Sporadic speed drops and unstable connection

[lockedoutagain]

I'm on Faster Fibre Broadband with a guaranteed minimum of 50mbps. I've almost never reached that speed but it's been steady at about 40 so I can live with that. However, for a while now I've been experiencing dips in speed and things are slowly getting worse - sometimes it's down to 4mbps. Restarting the hub seems to bring it back up to the 30-40 range. Sometimes it goes to sleep, things buffer, then it springs back to life.

Last week I did an online connection test and it said there was a problem, and it booked an engineer. I then got an email to say it was fixed. I didn't notice any change. I couldn't run another connection test because it said my fault was fixed, so I've left it a week. I've just run a connection test and it says that it suspects an issue with my broadband and wants to put me through the whole diagnostic/book an engineer process again.

I'm currently out of contract and considering whether to sign up for another 18 months. I can't really be bothered to switch but is this fixable?

Hub is connected directly to a new type wall socket, my laptop is connected to hub via ethernet.

BTW if I check packages available to me on the talktalk home page it now only offers a guaranteed 6.6mbps to my address (but I still get the offer to renew the existing faster fibre contract when I log in).

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm sorry to hear this. I've run a test on the line which has detected a possible voice fault. Are you experiencing any issues with the voice service such as noise on the line or no dial tone please? Does the speed always increase as soon as you reboot the router?

Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Or renew the current set up, and Talktalk might upgrade you anyway after a while, keeping the new contract price... possible, but not certain. 

Doing these things at a time of your choosing might be better than having it sprung upon you, @lockedoutagain.

If you get Full Fibre from another company, you will need to notify TT when you want the current service to cease (30 days' notice) as it is not a traditional switch.

[lockedoutagain]

OK thanks. We are out in the sticks a bit, if copper is degrading maybe I should bite the bullet. Gigaclear have just put fibre up the lane and that would be where I would move to. It's more expensive but probably more reliable. Just a pain to have to bother ..

[Gliwmaeden2]

The My Connection diagnostic tool is not very satisfactory, as reported faults appear to fall off automatically, rather than when actually cleared, after 3 days.

As the copper from cabinet to house degrades, in many instances we are seeing slower guaranteed minimum speeds, ahead of the whole thing being switched to full Fibre to the premises eventually, @lockedoutagain.

For current issues, leave everything plugged in and switched on ahead of staff checking the line. They'll be back first thing in the morning.