BT 8 Mb ADSL

[fmgc]

I have just had my line upgraded by BT to a "theoretical" 8 meg line (http://www.bt.com/broadband/bb_info.jsp?targetSection=prod_page_2000A_E&vendorid=ATO&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_SessionID=@@@@0771109261.1146359717@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddhjfdhehlcflgcefkdffndfkl.0)only to find that the line drops every 20 minutes or so.

After a couple of days of this I decided to call BT (the Mumbai version) and was told that this will happen for at least 10 days after connection to allow them to ascertain the maximum stable speed on my line.

This is all very irritating and what I find particularly galling is that they never wanred me that this would happen when I applied for the upgrade.

[Dop]

I had exactly the same problem, except I was lucky if it stayed up as long as 20 minutes. I was getting up times of eight minutes or less!
It seems to be OK now, but it took five days to come right.

The registration process gave no warning of this, and the FAQ does tell you you should have a stable connection after an hour. All it says is that the speed will 'fluctuate'. That to my mind does not suggest it keeps dropping the connection. It's made using the internet near impossible for me in the last week.

Anybody using their line for work purposes would be severely stuffed if they upgraded in this way.

[Wodrick]

I have been 'upgraded' for two and a half weeks now and feel it only fair to warn others that this upgrade does not work. My previously stable and reliable 1Mb connection has now been turned into a 240 Kb (for the last three days) shadow of it's former self.
I hope I have the time tomorrow to explode customer service.

[spannersatcx]

Mines at 4mb, no problems at all. (yet):ok:

[bjkeates]

Does this upgrade affect BT Broadband customers only (i.e. people who have BT as their ISP) or is it also expected to affect people who (like me) have a connection from another ISP over a BT phone line and have been told by their ISP that BT is upgrading the line to 8Mb?

[Wodrick]

The 'upgrade' is available to all if your ISP supports it, and your BT exchange is capable. I am a long term BT customer but had to apply to be upgraded. It does seem that most people get what they want from the upgrade, like spanners above, but there are also many like me totally disatisfied. I was told to expect "up to 3.5 Mb" and have so far achieved, briefly, 1.9. currently stuck at 240 Kb which is much worse than my 1 Mb which was rock solid and reliable.
The biggest problem I have at the moment is finding a telephone number that allows me to talk to someone about this.