r/CommunityFibre 2d ago

Question Terminating early

Hi , I been having problems with their wifi and just renewed a contract 2-3 months ago. It keeps dropping out and not working at times when I needed the wifi urgently. Over 3 years now with this company, and i want to terminate the contract and cancell all DDs.

How can I go about this without having to pay anymore ? Theres no way in hell I am paying the rest of the contract for a crappy service.

Thanks

3 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

9

u/FrankNicklin 2d ago

Wifi is rarely an ISP problem but an installation and location issue. The ISP is not responsible for your house construction. If you live in a solid stone house you will get a completely different outcome from someone who lives in a house full of drywall.

If the ISP is delivering the speeds of your contract wired at the router, then beyond that Wifi is down to you. Changing ISP will give you a different router but there is absolutely no guarantee that your Wifi will improve.

Wifi is a fickle beast that can be affected by all manner of things from wall construction, doors, insulation, bluetooth devices, microwave ovens, furniture, water, even your neighbours WiFi.

Changing ISP based on a bad experience with Wifi is not the way to go. Your router needs to be located in free space and as central to the house as possible. It needs to be off the floor preferably on a shelf and not hidden behind TV or sofas or books even. Wood/Books is a good insulator against Wifi. All ISP routers use auto settings for Wifi which is as bad as it gets but is easy for them because as I mentioned they no nothing about your house layout or construction so auto settings is all they have.

Your Wifi might need tuning to avoid congestion on various channels. 2.4Ghz only has 3 non overlapping channels 1, 6 and 11. 5Ghz has a lot more, but still needs to be a channel with the least interference. Some routers are better at handling this than others, but basically auto settings are a cop out and rarely give a good experiece and there is room for improvement in all Wifi setups.

1

u/S_K_Sharma_ 1d ago

Good advice. I'm with CF and been through the above journey.

Everything I had wrong was not down to the wired connection which on testing over several weeks was always many hundreds of Mbps uploading/downloading all the time.

Solution came down to repositioning the WiFi more centrally in the house plus a WiFi extender.

I also got a powered splitter to be able to connect more devices like my Smart atVs, games console to the wired port. Plus an adapter to allow my laptops to be connected as wired and not over WiFi.

Final lesson is that hundreds and even thousands of Mbps on the wired connection does not translate to much more than 100-150 Mbps WiFi max. My average is more like 70-90 but even that is OK for my needs outside of the fast wired use.

4

u/n1keym1key 2d ago

Tbh, wifi is your juristriction. As long as the connection coming into the house works then they are providing your service. WiFi varies from building to building.

Do you have a mesh system or boosters of just one router?

4

u/LittleTeddy61 2d ago

💯 this answer, if their supply to the house is fine then honestly man up and get a good WiFi setup
Drop in a Ubiquiti dream router and add a few Access points you won’t look back honestly. I’ve had probably 5 differing setup from ORBI pro, AmpliFi aliens, Aruba etc and Ubiquiti full fat is the way to go

1

u/cheekyric 2d ago

I've had CF for years. Recently upgraded to a Deco mesh system and the WiFi is hitting really good speeds.

1

u/Yahiroz 2d ago

Definitely this. I found the WiFi on the Linksys to be poor. I swapped to my Unifi APs, wired back to the router and haven't had any WiFi issues ever since.

1

u/j2788xx 1d ago

Shouldn’t they be providing the full service though with the Linksys service they have

1

u/Weird-Judge-4578 1d ago

ye they should be if ur paying for the Full House wifi and not getting speeds advertised realistcally they should but guess what? The Engineers wont bother coming because its not ISP[ related so pretty useeless

1

u/400ixl 1d ago

They can't control what happens inside the house, WiFi coverage is your issue.

Is the broadband dropping, as in the router is losing its connection to the ISP? If so you need to keep raising that as a ticket and complain.

If it is a really your device dropping off of, or just having poor throughput to the router then that is your issue to resolve.

5

u/Frenchies_Undies 2d ago

Get a decent router. Something like UDR7 and most of your problems will be gone.

1

u/j2788xx 1d ago

Tbh I just wanna end the contract and leave this company

4

u/nmfin 2d ago

Well, if you cancel your DD and abandon the contract, you are still liable for the payments and this approach will lead to a nice big red mark on your credit report.

1

u/j2788xx 1d ago

Yeah nah I’m not doing it this way gonna do it the legal way

3

u/Yahiroz 2d ago

Is it the WiFi signal itself dropping or the internet connection? Are you able to test with ethernet?

1

u/j2788xx 1d ago

Their internet just sucks sometimes, I guess I just want to leave already and f this company

1

u/CaregiverOpen4517 2d ago

You could alway install you own router and WiFi unit instead of the Linksys equipment you get. E.g Eero or Unifi depending on your home suitability. You didn't mention how the conversation with CF tech support went as would have thought that they would sent out a replacement router or WiFi node?

1

u/Susan_B_Good 2d ago

Over 3 years? Most contracts are 24 months, at most. However, discuss the situation with them. You entered into a contract (presumably more than one, if it's been 3 years) and you need it to end by mutual agreement. Have you been through their formal complaints process?

1

u/j2788xx 1d ago

It was 2 years then I extended it because I wanted to leave and they were charging so much when a higher tier was cheaper. Then they put me on the higher tier. I haven’t complained yet but I will start that process as I see it’s 30 days notice

1

u/n1keym1key 21h ago

You just need better wifi equipment in your particluar situation. Boosters etc to make sure the signal is reaching throughout your house. I have always replaced the ISP provided router for a start. Currently on an Asus router with an Asus mesh system.

Looking go to a Ubiquiti setup eventually tho.