Broadband Speed Miles Off Minimum Guaranteed

[TreborMint]

Hello There!

Does anyone have any advice for contacting ee in regards to my broadband speed being a long way off the minimum guaranteed? We commenced the service in our new rented home two weeks ago so have given plenty of time for everything to settle down but we are only getting between 18-20Mbps download against a minimum guarantee of 66.8Mpbs. Furthermore even now after the bedding in period the connection seems to drop / router restarts quite often.

Connection to the Smarthub is by ethernet, which is then in turn connected to the mastersocket. I think this is quite an old version, which has "ADSL v1.0" printed in the bottom right corner:

Next to this is  a smaller socket just for the phone. There is no connection from the front of the master socket to this. There are a lot of other sockets for phones around the house which appear to be fed from a splitter that plugs into the front of this additional phone only socket. No devices are plugged into any of the sockets around the property apart from the Smarthub into the master socket.

Our Smarthub stats are:

Our speedtest is on this link: https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1623140660394579255

The BT availability for our property is:

Whilst the £5 off per month for not meeting the guaranteed speed would be welcome I would much rather be getting a quicker and more reliable service. Before I contact Customer Services any advice as to how best for me to encourage ee to improve the speeds rather than just offering me the money off would be much appreciated!

Many thanks for your help!

Rob

[TreborMint]

Screengrab images now showing! 🙂

[Mustrum]

In the early days of FTTC Openreach would come out, install a filtered Master Socket and a modem. Alas that stopped a few years ago, and now they only do the master socket if a customer complains they are not getting the best speeds. 

So were it me, check the phone line is quiet - dial 17070 option 2 from a corded phone. If quiet report low speeds, if noisy report that to CS.

[IT-4BusyPeople]

That faceplate needs to be upgraded. You will need to call EE, as the performance is well outside of contract they will send out an engineer.

However, if you purchased via an EE  high st. store, go back to the store as they can arrange the engineer and it shouldn't cost you (if you are deaf etc. there will be no charge - a few years back EE were very good about this and also managed the subsequent visits by other engineers to rectify a line fault).

But if you purchased online, call, just be nice and don't get put off by the potential no fault found charge.

just realised there is one other thing you can do: remove the faceplate. This should expose the bare external line socket. Using the VDSL/ADSL2 dongle that came with your router, plug this directly into the bare line socket. This might work, but only if the exchange/cabinet end of the line has had the higher speeds enabled. 

[TreborMint]

Thanks for the advice both! I don't have a corded phone so in the interim and before contacting ee I have gone into the back of the master socket. It looks like this:

Wires to socket that would connect directly to the Smarthub:

Wires to socket behind faceplate that needs the filter:

No real increase in speeds though 😞 - https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1623158620894115155

I did notice that the first socket in the house, that seems to be connected to the phone line outside, isn't a mastersocket:

This socket has a cable coming out from the bottom of it which looks like it feeds upstairs, so might be connected to the mastersocket I'm connected to, but I can't trace the cables all the way to be sure. Any thoughts as to whether this could be affecting the speed, and should I try the Smarthub connected to this socket via a filter? I thought you should always connect fibre directly via RJ11 into the mastersocket and not through a filter.

Really hoping I can improve these speed somehow! Thanks again for your help 🙂

[pip11]

Connect to the test socket with a filter that the faceplate plugs into. A (cheap) corded phone is the best diagnostic tool you could have.

If you have no dial tone the internet could still work but at a lower speed. Noise on your line would also affect speeds but from your stats noise doesn't appear to be the problem.

[XRaySpeX]

Your master socket is entirely suitable & is already filtered.

Locate the hidden test socket that is revealed when you remove the front of the faceplate (2 screws or press tabs) of your master socket. 

Try the BT Quiet Line Test (QLT), dial 17070 Opt 2, preferably with a corded phone, in the test socket with the router disconnected. If there is any noise, report it to your landline provider as a voice fault (don't mention Broadband). Often sorting out voice faults will fix the Broadband as well.

Reboot the router & plug it into the test socket. Post the full router stats & System Uptime when plugged into test socket.

[TreborMint]

Thanks - I'll get hold of a corded phone and try the quiet line test. Still a bit freaked out about this ADSL V1.0 plate being so far away from what looks like the first socket into the building but looking forward to seeing what shakes!

I do have one little issue with this course of action though - my ee service to the property is Fibre Plus Broadband without landline, as it was in my previous property (the chap just moved it over when I said I was moving). I don't have a landline provider and I don't know what the phone number here is. Who do I report any voice fault I might find to!?!

Thanks again everyone for your help, I really appreciate it.

[pip11]

You won't be able to do the quiet line test as you have no phone service. You'll have to ring C/S and organise an engineer.

[XRaySpeX]

You could still show us the router stats from the test socket.