Issue Upgrading To SuperFast Fibre Optic

[#1]

I was initially told to call PlusNet about an upgrade but they told me to wait a few days for the internet speed to settle. I did that and then I called Unihomes last week, I asked them if I could upgrade my broadband to the Super Fast Fibre Optic as the internet speed I’m experiencing is lower than I expected. They told me that it is not available in my location. However, when I spoke to PlusNet on the phone they told me that it was most definitely available and that I’d have to speak to UniHomes for the pricing and whatnot. So I called UniHomes again today, and I’m being told that PlusNet have to provide them with a new 12 months contract but the upgrade is still not available in my location. Which I’m sure is untrue because the exchange cabinet in my area most definitely provides Fibre Optic. I’m confused as to where I’m being lost in this communication as I’m being tossed back and forth. Please advise further.

[#2]

@Zab 

It must be a nightmare being piggy in the middle with your contract being between Plusnet and UniHomes. 
Just because there is a fibre cabinet does nor mean that there is any spare capacity.  All the lines might have been allocated to other students.

What do you get if you put your phone number in here. https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL. This will tell you if there’s any spare fibre capacity.

If you don’t know your phone number then plug a phone in and ring 17070. Your number will be announced automatically.

[#3]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Fibre to My Order 

[#4]

Hi @Zab

I'm sorry for the issues you're having upgrading to fibre. I can confirm fibre is available in your area so I'd recommend getting back in touch with UniHomes asking them to call our business customer options team on 0800 013 2632. 

[#5]

@Gandalf so I just called them again and told them to contact your business customer options team and they told me that it doesn’t work like that - they are not advised to directly call your line and it would probably be through email. So they’ll raise it and get back to me if they receive any response which I don’t trust because they haven’t been communicating with me. Consequently, I have not been receiving emails from PlusNet regarding anything to do with my broadband because it all goes straight through to UniHomes. Is it possible if your team can call them or I mean, flag this concern to be solved as soon as possible and get back to me preferably via phone call. I’m getting 3 mb/s with this internet speed so you can understand my frustration when I say I need this upgrade.

[#6]

Ah fair enough. I appreciate the frustration but I'm afraid we can't discuss the account itself with you as our contract would be with UniHomes. I can though ask a colleague from the team to call them back. Can you drop me a PM with a good contact number to call the relevant UniHomes people on and when would be a good time?

[#7]

@Zab 

Did you try https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-clear-the-cache-in-internet-explorer-2624707 as I suggested earlier just to make sure that 3Mbps is the expected speed for ADSL? It might be worth a couple of minutes to check to make sure that there isn't a fault and you could get better speeds without spending more on fibre.

[#8]

@Baldrick1 Yeah I tried everything. It did say on the Broadband Availability Checker that the expected speed would be up to 3mb/s so I’m not surprised unless I’m interpreting it wrong but take a look at this image.

https://i.imgur.com/wJTkS89.png

[#9]

@Zab 

I'm afraid that this is all that you will get out of ADSL.

Do not waste your money upgrading to fibre extra. The 40/10 standard fibre service is about as good as you will get on this line.

[#10]

@Baldrick1 Wait let me get this right. Is the VDSL Rates not the Super Fast Fibre Optic ? If not, what are the rates I’m expected to get. Not sure what 40/10 means? But I just checked online (unless I’m looking at the wrong thing) and it’s saying 40/10 is equivalent to 38 mbps which is exactly the type of internet speed I’m looking for. Again, I’m not really an expert on this type of thing so I need your advice.

[#11]

40/10 is a term used for our fibre package (Unlimited Fibre) that'll deliver up to 40mbps download and up to 10mbps upload, compared to our fastest package (80/20, Unlimited Fibre Extra) that offers up to 80mbps download and up to 20mbps upload. This is all based on what your line can actually achieve, so as the estimates of your line are under 10mbps upload and barely above the 40mbps download, you'd be better on the 'cheaper' package.

Having said that, UniHomes all have business accounts with us and for business accounts we only offer 80/20 as a fibre package. Unsure what they'll be asking in terms of a price but that's something you're best having a conversation about with UniHomes. We've rung them now and clarified the situation that you can get fibre. I believe the confusion lay because fibre wasn't available at the initial point of order but it is available now. 

I'm told that UniHomes have emailed the relevant person in our business team to upgrade your service to fibre which should be picked up this week so I'd expect they should be getting in touch with you shortly. If you don't hear anything back by Monday, it may be worth giving UniHomes a call again.

Feel free to post back to let us know how it goes or if you need further help. I must admit the process of us actioning account changes from UniHomes is a little new to me as it's not something we see often at all on our forums. 

[#12]

@Gandalf I’m unsure what exactly you’re referring to when saying the estimates are below 40/10. Just to confirm, are we talking about the VDSL Range Rates? Because from what I can see, it’s 46/8 High and 32/6 Low. So unless I’m interpreting this entire availability checker wrong, I’m unsure what the problem is.

Anything is better than 3 mb/s seeing as I can’t even watch a Netflix Movie, YouTube Video or Watch a Stream without it buffering every so often. And when the next University Semester which is due in the next two weeks, I’ll be needing such services as well as being able to Video Call (Zoom) at a fast speed and be able to browse the internet for research, etc. Also, to say that there is two tenants of this house, and connection to multiple devices such as TV, Phones, Laptops, PC and other gadgets will be connected which will further negatively impact the speed.

[#13]

Sorry for the confusion. Yeah I'm looking at the VDSL Range Rates. 8mbps is the highest estimate for your upload speed which is below the 10mbps target for the 40/10 package, and 46mbps is the highest estimate for your download speed that's just above the target so you wouldn't benefit much from being on fibre extra (80/20) over basic fibre (40/10).

The discussion though is a bit moot seeing as we only offer one fibre package (80/20) for UniHomes/business packages. 

Once UniHomes have given us confirmation they'd want us to upgrade your line to fibre, we'll get the order in place as soon as we can and from then, the timeframe would be based on engineer availability to carry out external work at the cabinet (the green box in the road), which normally around 5 working days but could be longer. 

Appreciate you'll need faster internet than you have now for your uni work, we'll make sure it's done as soon as possible once UniHomes have confirmed with us. Let us know how it goes.

[#14]

@Gandalf Thanks for clearing that up. Surely, UniHomes knew about this technicality about the 80/20 only being available seeing as they initially offered the SuperFast Fibre Optic but I decided to test the Standard incase I didn’t need it (which I did not expect to be terribly slow) and then would contact them if I needed upgrading. I think UniHomes made the order like you said with the accounts team. So hopefully it’s already in the works and I would need to have the discussion concerning the price with them when they contact me during the week. I’ve been delayed a lot with PlusNet/UniHomes since I moved into this home (as explained in my previous thread). I just hope this can get sorted out before I start Uni.

[#15]

It’s possible UniHomes offer both fibre packages but somehow cap the speed down to the lower one. The standard package you’ve got now though is ADSL.

Glad to see the ball’s rolling, fingers crossed it doesn’t take long! Let me know if you need further support