Broadband Saga

About 2years ago I complained to BT about my broadband contract, I had moved over to them after my other provider had been taken over three times,  each occasion mucking about with my allowance and speed, frustrated I decided it was time to move back to BT. I had been with them years before but left because their billing system was so difficult to understand, I never knew which tariff I was on and so forth. Now things were looking better there web site was much cleaner and less confusing, so I thought give them another go, they were promoting themselves heavily and the deal looked good. All was well for a year or so, then the trouble started, I suddenly found my bills had sky rocketed. Eventually a new contract was negotiated and all appeared well. My broadband service was reasonable speed did fluctuate from time to time but I could live with that.

One day while trawling the net I discovered certain companies offering discount for paying a years line rental in advance, contact with BT proved to be fruitful, therefore we have since done this, however every year they see fit to up the line rental, I fail to see why this is, trying to get a sensible answers from them is not easy.

Almost a year ago I started having real problems with my broadband, the speed would fluctuate wildly from 7.8mgs to as low as 2.5mgs it was okay for some things but then it would seem to right itself and the speed climbing back to normal. I complained constantly through this time, it would appear to improve for a while and then the troubles would start again.

September this year my phone bill was very big, I had recently paid for my years line rental which had risen by £20 this time (Why?) nothing had changed. The broadband charges were almost double, finally I got through to a sensible person who explained that each year I have to renegotiate my contract, as I hadn't I had been put onto a standard tariff.  I told him fine but I was unaware of this in any case I would have forgotten when it was up for renewal anyway, in the end a deal was struck and I am satisfied with the result.
Three or so weeks ago I was settling in to watch a couple of Podcasts on YouTube when I realised they kept buffering, I thought this odd I had not had this happen seriously before, this prompted me to do a speed check, I found speeds as low as 0.11mgs to 1.08mgs not good at all, I commenced a regime of checks unplugging this, turning, off that, resetting the router, connecting to the internet both wired and wirelessly, I inspected all the plugs and sockets on the system without any sign of a fault, I knew calling for help I was going to be asked to go through all this again, sure enough once the call was made this is exactly what I was asked to do, no change of course, eventually I was told maybe my modem router was at fault and that a replacement would be sent straight away along with a new filter. The router duly arrived within the allotted time but no filter, oh well plug it in and see what happens, result! negative, speed had not changed. Another call same procedure same result, and a we’ll send you another filter (I am still waiting for either of them) but a line fault had shown up, I was advised an engineer would come and check out the fault, if it was found to be outside then no charge would be made however if it was anything else a £130 levy could be made.

The upshot of all this is, on Monday morning two vans appeared outside the house one of them had a lift a guy was up the pole checking the line the second chap inspecting and testing it from the house, all results showed no faults the indoor equipment was fine the lines checked out. In the end it was suggested that I run the system from the wall socket rather than the extension I had been using, after much moving of stuff the modem and apple extreme were relocated next to the incoming socket. Result!! Nah same speed as before all that work for nothing.
Back to BT again all procedures tried, hard wired and wireless to no avail. It is now thought the fault lies with BT broadband somewhere it is being looked into, this is what I've been saying all along, but who listens to the customer what do they know?  

Twenty four hours later and the speed is climbing it's still not as fast as before but better than it was, I intend to let everything settle for a few days before ringing in again well I will if the speed is not back to normal..