to an hour at a time and the speeds will vary wildly from normal (~20MB down) to genuinely worse than dial up. Given that I'm working from home like most others right now, this is resulting in me getting a lot of grief from my employer for not being able to join virtual meetings or, when I can join, not being able to contribute.

 

NowTV/Sky sent an engineer around last Wednesday who said he couldn't see anything wrong with the line, but performed some tweaks and maintenance. The connection seemed to be better for about 24 hours, but the problems have since returned.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything similar? FWIW, i'm near Southampton.

9 REPLIES 9
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I am having the same issues. Fine connection up until recently, but now the connection drops out frequently.

 

Like you, I rely on a connection to be able to work from at the minute, but is becoming very difficult to continue.

 

I had a different problem about a year ago where the speed of the connection suddenly dropped to really slow, an engineer was sent round but said everything was working fine. It took another few days asking before a BT engineer was sent round and fixed it.

 

With the absolute lack of ability to contact Now Broadband I don't really see much option but to find a new supplier as fast possible.

 

Good luck, I hope things get better for you.

 

Oh, I'm in Manchester by the way. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Did either of you manage to get this resolved? I have been experiencing the same here in London and have just started a new job where dropping off calls is NOT going to be acceptable 😂. I’m contemplating ordering a dongle and cancelling my broadband contract. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

As of 10pm Sunday evening, it has been about 6 hours since my last drop out which is a little better than most of last week. I logged into the router and fiddled with some settings this afternoon. However, I am hesitant to say it's fixed. I will see how it holds up during the working day tomorrow. I'm hoping it's not another day of me looking like an idiot and having to repeatedly apologise because I can't join calls.

 

If it plays up - and I expect it probably will - I will be back on the phone.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'll be quite interested to see what an outcome is or if anyone has any solutions to the issue. I'm working from home and current oownload speed is sitting at 3.75, with an upload speed of 0.38. I'm no technical genius, but even I can gather that that's a shocking stat. 

 

I need a stable and faster connection asap. Tried switching to BT before lockdown but they had to cancel the order when lockdown came into effect, 3 days before the engineer was due to install. Ergh. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Same or similar here in East London.

I have tried Wired and Wireless. Both are problematic with erratic disconnections for 20 seconds up to 4 hours.

 

I have had Outreach engineers round to fix it many times. Each time it was resolved but only for a couple of weeks.

 

It started when I was using a windows 7 PC with a wired connection and got really fed up with the problem so in Dec 2020 I bought a brand new Windows 10 pro HP PC which worked fine for a while but after 3 weeks the problem came back with drop outs and long disconnections so a NowTV agent recommended I buy an Edimax wireless dongle which I did. 

 

That worked OK for 3 weeks but the last couple of days I've woke up to no internet. I have tried every wireless channel from 1 - 13. My moblie and Ipad also affected. I am now back to a wired connection which I know from experience will go wrong again when in a few weeks or days.

 

I have had a replacement hub2 which made no difference at all. Engineers have said they are baffled and support agents say there may be a problem with my new PC which I know is not the case because the problem affects other devices.

 

This is driving me half insane... it's been ongoing for over a year.

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I'm in Central Bristol and since yesterday, I have been experiencing the same problems.

Totally random drop outs which luckily last just a few minutes for now, enough to disrupt online meetings, fail uploads and so on.

 

The service check is kind of a joke, because it works only when the connections is actually working, the bot chat is useless, no one to talk to.

 

I've heard from friends that unfortunately, this is a very common experience for those who use this service.

I must accept the fact that we gt what we pay for (there must be a reason why NOW is so cheap) and may consider cancelling my contract and change provider.

Possibly considering compensation for the disruption to my work..

gavs82008
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User 

You will be best to call the broadband team. Free from number on link below 0800.....

https://help.nowtv.com/article/how-to-submit-a-broadband-complaint1

 

FYI that I do not work for NOW, just a NOW customer trying to help
RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

If you read your broadband contract with NowTV, you will find that you are only signed up for a domestic service.

 

I doubt, with so many of us having to WFH at the moment, that NowTV will be terribly assiduous in enforcing this, but they will certainly not be up for compensating you for problems with your business use.

 

Other providers do offer business broadband services, with guaranteed uptime in their SLAs and compensation if this is not met; but not at NowTV prices 😛

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Mines the same - random drop out which is so frustrating

 

Will deffinately be changing suppliers as soon as possible 😞