Contracted speeds changed without my knowledge and no notification

[#1]

I've been with plusnet for years and everything was fine until this year, loads of issues with a housemove, I won;t bore people with that.....but my current issues is:

My current contract was on the basis of up to 38mbps download with a min guaranteed download speed of 29mbps. Upload was min guaranteed on 7mbps.

I did a few speed checks this week and found I wasn't getting the minimum down or upload. I was going to chase it but life got in the way and then today I checked my contract and discovered that (in the past fews days) my contracted speeds have changed to min guaranteed download to 23mbps and upload 5mbps.

I've heard nothing from plusnet about any changes or problems with the connection.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@TheUnderfiend  Your contracted speeds have not changed, they are only estimates and Plusnet have somewhat foolishly decided to change the webpage to update the values as your actual speeds vary for whatever reason.  See this thread ....

https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Minimum-guaranteed-broadband-speed-unlimited-fibre-has... 

In message #2 a staff member states that the minimum guaranteed speed remains at stated at the start of your contract.

So your speeds may be lower than expected but your contract has not changed, the drop in speed needs to be investigated.

I don't think Plusnet give any guaranteed minimum on upload speed, there certainly wasn't on my latest contract which started last week. Also Plusnet are not monitoring everyone's connection, you have to be proactive and tell them if you think there is a problem.

[#3]

Thanks for commenting and I agree, I don't understand the logic of changing the webpage to change the guaranteed speeds, that just makes them look rather dodgy.

Thanks for the link to the other thread too, that was hugely helpful.

You are absolutely spot on, having now just spent an hour and 10 minutes on the phone with Plusnet they have discovered there is a fault on the line and has been for a while. But instead of fixing it, they (or is it Openreach) just capped my speeds to get around the issue.

The fault has now been flagged, so now waiting for the Openreach engineers to get it sorted, reset the line and remove the cap. No mention of any compensation for the lack of service or not meeting the minimum guarantees though, that'll be a fight for another day.

Just on contracts, mine was taken out last April and there was a minimum upload speed quoted at that time, but I appreciate what happened then won't apply now.

[#4]

@TheUnderfiend  Broadband lines are monitored by an automatic line management system, DLM, which can reduce your line speed to give the best available speed available. Often this is a result of a noisy line, or intermittent connection. It won’t get fixed unless you report an issue - that is your responsibility, not the ISP.

why you expect compensation if you have not reported an issue is an odd one.

[#5]

Well the problem was I wasn't aware there was a fault on the line until I started monitoring the speeds and noticed the 'contracted' speeds  on my account had been changed. The issue around the slow speeds has now been reported.

My ISP has a commitment to provide a Guaranteed Minimum Speed, which they haven't been doing. Therefore they have not fulfilled their end of the bargain.

The fault was identified by Plusnet and confirmed this has been an issue for a while and that my speeds were capped without informing me. This has now been reported and they know for how long my speed has been throttled, therefore they know for how long  they have not been providing the service for which they contracted.

I am a Broadband customer, not a telephone engineer, I have no idea how and if lines are monitored and what automatic processes are in place. But if they can paste on my account what speeds I'm getting then they do know it was below the contracted speeds. The fact my ISP's processes are flawed isn't my fault.

I don't see anything odd in requesting a refund on the portion of the service I haven't been receiving.

[#6]

So you had not noticed any problems with your service but expect compensation!

[#7]

I expect to get the level of service I'm contracted for and have been paying for, if I haven't been receiving that then I expect a refund for the difference.

If I hadn't had thought there was something amiss I wouldn't have bothered starting to check the speeds.

I came on this site asking for some insight and assistance, which I received from another member of the community. However all you've chosen to do is ignore that and act as some kind vigilante who thinks people don't deserve to get what they pay for unless they complain.

[#8]

Hi there,

I’m really sorry to see you’re having speed issues.

Appreciate you haven’t been aware of the problem, but I’m afraid we’re generally also not aware until you report a fault to us. All lines have automated software called Dynamic Line Management (or DLM for short) at the cabinet (the green box) which makes sure that you get the best balance of speed & stability for your connection. If there’s a fault somewhere, it’ll ‘band’ or restrict your speeds to try to maintain a useable service.

The software however isn’t that intelligent to automatically raise a fault, though it would be nice if it were able to. There’s more information here > https://community.plus.net/t5/Library/FTTC-DLM-What-it-is-How-it-works/ba-p/1322799 if you’re interested.

I’d note that where that article suggests we can’t request a DLM reset, this isn’t strictly true anymore though it does still partially ring true. We can request what’s known as a ‘caution counter reset’ to remotely lift the banding/cap on a speed, but that’s assuming the line checks out OK, otherwise the banding would go back on.

Unfortunately we wouldn’t be in a position to provide compensation for a speed issue as there’s been no loss of service, but that’s where your minimum guaranteed speed we’ve agreed on comes into play though.

If we’re provided with 30 days to investigate the speed fault and we can’t fix, then you’ll be able to leave us without paying a termination fee. You’ll need to call to tell us if you’re wanting to and we’ll make sure we don’t charge a termination fee when your account’s cancelled.

This way of working is in line with Ofcom’s Voluntary Speed Code of Practice we’ve signed up to and there’s more detail here > https://www.plus.net/help/legal/ofcom-voluntary-speed-code-of-practice/

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@TheUnderfiend wrote:

I don't understand the logic of changing the webpage to change the guaranteed speeds, that just makes them look rather dodgy.

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This shouldn’t happen and I’m really sorry for the way it looks. We’re aware and we have this logged as an incident we’re working on getting to the bottom of. In the meantime, I’d refer to the original minimum guaranteed speed we’ve agreed when signing up to the contract.

Appreciate this probably isn’t the answer you’ve been looking for, but I hope it helps explain.

[#9]

Thanks so much for getting back to me, I do appreciate the detail you've gone into and the comprehensive nature of the response.

It's a great help in understanding the processes and my options.

I appreciate you taking your own time to help.

Thanks again

[#10]

Cheers for getting back to me @TheUnderfiend 

No problem at all.

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@TheUnderfiend wrote:

I appreciate you taking your own time to help.

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It’s one of my weaknesses, or strengths, depending how look at it.  

Happy to help in any way I can though.