A warning for PlusNet / F9 customers...

[#1]

Hi All,
I recently (over the Xmas period) made the decision to close down my F9 ADSL contract of just on 5 years to move to BT so that I could take out their BT Vision TV on Demand product.
Well, what a massive mistake that has turned out to be.
I've had nothing but a rock solid and stable connection with F9 with an IP profile high enough to give me a nice steady 4 - 4.5Mbps connection with no downloading or surfing problems.  Now, with BT, I've actually got a higher IP profile and better sync rate on the new BT HomeHub 2.0 as I've plugged it into my master socket rather than on an extension.  I'm also on Option 3 with BT - that means unlimited usage and no capping or traffic management other than P2P (which I don't use) as is my understanding.  The only reasos I left F9 was to be able to get BT Vision - F9 have been great with no problems (other than a small email server hacking episode!) in the near 5 years I've been with them.
So, you can probably imagine how seriously cheesed off I am to find that come 5pm each day my web surfing dies and ends up slower than good old dial up!  Often I can't even reach websites (including BT.com ha!) or it takes a number of attempts to get there, with parts of the site such as images never loading.  Once it gets to about 10pm it all picks up again.
Now, my understanding is that as I was taking a BT wholesale product resold by F9 and now I'm taking the same BT wholesale product from BT, it is BT Retail doing some sort of meddling to manage peak time surfing.
So, my advice to anyone still on PlusNet/F9 is to stay with them.  As is often the case, the grass isn't actually greener and I'm now stuck in a 12 month contract with a "broadband" connection that won't even let me surf the internet duing peak times.  I'm now weighing up my options as to cancelling my contract - my understanding of the BT "helpdesk" is that I will have a nightmare getting anywhere with this.  The fact that whilst I can't surf the internet BT's own speed tester still shows a nice 4Mbps connection makes me very suspicious!

[#2]

Forget trying to contact BT by any method, except 'snail mail'. I had a genuine, intermittent problem with my line for many months and ended up with the runaround from BT, of checking my internal wiring, etc., etc. By writing to BT, explaining my frustration, they replied, allowing me to break my contract and opt for another ISP, rather than try to fix the fault themselves. Spoke volumes to me. 
Only after moving to PN did I manage to get a BT engineer out to the house to check their side of my connection, to discover (and admittedly, fix) the fault!

[#3]

Sorry about your problems but it is very good of you to warn us. Like you, I have had my Force 9 connection for a few years (only coming up to 3 years for broadband) but have been lucky enough to have an excellent connection so wouldn't dare move.

[#4]

BT wholsesale/openreach only provide the connection from your home to a BT central at the ISP (that includes BT) who then control the traffic flow such as network traffic management policies, the BT speedtester only reports your line profile and tests the speed between a server on BTnet (which is what the infrastructure is known as snd your PC) I wont pick up issues to do with the ISPs network.
I know dealing with BT is like pulling your own teeth with pliers but what have they said?
Have you tried talking to ofcom?

[#5]

The throughput figures do include your ISP network (in your case BT retail), unless you log into the test domain.

[#6]

I sit corrected but definitely sounds like over enthusiastic traffic management  though doesn't it.

To  be honest though have never looked into how that works but its but of course it wouldn't be traffic managed would it hence why its showing as 4 Meg.

Anyway this is nothing to do with PN.

[#7]

Some good (and some bad!) news...
After weeks of speed tests, pings, tracerts, etc...  All showing what I already new - my connection was stable but BT didn't have the capacity - BT have agreed to let me out of my 18month contract 16 months early   Whilst I'm pleased to have a resolution I'm disappointed that BT couldn't resolve this without me leaving them - my plans to get BT Vision are now out the window as a stable internet connection is more of a priority than tv!
Now the bad news, I can't find any Plus.net products which only have 1 month notice period and don't come with an installation charge or a free wireless router.  I'm a bit disappointed I can't just get back onto the old product I had with F9 so guess I'll have to find someone else with 1 month contracts, no installation cost (not sure what the £40 is for?!) and no redundant router!
This is a great shame as I'd be back with Force9/PlusNet in a flash - after my experience with BT though I really don't want to risk being tied into a long contract again and am certainly not prepared to pay £40 for installation?!  It's a shame there isn't an option to take something like the Pro product on a monthly contract with no installation fee or "free" wireless router.
For info, the BT Speedtester tests the connection between the BT network and your router - not to the wider internet.  Hence I was getting high speeds results using the BT speedtester but slower results using Speedtest.net and attrocious surfing speeds.

[#8]

I wouldn't even dare change product never mind ISP. If it 'aint broke don't fix it

[#9]

Me too Strat - long may we have no problems!

[#10]

@wizbongre
If you're migrating in with a MAC, I don't think you have to pay £40 installation, you will probably have to commit to one of these new contracts though. Perhaps if James see this, he may be able to speak with you and discuss options.

[#11]

I read some advice (in the Guardian, I think) to someone with similar problems with AOL, on the lines of "send a registered letter stating that the were in breach of contract by not providing a fit service, and giving notice that you regarded the contract as null etc."
Seems that BT recognises the point.