Legal action against aol what do you think?

[Starvinmarv 10]

I was on aol silver broadband for almost a year, nearly 5 weeks ago i upgraded to platinum which is upto 8mb broadband.

 

I have been doing speed tests everyday for the past 4 weeks or so and i am only getting speeds of between 512kb and 2mb, for the past few days i am only getting a speed of 600kb which i think is a total joke.

 

I have spent hours and hours on the phone and on aol live help, I've had a technician ring me and go through loads of things but that was a waste of time, I spoke to a supervisor around a week ago and was told that my speed would increase dramatically within 48 hours that never happened.

 

Also i keep being told that my line is still being stabilized which obviously is a load of ******** and i keep being fed the same lies.

 

I have wrote to their vice president of member services twice but i have had no reply.

 

I sent them another letter today and warned them that if they did not reply or sort out my service then I would consult my solicitor and get some legal advice as I am not paying £29.99 per month for speeds of between 512kb and 2mb.

 

What can I do about this?

[melthebell 864]

dont use AOHELL

[Beakerzoid 10]

....which is upto 8mb broadband....

 

That's the key phrase in all Broadband contracts....up to.

 

They cannot guarantee the speed will be high as it is dependant on other factors, such as the BT lines to your property, etc.

 

If you are not getting a speed better than 2Mb, tell AOL that you don't feel that you are getting value for money on the Plat package, and get it dropped back down to Silver or Gold instead.

 

Quick question, where is your modem / router plugged in? Is it at the primary (ie main) phone socket of the property, or does it run from an extension lead to elsewhere in the house? I ask this as a pal of mine had a similar problem, which saw a huge improvement once relocated to main box.

[Starvinmarv 10]

dont use AOHELL

 

Yes but what can i do about this situation? surely if I am being told lie after lie and if they are not providing the speeds that I should be getting then they could be breaking the contract?

[Starvinmarv 10]

That's the key phrase in all Broadband contracts....up to.

 

They cannot guarantee the speed will be high as it is dependant on other factors, such as the BT lines to your property, etc.

 

If you are not getting a speed better than 2Mb, tell AOL that you don't feel that you are getting value for money on the Plat package, and get it dropped back down to Silver or Gold instead.

 

Quick question, where is your modem / router plugged in? Is it at the primary (ie main) phone socket of the property, or does it run from an extension lead to elsewhere in the house? I ask this as a pal of mine had a similar problem, which saw a huge improvement once relocated to main box.

 

 

Fair point but I have been told by several members of AOL staff and by a supervisor that I would get speeds of at least 5.5mb.

 

My router is plugged into the main socket so i don't think that's the problem.

 

When I upgraded to platinum it meant signing up for another 12 months which obviously is not good now I am having this problem.

[fnkysknky 10]

You haven't got a leg to stand on - if you read the terms of the service you'd notice you are well within the speed tolerances. You are on an up to 8mbit service which is contended at a ratio of 50:1. This means you are contending for your bandwidth with up to 49 other people and so are only guaranteed 2% of your package speed which is 0.16mbit. In KB/s i.e the speed you'll usually see when downloading a file that equates to a minimum speed of approx. 18KB/s.

[Starvinmarv 10]

But I am being lied to time and time again by supervisors and staff as I have been told several times that I should be getting a speed of at least 5.5mb and I have some conversations on record.

[Beakerzoid 10]

Fair point but I have been told by several members of AOL staff and by a supervisor that I would get speeds of at least 5.5mb.

 

My router is plugged into the main socket so i don't think that's the problem.

 

When I upgraded to platinum it meant signing up for another 12 months which obviously is not good now I am having this problem.

 

Thing is, the BB providers can only base their advice on maximum connection on the exchange itself. If that can handle a high speed, then that is the figure they will know about. Unfortunately they can never account for any lines from exchange to property, and it is usually here where the slowdown occurs.

 

Do you have to stay on the top package for 12 months? I ask because when I was on AOL I upgraded to the Plat, but then dropped it again a few months later for a short time as I was having financial difficulties and wanted a lower package for a short time. It is possible the terms and conditions are different now, but this was only 2 years back.

[Ghozer 112]

AOL are only basing thier estimates of 5.5MB on what BT have told them, they use BT's systems to check the line quality and strength for your area and house, and if BT's system says you should be getting 5.5Mb, then thats all AOL can quote...

 

I'd contact BT as it sounds like thier issue, Either an exchange problem, or you need a power increse on the line....

[Guest]

Fair point but I have been told by several members of AOL staff and by a supervisor that I would get speeds of at least 5.5mb.

 

That's irrelevant. They're providing an estimate. If you wanted to sue you'd have to read your contracts Ts&Cs and figure out which bit is being broken. It's not the USA, you can't just sue because you think you've been done wrong

[kenthack 10]

and dont beleive all test results

this is what i got lmao

[Ghozer 112]

and dont beleive all test results

this is what i got lmao

 

Its right for me, 10.9Mbps (10330.8kbps) - and im on BlueYonder (Virgin Media) 10Mb

 

What you got usually happens if you run a speed test, then refresh the screen, as then, its loading from local cache, and not reloading from the website