Hi, we moved into our house a few months ago and took out a BT phone/broadband package. We wanted fibre but we were told that there was no room in the exchange. So a few months in and we noticed our broadband speed is terrible. Done a check and the download speed is 2.11mb/S.
So what are my options, wait 9 months for the deal to run or should I complain to BT?

You can complain and see if there is anything they can do but you must be some distance from the exchange or the exchange is saturated.

Maybe speak with Virgin if you’re in a Virgin area?

Or you’ve a fault with the house wiring. I used to get about that speed, then I fiddled with the house wiring and it went up to about 3-3.5 MB/s

We are a way from the exchange. House is old (18thCentury),….virgin not in our area. 😕 (Fnaaar)

I would love to be up above the dizzy heights of 2mbps right now…

We moved 1.5 miles down the road & our broadband went from a consistent 6Mb to a regular 2.2-2.5Mb with the occasional 3Mb on a really good day.
From what I’ve read, it is due to the distance from the exchange & there’s not a lot we can do, apart from switch to fibre.

molgrips – Member

Or you’ve a fault with the house wiring. I used to get about that speed, then I fiddled with the house wiring and it went up to about 3-3.5 MB/s

We’ve tried the router plugged directly in as close to the main socket & then in the living room down an extension cable, which made no difference. We’ve also unplugged the extension, to see if that made a difference; it didn’t appear to. I’d be interested to know what you fiddled with to make an improvement, so I can try the same thing….

We wanted fibre but we were told that there was no room in the exchange.

If the cabinet is already Fibre enabled but there is no room in the exchange for more lines it won’t make any difference who you are with.

You’ll just have to wait until they add more capacity.

Check on here to see the status of your local cabinet…
http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx?utm_source=superfast-furl&utm_medium=site&utm_campaign=superfast+furl

Cheers muffin man. Spoke to the BT help desk who said we need to have our line re-set. We should then get 3.5. We shall see….

Remove the faceplate from the master socket then plug in to the test socket. This bypasses any extension wiring and should give the best chance of finding your true speed. Use a network cable, don’t use wifi to rule out any issues with your wifi

Are you using the white ADSL microfilters or does your phone socket have two ports on it? If you’re using the filters make sure you’ve got one the end of anything plugged into extensions.

I had an issue with speeds fluctuating. To check whether or not the house wiring was causing an issue I took the faceplate off the master socket and plugged the filter directly into the test socket underneath (stops all extensions working). My speeds went from around the 1/2mbps range up to a steady 5mbps.

Got a MK3 BT faceplate from Amazon rather than use the filters and it’s been fairly stable since (touch wood).

We’ve tried the router plugged directly in as close to the main socket

I think it was the slot-in connections where the external line came into the master socket. Although my memory is hazy after watching so much of the Netflix/iPlayer I was able to afterwards.