TALKTALK Connection Speed

[The Technophobic Mole]

I am experiencing apparently insoluble connection-speed problems with Talktalk

I live a mile or so from the Brixton exchange, which is broadband enabled, and should therefore be able to get speeds of up to 6 Mbps. I know various factors conspire against the top speeds being reached but find that, throughout the day, my speed varies between a thoroughly inadequate 200 kbps and 500 kbps, as verified by speedtest.net. Pages refuse to load, downloads take an eternity, the connection is frequently lost. Around 2 a.m., the experience is suddenly quite different; I am able to reach 4,500 kbps, which is marvellous but not of much use to me, given that I am not a noctural animal. It does at least confirm the line is capable of such speeds.

I have rung TT's Customer Srvices many, many times and endured the frustration of speaking on a very poor quality line, after a wait of, very often, fiteen minutes, to people who have very little to offer beyond harassed commiseration and the same ineffective list of procedures to run through. Altering WAN settings has had no effect, beyond re-establishing the frequently lost connection; promises of 'upgrading' my speed have achieved no noticeable change and are in themselves more a source of puzzlement than reassurance; changing my microfilter on their advice again has had no effect.

I have been keeping a diary of my speeds, noting them twice a day and am hoping to find an alternative ISP without incurring the disconnection charge, on the grounds that TT is not providing me with a broadband service. As clear from the above, my speeds are usually little better than those offered by a dial-up connection, while the connection is frequently lost and re-establishing connection usually requires re-booting and even then isn't always effective. Often I've had to ring TT, and endure all the associated tedium, just to get reconnected. Only to find, minutes later, that the connection is once again lost.

With a connection of this low quality, it would be impossible to use a messaging service, while I gather that Skype, which would be so useful to someone on a low income such as myself, is not available on Talktalk on the inaccurate grounds of its being a peer-to-peer service – this I learned from another thread on this site.

What I would like to do is transfer to BT, who seem to be more reliable, but fears remain in the back of my mind that, even if I can do this without incurring charges, I may find that my speed is no better with BT, who are rather more expensive.

Any advice on what to do to achieve a higher speed with Talktalk; on how to transfer to BT without incurring TT's charges for breach of contract; and on the likelihood of my finding speed no better with BT would be very welcome.

[meatfeet]

Hi, my brother-in-law had the same problems as you.He telephoned Talk Talk and told them that as they had not provided the service as promised he was terminating the contract he had with them and was returning to his previous internet provider with immediate effect and that he had instructed his bank to cancel the monthly direct debit and if they wished to persue him for breach of contract then to go ahead.That was 4 months ago.He has not heard from Talk Talk since.It may be worth a try.

[The Technophobic Mole]

Hi. Encouraged to hear that your brother-in-law was able to ditch them without penalties. The idea of paying a penalty in such circumstances makes my blood boil. I'm now at the end of my tether – without a connection for four hours last night; a download speed slower than the upload speed when connection was established briefly earlier in the day; the usual slow speed again this morning – and have decided to follow suit. Thanks so much for your reply. About to push Talktalk into deepest, dirtiest ditch I can find.

[Shanks]

It nmay be worth checking with Bt to see what the current status is see below...

Exchange Status Checker

Results: Brixton

Code: WRBRIX County: London - Greater Enabled: 20 Feb 2000 Virtual paths: Red BT is reporting that some of the virtual paths at this exchange are not operating within BT Wholesale's planning guidance, although they are still operating within the product specification.
At busy times, your ADSL connection may operate at a reduced speed, although not all customers on your exchange may be affected. You should only contact support if there is no current ETA date set.
The ETA fix time is: 28 Sep 07
Record last updated: 10 Sep 07


This was from Exchange Status Checker

so it would appear there is or have been some issues recently and all the time the exchange is showing as red you are likely to suffer all kinds of speed fluctuations and errors. It could well be that this is a matter out of TT's hands and you are back to when BT get their act together and sort the problems out at the exchange

hth, Cheers

[The Technophobic Mole]

Thanks v much for this information. It certainly gives me pause. Shall check it out with BT.

[Carl Stevens]

A few weeks my talk talk connection was down for 4 days the operators said it was the modem so they sent me another one out. Thie problem resolved itself before the modem arrived.
During the down time i checked out the other competitors and was informred that i did not have a bt phoneline any more and it would require me to go to bt for the phone line for 12 months before i could do an all inclusive deal with for example tiscali etc.
So i was stuck, it is cheap while it works but a real pain when it doesnt.
What do you do?