At the end of my tether with ADSL broadband! Advic...

I have been experiencing problems with my ADSL broadband for a year. I am less than 1km from my BT exchange. I currently use an independent ISP (Zen) and my own modem (Billion BiPAC 7800N).
Symptom 1: Intermittent audible noise on voice line which is accompanied by ADSL modem randomly losing sync. The noise on the voice line sounds like crackling or someone rustling cellophane, or sometimes squeaking. If I turn off the modem or unplug it from the microfilter, the noise on the voice line generally gets quieter or stops.
Symptom 2. Intermittent modem sync loss a few seconds after picking up or putting down phone receiver.
I have tried everything I can think of: brand new modem, turning router off/on, new microfilters (x3), plugging permanently into test socket, ditched Siemens cordless phone and using BT branded corded, changed ISP, disconnecting all other household appliances when the probelm occurs. I have only the master socket, no extensions.
BT have sent engineers on 3 occasions, but the problem never occurs when they are here. They have replaced the master socket, and wiring inside my house terminating in a new black sausage connector at my fascia board. They have fiddled around on the telephone pole across the street, and in the green cabinet down the road. They have put meters on the line. But they say the line is absolutely fine. They are quite happy to close the ticket every time, even though I have not agreed the problem is resolved. Sometimes the problem recurs within hours of the engineer leaving. Yet sometimes the problem goes away for days or weeks, but has always returned.
Can anyone give any advice on getting this resolved? It is driving me, almost quite literally, insane.
I am just about to throw in the towel, cancel the BT line rental and the ISP contract, and try switching to cable, which I feel now I should have done a long time ago. BT just do not seem willing to put the effort in to get to the bottom of this problem. It would seem like common sense to agree to send an engineer out on a day when the problem is occuring, but this seems completely out of the question to such a sophisticated company.
Thanks
Rob

imjolly wrote:
you can't seriously expect and engineer on standby to drive to your home immediately you phone
I am not for one moment suggesting I have a personal engineer on standby as you seem to be implying.
BT is a very large company with very many customers, and a measurable number of these have intermittent problems. Apart from myself, I have personally met quite a few in this category, and there seem to be a fair number voicing their problems on this forum.
It does not seem unreasonable to me for BT to adopt a different business process to such problems than currently. A proportion of the engineers could be in teams that respond specifically to intermitent faults and customers with such faults could expect, after a number of failed visits, to get hold of one on the day the problems are occurring. The current approach, whereby an engineer turns up many days after a customer has gone through a day of hell, with inaudible voice line and non-existent broadband, only to shrug, say no fault found, and close the ticket, is quite lamentable. It is deeply frustrating and insulting to customers in equal measure. Still, I suppose it keeps the senior management happy by minimizing outstanding fault numbers, so keeping performance bonuses intact, etc. However, it does nothing for elevating the status of BT in the eyes of customers.

Similar Messages

Account issues - at the end of my tether with BT

I've been a customer of BT for 16 years (that's loyalty!) but over the last 3 months I'm now at the end of my tether.
I upgraded my broadband & phone package in October 2013. BT closed my old account and set up a new one.
First of all the new broadband is rubbish (but that's another post!) but my main issue is with billing.
I received a link to set up MyBT which didn't work. I kept trying to use my btinternet mail account, it's says this is already registered with an account (that'll be the one that I was told was closed)...
I can still log in to my old account on MyBT but it says last payment was September (correct) but can't do anything else with it.
I now keep getting phone calls to pay my bills. The old account was (again) apparently closed so the direct debits have been cancelled. The details on the old account were meant to have transferred over to the new one, but this hasn't happened.
I have called umpteen times & used live chat, as nice as they are the issue never gets sorted.
They won't give me my account number over the phone or chat, so I can't set up a direct debit with my bank, in the meantime it looks like I'm a poor payer.
I am totally demented with this. How hard can it be???
I just want details of my new account so that I can pay it & check it online. And I want the old one closed!
Sorry if this seems like a rant but I am totally demented with it.

Hi drunner,
Thanks for posting!
I'm sorry for all the problems you're having. I'm happy to give you a hand from here and get you sorted.
Click on my username and under the "about me" section you'll see the link to get in touch with us. Please include the link to this thread when you complete the form and whenever we've received your details we'll take it from there.
All the best,
Robbie
BTCare Community Mod
If we have asked you to email us with your details, please make sure you are logged in to the forum, otherwise you will not be able to see our ‘Contact Us’ link within our profiles.
We are sorry that we are unable to deal with service/account queries via the private message(PM) function so please don't PM your account info, we need to deal with this via our email account :-)
If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

At the end of my tether with the poor service from...

I have been having constant dropping of my so called super fast fibre optic broadband over the past few months. It has been so slow its painful. I have contacted BT on numerous occasions and I am now sick and tired with having to phone and explain and perform the same thing over and over and over again just to be told it is nothing to do with their end. If there is not a problem with your equipment then why, if I turn the HUB off does the speed go back up for about an hour or two. I am having to do this up to 10 times a day.
And just when I think it can't get any worse I asked if I could end my contract because I was not receiving the service I am paying for and was told I would have to pay. What a joke! Who pays for a service they are not receiving?
I then phoned up to find out when my contract runs out and was asked if I wanted to renew the contract. When I explained to the lady the troubles I've been having she went away and told me she would see what she could do. I felt a big relief fall from my shoulders. I thought at last someone is going to help me sort out my problem. Well how wrong was I? The lady asked me if I had been sent a new HUB to which I said no, so she offered to send a new one but I would have to renew my contract for a year. Another joke.
When I first changed to fibre optic it was great but now i wish i had never changed to it. All I would like now is to get the problem sorted or get rid of it at no further cost to myself.

Just a few lines to assure you you are not alone regarding speed delivery. By no means.
I'm on Infinity 2 with HH5 - was virtually guaranteed 63 d/l and told possibly even up to 78. My actual speeds are nearer 15 (yes 15!) to 28 d/l if I am lucky. I've played all the obligatory games of checking and posting and reviewing my HH stats - and of course wasting my time with India "help" customer services who are instructed to read from a script of inane generalities which are usually completely irrelevant and have no connection whatsoever with a user's Specific problem.
It more often than not turns out that the automated monitoring system imposes a software called DLM = Digital Line Management = which (with the endless excuse of improving line stability) increases noise margins and drastically reduces speed. This can kick in pretty rapidly and can take at least 3 to 4 days to modify itself - if indeed at all!!! Usually an Openreach engineer visit is then needed - who will re-set the Profile to what it is you are supposed to be paying for ..... then of course it is totally possible that DLM will re-emerge and the same old cycle of troubles will have to be endured.
We pay in good faith at the outset on the back of so many promises - only to be cynically let down and dismissed once signed up. It is quite wrong we have to continually argue our case to (try) to get anywhere and are always reminded that we are tied into contracts with expensive escape clauses - or that an engineer's visit is only free IF it is proved the fault is not inside your house - which it very rarely is! This is often more an Ordeal than a subscribed service. Superfast reliable Broadband in the UK ? Ha!

Totally at the end of my tether with bill and pric...

New to this but totally at my wits end over it. I rang BT end of Dec and asked to be put on the anytime price plan as they were going to charge me £32 a month from £24.50 a month as I was making daytime calls.
I simply asked if I could clear my account and then be put on an anytime plan from Jan. I was told I owed £7.75, queried this but they insisted it was correct. I wrote a cheque for £7.75. Got letters after sayin I would be paying £17.50 anytime plan which was a £2 reduction for being with BT for a while. Then got a letter they would take £20 a month from me. I rang and then got told it would be £17.50 as we had agreed. They had received my cheque.
Now my latest bill says I am £50.45 in debit and from April will be charged £31.50 a month. yet other parts of the bill says I will be paying £19.50 from Feb to May with a £2 reduction.
I need a degree to understand the bill. Numerous phone calls and I still cannot understand it all HELP, its taking over my life trying to sort it. How fantastic it would be if you could help me.

You're right - the bills can be terribly difficult to fathom.
First things first, the £17.50 basic charge is correct (line rental £14.60 + Anytime calls £4.90 - £2 discount). But your monthly payment ought to be a bit more to cover chargeable calls, unless you're absolutely sure not to make any.
Your bill should be in 4 sections:
1. Your starting credit, hopefully a minus figure. This is the payments you have made since the previous bill, adjusted by any credit or debit brought forward.
2. Your basic charges. This is in advance and should be 3 x £17.50 = £52.50, but there may be items brought forward.
3. Additional charges. Obviously, this is what you used above your basic charges.
4. The bottom line.
If you paid £17.50 a month and there were no other factors, your bill would show payments of £52.50 in section 1, charges of £52.50 in section 2, and zero in sections 3 & 4.
But, as you rightly surmised, to get a bill like that you would need to start with a zero balance, and that clearly has not happened. I'm guessing that the £50.45 debt is the bottom line on your latest bill, in which case it will not relate to advance charges as suggested by oldie68. It is a debit; if it is correct your future monthly payments would have to cover it, and an extra £14 a month against a debit of £50 is not unreasonable.
If you can post details of your latest bill (with any personal information deleted) we could try to unpick it for you to see if it is correct.
You can click the white star next to this message if you think it was helpful.

I'm at the end of my tether with not being able to access itunes which I could do perfectly well before! Now my laptop won't even connect to the internet despite the connection at the hub being excellent! No problem with ipad and phone - only windows!

I'm tired of this problem of not being able to access itunes on my laptop and now no internet access despite connection and strength being excellent. What are windows playing at? Worked perfectly well until recently. Very frustrating and time consuming!

Just a few lines to assure you you are not alone regarding speed delivery. By no means.
I'm on Infinity 2 with HH5 - was virtually guaranteed 63 d/l and told possibly even up to 78. My actual speeds are nearer 15 (yes 15!) to 28 d/l if I am lucky. I've played all the obligatory games of checking and posting and reviewing my HH stats - and of course wasting my time with India "help" customer services who are instructed to read from a script of inane generalities which are usually completely irrelevant and have no connection whatsoever with a user's Specific problem.
It more often than not turns out that the automated monitoring system imposes a software called DLM = Digital Line Management = which (with the endless excuse of improving line stability) increases noise margins and drastically reduces speed. This can kick in pretty rapidly and can take at least 3 to 4 days to modify itself - if indeed at all!!! Usually an Openreach engineer visit is then needed - who will re-set the Profile to what it is you are supposed to be paying for ..... then of course it is totally possible that DLM will re-emerge and the same old cycle of troubles will have to be endured.
We pay in good faith at the outset on the back of so many promises - only to be cynically let down and dismissed once signed up. It is quite wrong we have to continually argue our case to (try) to get anywhere and are always reminded that we are tied into contracts with expensive escape clauses - or that an engineer's visit is only free IF it is proved the fault is not inside your house - which it very rarely is! This is often more an Ordeal than a subscribed service. Superfast reliable Broadband in the UK ? Ha!

At the end of my tether...

I am getting no joy at all out of the call centre staff in India, who for all their efforts seem unable to help me with my problem or in fact take the issue very seriously.
I originally ordered home phone and infinity broadband back on the 9th October, I was informed that BT did not need my MAC code as the line was showing de-tagged and was given a phone activation date of the 26th October and an Infinity engineer visit the same date - this was order number AGTAA912844
When the paperwork for this order arrived I noticed that the phone number that was on the order was incorrect - I phoned to ammend this information and was told that the only way to gaurantee that the phone number would be ported was to cancel the original order and place a new one. Reluctantly I did this and was given an order number of VOL011-56716064899 this came with an activation date of 4th Nov and an Infinity engineer date of the 5th Nov. (BT also offered a £36 credit as a gesture of good will for the delay with the order)
On friday 21st October I recieved a voicemail from someone with a Dundee phone number telling me that the date of the 5th had been cancelled, On Monday 24th October I tried to call back on the number provided and the line was either engaged all day or the one time it was answered it seemed the line was left open while a group of women shot the breeze about how awful their monday morning had been.
I complained through the online chat service and was directed to an Infinity Options team, who after a number of escalatons managed to get me a call back from a Manager by the name of Chris - he told me that the order had been flagged as a duplicate due to the previous cancelled order and that he would rebook the installation for the 5th. He called me back later that evening to confirm that he had booked this again.
I have now had ANOTHER voicemail from the same guy in Dundee telling me that AGAIN they have cancelled my installation date on the 5th November - today I have tried 3 or 4 times to get through to 'Chris' to see if he can work his magic again and all I ever get is someone in India who will not escallate my call without first having to go through the steps that they can do and having to repeat myself over and over again!
I am at the end of my teher with BT already and I am not even a customer yet - if this issue is not resolved ASAP then I will be cancelling my order and staying with my current provider - for all the potential benefits of Infinity this is just the most painful order process I have ever experienced.
Regards
Alex

BWEP
New member
Sent to      [email protected]
This is my current situation and like your self I am at the end of my tether
From the date of installation 20/10/11 I have had problems
Because the system requires a 24 hour verification the Engineer can only check that the system is installed from the installation disk NOT that it is working as implied by Page 3 Para 3 " What will happen on the day"
On verification and opening the system by   dedication icon you are invited to upgrade to the new Mail box. Which I did
A further pop up invites you to install a dedicated BT Yahoo Explorer 9
At no stage was I been able to use the email system on this dedicated BT Yahoo installation
I installed Chrome and was able to use my email .
This was confirmed by the Eninginee and on Firefox which he installed via on a remote link
This is a copy of his comments
The Engineer stated Quote " Failure of the update like all upgrade were subject to failure but would downgrade to the original mail box " Unquote
The resolution of the system was reduced in an attampt to complete the downgrade but Problem was NOT resolved
His conclusion was
UPGRADING to the new mail box from the system installed by the Installation Engineer corrupted the dedicated Yahoo Internet Explorer and attempts made to Downgrade to the original version failed.
SOLUTION Contact system suppliers and have Internet Explorer unistalled and reinstalle
As you will see fron the Addendum this  was  followed through but did not solve the problem
I am waiting for reply to my request to cancal my contract and on the Engineer's adnitttance is dammiing enough alone on the grounds for my request for a cancelletion to be accepted
Emails were sent to BTHelp but only acknowledged not replied to
A letter and copies of these were sent to
Mr Warren Bucklley Managing Director Customer Services ( signatory of letter of confrmation  dated 13/10/11 On VOLO11-56420******
I teleponed Bt london Office and I was told this was NOT possible !! I asked for his PA. NOT
possible
I was then twice put onto the auto number system . Impossible to comperhend !!
Prior to tlelphoning I had used the auto sytem and an over 60 minute wait the put throught to >India redirected to Glasgow back to India
This is a copy Transcript sent
SENT VIA INTERNAL HELP CONTACT RE NO 111028-00****
Original subject matter NOT ABLE TO READ 16 UNREAD EMAILS
I am advising you of my concern at NOT being able to use my Bt Yahoo
It was installed on the 20 th Oct and after experiencing difficulties with Reactivation it was activated on the 21 st
The Agreement states that the Installation Engineer would install the programme on one computer, which presumably means a in usable condition
How is this possible if the system cannot be reactivated for 24 hrs ?
If he had been able to check the system he would have found the Shortcut icon did not open a useable system. ( downloaded by him from the installation disk provided.)
Will NOT send emails
Shows x number of emails in My Inbox . This is inaccurate
No emails go to the My Inbox but are all saved as Drafts
The Speed Test does NOT respond
An Internal Popup suggested downloading a dedicated BT Yahoo Internet Explorer 9 http://home.bt.yahoo.com/
This has NOT improved the situation as is exactly as when opened from the Shortcut icon
Bt Yahoo open from CHROME does provide an intermittent service eg send emails but is NOT RELIABLE
The Speed Test has been completed once but others attempts the system has
NOT RESPONDED
I have sent emails to Tech Services which have NOT been acknowledged
I have had to contact Tech services by phone which is a mammoth task in itself
On ONE occasion I had to wait 60 min's for my call to be answered.
Another occasion I was put through to the wrong Service .I gave them my telephone number prior to being transferred and in the process I was cut off but my call was NOT reconnected
I have received assistance via a remote link and two lengthy session one some 100 min's plus.
The session was escalated and transferred to Bt Yahoo [email protected]
the problem was NOT resolved
Return call from Tech Services have been arranged but NOT returned. I have spent two wasted days writing in for a 10-00 hr call which did not materialize
A problem which should be addressed is the proficiency of the diction of the personnel of out sourced Service Facilities . I am sorry but in many cases the lack of clarity makes the problem more difficult and frustrating for the caller.
As a last resort I contacted Bt London Office and twice was put into the auto system with more frustrating waits
I rang off and reconnected and insisted I spoke to a " VOICE " NOT the auto system and was eventually connected to Accounts Management. SOME SANITY. I was given a number to ring which was faulty so I was NOT able to take advantage of this . !!
I was with my previous ISP for ten years but with numerous problems after being taken over by another ISP. I received a cold call from an Infinity Call centre and was promised an excellent service and that I would NOT experience these problems with BT
In all honesty the problems I had with my previous ISP palls INTO INSIGNIFICANCE the problems that I have experienced with BT through 20 th to today the 28 th .
I note from reading the Forum that I am NOT alone and I am considering to copying this to the Forum depending on the out come of your reply.
Since I have NOT had a written/email replies from previous emails it is my intention to mail recorded delivery copies of this to the Chief Executiveof ,BT Open Reach and Managing Directors , as copy list
I have sent copies of previous emails regarding these problem to Mr Warren Buckley, BT Customer Services Manager but not had the courtesy of reply. this was by first class post hence my intended use of recorded delivery
Need I say more
Barrie Peaple
ps By my count NOT is repeated 13 time !!
ADDENCDUM 29-10-11
BT Tech Services called at 0900-hrs today having been requested on the intermail system
Click here: BT.com Help from to call between 12-15,00hrs
The system was operated by him via remote link
The Engineer stated Quote " Failure of the update like all upgrade were subject to failure but would downgrade to the original mail box " Unquote
The resolution of the system was reduced in an attampt to complete the downgrade but Problem was NOT resolved
His conclusion was
UPGRADING to the new mail box from the system installed by the Installation Engineer corrupted the dedicated Yahoo Internet Explorer
and attempts made to Downgrade to the original version failed.
SOLUTION Contact system suppliers and have Internet Explorer unistalled and reinstal
1400 hrs
Making a final attempt to use Bt Yahoo as prescribed by Bt on their dedicated choice of Browser
Attempt (1) Control Panel>>>> Programmes and feature >>> Turn windows on and off >>> shutdown and restarted after both steps >.> Bt Yahoo was opened via the IE icon >>>system did NOT reconfigure after restart
>>. Problem was NOT resolved
Attempt (2 ) was repeated by turning off >>> shutdown and restareted >>> Internet Explorer was download from Firefox and reinstalled >> shutdown and restart >> System reconfigured >>> Bt Yahoo was opened via the IE icon >>> Problem was NOT resolved
Attempt (3) As (1) Bt Yahoo was opened via the IE icon >>> Problem was NOT resolved
About to Make a final Attempt (4) repeating Attempt (1) system did NOT reconfigure after restart >>> Problem was NOT resolved
15-10 hrs
MY FINAL CONCLUSION Windows Explorer has been fatality corrupted by the Mail Box Upgrade and on this premise it is my intention to request a cancellation of my contract in that the corruption caused BT Yahoo was unusable on the recommended dedicated   Windows Explorer server
I wi!! keep the forum posted
BWEP

Automatic tab when reaching the end of a field with limited character number

Hello!
Is there a way of activating an automatic tab behaviour when the user reaches the end of a field with limited character number?
I'd like the cursor to jump to the next field in tab order automatically.
Possible?
Thank you for any hints!
Marcos

Hi,
What if you tried something like the following example? This works using formCalc on the change event for the field the user is currently typing into:
    var fullCount = 3
    var currentString = xfa.event.newText
    if(Len(currentString) >= fullCount)then
        xfa.host.setFocus("TextField2")
    endif
Or, if you prefer javaScript:
    var fullCount = 3;
    var currentString = xfa.event.newText;
    if(currentString.length >= fullCount){
        xfa.host.setFocus("TextField2");
These work very smoothly.
Hope this helps!
Stephen

I am trying to get a good copy of my home video on DVD using IDVD. On editing the video all the viewing screens show the video perfectly in HD. When I burn the video to DVD all the end results are buzzy with squiggly lines. Any fix? Thanks?

I am trying to get a good copy of my home video on DVD using IDVD. On editing the video all the viewing screens show the video perfectly in HD. When I burn the video to DVD all the end results are buzzy with squiggly lines. Any fix? Thanks?

Hi
There are several layers to this Q
A. There are no HD in DVD - DVD is as standard only SD-Video what ever tools used to produce it !
iDVD or DVD-Studio Pro or Roxio Toast™ - will only make SD-Video on DVD
B. DVD can be better or worse
• Using "Share to iDVD" is no good way - Better is Share to Media Browser and as Large (NOT HD as result will be worse)
• Using iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - are not tools to chose if highes quality is of importance - iMovie up to HD6 or FinalCut any version is far better as they send over all lines to iDVD and not only every second one.
• Using Right encoder quality depending on movie and Manu duration is very important
• Use of high quality brand of DVD - is important - I use Verbatim DVD-R
• Type of DVD - DVD-R plays on more DVD-Players (even old ones)
• Burn speed - I set it down to x4 - resulting in less burn errors - plays on more players
• I secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up Mac OS hard disk as iDVD and Mac OS needs this and it can not be taked from other hard disks - has to be here.
• What You feed iDVD does matter
Video codecs
Audio file formats
Photo file formats
Yours Bengt W

Hich I didn't understand. I'm at the end of my tether. My OS is windows 8.

hich I didn't understand. I'm at the end of my tether. My OS is windows 8.

Nobody from Apple answers any questions here other than those that go longer than 24 hours without a response and all that those Apple people do is to direct users to kb articles that might help in given situations. It pretty much ends there. So don't expect "Apple" to hear your pleas.
if you want help from Apple, make an appointment at an Apple store and see if they can diagnose the problem for you. The only other thing that I could suggest is to connect your iPad to another computer running iTunes. If iTunes sees the iPad, then the issue is on your computer somewhere. If you try this, you want to turn off auto sync on the other computer. Launch iTunes and go to Edit>Preferences>Devices>Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically.

End of my Tether with Broadband fault at the excha...

Evening All,
I've reached the end of the line it seems with BT technical support and Im now heading for a deadlock situation. Heres a bit of background from the past 7 weeks or so to try and outline the problem I've got, whether it inspires any suggestions from the community as to how to proceed or potentially makes others aware of the tragic failings of this massive organisation in the semi rural areas across the country.
Had a new line installed as part of home move order which was placed 3 weeks in advance of our move. The engineer attended on the 31st July 2013 to install our phone line. We had a new line from the telegraph pole in the street wired directly to a newly installed socket in our living room. This is the only socket in the house. Unfortunately, the phone line did not work for calls, and I had to raise a fault with BT immediately. By the 5th August we had a working phoneline after finding several faults on what was a newly installed and tested line. Good work engineer #1. I then phoned BT back to say I wanted the broadband component of the homemove order fulfilling. I was told that I would need to phone again to get this once the phone line was installed as they couldnt raise the broadband order against a line which didnt yet exist. I found this slightly frustrating but liveable as I was told it would only be 48 hours from placing the order to having the service activated.
I phoned BT again on the 9th because my broadband had still not been activated. I was told the order had an error and had not been placed. My order was then expedited and filled on the 10th to activate my services. By this point I thought “great” as it seemed the ordeal was over.
Once the connection was enabled, I noticed the speed was very slow to use. My homehub indicated a sync speed to the exchange of 8mbit downstream and 0.45mbit upstream. After the first 3 days had passed and the line training should have been complete I ran the BT wholesale speed test to reveal my line had a 2mbit profile assigned to it. I phoned BT again who informed me of the problem and offered to reset the IP profile which would then lead up to the full line potential within another few days. For a period of 3-4 days this produced results at a maximum of about 6.5mbit, even though my sync speed to the exchange still showed 8mbit downstream. At this point it seemed to be resolved as much as it would so I considered closing the fault out. The same evening I noticed the speeds started degrading, to the point where the connection was completely unusable (a few kbit). I could not even ping a basic site.
I phoned BT again and they offered to send an engineer once I had convinced them of my competence to plug a router, microfilter and phone into the only socket in the house. The engineer turned up, completed the checks within the property and found the line to be fine in terms of noise/gain/etc etc. He surmised that the problem was within the exchange and bounced the issue back to wholesale. I was not informed of the results and BT helpfully offered to close out the fault because no fault was found. This is even though my connection was still fully useless.
I then phoned BT several more times going through the same infuriating conversations. Another engineer was produced. He did the same again.
We then repeat this same process a few more times. Sometimes the connection worked between engineer visits, sometimes it did not. However the same fault emerges over the course of a couple of days and we start the loop again.
I am now in the lap of the UK based resolutions team in Newcastle. However, they are not getting anywhere with BT wholesale who are still not recognising and resolving the exchange based fault. The really frustrating thing is that this is not just affecting myself. There are at least 7 other customers in the same exchange complaining of the same fault. BT have not recognised these may all be related and have been sending engineers out the tackle the individual problems of us incompetent customers setting up our routers incorrectly. However this is now turning out not to be the problem, and it is in fact the exchange. But BT broadband aren't getting anywhere with wholesale who seem to be refusing/unwilling/incapable to accept that the fault is within the network.
I am 7 weeks into this fault and hence heading for the stage where I will be requesting a deadlock letter from BT to take to the ombudsman. I have no ADSL alternatives at the exchange, being in a semi-rural area and BT is the only supplier in the area. Basically, I can either stick with BT on a connection which works intermittently and occasionally, or look at a more expensive laggy satellite system. However, this seems a tad unfair as I have plenty of neighbours enjoying the 8mbit max speeds in the area. Also, the exchange is under consideration for fibre upgrade so others in the area will be enjoying even more modern age tech, the unlucky few will still be getting ignored by BT as it suppose its difficult to fix all of the problems so if a few customers are left out, who cares?
I have requested multiple times that someone pick up this issue and own it to resolution because we, the BT customers, are paying for the incompetence of the whole organisation to resolve faults in a fair and reasonable time scale in a number of engineer visits befitting the problem. This seems to be falling in deaf ears. I have requested multiple times that the issue be escalated to avoid going round the same loop. That seems to fall of deaf ears also. The same team of BT resolution personnel are bouncing the same issue round and round to try and stop the issue escalating. One person told me the issue would be passed onto the tier 2 manager but that was a week ago and I've since heard nothing more.
I've guestimated that I've had at least 7 engineer visits to either the property or exchange on behalf of my fault. I know of 7 other people in the same boat (I know this because our local post office has a list of known broadband “problem” customers) who will have arguable had a similar number of engineer visits over the course of their faults or complaints. So I would round up to 50 visits to the one fault which hasn't fixed it. Thats at least £5000 wasted, going on BT's charge to customers for a wasted engineer visit at £99.
I feel its a very sad situation that the small percentage of “difficult” problems such as mine are being kept under wraps in order to conceal the multiple failings of this thoroughly salami sliced organisation which Im sure presented plenty of opportunities for statistics to become lost. Not to mention glorious overheads of multiple engineer visits.
So there it is, I have 7 days before the 8 weeks are up and I involve the ombudsman. I have got no where with BT on any front and my fault is still being thoroughly contained by the faults team as they are completely unwilling to raise a serious complaint about the handling of the case while the faults is still existing. A very clever trick which I presume waits for the satisfied customer to develop before receiving feedback on their wonderful experience.
So if anyone reading this happens to be a BT employee/share holder/director feel free to offer up suggestions on how to progress this anywhere. And anyone else reading this – if there is any alternative provider for services in your area, I would use them. BT will not help.
Apologies for the increasing sarcastic tone but reliving the situation in word form is even more laughable as a state in the year 2013. I had broadband 10 years ago that was faster and more stable.
Kind regards
Matt
Kirkby-in-Furness
PS - had to connect to an adjacent neighbours bt hotspot as a guest to post this! Took more than 1 hours to load the community.bt.com page

I have asked a moderator to provide assistance, they will post an invite on this thread.
Once you get a reply, if you click on their name, you will see a screen like this. Click on the link as shown below.
Please do not send them a personal message, as they may not be on duty for a long time, and your message will not be tracked properly.
There are some useful help pages here, for BT Broadband customers only, on my personal website.
BT Broadband customers - help with broadband, WiFi, networking, e-mail and phones.

At the end of my tether have had 6 engineer visits...

Hi - wondering if anyone here can help me or suggest who I can talk to to get some help.
I have a recurring problem which happens a few times daily - my broadband will cut out and, at the same time, there will be crackling and hissing on the phone line. I've had 6 BT engineer visits so far, most of whom claim to have done 'something', but nothing has improved the problem at all. For most of the time I've been running out of the test socket so my internal wiring doesn't have an effect:
1. The first guy (broadband engineer) did something 'at the cabinet' and claimed it should be OK - it wasn't. He also installed one of those sockets that separates the phone from the broadband at the master socket, just in case it helped.
2. The second guy (broadband engineer) said 'loads of things are wrong at the exchange', fixed them and the problem remained.
3. The third guy (phone engineer) said he changed which pair was being used on a cable going through some trees - this made no difference.
4. The fourth guy (phone engineer) looked at the box on the telegraph pole at the end of our drive, said it was full of water and corroded, and fixed that. No difference.
5. The fifth guy (phone engineer)  said there was nothing wrong with the line, but noticed some noise, and said it seemed to stop when the router was unplugged. He plugged my internal wiring back in and said it wasn't making any difference. Still the problem occurred. He mentioned something called a 'special field investigation' as being what would be needed if the problem continued.
6. The sixth guy (broadband engineer) today said the problem was my internal wiring (despite my protestations that the problem occurred when using the test socket), and disconnected it altogether. Did tests at my house and the exchange and said it was all fine now. An hour later my line goes down and the phone noise is back (despite the excellent and calm weather).
I tried have tried two different routers (my BT Home Hub 3 and also an older Belkin router) - the problem's there on both. What seems to happen (particularly on the Home Hub 3) is that the noise margin just drops lower and lower over the course of a few hours until the connection fails, the phone gets noisy and (usually) the router needs to be reset.
I have another guy visiting on Thursday. I am starting to get frustrated calling up the call centre each time and going through the same old process of having them tell me they'll reset my line, that not working, getting an engineer out, them turning up while the intermittant fault isn't occuring, trying to find something to fix and either fixing that or just telling me everything seems to be OK, and that, unless the fault is happening while they're there, there's nothing I can do. Whenever I ask the call centre for a 'special field investigation' they don't seem to know what that is.
Question - what can I do in this situation? I'm feeling that BT is charging me for a service it's unable to provide, and they don't seem willing or able to make the broadband work properly. Presumably what is needed is for whatever equipment they use (or people) to find these faults to spend sufficient time monitoring the line (which might be a whole day) so that they can find what is causing the problem.
I have a suspicion that the fact that my line goes overhead through a lot of trees could be a part of the problem, but I guess it could be anything.
Is there another department that I can talk to that can prioritise getting this resolved? It's costing me a huge amount of time and, since I rely on the internet connection for work, money.
My current router stats are as below, although not sure they'll be of much use:
Data Rate(Kbps)
         6676
         444
Noise margin (dB)
         6.7
         23.1
Output power (dBm)
         13.1
         0.0
Attenuation (dB)
         48.5
         26.9
If someone from BT sees this and can help, please do!
Thanks in advance

So the engineer came and, of course, everything was working ok. He did fit some kind of RF filter on my main socket, and 'changed the pair' on one of the outside cables. Since then, I've only had a noisy line once, and seem to have been connected for 3 days solid, which is a record!
I've switched back to my BT Home hub 3, which guavas me more stats. The line has previously given me up to 6mb/s, now only getting 1.6.
Do you think, now the line seems more stable, with the stats below I should be able to maintain a higher speed now?
Thanks
Line state: Connected
Connection time: 3 days, 02:19:39
Downstream: 1.601 Mbps
Upstream: 444.9 Kbps
ADSL Settings
VPI/VCI: 0/38
Type: PPPoA
Modulation: G.992.3 Annex A
Latency type: Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up): 17.7 dB / 22.6 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up): 44.8 dB / 27.0 dB
Output power (Down/Up): 18.6 dBm / 12.6 dBm
FEC Events (Down/Up): 3144673 / 0
CRC Events (Down/Up): 14434 / 38
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
HEC Events (Down/Up): 111873 / 10
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1011 / 4

At the end of my patience with BT

Two weeks ago, a rushed delivery driver rounding the tight corner in the dark outside of my house crashed into my telegraph pole (actually on the roadside). It made a very loud noise, I rushed outside but he had driven away leaving part of the vans trim behind (which I have still got). I find it hard to believe that the instant problems that I have had with my telephone and broadband since then are not connected. Initially I noticed that the telephone line was very noisy, then I noticed that the broadband (usually 6.5-ish MBps) was much reduced - I used the BT Wholesale Speedtest and discovered that it was 3.9 MBps,
I contacted Technical help, going through the checks they identified that when we unplugged the broadband line the telephone instantly cleaned up, they ordered me a replacement Hub as they felt the original was faulty (they were not interested in the Telegraph pole story). The Hub arrived 2 days later and I fitted it - no change, I called in the problem again and spend a couple of hours going through all of the checks, including getting cut off a couple of times during transfers between Departments which necessitated calling in again, starting from scratch. It was suggested that the reduced IP profile and slow speeds was the result of the new Hub not being stabilised and so I was asked to leave it a few days, if it hadn't levelled out, call it in again.
It didn't magically mend itself. I spend another couple of hours trying to get to someone who can help but 'the script' is unavavoidable. I was cut off at least twice being transferred to 'Level 2' which meant 'start again from scratch'. Because of the noisy line and the amount of time involved I also tried the Online Live Chat on 3 or 4 occasions but was unable to get anywhere - it is so easy to get 're-queued' when the problem outstrips the agents grade, Everyone was very kind and caring using the exact same apologetic phrases, no-one owned the problem enough to solve it. I asked to be transferred to the department who would handle my cancellation, at last, someone based in the UK!! I vented my total frustration and she was most sympathetic, I explained that the offshore call-centre and the convoluted telephone system was not working for me, she was sure that the engineer who I had been allocated for the next day would sort everything out for me, on the spot. I relented putting my total disatisfaction down to the fact that within the last 10 days I had probably devoted 12 hours to simply reporting, testing, waiting on hold for an advisor, or using the Live Chat - like everyone else - I simply don't have time for that the week before Christmas. I am a Phone, Broadband and Vision customer, Vision is useless with low speed, phones are useless when so noisy, broadband is pointless when contantly dropping out.
The engineer visited, he replaced the main socket to a brand-new one as the existing socket (although the newer vision style, one socket above the other) was known to have issues. The phone was quiet, broadband showed 4.5 MBps but that was because the IP Profile was 4.5MBps - he suggeated I call it in and get the Profile reset. As he left I was on the phone, I waited 12 minutes to get through to 'stage 1' and noticed that as time passed the a noise started and grew to the same level as before his visit, I then spent another 3 hours reporting the problem, getting disconnected, starting again, getting cut-off when line testing whilst I was invited to accept a call on my mobile which being in a poor reception area was always going to be a bad option, then getting cut-off again between transfers to 'Level 2' and restarting the whole thing from scratch. Ultimately a very nice Level 2 lady promised me that unlike my experience to date, she would personally ensure that my Profile was improved and call me the next morning (today) between 9 and 10am to confirm everything was ok and if not, send out an engineer. By 10pm last night I indeed had a connection speed of 6.9MBps, the phone line was quiet, my Profile was 7.1MBps. She called this morning and I thanked her for her help and we went our seperate ways.
Twenty minutes after her call it rained, the phone line became very noisy, my connection speed dropped to 2.5MBps dropping out every 5 minutes, disaster. I called it in again, another wasted 2 hours that I will never get back, only cut off twice this time, on one occasion I got a voice mail message saying "we were cut off, call in again and someone will help you" I felt quite angry by that point. On my final try I got through to someone who listened and has arranged an engineer for Tuesday (Christmas Eve!) but that as he can see nothing wrong with the line, and as the noise cleared up during the course of our conversation, that I will possibly get charged £129 for the privilige. Throughout all of this, no-one would consider the Telegraph pole damage as a potention cause of a HR fault, especially in the presence of water from rain. I have tried to get it across but one of the Bangalore crowd just gave me Openreach's telephone number to get it sorted, I only realised that was a 'get rid of him' tactic when the chap at Openreach said that basically they only deal with poles knocked over or dangerous in some other way.
The last Adviser suggested I left it a few days and if not resolved call it in again, it was 13.03pm, I explained that it had taken from 10am to get to that stage with him, there was no way I was going to start from scratch reporting the same problem on Monday, he promised to call me on Monday (the day before the engineer visit was arranged) so we had time to cancel it if all was well (although as nothing was being done in the meantime, no IP profile reset etc it was most unlikely to mend itself by my past experience) He thought it was probably a faulty Hub, he asked me to refit the original which I did, the inevitabilty of the eventual fail is so draining.
I live in a Rural area, there is no fibre optic, I have spent the last few minutes prior to registering on this forum investigating Satellite Broadband. Why can BT simply not send one person, capable of broadband AND phone? Why is the Indian Call-Centre so regimented in adhering to a standard script showing almost no initiative. What ever happened to the UK Call-Centre? Most importantly, bearing in mind that my current fault is the same as it has been since the van-crash - what do you Moderators suggest that I get the engineer to specifically do if on Tuesday when he turns up he finds 'no-issue'? - ask him to wait for it to rain?
Apologies for this long rant but the inability to talk to a UK based, free-thinking Technical Help and Customer Service Departments must be costing a fortune. Forget the savings in running the technicians abroad, they cannot possible offset the wasted time, replacement equipment thats not needed, engineer visits that are not addressing the real issues (my first engineer was telephone, not broadband) and the resulting customer disatisfaction must force customers to leave BT in droves. I used to be with Plus Net and only transferred to get Vision, Bt own Plus Net, they could learn a great deal from their Customer Service model, this is all so sad.
Regards
Scott
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Engineer called on Christmas Eve and diagnosed a HR fault which he struggled to find. In the end he re-routed the line feed back to the exchange (700 metres away), found the connection in the exchange, came back to the house and the phone line was silent and the broadband experienced a solid connection. Since then I have had a 4.8/4.9MBps connection as the IP profile is set at 5MB. I received a call from the Tech in Bangalore who put forward a reset for me but being by that time 5pm on Christmas Eve It would be unreasonable to expect it to be implimented before the end of play on Friday 27th - so I am being patient.
Many of us, who have vast experience, feel frustrated by the call-centre 'script' system that treats us all the same ("have you tried turning it off and on again? What colours are the lights on the front of the hub?"!!!) But just how do you get the Call Centre staff to appreciate that some of us can diagnose quite complicated problems on our own, and only contact them when we know an engineer is required on-site? Personally I would PAY to have a way of contacting a UK based BT Tech Support that could listen and respond appropriately, for BT, surely that would save them time and money too.
So other than the IP profile issue this is now solved, it was a High Resistance fault, I told them that when I first reported it on about 12th December (at which point the Bangalore Call Centre Chap said "what is a HR fault?" - I had to explain it). Since then I have spent probably 14 very frustrating hours on the telephone to BT (in the busiest week of the year), had two engineer visits (the first was a 'phone only' subcontractor not trained in broadband, the second fixed the issue) and I have also been supplied with a new Hub (which was unnecessary, I did point that out) and I am left feeling let down by their inability to listen and consider that the customer may have been right.
If the speed issue is not resolved I will re-post stage two of this saga, other than that I do hope that I do not need to come back to post on the forum again. Simple faults turn into extended and unbelievable drama thanks to the way BT organise their customer service nowadays, everyone has at least one story, some have many. I have 10 months of my contract left, maybe I should go back to PlusNet ? They have UK based sensible staff and when I have experienced a fault in the past I have left it to them to bludgen BT engineering into mending the infrastructure, saving me doing do the leg-work, wasting all this time and getting frustrated and stressed myself.
For those still struggling with the BT behemoth I sympathise, I hope that you are lucky enough to get through to someone who takes you seriously and does not let go of your problem until it is solved.
Lets all hope for a Happy, Prosperous and Fault-Free New Year!
Regards
Scott

At the end of my rope with recent upgrade

I just bought the recent upgrade it's 2.0.1. Anyways before I bought it and updated my ipod everything worked perfect. My favorite thing to do was sit outside on the ipod surfing the net. Well now that I updated it I can not get online. I can connect to my wifi which works no problem as I am on a computer right now using wifi but I can not access the net, youtube, itunes anything at all. If I am lucky I can load apple.com or gmail.com but that is it. If I click on a link it will not load another page. I have googled like no tomorrow to fix this and nothing has worked. Here is what I have tried.
- Reset by holding down home and power
- Taking off all applications I had downloaded and doing a complete restore putting the ipod back to factory settings and then syncing minus the apps as the apps and the 2.0.1 is the only things new on my ipod.
- I have tried messing with the settings under the connection on the ipod as suggested in some sites I found.
- I have tried changing my secruity settings on the modem, unplugged modem and reset modem even though modem has nothing to do with it since I still get online on my computer.
- I have tried forgetting network and refinding it, I have also tried renewing it.
I am so fed up. I want whatever was on it before 2.0.1 back since I could get on the internet then. I bought the ipod back in december so support will do nothing for me if I called them.
Please Help!! I am ready to throw the thing out the window.

I understand that you are trying to help. I came to realize that it must be a sig or something that automatically attaches at the end as it is no longer in more of the thread it is always at the bottom of the thread. I am so fed up with this stupid thing. I have tried everything it seems and everything mentioned in this thread. I got the IPod beside me to try each new suggestion. I can't go to an apple store as we do not have one here. I am ready to call apple and force them to deal with this in the morning. I got enough on plate I don't need this added stress even as minor as it is in the big picture.

Unable to scroll down to the end of my playlist with i tunes

I must say that I could not be more disappointed with the new i tunes 11. I have been using if for four months and have had nothing but problems which, as I am a professional DJ who uses it everyday, is really bad news. Unlike the old itunes creating playlist is a laborious process. I just bought a load of tunes from the Itunes store for a podcast I have to do but, to create a playlist and drag from another playlist (i.e.purchased) seems impossible. Once one clicks on view sidebar the plalylist disappears so you have to search for every single tune. Can anyone help ? Is there a solution ? I have read the tutorials and have used I tunes for over a decade.To add, now I can't scroll down to the end of my playlists even to click on create or get to any playlist past those beginning with the letter S. I hope someone from Apple sees this as the old I tunes was a far better product. Creating a seperate window for playlist and drag and drop is far easier. If I could find another application other than I tunes I would drop this like hot bricks.Apple have taken a huge leap backwards in my opinion.

Open the playlist. Click View > Show View Options, and set "Sort By" to "Manual Order."
Then you will be able to move songs up or down your playlist by drag-n-drop.

"first open Acrobat and accept the End User Agreement License" with black window? Cannot open downloaded PDFs

I have CS5 installed and operating in my MacBook Pro since 2012.
Several months ago, I ran not an issue where by, when trying to download PDFs from any website, I get the following back screen and message"
"Before proceeding, you must first launch Adobe Acrobat and accept the End User License Agreement"
The screen gives me no options to do this and, regardless of what I do, the same window with the same message opens…….
Does anyone know how to address this? FYI. I can use Acrobat Pro 9 to assemble and create PDFs, this is the ONLY problem that I am dealing with.
Thanks so much!
Steve

Hello Rave!
Thanks for remembering me!
No, I was never able to get this to work.
What I found, however, is that I can view the pdfs normally if I use Firefox instead on my default, Safari…….not much of a fix BUT at least I can access the pdfs now……..I just don't understand why this seems to happen in Safari only………Safari is updated to the latest version via Software Update in Mac OS 10.7.5….
Thanks again!
Steve

At the end of my tether with ADSL broadband! Advic...

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