Watchdog demands action on slow broadband?

Question

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071219/tuk-uk-britain-broadband-fa6b408_8.html
How many of you have this problem?

Answer 1

when i have problems with it i'm straight on the phone to them,i think the call goes to india or summit cos i canny bloody well understand a word there saying,
end up slamming the phone doon cursing &swearing.

Answer 2

I have become convinced that Internet access is a big con.
Two years ago I subscribed to the faster 8 Mb when the standard was 1 and 2 Mb.
I was told that I could not get the full 8Mb speed because my BT line could only take 5.4 Mb ---- still pretty fast though but hardly the 8Mb they were charging.
Then BT made the great announcement to put all their customers to 8Mb at no extra charge.... and here comes the deception --- now that we all receive 8Mb we are all getting 2 to 3 Mb. Yes it sounds strange but it is fact.
It is misleading.... it is a lie to advertise 8Mb when only probably only a few percent of the population in England benefits from that speed.
The SKY Corp are now "offering" no less than 16Mb. I wonder what they really mean with that.
Speed is important. A file of 40Mb at 5.4 Mb took 20 seconds to download as opposed to the 90 seconds it takes me now.

Answer 3

Broadband speeds are a pain in the a*se. It all depends on the quality of your phone line and how far you are away from the exchange. The "up to" speeds they quote are never anything like most users will get. The most I've ever had is 6 meg and that was a one off. Usually it's between 4 and 5 but there are people who get a lot worse speeds than that. They should get rid of "up to" quotes and say "depending on a line check". Then they should check your line to get an average speed you're likely to get, quote you that and then charge you accordingly (drop the cost if you can only get a crap speed). If they did that, then people wouldn't be so pissed off.

Answer 4

What an excellent answer from Rodrigue he is spot on, we live in Spain where it's generally very poor anyway and very expensive compared to the UK. We have about 1-2 meg ,but its advertised at 4 . I think it's a good idea charging for what you actually get ,rather than a set price for all.

Answer 5

I am on the whole quite happy with my broadband and it connects pretty quick. However, I have had to contact Virgin on occassion and have been very frustrated at the wait on the phone. Since July 07 they have grossly increased their charges when phoning for help or advice so I am keeping my fingers crossed I don't require their services in the near future.

Answer 6

I had a problem a few weeks ago when the Internet was running really slow and contacted BT about the problem. What I was disgruntled about was the fact that they wanted to charge me £1.50 per minute to lodge my complaint. BT customer services is very poor and has been condemned on many occasions by BBC Watchdog.

Answer 7

Industry in rip off Britain is allowed to do as it wishes and tell any lies it wants for the first 5 years, before the government starts doing anything.

Then they will pass regulations with deliberate loop hole left in, to be plugged in the next 5 years.

Answer 8

My connection kept dropping out because my present line can only handle 5Mbps and they were trying to feed it 8Mbps. After trying to tell them that for a few months they finally capped it and it's now stable.
So I am afraid faster broadband would not be much use to me. I do think some people are not getting what they think they are getting.

Answer 9

I've had a few problems with my broadband, I'm on Virgin Media. Sometimes it just won't connect to the internet, and it can be quite slow.

Answer 10

I find it strange that they're allowed to advertise speeds of up to 2Meg, etc, yet nearly all downloads are in KB/s, I suppose 2Meg sounds higher that 256KB/s. Then again, people would know if they had a complaint or not then.