Phone Line Wire Outside Snapped

Hello the wire leading from the wooden pole outside my house has snapped in the bad weather we have had recently. I have reported this fault to BT and was told it would be fixed by the 20th of Febuary but still the problem is not resolved and yet I still have no phone but most importantly no broadband. I have a mobile so can live without a phone line but my broadband has gone and it is crucial I have internet.
Has anyone else had this issue where the outer wire has snapped and does anyone know how long these problems usually take to get fixed? Ive read some places it can take weeks? I live in the Bristol area and need to get this sorted ASAP.
Thanks.

You need to keep reporting the fault. Normally BT fix phone faults within three days but as it is a line fault it will be up to Openreach to do this. When you report the fault do it as a phone fault and do not mention your broadband.
You could also try reporting it to Openreach 0800 0232023 and they may do something about it.
http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/tellussomething/tellussomethingaboutournetwork/tellab...

Similar Messages

New build property, horrible BT phone line install...

Hi all.
I am writing here because I have been thrown around by BT and the phone line installation team over the past one month, and I have just run out of patience.
The entire experience started in late May, when I phoned BT and told them that I was moving house in 2 weeks and that I would need a new phone line installed at the new property, which is a new build. The BT sales team was more than happy to take my order, and since there was a charge of £130 for installation of phone line by itself, I decided to bundle both broadband and telephone line from BT directly to avoid that cost. I was a given an appointment on the 10th of June for my phone and broadband installation.
The 10th of June came and I took the day off work thinking all would be sorted by the end of the day. By the late afternoon no one ahd contacted me and there was no one who had come to the door. I called BT and had them check on my order and they said that "for some reason, the order says its still 'pending' and has not gone through..." After chatting with different people from different teams like sales, orders and them confrerring with engineers and seniors, I was finally told that the order could not be processed because I was in a new build and hence the system could not process a broadband order before there was an active phone line in the property, hence the failure of the order to go through. Next, I was given a date for the phone line order by itself to be done, and although I was frustrated here, I conceded and moved on hoping to get the issue sorted as quickly as possible. The new date was June 22nd for the phone line and then the broadband order to be placed thereafter. At this point I was not sent any emails or letter regarding my order with ym order number or any references, so I should have been sceptical, but I let it slide thinking it would be settled soon.
June 22nd came and I took leave off work again for the 8am - 1pm BT engineer visit. Once again, no one showed up or contacted me. I called BT again desperately hoping that this could not be happening again. When i asked the lady about my order scheduled for that day, she said that the order did not go through once again. It was still 'pending'! I was just shocked. I wanted to explode because twice BT had given me apppointment timings that could not be fulfilled and twice they left me in the lurch when they knew beforehand that the engineers would not show up, leaving me to take time from work which I cannot get back, much less the fact that I still do not even have a phone line. After much chatting with different people on the line I finally got them to book another order this time for July 9th for the phone line.
This time i called back on July 2nd and July 6th to make sure that my order was on track and I was assured that after checking with the 'openreach engineers on their side' that my order was on track and the engineer would show up definitely on 9th of July.
Then the 9th came and I took the morning off from work to wait for the engineer.Yet again, BT managed to show me how poorly they treat customers. No engineer showed up again, and as was becoming a habit now, I had to phone BT to enquire about my order and discover that the engineer was not going to show up today as well. When pressed much more the person on the other end finally relented that the cables from the exchange to my new build property need to be set up and are in the process of being done. I would then get a call when BT/Openreach finally finish this. I felt let down, especially when I asked how long that would be since I have already been waiting for a more than month for BT to carry this out and also agreed to pay the £130 set up charge for the phone line since they wanted to process the phone line order alone first. Her response was nothing more than a "I cannot tell for sure.." and at this point I could tell that meant it could be a really long while more before getting a phone line / broadband, if ever BT is interested in setting it up.
Is there any way to actually check and see if BT are setting up a connection from the exchange to the property for the phone line and how long it would take before I can finally get a simple phone line here?
Sorry if this was a bit of rant but it is rather draining and also costly for me having to deal with BT and wait for them when they could simply communicate with me better to inform me of their engineers' decisions.
Abi
*EDIT* I have also spoken to the developer of the property and they have informed me that the flat is ready for a phone line to be installed, and that BT is only currently fitting phone lines to the building across the road and not my block, so that means someone at BT/Openreach is telling me the worng thing and the engineer is just refusing to come out now. I have additionally spoken to some of the other residents who moved in before me in the same block and they have had phone lines connected to their property by BT so I think this problem needs sorting out asap by BT please.
Thank you.

Hi
It seems that I am caught in the same endless maelstrom of bt/open reach inability to meet installation obligations.
We have a new build home on a small private development. No cable available regrettably so all 6 of our neighbours use bt phone and std broadband.
Ordered both services end April to be told that install appointment was 30 May - seemed a long time but accepted. Had whole series of emails and texts from bt reminding of appointment and arrival of modem, but late evening 29 May text arrived saying order delayed and put back to 13 June. Called following morning and got the run around took 40 mins to get any answer of sense that said ,Line work was required and open reach we're dealing withi it.
13 June came and went no one called or advised that appointment would not be met. Again many phone calls but same answer line issues. My developer tells me that the lines are installed per spec, in fact we have a black network cable present through a conduit next our front door but no terminal box to join up to white phone line wires to inside phone points. Offered bt a photo of this but they will not accept it. Just keep saying line issues holding up install. Either way unless this work is done the it will be impossible to connect even if other work had rally to be done - not interested!
This week promised that all would be done, 16th the 17th and then 18th -nothing again and hence more phone calls.
Issue handed to resolution team who calked today to say work schedule for 12 July! More than two months since order - just don't believe them and asked them to escalate - no hopes up!
In the meantime our phone no rings out and people wonder why we are not answering! Complete shambles.
In 2014 this should be easy meat to BT who seem tied up in a complaint type process that resolves nothing.
I have no real choice but BT and their performance is just hopeless. Advised ofcom but don't deal with individual complaints - this is consumer hell and very very frustrating.

Reccomended Type Of Wire For DSL Phone Line?

I have my DSL modem on its own jack, and I need too replace the wiring from the jack to the service box, its currently half thermostat wire (for furnaces and such) and half phone line, I understand there are different types of wire, so I am wondering which type is the best, what I currently have is the flat 4 wire stranded, instead of solid, I am told that isnt reccommended. So I need to know what to get, that will work the best.

ARC_Stig wrote:
I have my DSL modem on its own jack, and I need too replace the wiring from the jack to the service box, its currently half thermostat wire (for furnaces and such) and half phone line, I understand there are different types of wire, so I am wondering which type is the best, what I currently have is the flat 4 wire stranded, instead of solid, I am told that isnt reccommended. So I need to know what to get, that will work the best.
Aside from using cat-5 as the previous post suggests, typical inside wire telephone wire is a beige plastic covered 2 pair (4 wire) phone wire. Each wire is solid and not braided wire. You can probably get it in different lengths from a nearby lowes or home depot.
Typically, the red and green wire are used as the tip and ring connections for line 1 in your house. The black and yellow wire are used for line 2 if you have a second line or as spare wires in case either the red or green have an issue. A pair of wires will be needed to be connected at the entry point of your service and connected to the phone jack that you will connect the dsl modem to. Use the red and green.
Hope this helps.
Larry
Verizon Telecom
Vz Voice Portals & Connection Wizard
Notice: Content posted by Verizon employees is meant to be informational and does not supercede or change the Verizon Forums User Guidelines or Terms or Service, or your Customer Agreement Terms and Conditions or Plan.

Broadband drops out & noisy phone lines.

Hi,
Not sure whether this needs to be posted here or in the phone section as both areas are effected.
My property is pretty old and the internal phone sockets/wiring is also quite dated. I've always had issues with my phone lines being very noisy to the point where i have simply done away with having a house phone (not ideal).
I use my internet for many hours every day - its an essential part of my life and income. I had a new internal socket fitted about 2 or 3 years back exclusively for my internet use to help improve the connection which had been fine until recently.
I had new windows fitted which required the socket to be moved & ever since then my connection has been unreliable and drops out.
Ive reported the fault on the line earlier today and am waiting to hear back off BT but thought i'd post here in the mean time.
I use a Belkin router and have spoken to them but they were unable to help. After running a few tests they said it was most likel a phone line fault. I have also tried a different router and experienced exactly the same issues.
How do i go about identifying the fault & getting it fixed? With it likely being an internal fault, is it likely to cost me money? What are the terms & conditions with this type of problem?
Also, how would i go about getting new sockets installed in my house so i could get a working house phone? How much is this likely to cost?
Thanks for any advice.

was the new socket you had fitted like this if so any extension sockets in your home should be connected to the back of the bottom half of the socket NTE5. It may be that moving the socket has moved some of the wires and they are loose.
BT are responsible for the wiring up to the first socket in your where the cable comes in from outside. if the problem is found to be your internal wiring after the master socket then you will be charged at least £130
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No phone line for 3 weeks, and no idea what is hap...

I reported a fault with our phone on 28Oct. The BT engineer came on 31Oct, at which point the phone was completely dead, and he said the wiring in our house was ok, the fault was in the line outside our house in the pavement in front of the house. The wire was worn away and needed replacing. The road diggers came 7Nov and dug a trench on the pavement in front of the house and showed me the wires, which were almost raw. They placed the wires in a tube, and re- tarmac'd the pavement, leaving the ends open. We then had to wait for the BT engineer to come back and replace the wires between the two holes. On 11Nov, the road men came back and poured cement into one hole. At this point we lost broadband connections to the house. I rang BT broadband to register the bt hub was flashing a red 'b'...they said they couldn't find a circuit to the house. The BT engineer arrived 2pm and said he couldn't replace the wiring 'cos cement had been poured into one of the holes before he'd replaced the wires, and the hole needed to be re-dug. He said the cement had probably caused the broadband line to go down. He rang in and registered all this. Nothing happened 12 and 13th. I rang BT 13th evening and was told the road diggers would come 14th and the BT engineer would come 14th and it would be all fixed today. No one came today. At 6pm BT rang and said the problem will be fixed tmrw. At 7pm BT rang and said as the road had been dug up today the cabling would be completed tmrw. I said NO ONE has dug up the road. They said it's all being done at the exchange and once they have replaced the joints and cables at the exchange tmrw it will be fixed. How can replacing the cables at the exchange fix the wires outside our house?? I have asked this question, but the Indian lady on the phone said it will all work tmrw. She is just reading a script.... I don't know who to talk to because I can't understand how it will all work miraculously tmrw. We have had no phone line since 28oct and no broadband since 11nov. Can someone please please tell me what is happening, because every time I ring I talk to someone in India who has no idea.

Hi Sfowler,
Welcome to the Forum and thanks for posting. If this sin't sorted on Monday drop me an email with the details and I'll chase it for you. You'll get the 'contact us' form in the about me section of my profile.
Cheers
David
BTCare Community Mod
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Old phone line

hi there
Im yet to purchase a bt infinity package I would need my phone line outside upgraded and hope to have the master socket at the front of the house so that the wire can mostly be on the outside wall of the house.
I would like the phone situated somewhere else though.
So is it possible for my existing bt line which is very old as it hasnt been used for years due to having vm phone line to be used just for the phone? or would this old wire need to be changed as well?
cheers

Hi mitch84,
I expect it is FTTC (Fibre to The cabinet) fibre broadband your getting.
The short description.
FTTC fibre broadband uses your existing copper telephone line from your property to the cabinet (pcp) that is also linked to the FTTC cabinet. Then from the FTTC cabinet to the exchange it is linked via a fibre cable.
So you BT Infinity (FTTC) uses your existing copper phone line from the cabinet to your property.
Though your master socket will be altered with a Openreach VDSL master socket.
The longer description
BT Infinity is just BT Retails brandname for Fibre broadband (FTTC and FTTP based)
There are two types of Fibre broadband technologies being used at the moment. The main one is FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) and the other which is in trial in a few selected areas is FTTP/H (Fibre to the home/premises)
FTTC broadband (Fibre to the Cabinet) such as BT Infinity is a fibre based broadband service.
Here fibre is rolled out of the local exchange to a new FTTC cabinet that will be near your PCP (Primary Cross-Connection Point).
These cabinets are usually found on your street or on the edge of a village. The new FTTC cabinet will have broadband hardware inside it (RDSLAM [Remote Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer]). The new FTTC cabinet will be linked to the PCP.
This means that your broadband now travels from the exchange to the FTTC cabinet by a fibre connection then from the FTTC cabinet to your property using the existing copper phone line. The broadband signal travels as VDSL or VDSL2 which currently allows speeds of upto 80mb.
As FTTC uses the existing copper line for the last bit of the journey, the further away you are from your FTTC cabinet the slower the speed will be.
If you have this FTTC broadband connection then an Openreach engineer will need to replace your Master socket to a Openreach VDSL Filtered Master socket and a Openreach fibre Modem which will then connect to you BT Homehub.
So the set up is: Openreach VDSL Filtered Master socket >> Openreach fibre Modem >> BT Homehub
FTTP/H - Only curently available in certain places
FTTP/H (Fibre to the Premises/Home) broadband such as BT Infinity is a fibre connection all the way from the local exchange to your property.
The fibre will need to be installed all the way from the exchange to your property. The download speeds that you can currently get with FTTP/H is 330mbps but can increase in the future. This is currently only available to trial areas.
Also have a look at this here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.html
Hope that helps,
Cheers
jac_95 | BT.com Help Site | BT Service Status
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My eMac's modem, the phone line, or what?

i have a dial-up connection. Yes, there are still some of us out here. DSL is not available and I have heard horror stores of satellite service n our area.
Of late, I am having difficulty getting and maintaining a connection. Connection speed varies widely. My ISP wants to blame the phone lines, the phone company wants to blame the house wiring or the modem. How the **** do I know which it is? I have unplugged other phones, tried other jacks, with the same results.I suspect the phone lines, but getting Verizon to admit that is nearly impossible.
How can I test the modem? I am using the internal modem.
I am open to any suggestions.

It's usually the phone lines in your house. They are daisy-chained around the house & every connection results in losses. Verison should be able to come out and do a test on the line where it enters your house to see if the line meets specs. Also sometimes squirrels will chew on the outside line and allow water to get inside the wires, which causes loss of quality. Do you ever hear static when using the telephones?
Years ago when I used dial-up, I had the problem of low speeds (in the 20K region). I solved the problem by running a new direct line from my attic where the tel line junction box entrance to the house is located, direct to my office. My speed then was usually 44-48K with almost no dropouts. I bought the wire at Home Depot and installed the line myself. Maybe you could do the same.
 Cheers, Tom

At a loss with phone line

Firstly I am stating for the record that I have a problem with my phone line. My broadband issues are just a by-product of the phone line fault.
This problem has been going on for several years, although, 2 months ago i made some progress.
The problem with my phone line occurs during extreme weather conditions, heavy rain or winds and as a result of it not being a permanent feature of my phone line. Over the past year, it has got a lot worse (broadband constantly dropping, struggling to be heard when on the phone), and after a lot of arguing with BT an engineer came out. Now bare in mind that the BT line tests came back as perfect and not a problem. engineer took one look at the cable coming in to the house and it crumbled in his hand. He also mentioned that he was picking something "odd" up on the line, but couldn't be sure what it was and seeing as the broadband connected that he would leave it.
Since the engineers visit, I have had an OK phone line, just a bit quiet, until 2 weeks ago. When we had all that rain. The crackles came back that evening, causing crackles and white noise down the phone line. It lasted an hour or so, but enough time to turn my 2Mbps bras profile into a 130k profile. 3 days later and we recover (even though some intermittent crackles persist). The very next day and we're downloading at 2.5Mbps, the phone rings and the crackles are back.
The next day I ring up and complain and receive the whole dialogue about changing me £120 if the engineer comes out and can't find a fault. Funnily enough, the crackles (being intermittent) are not crackling at the time the engineer turns up, however, he states "The is more noise on the line than there should be" and "I'm going to pass it over to the underground team and see if they can find where the fault is". At this point I am now feeling hopeful that finally the fault might be found....
Half an hour ago I have heard nothing, I decide to phone up and see if there is any news... No fault found and expect a bill for £120 is the response, from a very nice Indian lady who did seem to struggle with understanding me or at least hearing me. i protested and asked how could the engineer tell me one story and for me to then be told that a line test shows no fault and that I have to pay!
Where it currently stands, is that I have insisted that the problem still exists and I have been told it will be resolved between 24-48hours.
I will of course wait and see what BT come back with tomorrow, but I am at a loss of what more I can do. I work from home and having an equivalent to ISDN when I pay for broadband because the phone line keeps having a fit is getting a bit of a hassle. If the BRAS IP profile did not take 3days to recover after a bad storm, then I could cope, but I'm now been on a 130k connection for over a week now and am looking at having to pay 3120 just because I am trying to do something about it.
If I turned round to my customers and said I'd look at their issue, but if I couldn't see anything I'd be charging them £120, they'd move else where.
Any advice as to how I can take this forward?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I thought I had better post an update and I am pleased to say that it seems it has a potentially positive outcome.
First of all the lady I spoke to on Friday got back to me yesterday to say that yet again OpenReach had investigated my issue "outside the property" and claimed to have "fixed the problem". While I am sceptical that they actually did anything (surely the broadband should have disconnected, if they fixed anything like replacing a cable, but as I am not a telcom's engineer I have not authority to make judgement), the lady implied that I had a case to dispute any charge if it ended up on my bill.
The second was a response from a forum moderator who says that after reading my posts, my email and my fault reports, they say that it sounds like this is being caused by "a high resistance fault on your line. These can be very had to get to the bottom of unless the engineer is testing the line when condition are bad" and while notes that the fault has been closed (conversation yesterday with lady from BT), they suspect that if the line does have this type of fault, then it is highly unlikely that the fault has actually been fixed and I should contact them back as soon as the noise starts up again. Oh, and they have requested no charges be applied for the visit on Thursday.
So, fingers crossed... It does seem to highlight quite a variance in the quality of customer service that you get from BT. Plus, no matter how frustrated you get, you should persevere, as there are some good people that seem willing to help and will be on your side.

How difficult can it be to get a phone line instal...

First of all, for a communications company, BT are shockingly bad at communicating with their customers!
We ordered a home move for our phone line and Infinity services back at the start of Dec, and had an activation date of 19th Dec. The engineer duly turned up on that date and set about the install. The single socket in our house was not where we wanted it (no power socket close by for the broadband router), but he would see about moving that and all was good so far.
However, the engineer was struggling to get a tone on the line and after much to-ing and fro-ing and calling another engineer who was nearby, decided that the actual wires to the house were damaged somewhere between 30m and 250m from the house and as he was not qualified to do any underground works, he was going to pass the job onto another engineer. The next engineer duly came next day (on a Saturday no less!) to get us up and running. No dice. The engineer could not find the break, and we would have to get a new cable put in.
Now, apparently when our house was built the telephone cable was not put in with any ducting and ended up being concreted into the wall! So we would have to get new ducting and the works installed. He then went to paint up the pavement where it needed to be dug up to put the ducting in etc. Except the pavement was covered in leaves, so he sprayed the leaves. Hey ho - I knew where he had painted and I would be able to direct the guys if necessary. As the was the Saturday before Xmas, he was doubtful if the contractors would be before the New Year. The engineer did however get the broadband connection available.
Roll on the New Year and it's a stoney silence from BT, until the morning of the 13th Jan, when a contractor appearred at the door to say he was here to put in the ducting. I pointed out where it was going and left them to it. I glanced out of the window after a while to see they had made a 2ft gap in the hedge at the wrong side of the garden! I also watch in disbelief as one of the guys loaded his wheel barrow with spoil and wheeled it into the woods across the road and dumped it. These guys were the "dig things up" gang, another team were the "filling in" team and they would be along shortly to fill in the hole and re-lay the tarmac on the pavement. However, we at least now have the ducting from the street the house with a rope in the duct to allow a cable to be pulled through. Progress of a fashion.
A few days later, the hole was filled in and the pavement tarred. It then took a full week before another engineer turned up to actually pull the wire through the ducting and connect us up. Except he couldn't because the rope was jammed. So he passed the job back to somebody else. Then 2 days later engineers 5 and 6 turned up with a rodding wire to free off the rope. They couldn't free it off. They did work out that the ducting was probably dislodged by the "filling in the hole" team, thus trapping the rope. This would need the pavement dug up again to reset the ducting. Oh joy.
So, imagine my surprise when another engineer turns up one morning to install our line to discover he couldn't pull the rope through, then another engineer turns up in the afternoon to do the same , followed by yet another engineer the next day!
Meantime, the only communication from BT on the whole matter is when we call them to be told it is all in hand and it will be completed "in 2 days time", or we receive a text message saying they tried to call (no missed calls), and would try to call again in 3 days, do not call them back.
So far in this saga we have had 13 people at the house, not getting us a phone line, in nearly 8 weeks and absolutely terrible communication from BT.
A call to BT at the end of last week resulted in a promise that we would be fully installed by yesterday at 8pm.
I called BT this morning to be told that the external works will be completed by this Friday and they would then call me back to arrange an appointment for the engineer to come and do the install next week!
The only saving grace is we do have an internet connection (pretty vital for me as I work from home!) although I do have an extension cable running across my hallway and we have not been getting charged for line rental for the past 2 months.
I was told today that we should be getting compensation, but to be honest I am not bothered about that - I JUST WANT A PHONE LINE INSTALLED!
Rant over (for now!)

Hi smert,
I am sorry about the delay in getting your phone line on. It definitely sounds like you have been going through the mill lately with all the work being done and still no phone line.
Please send me in your details using the "Contact The Mods" link found in my profile and we will take it from here.
Cheers,
OlgaC
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.
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Trouble getting my phone line connected

My saga to date....
I contacted BT on 20th April to advise them that I was moving home on 29th April (to a newly built house). An engineer was arranged to come to my home on 10th May to carry out the connection. Prior to the 10th May, I had a visit from an engineer to assess the job. My house has been built in an older part of a village which still relies on telephone poles and lines going from the poles in to houses. During one of these visits, it was noted that I would need a pole placed in my garden to connect the line to, then the line would be connected from there. The reason behind this was due to the fact that my house is built low down, and to take a wire straight from the main pole would make it slope too low. I was quite happy with the solution put forward, and was happy that things seemed to be in hand. At no point was I told that the work would not go ahead on the 10th May.
This is when the problems start.......
I feel that I am living in the dark ages again. I have no phone line, hence no Internet access and do not get a mobile signal in the area I now live in! I rely on travelling to my daughters' house to use their phone and Internet access, which is not convenient.
The 10th of May came and went, and nobody appeared at the house, and I received no communication that work would not be carried out on this date. I phoned BT, and yes, I was talking to a call centre in India. When the operator finally grasped the issue that the engineer had not appeared she checked with her suppliers to inform me that there was a problem and that this would be assessed by the 14th May. BT would then advise me on the 15th what the next stage would be. Unhappy with this, I was eventually put through to the supervisor (waited 40 minutes on hold!). Got no joy from him, but the promise he would personally contact me on 15th. I had to accept this and hung up.
On Monday 13th May, I went online to check the progress of my order, only to note that my latest BT bill was ready. When I checked the bill, I noted that BT had started to bill me for my phone and broadband package from 10th May!. Blood pressure steadily rising, I contacted BTs billing department, yes once again an Indian call centre, to complain. Got the standard script from the operator - very sorry etc. During this conversation, it was realised that BT had the wrong postcode in for my house (it was the correct street, but the post code for odd numbered houses). The operator, against my pleas not to do so, cancelled my order, and set up a new order for the correct postcode. She assured me that she knew what she was doing and not to worry, everything would be fine (I had explained the saga to date to her). She set up a brand new account, allocating a different phone number, and requiring me to set up new direct debits - I'm not sure how she couldn't just change the postcode for my original account. A new connection appointment was for 21st May, and I was assured that there would be no problems I would be connected on this date.
The 15th of May came and went, and no phone call from the Indian call centre manager. I did not call back at this time, as a new appointment had been scheduled.
The 21st came, and an engineer did appear - hooray! He looked at the house and told me - I cannot do your connection. A pole is needed to run a the line to. He was able to tell me that my number had been set up in the exchange. I was more than a little angry and frustrated at this point. BT knew that a pole was required back on 6th May - why had this information not been dealt with!
Again I phoned BT, back to the Indian call centre. Explained the whole saga. He checked with his 'suppliers' to find out what was going on. Came back to tell me that further information would be available the next day. I was getting a little annoyed at the point. I explained that the work required was to erect a pole in my garden to run the line to. All I wanted was a date for when this work would be carried out. He could not give me this info saying his suppliers would not give this until the next day. I asked who the suppliers were - BT Open Reach, but he would not let me speak to them directly. He promised to phone me back the following day with the update - probably to get me off the phone. I again explained that I had no means to which he could contact me in my own home, and would require to go to my daughters house to receive the call. He agreed to phone me back at 10am on 22nd May - a time when I would go to my daughters. Yes, once again they failed to phone back!!
I again phoned back - yes back to India I went. Asked to speak with the manager - but the operator would not connect me saying he could help. Went through the saga once more - again got the text book apologies (which are getting rather annoying now). He contacted the 'suppliers' and promised that contact would be made with me within 24hours by the engineer with regards to the work being carried out. I told him that I had been lied to on so many occasions that I didn't believe that this was the case and asked to speak to BT Openreach to confirm this. He stated that this could not be done. Trust him, why would he lie to me - which I told him would be to get me off the phone. I left my daughters phone number as a contact.
24hours has now passed, and yes - once again no contact. I cannot face talking to another operator in an Indian call centre who will tell me anything to get off the phone. BT's complaints procedure is pathetic. I feel totally helpless in this. There doesn't seem to be any communication between anyone in the company. The call centre staff are telling you anything just to get rid of you. I suspect that I am now being billed on 2 accounts for a service I don't have, and no doubt will be another saga when I eventually get a working phone line.
I am no further forward to when this work will be getting carried out, and getting more and more frustrated. Is there any suggestions on where / who I can go to.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi
I am sorry to see you are having problems
I suggest you contact the forum mods they should be able to get this problem sorted for you this is a link to them http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4951
They normally reply by email or phone directly to you within 3 working days they will take personal ownership of your problem until resolved and will keep you informed of progress
They are a UK based BT specialist team who have a good record at getting problems solved
This is a customer to customer self help forum the only BT presence here are the forum moderators
If you want to say thanks for a helpful answer,please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side If the reply answers your question then please mark as ’Mark as Accepted Solution’

How long does a new phone line take to fit? Patien...

I ordered a new phone line in April and was given a date of 1st May 2013 for the engineer to call.
Having booked a day off work for the 1st May I got a text the evening before to advise that extra work was required on the lines outside my home and that they would be in touch soon. On 17th May I got another text to advise that my order for telephone and broadband had been CANCELLED. I phoned and a new order was placed (with a half-hearted apologies for the incorrect cancellation).
Text: 20th May. Apologies for the delay in booking an appointment.
Text 21st May: BT here. Your phone service is ready for you. You can find a phone's number by calling 17070 from it.
I did not not have a phione line.
Text: 30th May. To advise a new number.
Text: 30th May: Apologies for the delay in booking an appointment. Due to necessary additional engineering work. Next update will be 6th June.
Text: 5th June: BT here. Just to confirm you've set up online billing with BT, If you didn't please let us know at ... I didn't set anything up as far as I know.
6th June: Apologies for the delay in providing your service. No updates. Escalated the lack of infpormation and hope to have more news tomorrow.
7th June: Apologies for the delay on your order. I can confirm that we are awaiting the outcome of our escalation with our suppliers and are confident of haveing (sp) and (sp) update for you on 11/6.
Now, I am quite a patient person but I need a landline. I live 60 metres or so from a Post Office and even less from a main road. I can see a telephone pole from my back garden just 50 metres away. My neighbours have landlines. Why can't I have one?
S

Hi
I am sorry to see you are having problems
I suggest you contact the forum mods they should be able to get this problem sorted for you this is a link to them http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4951
They normally reply by email or phone directly to you within 3 working days they will take personal ownership of your problem until resolved and will keep you informed of progress
They are a UK based BT specialist team who have a good record at getting problems solved
This is a customer to customer self help forum the only BT presence here are the forum moderators
If you want to say thanks for a helpful answer,please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side If the reply answers your question then please mark as ’Mark as Accepted Solution’

14 weeks to get a phone line installed - £10 compe...

I moved house on 28/07 and after a huge amount of problems with Orange and after managing to cancel my account with them I ordered BT Broadband and Evening & Weekend Calls on 07/08/12.
I get 3 emails confirming my order, thanking me for choosing paperless billing etc.
My initial engineer appointment was on 14/09/12 which is 5 weeks and a long time. To quote BT: “It usually takes 15 working days from when you order. It can take longer but this is very rare.” (http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8317/~/how-long-will-it-take-to-install-a-new-line%3F)
I get a text and an email on 12/07 to remind me of my appointment between 1pm and 6pm. So far so good.
The router gets delivered at 12.30am. This is promising.
The engineer comes at 13.30pm, installs the BT Open Reach box in my flat and then asks me if I can open the electronic gate next door as he needs access to my neighbour’s pathway to activate the distribution point. I tell him I cannot as it’s not my building. We try the trades button on the door system. It doesn’t work. We try pressing random house numbers on the door system (there’s no flat numbers on the building) to see if someone’s home. Nothing works. I phone my landlord who tells me this is a council building. No one is coming in and out of the building/gate. After about 30 minutes of trying and waiting I tell him just to use his ladder and climb over the gate (it’s about 6 foot) and activate the distribution point. I’ll take the blame if someone complains. It shouldn’t be a problem as I live next door, I’ve got a BT Open Reach engineer with me and we have a perfectly valid reason to do it. He tells me he can’t do that because of health and safety riles and trespassing laws. Fair enough.
The engineer leaves but before he does he tells me that when I’ve got access to the pathway BT would be able to send an engineer within 24 hours to activate the distribution point. He also tells me there is no need for me to be there the next time as all the work inside is completed and the only thing that needs to happen is for someone to activate the distribution point which is located on a wall on my neighbours building accessible from the pathway. He points it out to me and there is indeed a black box on the wall which can be reached using a ladder in the pathway.
I phone BT to see if anyone can find out how to get access to the pathway as I assume that if BT has installed a distribution point there they must have a way for them to get access to it. Especially as the engineer told me there are 3 lines in my building so this must have happened before. I was wrong. I have to argue with the customer service person with a very poor command of the English language for 30 minutes. He doesn’t know what “the council” is and doesn’t understand whatsoever why I –and I quote- “Can’t just ask the neighbour to let the engineer in when the next appointment has been made”. I try to explain to him there is an electronic metal gate with a call system and I am unable to call anyone as there are no flat numbers on the outside of the building and asked if he was suggesting that I wait all evening after work until someone comes out and that even then, surely I can’t ask my neighbour to stay home to let a BT engineer onto his pathway because I am trying to get a phone line installed. He then presented me with another option: “We can install a new line from the road but this is chargeable by £350”. After 30 minutes of this and asking to speak to a manager several times –which was refused- I had enough and hung up.
Determined to get the problem resolved I rang again and got someone else on the phone. She was quite sympathetic and advised me to phone the council and see if they can help. She confirmed that I didn’t need to be there for the next appointment if someone could give the engineer access to the distribution point as all the work apart from the distribution point activation was complete. By this time it was 4pm on a Friday and she promised to call back at 4pm on Monday.
I called the council right away but they said the caretakers had gone home as it was late on a Friday and advised me to ring back on Monday.
I get a text from BT: sorry we missed you appointment etc.
BT calls me on Monday morning 10.30am asking if I’ve sorted it. I tell the person I was expecting a call from them at 4pm and therefore I hadn’t rang the council yet. He promises to ring me back on Wednesday at 10.30am.
I call the council later that day; they’re not very helpful and advise me to call them again on Tuesday.
On Tuesday they log the call and lo and behold. Wednesday at 8.30am, the caretaker calls me, gives me his mobile number, tells me the trades button on the call system will work before 9.30am and they can give them access remotely. If they’re coming after 9.30am, the engineer needs to ring him an hour in advance and he’ll come to open the gate. We’re getting somewhere.
I don’t get a call on Wednesday 10.30am.
I call them myself that afternoon and explain the above. The guy says he’s written it all down, everything will get sorted and I’ll get a text with the new time and date.
Someone with a very poor command of the English language phones me on Thursday. I asked why she is ringing me. She says it’s to makes an engineer appointment. I tell her she doesn’t need to ring me as I don’t need to be in the property and they should all the information needed as I called them the day before. She doesn’t have a clue what I’m on about. I tell her to read out what she has on her screen under the notes as I now don’t trust that the person the day before has written it down properly. She once again doesn’t have a clue what I’m on about. I ask to speak to her manager. She says he’ll call me back. 5 minutes later he does. His English is excellent and he seems to have found the notes and knows exactly what’s going on. This is encouraging. He says the first appointment they have is 03/10 (it is now 20/09) but he’ll make sure they get it earlier and he’ll ring me back. The first person that hardly speaks English calls back. She says the appointment will be on 03/10 between 8am and 1pm. I tell her that her manager told me he was going to make sure it was going to be earlier and ask her why he lied to me. She doesn’t understand what I’m saying. I try to explain to her that trades button on the call system will work before 9.30am and they can give them access remotely but if they’re coming after 9.30am, the engineer needs to ring him an hour in advance and he’ll come to open the gate. She doesn’t understand what I’m saying. I ask her to get her manager to ring me back as he speaks English. She says he’ll call within 15 minutes. I get a text 5 minutes later confirming my appointment for 03/10 between 8am and 1pm.
On 02/10 I phone the caretaker in the morning to let him know they’re coming on 03/10 between 8am and 1pm. I also called BT once again to check everything was clear, confirming they have the correct mobile number of the caretaker etc. They say they have all the information needed and promise that the work will be done.
I phone on the afternoon of the 3rd to check the work had been done and I am told that it hasn’t as the engineer needs access to a flat roof and the caretaker can’t provide him with that. I explain that the original engineer had been on the flat roof already and told me they only needed to get through the gate to activate the distribution point so I don’t understand why they now need to get back on the roof. The roof can be accessed with a ladder (which they all standard have with them) from the pavement anyway so why do I need to be there? They tell me that the engineer has tried to call me but my phone was switched off. I am 100% sure that my phone has been on all day and I haven’t received any missed calls. Also, after all of the above, I wouldn’t switch my phone off on the crucial day. The engineer is lying. After being on the line for 15 minutes (as it takes at least 5 minutes to go through the automated menu every single time you call them and it literally takes a minute for the information to come up on their screen every time they need to access a file) that I don’t have time to discuss this right now as I have an important teleconference with an overseas client and ask for someone to call me back that evening to discuss this as I am busy at work all day.
I receive a text 10 minutes later saying the next engineer appointment is 12/11 between 1pm and 6pm.
This is 14 (!!!) weeks after ordering the service. I phone back when I have a short break at work to discuss this and request a call back. Someone calls me back 5 minutes later and asked for my account information which I don’t have handy so I ask to hold on while I’m looking it up. She hangs up on me.
I stay late at work to write an email on the email form on the website with a watered down version of all of the above and I get a confirmation email that it’s arrived.
I get another text that evening at 8.40pm as well as an email saying -once again- that the next engineer appointment is 12/11 between 1pm and 6pm.
Someone calls me at 8.50pm saying that the next engineer appointment is 12/11. I tell him I know this as they’ve sent me 2 texts and an email already and that this date is unacceptable and ask to speak to his manager. He tells me I need to call the Order Management Department. I ask him what the number is. You’ve guessed it: 0800 0800 150.
Someone called Chris XXXXX calls me the morning after to discuss the email I’ve written the day before. He gives me the usual “Open Reach controls the engineers” story and tells me the appointment will not be earlier than 12/11. I tell him this is unacceptable and if the appointment can’t be moved forward I want some compensation for all the expense and inconvenience caused. He tells me that since I haven’t been billed yet I’m not eligible for any compensation but as a gesture of good will he will give me £10 which I’m normally not eligible for as this is only given to people whose engineer didn’t come on time. I try to explain that if the engineer would have called me as he said he’s done (and not lied like he’s done) I could have explained where the distribution point was and I probably even would have rushed home from work to finally get it sorted. We argue a bit about compensation in which he tells me he’s already doing me a favour by giving me £10. I stop the argument to discuss more practical issues and ask him if I now need to be home on 12/11. He says I do. I now need to take another day off work it seems. I ask him if the caretaker needs to be there as well. He says he does. I ask him if I should invite anyone else and provide tea and biscuits for everyone. I don’t think he gets the joke. We argue a bit more about compensation, we get nowhere. I’m now getting upset. He says he’ll call me back at 1.30pm.
He does and immediately I ask him for his direct phone number. He says he doesn’t have one. I ask him for his email address. He says he doesn’t have one. I ask how to get in touch with him. He says through the 0800 call centre or the form on the website. Now the line gets really bad and gets disconnected. There is nothing wrong with my mobile or signal, I have 5 bars and 3G showing but I can’t hear him and the line gets disconnected. This happens 2 more times. I get him back on the phone and I ask him to call me back on my work landline. He does and a number shows up on the phone (not the 0800 one that showed up when he called my mobile). I immediately write it down and tell him he just lied to me about not having a direct line. He says it’s a desk used by many people. I tell him that if I ring that number and he’s around there’s chance I could get to speak to him surely. He says it’s only used for outgoing calls. I haven’t tried to ring it and can’t be bothered to be honest. I stop this argument and bring the conversation back to compensation. I ask if he can at least give me a few extra months free or upgrade my account for free for a few months maybe by throwing in some telly or something. He says he can’t do that and they can review compensation once the line has been installed. I tell him that’s not good enough and that this whole story is going online and hang up.
Worst customer service I’ve ever experienced and it seems that I’m stuck with it because I’ve already got an appointment and cancelling and going with another provider will result in an even longer wait.
I’ve been offered £10 compensation for taking 2 days of work, hours on the phone, massive mobile phone bills, a lot of stress and 14 weeks without a landline or internet. Truly unbelievable.

Hi
I am sorry to see you are having problems with your BT Service
I suggest you contact the forum mods they should be able to get this problem sorted for you this is a link to them http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4951
They normally reply by email or phone directly to you within 3 working days they will take personal ownership of your problem until resolved and will keep you informed of progress
They are a UK based BT specialist team who have a good record at getting problems solved
This is a customer to customer self help forum the only BT presence here are the forum moderators
If you want to say thanks for a helpful answer,please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side If the reply answers your question then please mark as ’Mark as Accepted Solution’

No Phone Line and Broadband Speed at 0.2 - Not hap...

Afternoon,
I ordered the phone, TV, and Broadband with an activation date of the 5th December. I then received a text message to advise that a phone line engineer will visit between 1pm-6pm, I booked half a day off work but no one got in touch.
At about 7pm I checked my phone line and the line was dead.
I then phoned through to see what was happening and the customer service kept putting me through to the wrong teams and from my mobile I was on the phone for just over an hour.
I am not happy that I had to make this phone call from my mobile when the line was meant to be sorted. After speaking to the delivery team, he advised me that an engineer did come but didn't need to come into the property and the phone line should be working.
NO communication about this on the day and after checking this with the engineer he advise he would raise a fault after we went through some tests.
we are now Tuesday the 11th and I have not heard back.
I assume from the fault on the line I am only getting 0.2 download speed on my Internet and the broadband line keep disconnecting and reconnecting again.
As mentioned before being a new BT customer my experience has not been very good at the moment and I hope you can put this right.

The link on my signature, is just a collection of my own help pages, the links below come directly from BT, so you should be able to use them.
You should be able to run a test on your line from this link from the BT website.
Reporting Phone Faults
It does sound like there is one wire disconnected somewhere, as broadband will just about work under those conditions.
It would be best to do a couple of checks yourself, using this BT link, to make sure the problem is not within your own wiring.
Fixing phone faults
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.

Phone line and infinity

Hi all
Please excuse this question as to some it may be glaringly obvious, but I have been interested about Infinity and VDSL on a phone line.
Scenario: Customer lives 2km from the exchange. New FTTC cabinet is installed 100m from the customer.
This means that the VDSL signal only has to travel the last 100m (or thereabouts) to the customer.
It would not be good to "energise" the whole 2km of cable with the VDSL signal so is there some kind of filter to stop the VDSL signal going back up the 1900m "pair" to the exchange?
Thanks
ptan
Solved!
Go to Solution.

The way I understand it, and the most efficient way too, is:
From the exchange, an optical fibre bundle runs to the cabinet. This transports both broadband and voice service - it's got enough bandwidth for everything and then some.
From the cabinet, copper twisted pair wires run to every house serve by that cabinet. There is a DSLAM in the cabinet which interfaces between the optical fiber to the exchange and the copper to the house, for the VDSL2 service.
So the VDSL2 is from each house to the cabinet, and from the cabinet an optical fibre bundle runs to the exchange. Meaning there is no more a live copper wire connection from exchange to cabinet - this would be redundant.

Ongoing and Unresolved phone line and broadband pr...

I am trying to help my elderly neighbours resolve an ongoing phone line problem. We both keep reporting the issue but keep being passed from pillar to post. We are fairly certain its a line problem outside of the house (we have checked everything we can for them)
The problem is causing terrible crackling on the phone line to the point where they cannot hear people on the phone and their new quality laptop just cannot run. They struggle to get out and rely on their phone and were hoping to order shopping online etc.
So they are are paying £13 a month for no service and they are finding this whole experience very upsetting. We are disappointed with Bts service so far
Can anybody help please ?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

you should be able to report your phoneline fault to 151 but no mention of broadband.
I would just check that the phone is connected to the filter in the master socket to make sure problem is outwith the home and not internal. internal fault could cost you the callout fee
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Phone Line Wire Outside Snapped

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