Laugh a minute with online help

[tracker]

Congestion status on this exchange is red RED.

Your telephone line has been identified as being on a congested exchange. If you are receiving varying speeds between 400kbs - 2000kbs at different times of the day this is likely to be a result of the congestion issue.
A provisional date of Jul 1, 2007 has been set for upgrading this exchange.
Major Service Outages

There are no Major Service Outages on your line at this present time

So am I to expect the 'provisional date' to change again next week?
Perhaps it might be prudent to choose a date further into the future rather than one already expired....

 

[clarinette]

BT Nightmare

I am a new BT Broadband Option 1 customer.
They haven't been able to send me any hub, actually, still not sure what I should have received. I am using my Belkin 54 wireless modem.
Suffer slowwwwwww connection untill just today when I am going to quit BT soon. They have been dreadfully useless and time consuming.
My speed test results are different from speedtester.bt.com and Talkbroadband.com
Can anybody exlain that to me ?
My best results from today :
From speedtester.bt.com
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 2000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 3680 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1840 kbps

From Thinkbroadband :
Date 24/06/07 14:38:46
Speed Down 1566.03 Kbps ( 1.5 Mbps )
Speed Up 373.46 Kbps ( 0.4 Mbps )
Port 8095

 

[tracker]

Congestion

Congestion status on this exchange is red RED.

Your telephone line has been identified as being on a congested exchange. If you are receiving varying speeds between 400kbs - 2000kbs at different times of the day this is likely to be a result of the congestion issue.
A provisional date of Jul 12, 2007 has been set for upgrading this exchange.

3 more days to go!

 

[Kits]

Unless they change the date as they have many times on some exchanges.

 

[tracker]

Unless they change the date as they have many times on some exchanges.

Go on spoil my pipe dream!:laugh:
If they do swap dates (again) your pal will be getting another earful!

Last communication I had with BV's underlings promised the exchange would be 'sorted in July'....well we'll wait and see.....:nod:

 

[clarinette]

I have cancelled all Bt accunts and finally am ENJOING internet connection thanks a smooth Talk Talk Transition. untill ???????

 

[tracker]

Well, 14 days AFTER the upgrade provisional date and I must say speeds have picked up somewhat (Regular 2mb+) but still way below what I was getting when I signed up (6.5mb +).
I suspect the increase I am enjoying(?) may well be due to a lot of people in my area going on holiday to escape the God-awful weather over here!

Nildram's exchange checker still shows the exchange to be RED and..."A provisional date of Jul 12, 2007 has been set for upgrading this exchange." So no change there......

My speed is almost constant at this time (maximum realised 2.6mb)...no drop for peak and no increase during off peak hours either
I have noticed however that the speed differential (as reported by BT desktop help and Speedtester) is reducing and they are almost reporting the same speeds where once Speedtester was reporting vastly higher speeds that BTBBDTH...

Grrr!
Just got a second opinion from Zen's checker.....

The phone number 01405xxxxxxxxxx is connected to the Goole exchange

According to BT's latest data the VP status of your exchange is RED.
A date of 27/07/2007 has been set by BT for the exchange to be upgraded.

This means that your exchange is running well below the performance thresholds published by BT. If you are experiencing Slow speeds then this is the most likely cause. Once the exchange has been upgraded the speeds should start running at normal levels again. If you still experiencing issues then you should contact our technical support team to carry out further diagnostics.

I take this to be a FIRM date of upgrade rather than all of the 'Provisional' dates previously....

 

[tracker]

UPGRADE DATE IS NOW 07 Sep 07
Speeds currently up and down like a brides' nightie!...AGAIN!
BT...this is really not good enough!

 

[tracker]

Letter to BT...

Sir,
I wrote(e/mailed) you in May regarding my connection speeds under the BT upto 8mbps option 3 package being not all they should be and that it was my belief that my exchange (GOOLE) was the probable cause for my inability to realise the previously decent speeds I once did.
At that time various on-line 'exchange status checkers' informed me that the exchange was to be upgraded and a provisional date of May 11, 2007 was likely. Since then that date has been put back more times than a bent can of beans on a supermarket shelf!

A provisional date of May 11, 2007
A provisional date of June 8, 2007
A provisional date of Jul 1, 2007
A provisional date of Jul 12, 2007
A date of 27/07/2007 has been set by BT for the exchange to be upgraded.
Still nothing has been done!
Now I must wait until 07 Sep 07...for what? Another empty promise or will the exchange actually get upgraded then?

Until then BT are still and have been taking the full subscription rate for a speed that is well below the level of that which I originally was able to receive and enjoyed before congestion became an issue, although the speeds I am getting are within BT's tolerances, this is no comfort to me, they are not as good as they have been or could be again had the upgrade been completed.

I have also learned that BT is in effect 'censoring' various ISP's and demanding they remove any exchange checking facilities/websites they may offer the general public...you should know that merely hiding information from the public eye that a problem exists DOES NOT mean it will go away...The only way to make it go away is to rectify the problem and upgrade those exchanges that require it.

I am of the opinion that BT is letting this sorry state of affairs continue just because it can.
Many BT customers affected by slow internet speeds due to congestion often have no alternative but to 'grin and bear it', as no other avenue is open to them to get a better connection.
LLU /Cable is often not an option in their areas so all we can do is either cancel our landline and internet services and do without them entirely, or await BT's pleasure at upgrading the exchanges...TV adverts tell of customers returning to BT...they are the lucky ones who have a choice!
I am also of the opinion that many more would leave BT...IF they had somewhere else to go to...after my own personal experiences I would be one of them!
I sincerely hope that you can bring some pressure to bear and get the exchange upgrade program back on track and upgrade them on the dates you say you will rather than constantly putting them back.
Customers like myself need to know that BT is doing something about our complaints other than making 'agreeable noises', or acting like corporate ostriches, otherwise if and when the opportunity to switch providers ever becomes available, believe me, we will take it as we are fast losing all confidence in BT!

Sincerely

 

[tracker]

A response...

Thanks for airing your opinion open and frank
Some of what you write is not my view at all and clearly not proven by
facts, but you are frustrated by the lack of progress and I can
understand that part.
I will ask Mick Wayman, customer service director for BT Wholesale to
investigate this and report back to you on what to expect when

 

[clarinette]

BTs investigations

Well BT messed up my connection. I cancelled everything. Went to TalkTalk Exactly the same configuration, BUT :
Only pay 25£/month or so for
Broadband WITHOUT HASSLE,
line rental,
unlimited UK local and National anytime calls
+ 30 destinations free international free calls.
AND IT WORKS !!!!!!!!!!
why should anyone stays with BT ?
They have promissed to do investigations to find the reason why my connection was SOOOOOOOOO SLOWWWWWWWW. LOL BT just a jok:smilet:e

 

[tracker]

You are lucky!
I have nowhere else to go...my exchange is congested, because of that my speeds are slow....changing ISP's doesn't change the exchange nor the telephone line from it to my house...my exchange is not LLU active so any ISP I may choose would still be slow as it must use the equipment in the exchange provided by BT to provide my connection.
Until BT get their Corporate fingers 'out' and get more capacity installed in the exchange all of us using the same exchange will have to suffer the abysmal speeds we are getting now!