Broadband/fibre woes - "£65 callout charge"

[forster]

Just some advice from the gurus out there, I'll give a brief rundown of what's happened.

 

I have fibre internet with Plusnet (BT) in the UK with their Fibre Plus package, I was on the standard fibre package but fancied a speed bump from 30-40mbps to 50-70mbps. I'm pretty sure my line will really only go up to about 40mbps anyway but wanted to test the line and if I was happy with whatever I would get with the 'Plus' package then I'd either keep paying the higher price, or cancel. Unfortunately even though the plus option has been activated, Im still only receiving the same speed as I was  on the standard package (about 40mbps, my guaranteed minimum on the plus is 44.5, which still isnt worth the extra money for the plus package, Id rather just cancel within my 14 days).

 

So I've contacted Plusnet who have logged it as a speed fault to the faults team to investigate - my worry is that if they send out an engineer and find issues with the line or property then I will be charged £65 for the callout (also charged if Im not in when he calls, or probably any other reasons that can be thought of). Im hoping it wont come to it, but my question would be what would they be looking for? We've never messed with the master socket box, we had an old extension that's no longer connected as we have wireless handsets in most of the bedrooms. I'm guessing the issue is going to be at the exchange, but I really dont have £65 to shell out - anyone know any common issues that they would look for in my home that I can pre-empt and check so as to avoid any charges?

 

My socket is a BT openreach socket, as below - I've tried plugging into the test socket with a filter, but my DSL isnt connecting.

 

 

I'm really sure there's no issues internally, but if anyone knows of the common things checked for, it would be appreciated if you can drop a message below thanks!

[Steven P. Administrators]

It sounds like you'll be fine. BT will be responsible for the line into that socket as long as you haven't messed with it yourself.

 

Can only speak for myself in The Netherlands, but my cable broadband company takes responsibility for the line and equipment that comes into the house (green line from street, router/modem and the connecting boxes they have put in) The LAN after that is my responsibility. Where I lived before could only get max 24mbit ADSL, so that is what they set it at on my account even though I paid for up to 45mbit (higher speeds caused drops).

[forster]

Cheers mate, I think so too. I dont even need the higher speed, I just want it for bragging rights haha

[+Matthew S. Subscriber²]

So let me get this straight, your paying for a fibre package that is an FTTN service or an FTTH?  

FTTN is fibre only to the neighborhood node and not to the house so you'd still technically be on copper and shared line, FTTH is a fiber line right to your modem which would actually get you your maximum throughput.

 

I pay somewhere around $100 for my gigabit fibre connection here in Canada, prior to that I was on the same ISP's FTTN service, which is really just DSL as it used the existing copper phone lines that came into the house.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

25 minutes ago, Matthew S. said:

So let me get this straight, your paying for a fibre package that is an FTTN service or an FTTH?  

FTTN is fibre only to the neighborhood node and not to the house so you'd still technically be on copper and shared line, FTTH is a fiber line right to your modem which would actually get you your maximum throughput.

 

I pay somewhere around $100 for my gigabit fibre connection here in Canada, prior to that I was on the same ISP's FTTN service, which is really just DSL as it used the existing copper phone lines that came into the house.

When most people talk about fibre in the UK, it means FTTC.  There is very little FTTH in the country.

[forster]

Yes it's FTTC, its a true pain. A gent from BT came out today and has replaced my master socket, and two connector boxes that the line initially comes into the property before it hits the master socket.

 

As a result, Ive gone up from 39meg to 44meg, and he's set away to the cabinet and the pole to see if he can make any improvements. The cab is at the bottom of my street, about 500 yards away and measures at 77meg. So over 500 yards I'm losing more than 30meg a second so it's pretty poor.

 

Thankfully the 44 is still under my guaranteed minimum, so Im going to give it till the start of next week and ring them to see what else can be done.

 

He did mention that FTTH could be available, but I'd literally have to find some way of covering the entire number to bring it to the area, and as I am in a very low-rent, low-business area I cant see it ever happening.

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