topic Very slow ADSL copper lines in Broadband & Landline

Very slow ADSL copper lines

Salcam — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:36:59 GMT

Wishing to retain a landline, I was effectively forced to accept moving from Plusnet to EE, upon Plusnet's decision to cease offering landlines.

I raised my doubts with the customer service agent that the EE system would work effectively since, under Plusnet, our speeds were max 3 to 5 and often slower.

Unfortunately my doubts are reality. The router is routinely off line and it's nearly impossible to use the "landline".

As I told the agent, we are on old copper wires and as I understand it, very slow ADSL copper lines are prone to error (as I know from 6 years' experience). The bandwidth cannot reliably hold VoiP.

Please don't send me an Engineer. EE, save your money. .Openreach are regular visitors to this location and to to 2 of my neighbours very recently. The engineer stated to both, words to the effect , "I can't do anything more for you".

I am unable to access Smart Hub Manager at the moment (and yesterday) because the broadband is down (again). I simply wish to see the formal log of the outages since installation in March.

I wish to cancel this contract (the system not fit for purpose and therefore being effectively mis-sold) and would appreciate the senior technical team expediting this course of action for me with the appropriate managers.

Re: Very slow ADSL copper lines

JimM11 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:10:07 GMT

@Salcam Why are you unable to mange the Smart Hub manager to the EE Hub, using https://192.168.1.254 you should always be able to get to the hub no matter what, unless the unit is completely in a failed condition.

What is it that you have from EE, the SH31B version, see linked below to the current EE Types.

https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/compare-our-range-of-broadband-hubs

If you wish to cancel EE then you need to call them direct, whilst on the phone they will advise you off the ETF you will need to pay, that may not be to much depending on what you had/did with the PN to EE move.

The Forum is public so DO NOT expect and Manager to pick this up and do any call to you.

See the link below that gives you a reasonable estimate, and you are well within the spec no matter what if your ADSL is giving you consistent performance, but that may be your issue and nothing else. If your PN Version off the BT Smart Hub 2 struggled connection wise, depends what you got from EE.

VoIP Bandwidth Requirements: How Much Do I Need? | Vonage

Re: Very slow ADSL copper lines

XRaySpeX — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:17:26 GMT

Welcome to EE's Home Broadband Forum.

If you would like help with your BB speed or connection issues, please would you carry out the following steps for starters, which will enable us to diagnose the problem and advise you further. Do not restart your router to do these tests:

1. Post your full router stats:

For a SmartHub: login and go to Advanced Settings > Technical Log > Information. Obscure your names & any numbers in the BB Username & also the SSIDs. Also post the Home > Status page.
For a BrightBox: login and go to Advanced Settings > System > DSL Status. Also post 'System Uptime' from top of System Log page.
For other routers: login to it according to the label on it as the admin user & navigate looking for its router/connection statistics.

Full router stats are key to any speed & connection issues.

2. Try a speedtest, preferably wired using an Ethernet cable supplied with the router, here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html . Click on the "Results Page" button at the bottom of the graph you first see and then copy to here just the "Link to this result:" link that you see below the next main graph.

3. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker, not the Postcode Checker.