BT hits back over ‘dated’ criticisms of broadband
Friday 7th August 2009, 11:29AM BST.
Broadband provider BT today hit back at claims customers do not receive the internet speeds they pay for. The communications giant disputed an Ofcom report and its results.
It said BT was doing everything it possibly could to ensure broadband users were getting a good service.
Ofcom said a number of broadband providers failed to provide the speeds advertised.
But Emma Tennant, a senior media relations manager at BT, said: “This rep- ort is out of date as BT Retail has already started to move its customers onto more advanced broadband, which offers a far more reliably fast service at peak times.
“BT has ambitious plans for fibre broadband, which will be rolled out to many parts of the UK next year and which will deliver speeds way in excess of what Virgin offers most of its customers today.
“Finally, BT would urge people to treat the figures with caution as they are not consistent with much larger independent surveys that constantly monitor speeds and so we feel the data is unreliable.”
She said the small sample used in the Ofcom survey and the measurement of line length from exchanges made the report unreliable.
The independent broadband-performance benchmarking company, Epitiro, used samples about 10 times the size used in Ofcom’s report and its results gave us a more accurate and positive perspective for BT.
Ofcom’s report was also out of date because BT was transferring customers to new broadband technology, ADSL2+, which provides hi- gher speeds. She said BT Re- tail provided broadband to customers in rural areas too.
A Shropshire Star investigation showed county users faced a lottery with different speeds and prices on offer in different areas.
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Good to know that BT PR department is fighting back. Broadband installed yesterday gives 1.1 to 1.2Mb in Bishop’s Castle, against the “up to 8Mb” advertised. Its not even a near miss BT. So how about its engineers fighting slow speeds instead of the PR guys fighting the bad news story?
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Andy, you are lucky. Here in North Shropshire the best I can get is 512Kb/s. I bet BT’s plan for optic fibre doesn’t include country areas. It will only serve to placate city dwellers who think they are hard done by getting 3 Mb/s when they expect 8Mb/s and above. According to press reports Broadband in the UK is slowest overall of anywhere in the developed world. Mobile broadband is a rip-off as there is very little 3G network out there to support it. Telecomms operators need to get their fingers out and take us into the 21st century!
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Just an idea…. but how about you people read the details before assuming you will get 8Mbps on an UP TO 8Mbps service. These adverts are far from misleading, its quite clear that you might not get those speeds…. maybe it takes a little intelligence to read more than just the headlines?!? Do you all take everything at face value? I would like to point out at this point that Red Bull does not really give you wings, Coca-Cola doesn’t make you walk around singing happy songs with beautiful people…. and women’s sanitary products do not turn you into a champion roller skater ;)
Maybe its worth considering that someone has to pay for the infrastructure upgrades required to install broadband to rural areas, or provide faster speeds to any/all areas. BT need to fund this somehow, so do we throw further taxpayers money at the greed of bandwidth hungry downloaders? The majority of people that demand fast speeds don’t even need it (they just think they do!) So maybe BT should increase ALL our bills just to satisfy the greedy or the unfortunate minority in rural areas…. or just get the taxpayer to pay AGAIN!
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1.2Mb in Bishops Castle, I’m only just achieving that on average in the middle of Newport, less than 500m from the exchange – and yes I have complained, and yes been told there’s nothing wrong on the system !! In fact I generally do get a faster connection on mobile broadband
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the thing is for ‘up to’ 8 meg you have to pay the full cost no ‘up to’ whatever the agreed price is.
this ‘up to’ is a misleading cop out, no other seller could get away with selling you ‘up to’ a whole car/burger/toilet seat and expect the ‘entire’ price.
that said i get nearly half the advertised speed and it is reliable so i don’t feel too cheated, but reading the other examples here i can see why many folks do
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BT’s broadband service as well as their phone service is so far behind the times and it’s about time they sat up and realised this. I used a completely different server for my BB and phone and was more than pleased with the results. I was getting around 6mbs on average and i was some distance from the exchange. Bt have had the monopoly for ages….if it doesn`t want to get left behind it needs to improve all of it`s services.
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As soon as I can leave BT I shall be. When i initially signed up with them, after my hub callibrated itself I was getting about 6meg (this is in Bayston Hill). But after about a week I started getting disconnected from the hub during peak times. Ive changed the channel as there are other hubs in my street but it’s still the same. When I am on at peak times i get thrown off if i am on a site such as youtube, even if i’m not playing a video.
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I think we need to clarify EXACTLY what we mean by broadband, as I feel that BT is being unfairly criticised here
( And I’m no particular fan of BT !)
Defintion of Broadband:
Separating the two parts of the word “broadband” Broad”, and “band”, taking the second part “band” first refers to “bandwidth”, or speed of data flow per unit of time, and ..
The first part “broad”, meaning “wide bandwidth”, (higher speed) as opposed to a narrow bandwith or “slow” connection such as dialup.
NOW .. in this context, of discussion, I would say that “Broadband” refers to a faster type of internet connection (when compared to the likes of dialup) that ONLY USES Ordinary PHONE LINES (That’s the POTS, or :Plain Old Telphone System)
And to give it its correct name, “ADSL” which is “Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line”
NOTICE the USE of the WORD “line” which means the pair of wires (usually copper) that connects your phone to the local exchange)
“Broadband” DOESN’T include Fibre connections, Cable conections *Virgin – previously Telewest), sattelite, or 3G etc etc.
So WHAT is relevant here is that:
ALL broadband connections whether they are:
*old “fixed” speed products at 500Kb/s 1Mb/s 2Mb/s, or
*ADSL “MAX” (8Mb) products or
*ADSL2 products (up to 24Mb/s)
Are ALL dependant upon the quality of your phone line for the actual “connect” or sync rate that you will get from “you” to the local telephone exchange”
ALSO – the ADSL MAX (8Mb) and ADSL2 products are RATE ADAPTIVE – that is .. they will TRY and run as fast as your phone line will allow
(i.e your modem and the DSLAM in the exchange build up a “profile” of your line to see “how fast you can go”)
and … THERE HAS, TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE, NEVER been any SECRET or or MISUNDERSTANDING about that.
THIS applies WHOEVER provides the service, AND .. bear in mind this is only the CONNECT SPEED to your local exchange.
To try to say that it’s all “BT’s” fault is unfair.
BT didn’t write the laws of Physics!
AND … WHEN you surf the net, then the remainder of the connection path beyond the “broadband” part to you local exchange will also affect the overall speed.
A “cheap” broadband service may well give you a good “connect or “sync” speed, BUT may well route your “connection” over congested “routes” – so … you get what you pay for !!
Finally, if you want to find out about how broadband REALLY works, AND get a defintive test on your connection. go to:
http://www.kitz.co.uk, and also look specifically at:
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php
and finally, if you want to get a real “feel” for your overall “surfing” speed, go to
http://www.speedtest.net, and when you are on this site, try using different servers around the world, and see how it affects the speed of connection!
(please note, none of these sites are run by me!)
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Dotcom – thank you for that post. I have just lost my will to live.
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Smellie #9
I’m at a loss as to what you mean ?
Are you saying that the “general public” can’t be bothered to read genuine information on the subject?
And that being so …..
Isn’t that WHY there is all these problems in the first place? – as big matty says on #3:
“Just an idea…. but how about you people read the details before assuming you will get 8Mbps”
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