Mis-sold broadband plan? (worried it will be a lower speed than currently)

[RH1978]

I  recently visited a store to take a new contract for my broadband, as I was out of contract. I was on a 'Fibre Max Broadband 100 without landline' plan, apparently not available anymore, and was encouraged to take a 'Fibre 67 Essentials' plan. My understanding was that this would give me service of an equal or better standard. The representative told me it was the best package for my area. I'm now waiting for my new router (Smart Hub Plus) to be delivered, but when looking through the documentation, I note that my former arrangement gave me "Average download speed 145Mb/s" (and a speed test verifies this), but the new contract says "Your guaranteed download speed is: 59.6Mbps". I'm concerned that this will mean that the speed will not be equal or better, but instead will be dropping when the new contract term begins after I install the new router. Could I have been mis-sold an incorrect package? Or even though I've been sold a package with this lower average speed, is it possible I will still get the same speed as now?

[RH1978]

Thank you, @Mustrum.

[RH1978]

Thanks to everyone for commenting. Lots to absorb there for someone not technical like myself. Further to the links provided to me above, I found this page: https://www.openreach.com/fibre-checker/my-products - which identified that only two offerings are now available in my area. So it appears the contract I have been sold is for 'Fibre to the Cabinet Broadband' and that, based on the feedback above, my understanding is there's likely nothing I can do about my speed dropping almost 100 mb/s. Which I am very worried about. 

[RH1978]

Thank you, @Matt_124. I appreciate you explaining that.

[Mustrum]

@RH1978   It would be worth registering onthe Openreach network so you will hear if/when they will offer Full Fibre.

The Ofcom checker, or many of the switching sites, may be worth checking to see if any other suppliers are able to provide any services to you. https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/broadband-coverage 

[XRaySpeX]

Yes, that table confirms that once you give up your existing faster G.Fast connection there, all you can get is 80 Meg VDSL. Furthermore OR shows that you could be lumbered with it until 2027 by which time Full Fibre should materialise.

[RH1978]

Thanks, @Mustrum. Sadly there's only one other player and while they offer Full Fibre with really high speeds, my home "needs additional work to be completed before we can provide you with full fibre broadband". And the amount of time that could take to sort out is prohibitiv

[RH1978]

Thanks, @XRaySpeX. Shocking really. It looks like all I can do is hope for the best!

[RH1978]

Thanks for the help, @XRaySpeX , @Mustrum , @Matt_124 , @JimM11 , @Chris_B.

This has been a very worrying but helpful experience. I can see now that the sales person did not intentionally mislead me. They probably didn't even realise that I was on a plan that was giving me a better speed than they can now offer. It's a regrettable situation. If I'd known then what I have now learned, I would have paid the extra and just left things alone until I was forced off.

But I think I will make a complaint, as EE should really be more transparent and contact their customers to let them know this kind of potentially detrimental change was on the cards. Funnily enough, when I was originally contacted about my term coming to an end, they did offer that I could stay on 'Fibre Max Broadband 100 without landline' - but the problem I had was that when I tried to do it online, the website links just gave me error messages. None of the links to upgrade worked. No attempts to upgrade online would work, whatever route I tried. Which I now presume is because they were offering me something they couldn't actually sell.

[Mustrum]

@RH1978   At least now you are better informed as to what you can and cannot get.

Only you can say if 80Mbps is enough or not, but unless you have many users and/or games it should be enough for most households.

The more people who register on the Openreach site, the quicker they will implement their plans - you may want to spread the word, that said now they have a competitor in your area that will also have an influence.

[RH1978]

Done!