Fibre speed has now dropped to 11 Mb/sec

[GoodTimes]

The service to my home is via an overhead cable.  The service fails every couple of years and OpenReach visit to perform a poor quality fix.  My recollection is that OpenReach last visited about two years ago and applied a fix that they described as "temporary".  The fix involved clipping a cable to the fence that runs beside the footpath to my home.

This "temporary" fix caused my speed to drop from about 25 Mbps to 15 Mbps.  My speed has been 15 Mbps for about two years.

I waited patiently for TalkTalk or OpenReach to tell me when the "temporary" fix would be replaced by a permanent fix.  Sadly, my patience was not rewarded and I never got a permanent fix.

In recent days, my service has been disconnecting two or three times per hour and achieves a speed of 11 Mbps when connected. 

I used the TalkTalk website to perform a connection test on 25 December and the test reported a fault and then reported that the fault had been closed after a restart of my router.  My attempts to perform another connection test or raise a support ticket have been thwarted by the website telling me that my fault has been closed.

My attempts to use online chat to report a fault have resulted in the display of a constantly spinning circle and nothing that resembles online chat.

What can be done to persuade Openreach to replace their "temporary" fix with something that works and brings my speed back up to at least 25 Mbps?

Thank you for you help.

[GoodTimes]

I was able to get back in time and have spoken with th Openreach engineer during his visit this afternoon (7 Feb).  The fault remains open and the Openreach engineer is attempting to organise additional remedial work.  Broadband speeed is good today ... but ... rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Thank you as always.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed is 21.5 Mbps.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Apologies, they should have made contact with you to rearrange the visit.

If the engineer tries to gain access today then don't worry I will make sure there is no charge applied for this visit.

It's possible the engineer is working on this fault externally at the moment.

[GoodTimes]

Hello ... I have heard nothing from the Faults Team and nothing from anyone else ... But, the broadband speed is up ... Perhaps we should wait and see what happens.

Thank you.

PS Current fibre broadband speed is 21.5 Mbps.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Did our Faults Team contact you yesterday in regards to re arranging the engineer visit?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Thanks for your reply.

I will post back to confirm once the appointment has been re arranged.

[GoodTimes]

8 Feb - PM,   9 Feb - PM,   10 Feb - PM,   11 Feb - PM,   13 Feb - PM,   15 Feb - PM,   16 Feb - PM

Thank you.

PS.  Current fibre broadband speed is 7Mbps.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Apologies, there may not have been any availability for that date, what other dates would you be available?

[GoodTimes]

Thank you for your reply.

Openreach asked me, via SMS text, for a convenient date for their next visit.  I replied that 8 February would be okay.  Openreach booked the visit for 7 February.  I will not be at home on 7 February.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Openreach have left notes to advise that an engineer visit has been arranged for 07-Feb-2024 PM (1pm - 6pm)

Please let us know how you get on following this visit.

Thanks

[GoodTimes]

The sad saga continues without progress ...

During January, my connection was consistently slow (less than 15 Mbps) and was reconnecting five or more times each day. The service that I am receiving is less than the "guaranteed service".

I performed a "connection test" via the Talktalk website last weekend and this automatic process notified Openreach that there is a problem with my connection. Openreach notified me that an engineer had fixed the problem on Tuesday (30 January). I was away from my home all day on Tuesday and saw no evidence of a fix. The line continued to be slow and unreliable.

On Wednesday (31 January) I engaged in a 45 minute text chat with Talktalk and it was agreed that an Openreach engineer would visit.

The Openreach engineer spent four or five hours running tests and fixing this and that on Friday (2 February). Eventually, I was told that the connection passed Openreach tests. The connection continued to be slow (less than about 15 Mbps) and frequently reconnecting. For example, today (4 February) there is a gusty wind and the line does not stay connected for longer than about ten minutes at most.

The latest news from Openreach (via SMS text) is that the visit by the engineer on Friday did not happen (he was here for four hours or more) and they have rearranged the visit for Thursday (8 February).

The current situation is that every month I pay for a service ... and ... every month Talktalk fail to deliver the service that I am paying for. Please escalate my situation within Talktalk and Openreach so that it can be fixed during the Openreach visit on Thursday (8 February) or on some other visit.

Thank you for your help.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes,

I'm really sorry to hear this and please let us know if you'd like us to arrange the engineer visit for you.

Thanks

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

I had  two days at about 19 Mbps ... but now the speed has dropped back to 15 Mbps.

I do not believe that there is anything that can be done to persuade Openreach to deliver the service that I am paying for.

I expect that the speed will again drop (and the line will frequently disconnect) during the next period of bad weather.  I will wait till then before possibly wasting my time on yet another engineer visit.

Thank you for your attempts to help.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Would you like me to arrange an Openreach engineer visit to the property to investigate further?

Thanks

[GoodTimes]

The router is plugged into the test socket via a microfilter.  No other internal wiring or phones are connected.

The speed is currently 9.1 Mbps.

Does Talktalk regard a speed that is a long way below the "guaranteed" as a problem?

Is there anything that Talktalk can do to persuade Openreach to fix the overhead line to my home?

Thank you for your help.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Normally DLM will lower the speeds if the connection looks unstable or there are a high number of errors on the line. The connection looks stable at the moment. Please let us know how you get on once the router is connected at the test socket we can re-check the connection stats again to see how they compare.

Thanks

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

Thank you for the line test. The router is currently reporting 10.3 Mbps.  Do we know why the speed is so slow if the line test is clear?

I will re-check my internal wiring and check speed using the test socket ... but that will have to be later today.

I will post again after I have checked everything as best that I can.

Thank you again.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thanks for trying this and I'm sorry to hear that the speed hasn't improved. I've re-run the line test now which is clear. Would you like us to arrange another engineer visit for you?

Thanks

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

I switched the router off and then switched it back on after thirty minutes.

The speed reported by the router is now 9.4 Mbps.  The speed test on the Talktalk website is currently reporting 9 Mbps.

Edit:  After switching the router off for 90 minutes ... the speed reported by the router was 10.3 Mbps.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Could you switch the router off for 30 minutes, then switch back on and check to see if the speed has improved. Please let us know how you get on

Chris

[GoodTimes]

I initially reported that my speed was 20Mbps after the repair.  The speed quickly dropped and is now at 9.2 Mbps.

It appears that Openreach (and I) were mistaken about the fault diagnosis and the effectiveness of the repair.