OK Karl, thanks. I still plan to try to contact the interactive help, but if this gets seen by you folks too, then I may as well. It is a long one. The problems break into two main sections - Broadband and TV.
Within those, there are multiple problems. I suspect there may be an underlying cause. I have been with talktalk for a long time (20y?), initially via ADSL when I was supposed to get ~8Mb. I very rarely got >0.5M. Then I moved to fibre and the speed improved, but nothing like the advertised value. Now I am on fibre 65 and the speed into my router is often <40Mb. I also get frequent drop-outs. So I suspect there is, and always has been, an underlying problem. The list below is a set of examples of how that problem (or problems) manifest themselves.
BROADBAND
Generally slow:
I am on the fibre 65 scheme. Nominally I ought to get 65Mb. My guaranteed minimum is 45Mb. I usually get 10-30Mbto my
PC. This is true whether I use the Talktalk speed checker, Ookla, the broadband speed checker, or others.
My PC is not next to my router, and I can't easily move it, but if I use a laptop or a kindle in the same room as the
router I get similarly low speeds. Even my line speed is low - usually in the range 40-44Mb at best. This is below the
guaranteed minimum of 45Mb. I do not believe I have had above 45Mb at any time since I started the fibre 65 scheme. Do
you not owe me a rebate?
In all cases above, upload speed is typically ~8-12Mb.
Big download speed reduction when VPN running:
I use Mcafee and they provide a VPN for enhanced security. I always use this when doing online banking etc., and would
generally prefer to have it running. However, the download speeds I get when it is operating ar often less than half what
I get when it is switched off. I would expect some drop, but this is a big drop.
I work from home and my work laptop is set up such that it will not connect except via the VPN my employer hosts. I
therefore have to use a vpn when working.
I understand that there are various issues concerning my service provider that can affect download speed via VPN. I would
assume that, since Mcafee is a large company, their VPN server is going to have a reasonable throughput, so the large
reduction I am seeing should not be down to them.
I would like to find out what the speed is with my work laptop, but when I use that to run the talktalk speed cheker, the
site just gives me a failure.
Frequent coms locking on Skype etc:
I work from home a lot. Recently, over the past few weeks/months, I have started to experience video and audio links
"freezing" briefly but often. Even on a skype call with just one or two other people - and even if they and I are NOT
transmitting video - their audio (and video if it is being transmitted) will stop. I recently measured the effect. On
average, the freezes lasted for 2-10s and occured roughly every 5-30s, but there was no obvious pattern.
Fault finding failures:
When I try to run a line check on the Talktalk website, it initially warns me the phone may be out of action while it
checks the connection, and, after I assent to it proceeding, it starts the check. But then it comes back with an error
message saying it could not perform the check. Thereafter if I try to run it again, it says there is an active fault which
is being investigated. It also says, check again in a few days time and if this notice is absent, then the problem is
fixed. When I check back, the notice is gone, but the problem is still there.
I went through the fault reporting procedure some time back and at the time decided to switch to the fibre 65 plan. When I
reported that it was still no better, I was told, it is just settling in, give it time. But that was months ago and it is
still no better.
The last time I tried to check my telephone line on the Talktalk website, it gave a fault - ref REP-12420703.
Mobile Phone cut-outs when connecting via wifi:
Yesterday, my wife was using her mobile phone to make a phone call via the wifi and several times it cut out during her
conversation. This is much like the effect described in my issues with skype etc.
TV
App TV stopping & pausing:
Very often, when watching a film from Prime or Netflix in the evening - usually between 22:00-24:00 - it will pause for
very long periods, go very slowly or just cut out altogether.
However, I do not think the problem is with the line bandwidth. I think it is a problem with my Talktalk TV box because:
1, if I completely power down the box and power up again it (eventually) sorts the problem, and,
2, If I switch to watching the same film via my Kindle, it usually runs just fine.
So I really think this is mainly a Talktalk TV box problem.
Start Up:
If, to solve the above problems, I do have to turn the Talktalk TV box off and on again, it takes a long time -about 5
minutes or more - to restart. When doing so it displays a notice that there is a faster way of doing start-up, but I have
tried to go through the settings on the TV and cannot see how to get that to work. Some explicit instructions would be
useful please.
