Great profits, but when will my broadband get fixed?

Dilemmas, dilemmas. How to form a considered view of BT’s promises to improve its broadband when conflicted by the miserable experience of being a customer?

The last pledge our household had from BT was a fortnight ago when we were informed that, within 48 hours, we’d receive an estimated date of when our useless broadband might be fixed. So far, nothing.

Still, chief executive Gavin Patterson has a reputation of delivering in the City, and today he did just that. Profits hit the top end of forecasts and there will be lashings of dividends to come.

That, along with its successes in sport revenues, is all good news for shareholders, but what about its customers? In return for Ofcom waving through its continued monopoly ownership of Openreach, BT today says it will pump £6 billion into rolling out faster broadband and mobile services. That sounds like a lot, but it’s only £2 billion more than the “excess profits” the regulator said it made from Openreach over the past decade.

Also, most of the promised improvement is from sweating the old copper lines in the final mile to people’s homes. When it comes to upgrading to the fibre-optic cable that brings speeds 10 times faster than ours in other countries, BT only promises to deliver to new housing developments, high streets and business parks.

My flat doesn’t come under any of those categories, so I guess we’ll just have to keep waiting, watching the little symbol that says “buffering”