A bit of a long winded problem with BT Ireland I'm afraid. Nothing to do with billing (yet
).
I've been with them since May 2004. I was on their 2Mb phone/Internet package until about a year ago. Around that time, my neighbours got broadband with eircom, and I noticed a slow down. Got on to BT with a tale of woe about my 2Mb connection being less than 1Mb. They did what they had to do and decided a downgrade was necessary. Bumped down to 1Mb and it was still wonky. We were told there was a fault on the line, get on to eircom.
A helpful eircom man came round, found the fault, and fixed it (the line from the pole to the house was replaced). He did tests etc. and told us the line from the house to the exchange was clear. Current 1Mb connection becomes stable. He told me he'd get in trouble if he checked or told me what max speed the line could take, but was confident we could get onto the 3Mb package if I asked BT nicely.
In a fit of madness, probably drunk on the prospects of a 3Mb line, BT were contacted. 3Mbs please, and sure throw in a line rental switch while you're at it - 1 bill is better than 2, yeah? 12 month verbal agreement, we'll switch over before Christmas, we'll test the line to see if you can be brought up to 3Mb, should take no more than 10 days, promises promises etc. etc.
After 10 days, no word, so back onto BT. "Computer says your line can't take it." "Did you even test it? How do you test it? I've been running speed tests daily and saw nothing." "Computer says your line can't take it." "...
" - I don't know if they
really did a line check, or it was just marked on the systems as not working from the initial downgrade.
7 months later and nothing's changed. The online DSL stats say my last login was Thu Dec 20 22:59:16 2007, so that's borked as usual. The BT Ireland website itself seems a bit off too. I've Broadband Option 1 (
Activation Date 10/12/2007
Status Active) AND Broadband Option 3 (
Activation Date 27/04/2004
Status Active) listed under "My Products". Any link to upgrade tells me "The product 'X' cannot be upgraded.", and the only "Request Change" I can do is a Downgrade or Cancellation.
Up to my neighbour getting broadband, my 2Mb line was running perfectly. The current 1Mb down is bad enough, but the 128k up is the real kicker. Video streaming and FTPing have become laborious.
What's the next step from here? Phone up BT again and bitch and moan to see if that does anything? Write a letter to the head honcho, whatshisname? Wait another few months for the 12 month contract to run out and try and get away from BT? According to some of the threads on here, getting away from BT is meant to be a nightmare
And even if I do, what length of downtime is there from switching providers? Not sure what wireless ops are available in my area - I see signs for ICE and Digiweb nearby...
One good thing that's come from this is how quickly the cold callers hang up when I tell them I'm tied into a 12 month contract
