Rant about BT and Internet

Went out and bought a new Dell all in one, it looks really nice ( that is the important bit) and is seems lightning fast except I have no idea about windows10 yet!

BUT.....

I have BT infinity with a home hub3 and standard old BT modem, wirelessly it is absolutely useless, keeps dropping out and is as slow as a tortoise. Added a BT homespot range extender wireless thingy and that isn't much better!

BT will not replace the home hub unless I take out another contract which I am not prepared to do at this time and of course the hub is now my problem but they will sell me a more up to date one. So I am paying for Infinity broadband and getting two baked bean cans and a piece of string. Not their problem though is it.  I have no idea how to improve things, I just need a simple old pensioners explanation my decaying brain can understand.  Bought a book to explain it but even that is written in gibberish unless you have a degree in computer speak!

So come on all what do I do, I believe you can buy a router with built in ADSL(?) whatever that is and dump the modem as well as the hub3 but will that still work with my BT homespot located the other end of Groundhog Castle?

I wish I knew what the hell I was talking about, I am now sorely hacked off with the whole damned lot so a long bath and a stiff drink is the only option...

Thanks for allowing the rant any suggestions really welcome before I ask my six year old Grand daughter who probably knows more about it than I do!!

I phoned BT and insisted that they replace my modem as it was faulty, kept dropping out etc etc and I would cancel my contract.
After standing my ground they sent me a replacement modem which just happened to be a Homehub 4 which was the latest product then. (The 5 wasn't out then)

PB

ps. the first part wasn't entirely truthful  

Yes Hog, do what PB said.

Just calmly and quietly keep repeating, "I am paying you for a service that I am not receiving, so please cancel my contract!". After a while you will be put onto someone else who will try again to bamboozle (or bully) you, but if you don't falter you will win in the end.

Treat it as a bit of a game and you won't get worked up at their intransigence, and spoil it all by saying what you are thinking!

Dave

Dave

I've had a hub 5 since I signed up to BT infinity. It works fine with iplayer in HD on the main TV.

Also I can watch tele and listen to the radio anywhere in the house on smartphone or tablet.

And the BT WiFi app on my smartphone lets me get the internet and make free phone calls outside other people's houses (if they have bt) even when I'm sitting in the car.

Oops - I'm in the grumpy section. BT is far too expensive.

We're hoping to have "Infinity" available very soon. They have laid the fibre optic cable outside the house so it shouldn't be long now.

No complaints about BT from me, apart from their rather "pushy" sales personnel! My Home Hub started dropping the signal at frequent intervals, and I had to argue quite strongly to get a replacement without having to sign a new contract. 

In fact I am happy with their service and would have been quite willing to sign, but I didn't see why I should be bullied into it by using the provision of a new hub as an excuse to make me extend the contract.

After throwing a minor (and polite ) strop, a new hub was despatched and normal service was resumed.

Dave

Gromit wrote:

After throwing a minor (and polite ) strop, a new hub was despatched and normal service was resumed.

Dave

That's the way to do it Dave.
Actually two days after receiving my replacement Homehub, another one arrived in the post!!

PB

Hi,
My set up is the same as Peter, I get 37 mbps at the moment and have the latest bt modem with the blue light. However sometimes it freezes and the samsung tablet I use shows nothing happening on the upload/download indicator, could this be a fault on the tablet?
Chris

So after just over an hour on the phone with BT I still do not have a new router for free. Had I been in contract then they would have sent one but I am not, only on a rolling contract. "Take out a new contract and we will send one for free". Ok then if I am not in contract I get all the benefits of a new customer, reduced rates etc. "Yes we can authorise that and your bill will reduce by £2.50 a month"... BIG DEAL!

"How do we know if we send you a new router you will not just sell it on ebay if you are not in contract!!!"  

A complaint has been raised (pointless by their own admission).

I was told if I want to cancel the contract "Sorry to see you go."

Next move is considering  part paying my bill with a letter explaining and see what reaction that brings.

Of course I could just go and buy a decent router or find a new supplier, sad as I have found BT excellent in the past!

Buy a Hub 5 from EBay yourself, anything from £10 to £20. Obviously lots of people do what they don't want you to do.

Well, you lucky people with your download speeds  We're located in the most populated part of Scotland and our download speed on AOL, via BTs copper wire, is a thumping.........4.93mbps (no, the decimal point is not in the wrong place  )

I've heard tell that you folk in the south no longer use the quill and ink  

Your'e lucky. 5 miles from Cambridge, 2.4Mb/s down, 0,36 Mb/s up.

Guaranteed 50 Mb/sec without BT involvement, Kingston Communication fibre to the house, could have 250Mb/sec if I wanted to pay extra.

Sorry didn't mean to gloat!

Mike

PLOUGHLIN wrote:Your'e lucky. 5 miles from Cambridge, 2.4Mb/s down, 0,36 Mb/s up.

inside the M25, 2.38Mbps down, 0.61Mbps up so not much difference using BT copper. Fibre is apparently available in our road but they only put in a couple of points in the junction box just across the road so not available to me.

As long as we have been internet using we have gone from NTL to Virgin. BT cant guarantee a good service in this corner of Lincolnshire. They keep calling us making all kinds of fancy deals. I let them waffle on until they ask were we live,  they have even offered to call back when its resolved, I am still waiting. My little man that fixes our computers recons this is a poor reception area for most internet things. The dishes for Virgin are only about a mile away across town.
Not needing the internet for anything too vital I manage by booting the plug as a last resort.

Result.... After numerous (5) phone calls, complaints, hours hanging on the phone refusing to go away, cancelling my standing order I now have a brand new free hub5 coming tomorrow, a new 12 month contract at a lower price than currently, excellent mobile deal and £50 voucher to spend in the BT shop as compensation.

I knew we would get there in the end!!

We get a pretty fair speed at home, though the village BT exchange building is at the back of the garden of the house opposite the copper cable has to travel a quarter of a mile up the main road then branch left up a side road, then left again into our road and round the quarter mile back again to us. So in line of sight it's 50 yds or so but to get to us it's over half a mile.

Then they've installed Fibre to Cable cabinets along the main road and anybody there can have superfast, but nobody will say when FTTC cabinets will be fitted in the side roads.

On holiday in Cornwall last summer and even the seashore pub miles from anywhere had superfast and last Spring in Clun in deepest Shropshire, known as Clun the quietest place under the sun, there were signs advertising superfast.

Here 4 miles from Keele Uni Campus and 2 miles from the edge of Crewe superfast is just creeping in.