Slow broadband speeds? Now you can cancel, in theory

[Michael Browne]

Tougher rules to let customers exit their contract

 

New rules being introduced by Ofcom will let broadband customers exit their contract at any time if they aren’t getting the speed quoted by their provider.

 

Currently customers can only cancel their broadband deal penalty free within the first three months of the contract. After that time they are charged a penalty fee to exit, even if their broadband speed is slow.

 

Under the new rules customers can cancel at any time, if the speed they receive is slower than the speed they were quoted when they signed up.

 

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2015/06/slow-broadband-speeds-now-you-can-cancel-406021/

 

 

 

That's the theory, meanwhile in the real world:

 

Three in four households pay for internet speeds they never receive – but very few can use new Ofcom rules to switch providers

 

More than 13 million households who pay for internet speeds they never receive are unable to use new rules allowing people to exit slow broadband contracts.

 

As well as the headline speed, the provider must give a so-called "minimum guaranteed" speed. This is the highest speed available to the slowest 10 per cent of households in their customer base. The new rules introduced by Ofcom last week allow people to leave contracts early only if the speed is below this "minimum" level.

 

Experts said it was therefore likely that just 10 per cent of the 22 million British households with broadband will be able to make use of the new rules to leave their provider.

 

Customers who receive speeds just above the minimum threshold may be unable to argue their cases and will face fees to terminate their contract early.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11682353/Millions-with-slow-broadband-cant-use-new-exit-rules.html

 

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[Fredsie]

The whole thing misses the real point, which is that if distance from the exchange etc. is causing your slow speeds, changing supplier is pointless because they all use the same BT cabling to get from the exchange to your house. So once you've gone to all the trouble of changing suppliers your broadband will still be just as slow as before, but your argument will just be with a different company, who also can't do anything about it.

[Teefenn1]

Exactly, Fredsie, because OFCOM clearly hasn't the faintest idea of how the internet actually works. The people that should be legitimately entitled to exit free of charge while under contract are those whose throughput speed is significantly below the sync speed that their length of line allows, even if only at peak times. That is invariably a result of congestion at the exchange caused by under capacity provided by the ISP. Either that or their equipment at the exchange is faulty in some way. OFCOM's new rules do nothing to facilitate migration under these circumstances. In fact their new code of conduct is so ambiguously worded that it can mean anything the ISP want's it to mean. For instance when they refer to the speed of the lowest 10th percentile it is not specified whether that means sync speed or throughput speed. Equally ambiguous is the code's reference to the lowest speed of "similar" customers. Does this mean a line that's, say, 1 mile from the exchange can be compared with lines that are 1.1 miles, 1.2 miles, 1.5 miles or what?

 

It's quite simple to calculate an individuals absolute minimum sync speed using the distance to the exchange and the resultant line attenuation figure. Anybody getting a throughput speed below 80% of that sync speed should be allowed free exit under contract. Once again OFCOM are competing with the I.C.O. for the title of the most useless quango ever to drain public finances.

[gigs]

New rules being introduced by Ofcom will let broadband customers exit their contract at any time if they aren’t getting the speed quoted by their provider.

 

Don't ISP's already cheat by throttling internet connections to advertised speed for the first x Megabytes so that all those "internet speeds tests" websites you see scattered around report what you're advertised. When really the go back to slow speeds after a while.

 

How does one prove anything in those cases when the ISP can just say "well no, you're lying, see".

 

[jasperpad]

I have been monitoring my sky fibre optic broadband for about three weeks or more and at various times of the day and different days.

 

Sky say that I should get "up to 35 or more Mb" but I am getting at best 2.1 (yes that low) speeds and I have used different speed checks online.

 

So if I sold sky a car that I say will do 35 miles per hour and it only goes at 2 miles per hour they would demand I pay them back!

 

Any idea what I can do?

 

I am planning to go to them and demand them repay the last 18 months fees as the normal broadband speed is just as bad.

 

I am putting together a plan and keeping regular webpage speed by prtSc and copying to a word document with dates and times.

 

any advice will be welcome!

[Fredsie]

I can understand your frustration but your car example is different. You said "a car that will do 35 miles per hour", and if it didn't your buyer would have a claim against you. But that's not how the broadband guys advertise. They always say something like "up to 35Mb", and "up to" can mean anything from 1 to 35.

 

If your speed is really only hitting 2Mb most of the time I think that's exceptionally poor and they should do something about it. First, have you had this broadband service before from anybody else? Was it faster? Are you miles from your exchange? It sounds like you ought to be considered as one of the 10% the original post was talking about. Have you already complained to Sky about the low speeds? If so, what did they say? (If not, that's your starting point. You have to give them a chance to fix things before you go any further.)

 

One other thing. Is the PC / laptop you're doing the speed tests on connected directly to your router by Ethernet cable? If you're connecting via Wifi or through your house power sockets ("Powerline networking"), then your measured figures don't mean anything as far as the ISP is concerned.

Edited May 23, 2017 by Fredsie
typo

[jasperpad]

Hi

 

Thanks. I am connecting via wifi, but I don't think that should make that much difference! Yes I have complained to sky and they just say that it's because we are about 1.5 miles from the exchange, but we have a box at the end of the street (about 150 yards away) plus I also know that as I am paying for fibre optic the fibre only goes to the box at the end of the street and then is copper cable from there.

 

I cannot accept the often stated argument that because we are so far away from the exchange etc. that we will get a slower speed. For example if I turn on my lights downstairs and then upstairs the brightness is never different! the amount od power HAS to be the same throughout the cable/fibre!

 

I also have to use a mobile wifi for work and I tend to have to use that at home as the speed is much faster, so the idea that the router is slow using wifi doesn't in all reality hold water!

 

I will be contacting sky to try and sort out this problem as for many people now, wifiis the way they connect to the internet and I am getting cheesed off with statements about the speeds peole can/will connect, that are ALWAYS wrong

[Fredsie]

Hi

 

Thanks. I am connecting via wifi, but I don't think that should make that much difference!

 

Sorry, that's wrong, it makes a LOT of difference. Get a cable and plug your PC (temporarily) into the router. Do your speed tests again and post the results. Until you've done this there's no point in proceeding further.

[SoggyMoggy]

Get back onto Sky, they have dedicated technicians that will perform tests on your line to try and resolve this for you.

 

When you are collecting evidence DO NOT use your wifi. As said above, you need to be plugged into your router. The reason being is that a lot of variables come into play when you use wifi that affect the speed. Regardless whether it works fast on another network, Sky simply won't beleive that one of these variables isn't affecting the speed. Give them real evidence.

 

Don't accept the exchange distance argument, 1.5 miles isn't far away at all. Don't use the analogy you used above when you speak to Sky though, it's comparing apples and pears.

 

You can get an idea at what the speed at your router is by going into the router settings from a web page on the device you are using to connect to the internet. Even on wifi.

- Open up a browser window

- type in the ip address of the router "192.168.0.1" and hit enter

- your username is: "admin"

- the password should be "sky"

- in the router status or connection status page it should show your connection speed.

[AndyOrch]

Hi

 

Thanks. I am connecting via wifi, but I don't think that should make that much difference! Yes I have complained to sky and they just say that it's because we are about 1.5 miles from the exchange, but we have a box at the end of the street (about 150 yards away) plus I also know that as I am paying for fibre optic the fibre only goes to the box at the end of the street and then is copper cable from there.

 

I cannot accept the often stated argument that because we are so far away from the exchange etc. that we will get a slower speed. For example if I turn on my lights downstairs and then upstairs the brightness is never different! the amount od power HAS to be the same throughout the cable/fibre!

 

I also have to use a mobile wifi for work and I tend to have to use that at home as the speed is much faster, so the idea that the router is slow using wifi doesn't in all reality hold water!

 

I will be contacting sky to try and sort out this problem as for many people now, wifiis the way they connect to the internet and I am getting cheesed off with statements about the speeds peole can/will connect, that are ALWAYS wrong

 

I think you need to brush up on your knowledge of how the Internet works jasperpad ( Wired v WI FI) before ringing Sky.

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

PS Try to differentiate between Virgin Cable and sky fibre optic broadband ..its the same as their normal slow broadband but with a nice ribbon wrapped around it.