New Full Fibre EE/BT is worst internet I’ve ever used

[Brownevo]

I’ve used EE for over 17 years and the full fibre broadband EE/BTis the worst I’ve ever used. 
I’m severely disabled, my cctv is going off, my tv is streaming as I don’t watch live tv, it’s constantly buffering. 
Internet wouldn’t work upstairs, I had to go on the phone for over 2 hours to get it fixed. 
I’ve always thought EE was the best provider, I rang up to leave and go to virgin, but EE offered me a cracking deal, but it’s constantly letting us down. I don’t have the energy to constantly have to reconnect everything. Their customer service is awful. My husband wanted me to stay with EE as their customer service has been outstanding, but since taking over BT, even the customer service team has admitted they are struggling. I was charged for 2 broadband accounts for 3 months as EE forgot to cancel my old one.  It took months to get a refund. 
I spend hours on the phone, only for an advisor to tell me they have checked my line and there are no issues. Like I’m a liar. My broadband is slow, it switches itself off almost daily. It’s stressful as I get no help and I’m treat like I’m an idiot. I used to be a project manager in IT, before being medically retired, I’m not stupid. Has anyone had similar issues with the full fibre, as I’m seriously thinking of ditching it, going to the ombudsman as I’ve tried raising a complaint, only to be told there are no issues. 

[Trenchard]

I’m facing the same problem as well. Our network was working fine when on BT, when our contract was almost ending we were told they are moving all BT home customers to EE. We were put on a new contract, since then we have been having issues. My wife could no longer work from home and her work requires that she work from home.. When we call they put us on hold for a long time and when they finally pick tell us all sorts of lies and blame it on us or my wife’s office. We tried our neighbours Virgin network and it worked perfectly. I found out from this community we are not the only one having the issue and it has to do with the new hub given to us by EE which does not allow VPN to work on it. When I complained they offered to send us a new hub but force us on a new 24 months contract which I declined, why must we be subjected to a new contract for an issue that has to do with EE. The technician I spoke to today even asked me to go and buy a new hub, how terrible! We have no choice then to cancel the contract and try virgin. They have refused to cancel the contract saying they can’t see any fault as if we are lying. We don’t have a choice but to report to the consumer protection and rights to mediate, free us and protect other unsuspecting customers from this scam.

[bobpullen]

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@Trenchard wrote:

My wife could no longer work from home and her work requires that she work from home.. When we call they put us on hold for a long time and when they finally pick tell us all sorts of lies and blame it on us or my wife’s office. We tried our neighbours Virgin network and it worked perfectly. I found out from this community we are not the only one having the issue and it has to do with the new hub given to us by EE which does not allow VPN to work on it. 

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This sounds unusual. There's nothing I'm aware of that would prevent the use of a VPN regardless of the BT/EE hub you're using. I can use VPN's with the newer EE Smart Hubs so I wonder why your wife's experience is different 🤔 

If you're able to provide some more detail about what VPN solution is in use, from what device it's being used from, and what happens when it fails, then people might be able to offer some suggestions.

@Brownevo - when your Internet 'switches off', what are the symptoms? Any changes to the status of the lights on your hub/extenders or Openreach ONT box?

[Trenchard]

Thanks for your response. I am not a technical person but she could work from home when we were on BT and it worked perfectly from my neighbours house on their virgin network. EE has sent in two technicians already without any solution and you have promised to send in a third technician on Tuesday.  We have been paying for a service we are not enjoying and that can cost my wife her job. I’m sure you know what the problem is, customers cannot be complaining and you keep finding excuses to obtain money from them without providing the necessary service. Your customer service offered to change the hub if I’m willing to go on a new 24 month contract. That is evil, it is wrong to force a customer on a new contract for a fault that emanates from the you. We have five phone lines with EE, we have sports and other channels with EE, we are willing to continue with this. Kindly allow us to go to another network provider for internet to save my wife’s job if you cannot provide the service. We have already subscribed to virgin Network if it works it means my wife can work happily from home again. It will not make sense to keep two network, we will have to cancel our BT contract if there’s no solution next Tuesday.

[bobpullen]

@Trenchard - you'll need to speak to the EE Support Teams/Helpdesk in order to do anything with your account. Hopefully it's third time lucky with the engineer!

I'm not sure a new router would make any difference, even if you were willing to re-contract. As mentioned, I've used VPN software with the same router you have without issue so something else must be at play.

Shot in the dark but do you have any parental controls services active/enabled? Has your wife contacted her corporate IT Team to see if they're able to offer any insight as to why the VPN won't connect? i.e. can they 'see' the connection attempts at their side and are there any errors that might give us some clues?

It's a little hard to offer many other suggestions without understanding the symptoms of the issue/what software is being used and how it's configured etc.

[Brownevo]

Omg that’s like a carbon copy of our issues.  I’m severely disabled and I use cctv to talk to delivery drivers as sometimes I cannot get up, I have to reconnect them all every time our modem cuts out and our huge fish tank runs on WiFi and so does our heating.  EE even gave me this rubbish spiel about me being vulnerable and getting extra support. I explained I don’t want specialist treatment, just a service that works and a customer service that services its customers.  I also have been told that my system has been checked and there is nothing wrong with it.  I’ve even raised formal complaints that have been ignored.  I’ve sent in photos showing that my internet is constantly down and still I get told, there’s nothing wrong. 17 years EE have been the best. 

When I was overcharged for my broadband for 3 months, the customer services complaints team admitted that since they took over BT, their computer systems don’t talk to each other and they were having a nightmare. This will not be fixed soon, but I do feel EE will get there, I used to lead on systems takeovers before medically retiring, these things take time, but I think all of us will suffer issues for quite some time. If you can leave I would leave, I’ve got 2 more years of this rubbish to go. It’s a shame as I get free discovery and I’m obsessed with MotoGP, but I’d rather pay for discovery and have a broadband that works! Good luck 

[Brownevo]

Yes, modem constantly switching on and off, everything buffers (no change to modem), upstairs cannot get strong enough signal and must if us have to use our mobile data for the internet.  This happens most days, yet EE always say my speed is fine. 

[Brownevo]

 

 when I check my system I get this every single day! constant ‘apparent’ issues in our area. My husband has thousands of pounds of fish and corals (he’s grown) and our WiFi won’t connect or work continuously with the tank as our WiFi is rubbish.  A daughter that had to use her personal hit spot to finish her master thesis upstairs and I use my data to meditate at night, as the WiFi won’t work properly upstairs.  Yep, EE/BT just didn’t work. Worst systems migration I’ve ever seen 

[Brownevo]

I know I’m wasting my time, but I’ve raised yet another complaint.  I’m seriously considering using Virgin too, I actually rang EE to leave and they offered me a crazy broadband and new mobile deal so I stayed.  My husband was fuming, as my mobile bill was 1/3rd of his bill, but I’ve been with EE a long time.  I’m considering  just throwing the EE hub in the bin, (I’ll just return the heap of junk), at least I get free discovery, so maybe it’s worth paying my EE broadband bill to watch MotoGP 😂😂

[Peter_W]

Good morning @Brownevo.

Thanks for reaching out to us here on the EE Community.

I'm really concerned to hear you've had these issues for quite a while and haven't felt supported when attempting to raise this with our team.

I'm going to send you over a private message so we can take a closer look into ensuring we've done all we can here.

Peter