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Evening Congestion 1600 Mbps Service / EE Support Complaint

Spyder99
Investigator
Investigator

For the past couple of weeks I've noticed my download speeds dropping significantly during evening peak hours around 6-10pm ish.  

I pay for the 1600 Mbps service with a minimum guaranteed 1300 Mbps speed.

I've logged speedtest results for the past couple of weeks so I can prove when the speeds are dropping.  

When I do the test nobody else is on the network, it's tested hardwired on a 2.5Gbe connection high quality Cat 6 cable approximately 4m away from the router.

I've spoken to EE support a few times and they basically say everything looks fine their end and an engineer is coming out tomorrow lunch time.  

Because it's not the peak time it'll work fine.  How do I approach this to try and get a fix?

Below is the speed test results with date and times:

22-09-2025 20:58 - 116.82 Mbps
22-09-2025 21:09 - 144.87 Mbps
22-09-2025 21:17 - 234.85 Mbps
22-09-2025 21:58 - 822.12 Mbps
22-09-2025 23:00 - 1690.27 Mbps
23-09-2025 21:15 - 631.59 Mbps
23-09-2025 22:56 - 1635.06 Mbps
28-09-2025 22:32 - 958.41 Mbps
30-09-2025 22:11 - 362.24 Mbps
01-10-2025 01:34 - 1663.63 Mbps
01-10-2025 20:39 - 70.85 Mbps
01-10-2025 21:03 - 81.93 Mbps
01-10-2025 21:15 - 71.91 Mbps
01-10-2025 21:37 - 74.16 Mbps
01-10-2025 23:22 - 1365.04 Mbps
01-10-2025 23:47 - 1646.63 Mbps

18 REPLIES 18
JimM11
Community Hero
Community Hero

@Spyder99 Would be EE tech but below some info for you!

1. FTTP is a contended service, up to 32 users can be sharing the 2.5Gb backhaul, so you can never expect the full speed all the time, you may get 900mb when there are fewer people using it. I expect that you are sharing the backhaul with many users. If everyone was using it fully, you may only get 78mbs. Its called statistical multiplexing, which relies on the fact that all users are not utilising their connection fully, all of the time.

BT quote up to 900mb, so you are likely to get much less than that during peak times.

Speed tests pass very little data, so normally give a much higher speed.

2. The max OR connect to a splitter is 30 ( 32 is the splitter maximum but policy is 30 ) not every CBT port provided is likely to have a customer using it , so unless on a ‘new site’ that has no alternatives to OR FTTP the actual number on a splitter is likely to be way less , OR currently have about a 30% take up, so maybe 10 users per splitter , plus the majority don’t take 900Mb but slower profiles , and the chances of those ‘on line ‘ at any one time all and doing something intensive, rather than browsing / Netflix that may be consuming less than 30-100Mb , is slim , that’s why there is a 700Mb minimum speed guarantee on 900Mb …..the 2.4Gb will be plenty ,you would have to be incredibly unlucky to have any consistent congestion.

If you suspect PON congestion, try at a time when there won’t be much activity, late evening or early morning .


Although you have tried somethings to ‘ isolate’ the problem , the most obvious thing to do ( that you haven’t apparently tried ) is use the BT router , without doing that , you haven’t really proved anything , your third party router may great , but even great routers can be mis configured or faulty

 

Hi Jim

Thank you for the detailed response I am very grateful and I do understand what you are saying.

Where do I stand with regards to my minimum speed guarantee of 1300 Mbps and getting out of the contract or refund?

Thank you in advance 

@Spyder99 There are both the help links below! The information above is direct from OR regarding speed, anyone who has knowledge is well aware that full speed is just not what is going to happen especially all of the time and you can post what you have and just NO way of confirming what you did at any given time! Wait until the engineer gets to you and have that frank discussion he will have the IDEA what is connected and how busy the system may be getting!

Smart Hub Pro and Smart WiFi Pro speed guarantee | Broadband Help | EE

EE Broadband and Speed Guarantee | Broadband Help | EE

Nichio123
Contributor
Contributor

I have a very similar issue except i am on 900 down. I have had both an EE engineer and an openreach engineer come to the property. Neither could identify the issue (although speeds were fine as it was middle of the day). I understand the congestion however the issue has only started to happen in the last two weeks and my speeds drop as low as 35 down. The speeds drop far too consistently for it to be congestion, without fail speeds will start to drop from 900 at 7:30. Then by 11pm the are back full every single day without fail (weekends included but its also fine during the day on weekends). If you find out what the issue was, let me know please 

bobpullen
Star Contributor
Star Contributor

@Spyder99 - have you tried running a speedtest using the EE app at a time when your wired speedtest results are low? That tests to the hub which would completely eliminate any aspect of your local network from the equation.

Hi, i can't link up my EE app. However, I have been on to EE tech support who have done this test and confirmed the slow speeds. I've called them at 7:15 and had them in a call for an hour doing tests and they have witnessed the drop off to the hub rather than me doing a speeds test

@Nichio123 Missed your posting but looks like you have EE on the case, good luck with your app and you may need EE to check out the account side so keep it in your mind but one thing at a time!

Engineer from EE came out. Tested everything no faults and equipment working fine. Said it would have go to OpenReach. 

@Spyder99 That is for EE to organise not YOU! Did you also see the request above from @bobpullen regarding the app?

Bolster's your fact's for what the app thinks connection to the EE Router rather than your what's going on at the Ethernet port!