BT Universal Service Obligation

[Trident-3]

Hello,

I live in an internet black hole and have recently dumped Plusnet as my ISP because speeds were ridiculous at best 5Mb download and loads of buffering with prices rising beyond reasonable. We are 2Km from the exchange and swapping ISP won't make a difference because of landline length.

I've bought a 4g router to experiment with fixed access but Smarty speeds are at best 8Mb and in the evenings virtually nothing.

BT have a Universal Service Obligation to provide a "decent" internet connection IF available download speeds are below 10Mb AND there is no planned improvements to the service. We meet that criteria BUT if the mobile data speed exceeds 10Mb even for a second we are disbarred from applying for an upgrade.

BT have told me I have to get an email from my mobile service provider (eg Smarty/3) stating they are unable to provide a data service better than 10 Mb download before I can apply for the USO upgrade.

How do I get this information from Smarty/3 please?

Thanks.

[MSF]

@Trident-3  While I do see your problem, I'm not sure that you will have success in getting any company to give you a cast-iron guarantee of service or lack of it. Thinking about this, what is in it for them to state that they cannot guarantee the service?

Have you checked if any other mobile provider has a very strong signal in your area? Have you looked at the new satellite services?

Another problem I see is that in the T&C's https://sundaecdn.blob.core.windows.net/files/SMARTY-Terms-And-Conditions.pdf at 5.15, Smarty specifically state that "This SIM card should not be used as a permanent
long-term alternative to home broadband".

Notwithstanding the generality of the foregoing (oh, it's so nice to be able to use that phrase somewhere 😂......you could certainly write to Smarty, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

[Trident-3]

@MSF

Thanks for your reply, but that really bu99ers it up for me then. If I can't get a response from Smarty/3 confirming their inability to give a speed over 10Mb, I can't proceed any further with the USO option. I expect you are probably right that none of the network providers would effectively shoot themselves in the foot and I've no doubt BT know this very well. Equally the T's & C's of the service providers are I expect all very similar regarding fixed access. However, I am not using the 4G router as a permanent solution but rather an experiment to see what speeds I "might" get and none of the 4 providers: O2, 3, Vodafone or EE fare any better where I am.

Yes, Starlink is looking favourable but as a pensioner £75/month is an awful lot of money on top of buying the kit and we don't really need 150Mb typical speed for what we use. I'm looking into the possibility of sharing it with my neighbour who is in the same boat as us and completely frustrated at the whole nonsense. At least there's no 3 or 4 % +RPI increase in price every March with no prospect of an improvement in service 😡

[MSF]

@Trident-3  Ah, the joys of rural living!!!

I can imagine that, even if you did manage to get a statement from EVERY mobile network that their service would not meet the required speed, then BT wouldn't immediately be round to your streetwith a fleet of trucks and a couple of Km of optic fibre. Currently, they are installing fibre everywhere around here on a road approx. 1Km in length and I cannot tell you how long that has taken!

Also, do you know what speed you will really need? Is it necessarily all that high?

Assuming that you are not a gamer and don't have loads of others in the household downloading constantly, you may need less than you think.

For TV, I found this:

Streaming TV and movies in SD, HD or 4K UHD. For standard definition (SD) streaming you'll need at least an average speed of 3Mbps, for HD 5-8Mbps and for 4K UHD you'll need 25Mbps minimum, but we recommend a connection of 50Mbps to cover all scenarios (live 4K broadcasts require more speed, for example).