Lower download speed since contract renewal......why??

[5guitars]

I've been an AOL/TalkTalk customer since 2004 when I bought my first computer. Over the years there have been many issues, some resolved satisfactorily and some not, but the most significant ones have had to do with fluctuating speeds and not receiving the speed range advertised for the service.

The previous time that I renewed my contract, my download speed dropped from what had been a steady 37.5 Mbps to 32.5, just the day after renewal. Querying this, just brought up the usual and repetitive round of 'tests' with the usual negative result. There were no discernible 'faults' on the line or with my equipment and as no practical reason for this drop could be given, it was once again resigned to the great vault of TalkTalk 'mysteries.'

Which brings me to my current situation.....

I'd been out-of-contract on my Fibre 65 service since October 2022 and had just been paying the subsequent increased rate. Rather oddly, since being out-of-contract, I noticed that my speed had increased from the previous 32.5 to a consistent 40.5 with a corresponding increase in upload speed from around 5.5 to a giddy 10 ! It was this unexpected bonus and my indecision about whether to re-contract with TT or take the opportunity to switch providers, that made me defer the decision until earlier this month.

In the 1st week of this month, I spent hours over 4 conversations with several TalkTalk 'Better Value(!)' agents, attempting to achieve a mutually acceptable new contract. Honestly, it was close to torture and it wasn't until the final call that the agent was able to offer the speed range that is both advertised for Fibre 65 and that is available to my address. It was like pulling teeth, but I thought that I'd got there in the end : Highest 41.5, Lowest 37.5, Guaranteed 33.6. Upload 9.62 - 10.7

I made it clear that I was already receiving the upper band of that range and wanted to ensure that it wouldn't change, just by renewing my contract and I was assured (as before!) that nothing would...

Apparently, rather foolishly, I believed once again what I was told because from the day after I signed up to a new 24 month contract, both the speed to my router and to my devices started to drop.....

For several months prior to this and up until the day of my contract renewal, the speed to my router (using TalkTalk's Speed Test) was 48Mbps and to my device was 41.5Mbps. Each day subsequent to signing up to the new contract those speeds have dropped and the speed history on TalkTalk's graph clearly shows this. Prior to writing this, the speed to my router is now just 35Mbps, but, rather conveniently, still just within the guaranteed minimum.

To say that I'm both disappointed once again with TalkTalk's tactics and annoyed at my stupidity at falling for what I was told, is an understatement and I'm literally kicking myself for it! If TalkTalk is to claim that this is just a 'coincidence' I'm sorry, but that just doesn't make sense at all. The only thing that has 'changed' from the period up until the 6th September, is that I renewed my contract. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi,

Ok, I understand. I'll re-check the connection stats and will post back with an update on Wednesday.

Thanks

Michelle

[5guitars]

Yes OK Debbie, we'll leave it as is for the moment.

However, do please be aware of my previous message were I stated that an Open Reach engineer was able to reset my profile to 45 Mbps and subsequently it maintained a consistent 45 Mbps to my router and 41 - 42 Mbps to my device. It only started to decrease from that, the day after I renewed my contract. There is no practical reason that previous  speed couldn't be achieved again.

Regards,

Stephen. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen,

Unfortunately we can't reset DLM from here. This is usually done during an engineer visit. If the connection is still intermittently dropping (and affecting DLM increasing the speeds) over the next few days, then I think we should arrange an engineer visit to the property for you. Would this be ok?

Thanks

Michelle

[5guitars]

Hello again Debbie,

Last time that I had a visit from an Open Reach engineer (traced to a wiring fault at their end) he informed me that my line was capable of 48 Mbps to the router and he was able to reset my profile to 45 Mbps. It was since that engineer visit that my download speed had stayed consistently around 41.5 to 42 Mbps, until the day after 6.9.23.....

Hope you can appreciate from the above that I know my line is capable of delivering more than 34 Mbps.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

Thanks for confirming. The line test is showing this message again - The performance of this service may be impacted by a recent mass sync event. Submitting a fault to Openreach cannot expedite the restabilisation of this service.

This could be affecting DLM increasing the speed again. It is possible that DLM will increase the speed again but it looks like the instability has delayed this. If the speed is within the predicted speed range for the line then Openreach may not be able to increase this any further via an engineer visit. Would it be ok if we continue to monitor the stability of your line? Once the stability remains consistent for a period of time then hopefully DLM will increase the sync speed again.

Thanks

[5guitars]

'Morning Debbie,

Just checked now and its : 34.9 Mbps download, 9.1 Mbps upload. So just above the guaranteed minimum, but considerably below the 41+ Mbps which I'd been consistently getting until my contract renewal on 6.09.23.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

Sorry for the delay. Just to confirm, what speed are you receiving this morning when running a speed test?

[5guitars]

'Morning Debbie,

New router now connected, but initial speed tests show no improvement over the figures that I've previously given you.

Regards,

Stephen.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

Ok, thank you 🙂

I will check in again with you next week.

Debbie

[5guitars]

Hello Debbie,

Yes thank you, it arrived late yesterday. I'll have time to get it set up tomorrow and will get back to you with regard to any improvement in download speed. 

Regards,

Stephen.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

Has the replacement router arrived?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

Thank you 🙂

Debbie

[5guitars]

Thank you Debbie. Will advise in due course.

Stephen.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Stephen

The router is on its way, please allow 24-48hrs for this to arrive.

Let us know how the connection compares with this router.

Thanks

Debbie

[5guitars]

Certainly Michelle, although I am currently using the new router/wi-fi hub, that was sent to me upon contract renewal. I will certainly return that one to you if you include a returns bag.

Stephen.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Good morning,

Ok. I think we should send a replacement router for testing purposes to rule this out to see how both the stability and speed compares, would this be ok? We would also send a router returns bag so that one of the routers can be returned.

Thanks

Michelle

[5guitars]

'Afternoon Michelle,

No, I haven't been re-booting/switching off, just briefly at your request to connect via the test socket. At certain points, speed has dropped to the mid. twenties!

Stephen.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning 5guitars,

I've re-checked the connection stats and I can still see a few re-connections on the line which might be why the sync speed hasn't increased as yet. Can I just confirm, is your connection dropping or have you been rebooting/switching off the router please?

Thanks

Michelle

[5guitars]

Good afternoon Michelle,

Have had the router and phone connected via the test socket over the weekend and the speed (av. 35.4 download & av. 8.9 upload) remains unchanged from before. They are now back connected normally.

Stephen.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

Thank you. I've re-checked the connection stats now and we can see the following message. No problem found on the Openreach network. The performance of this service may be impacted by a recent mass sync event. Submitting a fault to Openreach cannot expedite the restabilisation of this service.

We'll continue to monitor this and hopefully the sync speed will increase again once the line has fully stabilised again. We'll post back with an update in 48hrs.

Thanks

Michelle