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2012 Update about BT Infinity:
BTcare - I don't think so
It appears that although BT are advertising the BT Infinity service heavily on the TV, they do not actually have any trained staff to deal with any problems or any communication between their amazing call centre staff (24/7) and the engineers (when they can be bothered to turn up) . This is a major worry if you are a customer. I would not recommend BT until this problem is fixed (page updated - 27th January 2012).
Basically, I believe that Virgin who offer a fibre optic cable into the house, and up to 50 MB download speeds (as agreed by Ofcom as being the best service) will be vastly superior to the service offered by BT Infinity.
I now personally believe that BT really do not care about their customers. Read more about this sham calling themselves BTcare.
BT offer a lot of support from their call centre (24 / 7), but appear to lack engineers to fix the problem and they do not turn up to appointments. You can spend days waiting for an engineer to not bother turning up to fix a simple problem.
BTcare - I don't think so.
Including TV Packages and Telephone costs
I have been testing out the BT broadband packages for a while, now. Speeds are very good. When it works, the service is good; and the upload speeds far surpass most other providers. BUT, It also crashes quite a lot. I am yet to decide whether this is local youths using illegal 'wireless bandwidths' or just a rubbish service by BT. I am moving towards the latter idea. My PC's are generally updated with all updates, anti-virus software etc; and I do 'computer support' for a living at a leading University; thus I am inclined to think that BT are not offering the service they should be.
I am thinking of signing up for an alternative provider to compare results, perhaps BT would like to fund this?!! Research is always good.
If you are thinking about which Broadband
provider to use in the UK, along with their TV, Phone and Broadband packages;
this is my entirely unbiased opinion. I have previously been a customer of Sky, Virgin and
I am now trying BT. I am happy to pay any reasonable price for a good service.
I spend a vast amount of my own time updating my Pubs History sites which are
hosted with ISP (Internet service providers) in the UK, mostly with eukhost.com. One day I will maybe
host this on my own server. I am a Computer Officer at a leading UK University, and am used to nearly
100MB speeds through JaNET UK. I would like a similar service at home. Here are
some of my results, and here is some quality feedback, as at October 2010. Just
for info, here I get about 90MB upload speed and 80MB download speeds. The
upload speed is the important one. BTcare - I don't think so. Speeds are not everything, but important. If you are getting a high speed but
a bumpy ride; then I often wonder if the providers are cutting other services.
BT technical support tells me that my service changes / improves over the first
ten days - I doubt this. They have seven days to prove they are not conning me,
and YOU. When their service does stop working, you are entirely stuffed. BT
offers a totally 'we don't care service'. In the KW service levels of companies,
it is recorded that BT is the worst provider of customer service to its
customers, and it just does not care. SAD. Broadband speeds - download & upload: The facts: There are two important broadband speeds, the download speed and the upload
speed. Presuming it works at all! Virgin advertise 50 MB, the new BT Infinity
offers speeds up to 40 MB. Test results (MB): Tested using this
speedchecker (Day 1 - 4 ) 28th October 2010 - Virgin (Upload speed - 1.5, download speed 50.0)
; BT (upload speed 0.8 , download speed 5.8 ) I had a letter from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) today, stating
they have no control over companies telling lies on the web; and that they
cannot control BT and their advertising. Fair enough. Today I called BT to cancel the service, as it is way below that expected. It
was mentioned that I should be getting at least 9MB download speeds, but unless
I could prove that the line was faulty; I would need to pay well in excess of
£200 in cancellation fees for the seven days of internet I had used! I requested
details of what my specific order was on their system, and apparently I was only
getting their ADSL package which offers speeds up to 20MB, of which I am getting
5.8MB; I queried about the new fibre optic service and it was suggested that I
may wish to sign up for this service rather than pay these ludicrously crooked
cancellation charges. The Infinity package uses fibre optic cable to the green cabinet near to a
home, and then uses copper cable. This speeds up connections incredibly; and it
was stated that I could get up to 33.6MB download speed and an incredible 8MB
upload speed. Then there was a whole list of reasons why I would probably not
achieve these speeds! I telephoned BT today. I have signed up for an 18 month contract (with very
heavy cancellation charges of about £12 a month for 18 months). On offer is the
Infinity package which is purported to be available to me at 33.9 MB download
and an impressive 8.6 MB upload speed. The person I spoke to went through all
the details of this, and confirmed that the minimum would be only 2MB less than
the non-guaranteed top speed! I will use this information if it is a pile of poo, like
the current service. The guy I spoke to today at BT was quite enthused by the service, and
reckoned my life was about to change; particularly the gaming experience of such
a major upload speed of up to 8 MB, minimum 6 MB. I look forward to this being a
reality, and hold my breath in the assumption that BT does in fact supply as
good a service as offered. It will cost them a fortune in getting it right due
to called out engineers charges if it is not working properly. I would not
bother with their ADSL service, though, it is generally rubbish. BT Fibre Optic Broadband is now installed (November 2010). Test speeds are: Download - 37 MB, upload - 8.2 MB; this compares with Virgin at 50 and 1.5MB;
what does it mean? My personal interpretation is that Virgin is actually much slower, and I have
just cancelled this service. The upload speed with BT is over five times faster.
I spoke to Virgin, and mentioned this, and there was no response. I also
mentioned they ought to listen to their customers when they complain, again no
response. My verdict: If you want decent broadband, and are prepared to sign up for an
18 month contract with very high cancellation charges, select BT Infinity (if it
is available). If the BT Infinity package is NOT available, I would definitely
not use their ADSL service as it can be painfully slow. Just for an update, BT broadband is slowing down a lot tonight - it is the
weekend and I have been asked to monitor over seven days; and therefore I am not
entirely concerned, as of yet. Virgin supply their service through cable services. They do not promise a
perfect service any longer, and I have to say that I was upset with their
service and the support available. The 50MB download speed does exist, but if
you are doing anything other than surfing the web, their service is very
sub-standard. I should point out that this page is from my own personal tests on BT and
Virgin. It is not biased by any advertising, just plain facts. The other plain
fact is that SKY offer similar services and are generally a scum company to deal
with. Do not touch SKY. BTcare - I don't think so. [Just to clarify why I am NOT including SKY in this comparison is the fact
that their broadband and Telephone uses BT lines; whilst their TV transmission
is totally corrupted by air turbulence and trees. I would never use SKY unless
you want an inferior service - there are a host of other reasons I would never
use SKY, mainly related to their selling practises, which are also particularly
scummy] I have had major problems with BT internet tonight. The speed was down to 300
kb per second. This is reminiscent of the old days before broadband, when you
ran a download overnight - shame. BT needs to work out of hours, as I believe
they do not have an out of hours support service.
As an example, Virgin Media advertise and sell 50MB broadband, this is a total
con and not always relevant. The upload speeds can be as little as 1.5 MB for this
same service (absolute maximum).
If the broadband speed test suggests that you are getting 50MB, which is really
very fast – and something is wrong with their service, it is normally caused by
their upload speeds
being virtually zero, and their total lack of interest in their
customers views.
In the old days, I also had a service with AOL, and also freeserve. These are no longer in contention.
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Best Broadband Providers in the UK - tested in October 2010.
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