John Fender's BT Broadband Problems!

The speed seemed to be more stable, but is down on last months figures. Whilst above the 5MB threshold that triggers complaints to BT, it is quite a bit short of the normal 6Mb plus that has been normal for the last few months.

The speed seems to be back, but it is a bit down on the previous figures. I'll see how it goes, but will not be slow in letting BT know if it drops again.

This morning's speedtester.bt.com test showed a speed of 38kbps, which is dial up speed territory. So I sent a Tweet to BT Care and a link to the pdf print out of the results so they could see for themselves the speedtester.bt.com result. Just after lunch I ran another test and found the speed had recovered. A little bit later, I got a phone call from BT Care asking how I ran the tests and asking that if I get such figures again, not to run another speedtester.bt.com test until they could see it. It would appear that although BT logs the results, only the last test is retained.

Tweets from me:
In reply to BT 8 Apr @BTCare Good Morning. See http://bit.ly/HqGjet for this mornings speedtester.bt com result - 38kbps download speed.

In reply to BT 8 Apr @BTCare Ethernet cable! Afternoon test shows speed now at 5690 kbps download, 614 kbps upload.

Tweet from BT Care:
8 Apr @JohnFender That looks quite slow. Did you get this result using a wired or wireless connection?

8 Apr @JohnFender That's looking more like it, may have been a temporary blip there. Feel free to get in touch if you need help in future.

Today's tests showed speeds apparently back to where they should be, five or take a few hundred kbps.

This morning's speedtester.bt.com test showed a speed of 61kbps. So I replied to BT's Tweet on "fluctuations" asking if this was a "fluctuation". Well, it needed asking! It looks like the fault is back, so I have told BT I will be reporting a fault this time. However, by late afternoon, the speeds had recovered so I Tweeted the results to BT Care and did not report a fault to Customer Services.

Tweets from me:
In reply to BT 29m @BTCare OK - So is this morning's http://speedtester.bt.com test result of 61kbps download speed a "fluctuation"?. This says "fault" to me!

In reply to BT @BTCare The http://speedtester.bt.com page says that I need to contact the broadband ISP provider "to investigate the fault".

In reply to BT @BTCare In view of this I'm reporting a fault to Customer Services

In reply to BT @BTCare Hello. Thanks - details sent.

In reply to BT @BTCare Hello and thanks. Test run - Results: 5610kbps download, 595kbps upload. IP Profile 6740kbps - so speeds are now OK.

In reply to BT @BTCare I'll continue to monitor and run daily tests.

Tweet from BT Care:

BTCare@JohnFender Send me your details here http://bit.ly/h0ygB3, I'll run a few tests and I'll be in touch

BTCare@JohnFender Thanks for that. We'll get it picked up as soon as we can and be in touch. In the meantime, run a test here http://bit.ly/G8RVF

Another speed drop this morning to 4060kbps, so I tweeted BT Care about it. They put it down to "fluctuations". The evening showed speed had recovered to 5450 kbps, so avoiding a fault being reported.

Tweets from me:
In reply to BT 5 Apr @BTCare Thank you. This morning's http://speedtest.bt.com showed another speed reduction from 6Mb yesterday to 4.06Mb today.

In reply to BT 5 Apr @BTCare Thank you for the response. I am aware of that, but given my experience and history of my connection, anything less than 5000kbps...

In reply to BT 5 Apr @BTCare ..is considered an issue and reported accordingly. Fortunately the speed has recovered this evening so a fault will not be reported.

Tweet from BT Care:
5 Apr @BTCare@JohnFender BT Broadband is rate adaptive & it is normal for broadband speed to fluctuate depending on how busy the network is.

5 Apr BTCare@JohnFender As I have said, the fluctuations are not faults, the service is rate adaptive, this will happen from time to time

Another slight improvement today, this time to 6000kbps.

Today's speed test showed a speed of 5830, better than yesterday but still a bit on the low side.

Tweets from me:
In reply to BT 3 Apr @BTCare Hello. Thanks - I'll be keeping an eye on it...and the speeds

Tweet from BT Care:
3 Apr BTCare@JohnFender Hi, keep checking though, the site is updated regularly

3 Apr BTCare@JohnFender No worries, you know were I am if you need anything else.

As the speed was only marginally better than yesterday, at 2780kbps, I took to Twitter to let BT Care know that if there was no improvement by the evening, I would be reporting a fault to Customer Services. However, BT Care sorted matters out and this evening's speed test showed speed was back to just above my fault reporting threshold of 5000 kbps. This shows the benefit of carrying out a daily test.

Testing again in the evening showed that the speed had been restored to something like it should be at 5090kbps, just above the fault reporting threshold that I apply.

Tweets from me:
In reply to BT 2 Apr @BTCare Connection speeds way down. If no recovery by this evening, I'll be reporting a fault.

In reply to BT 2 Apr @BTCare Hello and thanks - Scotstoun exchange is not listed!

In reply to BT 2 Apr @BTCare Hello. Thanks - This evenings http://Speedtester.bt.com result is 5090kbps download - 609 upload - just avoiding a fault being reported.

In reply to BT 2 Apr @BTCare normally get 6000 kbps +, anything less less than 5000 kbps gets 24 hours to recover and is then reported as a fault.

In reply to BT 2 Apr @BTCare - I'll monitor for 24 hours and hopefully there will be no repetition! Many thanks for your assistance.

Tweet from BT Care:
2 Apr BTCare@JohnFender Did the speed improve at all? Please test it here http://bit.ly/G8RVF and let me know how you get on.

Her we go. It's lasted until April 2012, but it looks like the problem is back! This is NOT and April Fools joke either!

It may be April 1st and I found that the connection speed was way down today - and it was not a joke! The daily speedtester.bt.com test revealed that I was only getting 2.2Mb instead of the usual speeds. I sent a Tweet to BT Care to alert them to the issue.

Tweets from me:
1 Apr JohnFender@BTCare It's April 1st but this is not a joke - BT Broadband speed way down to only 2.4MB today. If no improvement a fault will be reported later.

1 AprJohnFender@BTCare Still no improvement in BT broadband speeds, so it looks like I'll be reporting a fault shortly.

Tweet from BT Care:
1 Apr BTCare@JohnFender Hi, couple of issues this morning http://goo.gl/UsGQL but if not listed try a restart and let me know if its still slow please.

April 2012 saw the return of the problem.

March 2012 saw some fluctuations in speed and a reduction in overall speeds but overall speeds were still roughly where they should be, albeit slower than over the last few months. However, any further speed reductions and it may well be a case of letting BT know I'm still watching, in case they have forgotten.

February 2012 continued the run of months with a fairly stable connection, with some fluctuations but overall speeds were where they should and the last couple of months have seen speeds remain where they should be, i.e. over generally 6 Mbps.

January 2012 saw a fairly stable connection, with some fluctuations but overall speeds were where they should and the last couple of months have seen speeds remain where they should be, i.e. over generally 6 Mbps.