Huffy rant: no broadband or four days now - how much longer?

My bb simply stopped working at 7.51 am on Friday 4th oct. I reported it at 810 on Friday and it was confirmed with support to be an authentication issue. I have a connection to the exchange at 8128 but could not log into plusnet or the bt start up domains etc. so fault logged. And nothing.

Turns out the techies didn't even bother to look at it Until 11.28 this morning, a full 75 hours after I reported it. And found that there is an authentication issue.

Grr.

So now I have to wait as they escalate it to the 'suppliers' with an update in another 72 hours.

4 days wasted. Why oh why was the fault not checked by plusnet on Friday?

I think this is poor. Am I right or wrong.

You lost a consumer product with no service level agreement, and therefore no defined time scale to repair.

PlusNet are the only people who can examine the length of the relevant support queues, and determine whether your experience was in line with their expectations of the service they deliver.


It sounds like this is more likely to be a BT Wholesale issue than a PlusNet one, considering your inability to log into the start up domain. As such, it's not in PlusNet's immediate competence to repair (unlike if your records had been corrupted in PlusNet's RADIUS servers), and PlusNet need to depend on BT Wholesale's fault resolution processes.

It isn't 75 hours. It is 1 working day. That isn't bad for a response for a residential product that as David explains has no SLA. For the amount britain pays for broadband you may have to adjust your expectations as to what level of service you can expect to get.

Ho hum. I know it's a consumer line with a consumer contract, but I've no broadband and it's really annoying

Plusnet are saying the fault is at the exchange. Bt have replied saying they have fixed it., however I've still no broadband with still the same authentication errors as before.

back to plusnet who are saying that the exchange is still reporting that there is a fault. So it's again back to bt with the update in 72 hours clock restarting.

Meanwhile I am continuing to over react and completely failing to accept that it's just a broadband connection and I'm to get a life............

So frustrating.

I've got a 3g dongle, had it for years and just pay '3' £5 per month for 1GB usage, and I find it very useful for when the PPP link goes down which it invariably does from time to time due to remote hardware or software problems.

It can indeed be very irritating if the modem remains sync'd to the exchange (DSL link) but for some reason there is no internet connection (PPP link) but unfortunately it just "one of those things"

My emergency plan is relocate to a coffee shop in the next nearest place where Internet is available...

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life, the only way it could be worse is if the rest of a family was badgering you about it.

Can understand the vent and clearly you do understand why in which case fair play - feel free to rant.

As per others I have a 3G MiFi device that I can use in the event Internet goes down. If Internet is vital then you need alternatives for when it fails - even leased lines can be out for long periods in certain circumstances which is why companies need business continuity plans and circuit redundancy to keep afloat.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life, the only way it could be worse is if the rest of a family was badgering you about it.

Sounds like the entire population have become internet addicts - however it does now seem that the internet has become almost a necessity in everyday life

In reply to a post by 4M2:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life, the only way it could be worse is if the rest of a family was badgering you about it.

Sounds like the entire population have become internet addicts - however it does now seem that the internet has become almost a necessity in everyday life

So the government keep telling us.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life

I think a power cut is worse. The Internet goes off, but so do the lights, the kettle and many of the alternatives to the Internet.

In reply to a post by brightd:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life

I think a power cut is worse. The Internet goes off, but so do the lights, the kettle and many of the alternatives to the Internet.

3g dongle still works on a battery powered laptop though and I boil water for a cup of tea on the gas hob

I am able to link to my mobile. Yippee.

I'm in a bit of a dip and get limited mobile coverage. Managed to get the ladders out and tape my mobile under the drainpipe and hotspot to it. Hope it doesnt rain. Getting a GPRS signal with Vodafone. Nothing with ee or.3. Unfortunately.

Plusnet are hassling bt, so nothing negative about their service really.

Just as a previous poster said, a difficult time. My kids think that their dad is the worst kind of parent, punishing them for no reason whatsoever. No Facebook is frankly a crime against humanity for a 14 year old and the ten year old has no Xbox gold. I mean COME ON DAD!

Last night we had dinner at the table without phones to play with. My daughter still didn't speak to us of course, but at least she huffed in our presence, which was nice.

Now awaiting the bt response. Plusnet have set a reply time of Thursday morning.

Ho hum..........

Hi poggs,

Sorry to see your broadband isn't working for you yet, I can see that it is an issue with the frames work which were chasing and are now awaiting an update.

We'll be in-touch as soon as we have it.

Should be good for emails at least and perhaps for tickets updated by Plusnet

Hence my off grid 12V system for those exact days, power an ADSL router for a good while

Don't usually bother, as take the power cut as a sign to go do some gardening,

In reply to a post by brightd:

I think a power cut is worse. The Internet goes off, but so do the lights, the kettle and many of the alternatives to the Internet.

It is frequently found that in conurbations an evening power-cut results in a spike in the birth-rate for the area nine months later.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It is frequently found that in conurbations an evening power-cut results in a spike in the birth-rate for the area nine months later.

These guys https://vimeo.com/74960700 are certainly electrified!

Still awaiting BT pitching up at the exchange to do something relating to frames whatever that means.

Anyone know any good ideas about prepairing loved ones for the bad news for when they get home.

Fair to say, I'm not relishing the discussion!

In reply to a post by poggs:

Still awaiting BT pitching up at the exchange to do something relating to frames whatever that means.

Sorry, what happens exchange side of the Master NTE5 is a total mystery for me - I do know however that I have a spare pair on the "drop wire"

In reply to a post by poggs:

Anyone know any good ideas about prepairing loved ones for the bad news for when they get home.

Fair to say, I'm not relishing the discussion!

Obvious plan is not to be in when they get home!

In reply to a post by poggs:

I am able to link to my mobile. Yippee.

I'm in a bit of a dip and get limited mobile coverage. Managed to get the ladders out and tape my mobile under the drainpipe and hotspot to it. Hope it doesnt rain. Getting a GPRS signal with Vodafone. Nothing with ee or.3. Unfortunately.

Plusnet are hassling bt, so nothing negative about their service really.

Just as a previous poster said, a difficult time. My kids think that their dad is the worst kind of parent, punishing them for no reason whatsoever. No Facebook is frankly a crime against humanity for a 14 year old and the ten year old has no Xbox gold. I mean COME ON DAD!

Last night we had dinner at the table without phones to play with. My daughter still didn't speak to us of course, but at least she huffed in our presence, which was nice.

Ho hum..........

Brilliant post! Brightened up my day! Been there, got the T-shirt........

In reply to a post by poggs:

Managed to get the ladders out and tape my mobile under the drainpipe and hotspot to it. Hope it doesnt rain.

Put it in a plastic bag!

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

My emergency plan is relocate to a coffee shop in the next nearest place where Internet is available...

Internet broke is probably one of the most frustrating things people experience in day to day life, the only way it could be worse is if the rest of a family was badgering you about it.

Last Friday I woke up to find my Draytek 2750n had completely packed up (which was confirmed by the OR modem and HH3 still working).

So I threw on my phone with wired tether and the "emergency" plan was to go to PCWorld and pick up an ASUS RT-N66U and run it off the OR modem.

Both are now hooked up to the UPS and so I can run in a power cut even if it is for an hour or so.

But looking at all the internet enabled devices there are 25 in the house and even going dark for 1 weekend would be really inconvinient. Especially as my wife had to buy her car insurance online over the weekend.

The target response time to get you back online is 7 days usually. You've only had 1 working day so far technically also. It's frustrating but most ISPs aren't as quick as we hope for on residential services.
Average closure times 7 days 20 hours currently

http://portal.plus.net/supportpages.html?a=212

Still awaiting BT attending at my exchange to plug some cable back in that may or may not have been unplugged last Friday............

6 days and 4 hours. So still a day to meet the average.

Edited by poggs (Thu 10-Oct-13 11:49:09)

In reply to a post by undecidedadrian:

Especially as my wife had to buy her car insurance online over the weekend.

What made her have to buy the car insurance online?

Order by phone, order in person at retail premises, wait a few days, use an internet connection other than at home (friend / neighbour, coffee shop etc).

It is convenient, very, very, very rarely live and death!

Maybe they wanted to find an comparsion site to get the best deal possible? You can't do that in high street!

Hi, really sorry it's going on so long - to address the query raised on your ticket, yes the call was to us though I'm not sure what the problem was as someone is always available to answer that number.

We'll definitely have more information for you tomorrow, hopefully it'll be fixed by then - we'll check for you and let you know as soon as we can.

In reply to a post by orbrey:

Hi, really sorry it's going on so long - to address the query raised on your ticket, yes the call was to us though I'm not sure what the problem was as someone is always available to answer that number.

We'll definitely have more information for you tomorrow, hopefully it'll be fixed by then - we'll check for you and let you know as soon as we can.

Thanks. My ticket rant was touch stroppy. Sorry about that.

But that isnt a "have to" situation.

..... but could be very desirable.

In reply to a post by hypertony:

Maybe they wanted to find an comparsion site to get the best deal possible? You can't do that in high street!

You can do it in pretty much any coffee shop and lots of other places.

In reply to a post by hypertony:

Maybe they wanted to find an comparison site to get the best deal possible? You can't do that in high street!

No, but you can by phoning the insurance cos. and get more accurate and suitable quotes, as comparison sites make unjustified assumptions for the Excess (the 'Excess Problem').

Well. Here we are again with today's update.

Seems that there have been two engineers at the exchange so far. None of them has been on the course where they are taught how to fix exchange faults. Apparently they need to plug my cable into another slot, but the previous engineers can't do this as a new card needs to be fitted into a rack first. Or something

So another booking has been made for a proper engineer to come out and fit a pci network card (perhaps I'm simplifying here) before another engineer can come back and plug my cable into it.

So another 72 hour slot has started. Goodness only knows when this saga will end.

Beginning to think that I should have simply done a cease and reprovide!

That only takes ten days.

In reply to a post by greenglide:

What made her have to buy the car insurance online?

Not heard of cashback sites then?

Resolution!

At 1610hrs on Monday 14th October, our family's crutch was returned to us.

For 10 days and 8 hours she was lost in the deepest darkest depths of bt openreach hell.

However we are all now trying to reconcile at her spiteful neglect but I'm sure we will come through it after counselling.

Minecraft is currently being played by my son with a headset on yelling far too loudly at the next door neighbour via xbox gold. My daughter is submersed in facebook, giggling and snorting away.

I would love to say that we used this no internet time to bond and express our love for each other, but no. It was a 10 day period of conflict and aggression.

However, with the reintroduction of our beloved broadband, all is as it was and will ever be.

Thanks be to those hard working plusnet support techs who had to field my oh so subtle barbs on the phone, you did it well.

Great that you finally got it sorted. And also that domestic bliss has been reinstated ensuring that you don't have to resort to conversing with your kids (except possibly via facebook or twitter)

In reply to a post by poggs:

For 10 days and 8 hours she was lost in the deepest darkest depths of bt openreach hell.

If the issue was with the ADSL2+ equipment in the exchange, that belongs to BT Wholesale, not Openreach.

I'm glad you've got it sorted, and that normal life has resumed.

Surely it's BT TSO not BTw

Make sure you get a credit for the down time, it should happen automatically but there is a possibility you might have to "remind" them.

Or to cover all our bases BT Group plc

In reply to a post by jelv:

Surely it's BT TSO not BTw

Quite possibly they provided the engineering resources to fix this problem - I'm not familiar enough with the operational side of BT Group to know.

My point is that the 21CN MSANs in the exchanges are a BT Wholesale thing. People have got used to saying BT Openreach because Openreach run the GEA-FTTx networks (including the FTTC street cabinets) between the end user and the handover node, where traffic moves to networks operated by companies including BT Wholesale (who PlusNet use), TalkTalk, Sky and Zen.

Dont know if this helps the who to blame debate, but the exchange is Longniddry and its still on 20cn and ADSL Max.

Not due for 21CN until march next year.