Fibre 65 slow speeds (not matching guaranteed speed)

[kam96]

Upgraded to fibre 65 few weeks ago, still seem to be stuck on the old fibre 35 package. I’ve tried rebooting the router after 30 mins to reset the DLM connection to no avail (using the supplied Sagemcom router/ WiFi Hub) and also my own TP-Link Archer VR400 v3. Nothing has helped. I temporarily had decent throughput, around 39-40mb (before it dropped back down to 34-36mb) but again still under the guaranteed speed according to Talk Talk. I’m out of ideas at this point. The only thing I can think of is that there may be an issue with the cabinet in my area (possible corrosion?) or the openreach socket installed at my home back in 2018. Any help would be greatly appreciated. At the moment this is unacceptable, I’m actually getting slightly lower speeds than I was on Fibre 35 - I was getting a fixed 38mb download speed using fast.com and Speedtest.net now I’m stuck in the mid to low 30s after the “fibre 65 upgrade” 

 

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Because you have an open complaint, we cant interfere on the community we have to leave this to the complaint manager. 

I can see that you have been offered the right to cancel with no contract breakage fee due to not reaching minimum speeds, also there is a scheduled call to you tomorrow around 16:00.

[kam96]

Couple of hours gone… still no response from anyone here. Why is TalkTalk not holding any accountability or responsibility for something they’ve sold to me that they (supposedly) now can’t provide. Why have I been lied to since late November/early December up until last week. I need answers. 

[kam96]

So it seems TalkTalk don't care for honoring what they sell to their customers anymore, cowboys. Selling a package saying it is available in my area and now backtracking on the guaranteed minimum speed they agreed to provide me when agreeing to contract. I am reporting TalkTalk to Ofcom and communications ombudsmen, this company deserves to be known for lying to customers repeatedly.

My issue is still not resolved after 3 months now - going into 4. Farcical.

[ferguson]

The support team aren't online at weekends. 

[kam96]

Since everyone on this thread has gone quiet I assume you have nothing to lie about anymore. TalkTalk are a fraud company and complete and utter liars, once I’ve raised a complaint with Ofcom and communications ombudsman, I will terminate my contract with this incompetent, lying, thieving company.  

[kam96]

Spoke to case manager who’s now claiming there is absolutely nothing they can do to provide me with the service they’ve sold to me. Not only can they not match the guaranteed speed they sold to me, they’ve been lying to me continuously and wasting my time on multiple telephone calls asking me stupid things like restarting my router 1000x. I’ve had it with TalkTalk, I’m on the lookout for a new contract with a much better ISP and will be raising a massive complaint against TalkTalk with Ofcom. Disgusting company and the worst customer service I’ve ever dealt with. 

[kam96]

This is the most outrageous company I’ve ever dealt with. TalkTalk are now claiming that I don’t even have “fibre 65” in my area despite selling it to me and it showing up on post code checks via Openreach. So I’ve been mis-sold something that they couldn’t agree to when I agreed to the T&Cs. If I had the time I would take TalkTalk to small claims court and sue them but it’s too much of a hassle. Openreach checked the cabinet and my home, no faults anywhere, they’re saying that TalkTalk hasn’t even removed the 40mb cap and I’m still under the old contract (fibre 35). I’m disgusted with this company and I’ve genuinely had enough of all this going back and forth. I’m discussing options with my father and we are contemplating terminating the contract and getting every penny paid to this fraud company back since we “upgraded”. 

[Arne-TalkTalk]

The engineer charge has since been cleared, and a 2nd engineer has now been booked for the 20th , hope fully they will fix the issues you are experiencing.

Please keep us updated after the visit. 

[ferguson]

@kam96 

I have re-escalated this to the support team here for you. 

[AllyM]

£98 is a strange amount. The standard engineer charge is £75. I would guess this will be for the engineer visit in January that you mention. I'm not sure what the charging policy is with TalkTalk engineers, but possibly levied because he didn't find a fault with TalkTalk equipment. Hopefully staff on here will look into it for you when they are back after the weekend.

The situation back in December was that you were certain that the fault was external to your home, and an Openreach engineer would be required, so I am puzzled as to why you arranged a TalkTalk engineer visit in January.

It looks like you still need an Openreach engineer (not a TalkTalk one) and TalkTalk are not going to be able to arrange an Openreach engineer to get the fault fixed while you refuse to accept the standard terms and conditions. If you have just done that months ago you would likely have got the fault fixed back then and would not be charged if the fault was (as it seems almost certain) on the Openreach network.

If you switch to another provider, you may get lucky and the engineer doing the switch over will detect that there is a fault and investigate/fix it. The danger is that if not, then you may just end up in the same position with a different ISP.

Perhaps the best idea would be to move to Virgin (who use their own network) or a full fibre service with any ISP if available to you.

[kam96]

To top it off, I've now been charged £98 for an engineer that has supposedly "visited my property". There has been NO engineer visit to my home since 8th January 2024 (TalkTalk engineer) who reported there is no fault in the premise and it is likely that the fault is at the exchange. Nothing has been done to resolve my slow DL/UL speeds. I am getting about 30-32mb/s DL (very unstable and sometimes dips into the low 20s and even 15-16mb/s) which is slower than when I was on Fiber 35 (38mb/s DL). My guaranteed download speed is supposedly 43mb/s... that is 10-11mb/s below (sometimes even more) what I signed up for.

Whoever picks up my call today will get a nice earful, disgusting customer service and support. I am on the verge of cancelling with TalkTalk after so many years if this isn't sorted within this month, what a horrible, horrible company.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi kam96,

I'm sorry but as stated previously we can't arrange the engineer visit unless you agree to potential engineer charges. If there's any fault found on the Openreach network then there will be no charge. 

Chris

[Gliwmaeden2]

They're advising you to wait to cancel, because only by so doing can they consider waiving early termination fees, @kam96.

You need to have also given Talktalk every chance to sort out the problem. Not accepting potential charges for an engineer's visit means that you have not given them the chance to put things right. 

Looking back in your thread, there's also a bit of confusion. Is this your account or your father's?

If the account holder has a condition that renders them vulnerable if without a working landline/ broadband, that needs to have been formally recorded.

Look up "accessibility" in the forum search engine if that's the case. Details needed to be completed etc.

However, if you are the account holder, it's odd that that particular agent mentioned waiving charges  - did you get hold of the transcript?

Not clear whether they meant simply waiving the upgrade charge, rather than anything else. 

That all needs a bit of clarification. 

Staff will be back after the weekend. 

I'll re-escalate this thread for their attention, @kam96.

[kam96]

Still stuck in the same boat... TalkTalk engineer visited my property, said there is no issue in the premise and whatever the fault is it is likely outside somewhere (at the exchange). Called TalkTalk again threatening to cancel my contract and they have advised us to wait ANOTHER 30 days to "resolve" the issue. I mentioned to the on call agent that if this isn't resolved I will be cancelling my contract with TalkTalk after 20 odd years (when it was called OneTel). Shambolic customer service, really gone downhill lately. I upgraded in late November and still not getting what I have paid for... nearly February now, appalling.

[AllyM]

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@kam96 wrote:

they’re standing firm by the “pay to fix something that belongs to talk talk and Openreach” malarkey.

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That's not what they are asking you to do at all though. You are being asked to agree that you will be charged if the fault turns out to be with your internal home wiring or equipment owned by you. As I said before, if you are certain this isn't the case then you shouldn't be charged. Mistakes do happen of course, and it has been known for customers to be wrongly charged, but I don't see any point in worrying about something which will probably not happen and if it does, staff on here are able to review the case and remove/refund the incorrect charge - I've seen it several times.

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@kam96 wrote:

Talk Talk is more concerned about making a quick buck over the loyalty of its long term customers.

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TalkTalk, and every other ISP, and every other business in my experience.

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@kam96 wrote:

prior to upgrading to Fibre 65 I had zero issues and the line was perfectly stable with correct upstream and downstream. About 38mbps download and 7-8mbps upload. Since the “upgrade” to Fibre 65 I’m getting approx 28mbps download and 4-6mbps upload and sometimes less with the line being very unstable.
Seems very convenient that suddenly after a package upgrade and the 40mb cap removed, I’m getting less throughput. 

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As you say, the simple removing of a cap shouldn't affect the line in such a way. It is odd and clearly something has gone wrong.

I think you have to try to understand though that it is a fault of some sort rather than something that TalkTalk have done deliberately as you appear to be hinting at. What possible benefit could they get from making your connection slower and less stable? Bear in mind that the engineer charge that you are so upset about, if it does happen, will come initially from Openreach charging TalkTalk for the Openreach engineer appointment. The charge to TalkTalk will be a lot more than the portion that they pass on to the end customer. TalkTalk will make a loss, not a profit from the engineer charge if it happens.

[kam96]

DL and UL speed even worse now, continuous drops and really unstable internet, high ping and jitter. Called Talk Talk today to see what can be done regarding the engineer situation and they’re standing firm by the “pay to fix something that belongs to talk talk and Openreach” malarkey.
Considering this line is for my cancerous father who is a pensioner and has been a talk talk customer for a very long time and has never missed a payment/bill to then ask to accept potential liability of a cost to repair/replace equipment that all belongs to the ISP and Openreach is farcical.
I’ve now asked for a transcript of when we “upgraded” to Fibre 65 over the phone when we were told by the CS agent that he would be exempt from any further charges due to his condition and age. If there is no middle ground or agreement in place to exclude any further costs associated with this line I will be cancelling the contract and moving to Virgin Media since clearly Talk Talk is more concerned about making a quick buck over the loyalty of its long term customers. I advise anyone who is a Talk Talk customer (new or existing) to think twice before agreeing to accept any liability for potential engineer charges. 
Just to emphasise again, prior to upgrading to Fibre 65 I had zero issues and the line was perfectly stable with correct upstream and downstream. About 38mbps download and 7-8mbps upload. Since the “upgrade” to Fibre 65 I’m getting approx 28mbps download and 4-6mbps upload and sometimes less with the line being very unstable.
Seems very convenient that suddenly after a package upgrade and the 40mb cap removed, I’m getting less throughput. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

@kam96, Talktalk's hands are tied because they simply can't send an Openreach engineer out without you first agreeing. They haven't made up this rule - Openreach simply won't book the appointment unless the customer has agreed to these terms first.

If you do decide to leave, you will have to pay early termination fees unless you are in the last month of your contract, and these cannot be waived if you have not given Talktalk far more time to sort out your service.

If you feel that you get charged unjustly, should you be charged, staff can double check the record. Many times these charges have been removed.

[kam96]

No issue for me, I’ll happily cancel the contract and move to Virgin if this issue is not resolved. They have their own problems as well but at least they’ve got fast broadband even with the occasional outage. Clearly TalkTalk don’t value their long term customers. I’ve been with this company since it was called OneTel. It got better for a while and has now clearly gotten worse again. 

[AllyM]

It appears to be a bit of a stalemate then.

[kam96]

I don’t see any reason why I should accept even potential liability because the fault is not with me. Openreach and/or TalkTalk could easily falsely charge me over something that is not my fault but theirs. Bewildering to think that TalkTalk attempt to lure customers into being charged fees for faults that are with their own equipment. It’s disgusting customer service. I need this resolved as soon as possible whether that’s sending an engineer out to look at the issue at hand or not. I don’t think it’s fair that I’m being held accountable to pay for an engineer to resolve an issue that lies with the ISP and Openreach.