The Weekly Gripe

Broadband problems and complaints forum, BT, NTL, Tiscali, Talk Talk

Broadband - superhighway or dead end

Broadband Complaints

Broadband is great if you can get it. Ever had trouble getting a reliable service from your internet provider (ISP), or are you having connection problems. Are BT not really much help? Join the discussion and share your experiences



I've used the internet now for a number of years both at home and at work and have been waiting for the day when I can have an 'always on' high speed link at home at a relatively low cost.

Add your comments to this discussion

Please be sure to read the article before joining this moderated forum. No user registration is required to post comments.



Posted Comment Visitor
04-9-2010 Unfortunately we made an enourmous error in judgement and decided to take out an account with orange for our landline and home broadband, for the first 5 months they made a hash up of not collecting direct debits on the correct days, we have had to phone up about resetting the broadband because it continually fails, last weekend I could not access my email account and it took a whole day for them to fix the problem, I have spent the whole evening trying to find out why I cannot access the orange page or pick up my emails again only to find that yet again they are incapable of providing the service that I am paying for, surely if a company continually provides a pathetically bad service and constantly shows that they are ineffective, unprofessional,technically incapable we should be allowed to be released from our contract with them so that we can sign up with a provider that is professional and technically able, I have heard that Bt are probably the best in terms of quality but are not necessarily the lowest in terms of cost, I expect that you really do get what you pay for, orange are cheap that however doesn't really give them the right to be totally useless, if I treated people in this way I would be sacked on the spot, I have complained to orange and requested compensation for the problems last week and will send another complaint this week, as they have had my complaint for a week and have not had the courtesy to respond I shall be contacting ofcom to find out who I can complain to and what further legal action I can take. People and comapanies need to be held accountable when they are incompetent.orange speak to BT and find out how
26-8-2010 Our local Treforest exchange was down and listed for a 21CN upgrade and due to be completed a few months ago according to SamKnows and BT's upgrade programme. After recently checking our exchange is now no longer listed for the upgrade. Our neighbouring boroughs in Taffs Well and Caerphilly located just half a mile from us have had the new 21CN network enabled and they are getting upto 20Megs and 40Megs download speeds. While we appreciate that not everyone is listed to have the new 21CN super fast broadband we are puzzled as to how this upgrade was listed as being down for upgrade and then stopped?? despite us receiving a letter on an increase in our line rental!!. This does seem unfair if we are being told we are to receive this 21CN upgrade and then it is stopped. What is BT playing at?nate
18-8-2010 My sister would be thrilled to be able to get any Broadband from BT. She cannot even get the landline installed! Quotes have ranged from £20,000 to £13,000, to £235.00. She lives in a very rural area in Cumbria, to get her line it will entail digging up and through fields . The Engineer turned up yesterday after months of my sister talking to the various 'Heads' of departments and the last quote of £235.00 (which she jumped at), he scratched his head and then his chin after walking around the outside of the house for a few minutes, and then announced he had nothing to connect to.............................................Mabel
17-8-2010 Update on mine. BT insisting 0.5 meg is the max they can give me, eventhough before my fault I was holding 1 meg nicely. New technology claiming 'up to 20 meg' mean old lines can't cope and speeds go down. Going to take this further as I dont feel its my fault that them upgrading means a down service for me.And also I'm going to bill them for all my wasted time and days off work. There's been at least 3 occasions when I was told and engineer would arrive at my house and didn't. What they owe me is building up lol.LizzyBee
17-8-2010 I sent BT a letter over 2 weeks ago now and have been without broadband for over 2 months now. The company doesn't know what it's doing and I have been passed from advisor to advisor about a simple problem. And guess what... due to the amount of calls I've had to make to them about their fault my phone bill has gone up too! Beware BT, they are idiots and pick numbers out of thin air.J
16-8-2010 BT have had many problems with my on -off broadband, including having no phone line or broadband for two whole weeks, (it will take that long as we are connecting you to fibre optic (they didn't) and when I asked for a refund of my rental (they do not offer it unless you ask) I found that the broadband rental was not refunded "you'll have to talk to that department sir" So I call broadband, who tell me that regrettably the phone department had not told them that my broadband was offline, so I can't have a refund. Have been on hold to India for an hour now trying to make them give back the money that they so readily Direct Debit every month from my bank.phill p
16-8-2010 Bt are crap whole service is a joke - engineers havent got a clue & the staff on the phone seem only to be able to say" I cant help with that its another department" - managers dont have phones! I asked for a manager to call me back and was told not possible as there is no phone number for the correct department?Bt nearly killed me
11-8-2010 Fault on my line for 8 weeks. Been sent 11 engineers who all try different things (numerous lift and shifts and exchange upgrades). The last chap gave me 1.94 meg and the next day BT had capped it back to 0.5 meg o_O All I want is to be able to get the 1 meg I had before the fault, but now BT are telling me they can only give me 0.5 meg tops and my connection STILL drops out when the phone rings, or just drops out on it's own. I'm not being beaten on this. All I would like is what I had before the fault and i'm gonna fight them all the way to get it back! Plus I am paying for 'up to 20meg'. I do feel sorry for the engineers though. They have 2 hours to 'fix' your fault then have to leave it if its not fixed. I have even had the 'specialist' engineer who is allowed 6 hours to fix your fault, and if he doesnt manage it, it's up to you to ring back BT and tell them!! I've rang so often (at least once or twice a day) they have asked me now to wait for a call. I have complained and am taking this further. Martin V- see if there is aluminium cabling around your area. It is in my town and some engineers say that is what may cause some of the problem. And BT know about it, but won't replace it until is breaks, so I was told.LizzyBee
04-8-2010 It has just taken me 5mins. to get into my e-mails. Then it took 2mins to open one e-mail. What a sub-standard service. I will be looking at other Broadband networks, not BT.Rampman
04-8-2010 Sorry another BT broadband issue, We had about 1mg speed ( waited 9 months for this I may add) but then Open Reach put in new wires and this reduced the speed to between 0.5 and 0.2 or zero. BT's response is to try various tests all of which confirm the aforementioned speed and then ( as is typical with BT) ignore the matter because it is too difficult to manage and as we have learnt already Open Reach are neither accountable for their actions ( cut through the water main whilst replacing telegrpah pole) or to the consumer. Total shambles and we are going to ask for free Broadbank upgrade and fixes to our serivce to allow this as it is BT fault the spped has delcined to zero. Wish me luck as I am sure it will all end in frustration and now BT want us to pay 3 months in advance for Broadband speed we are not receiving Oh and I am trying to run a business-go figureMartin V
14-7-2010 Liked Tiscali until taken over by TalkTalk and prices raised. Gave notice and tried to go to AOL but they messed up 5! times so went to BT for line and Orange for Broadband. My advice - stick to BT for line, even if a little more expoensive because at least you can change ISP at the drop of a hat without having no BB for 4 weeks. Anyway then TalkTalk really got going and charged me £380 on my credit card !! for cancellation of new contract which I had refused to go on, (even though they said charges wouldn't go up). TThey have admitted their mistake in writing twice and promised to refund but 3 months down the line and no money. Just given them 48 hours notice and then I'll issue a District Court Summons through the Government website (Money Claim Online) for the money, interest, my time, and court costs. My further advice - get away from TT and never pay these charges by credit card - card company not really interested as I had "authorised" the charge.Noel E
14-7-2010 Had enjoyed excellent service with Tiscali for over 10 years until Talk Talk took over and introduced increased prices by stealth. On 17 June 2010 took out new contract with B T New Broadband was scheduled for instalation on 5th July. Today 14th. July no Broadband from B T . In last week I have made 15 Telephone calls lasting on average 23mins. each,had 3 calls advising me A) Contract now cancelled B) MAC code required (this had been furnished on 17th.June at initial contract stage) C) May with a bit of luck be on line next week but B T are having problems getting lines from the main supplier in the U.K. which is B T Commercial.? Without a shadow of doubt this Company are an absolute shower,please,please,please ignore the letters recieved from B T wishing you would come back like I did to my cost.Frank Dyball

Your Ad Here

<< prev <<     >> next >>