No phone for a week.....!!!

I had my phone line tested a week ago and a fault was detected. I got an Openreach tracking number but there seems nowhere to enter it to check progress. Anyone know where to enter this?

I chased it up via the support page this morning (having been away for a couple of days) and got the reply - "Our Support Team will respond to your question soon. Please only add further comments when absolutely necessary.".

My next comment is likely to be unprintable if something does not happen soon.

Meldrew
(Ijust do not believe it.....!)

Who do you pay the line rental to?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Who do you pay the line rental to?

Plusnet.

You could try here, but it may be for CPs only and require their login.

Thanks, but it is for CPs only.

I got an Openreach tracking number .....

Phone up whoever (PN CS?) gave you the number and they should be able to update you to what is happening over the Easter holls period, good luck!

I thought I would update on this as neither phone nor internet are working yet. Who was the bright spark who suggested I called them?!).

Apprently Openrach said they had fixed the problem but did not bother to check. We then had to raise the issue again ant it appears that other houses have no phone line either.

I blame PN as much as OR as they are not up to speed on this and as of this morning there is no sign of any OR activity in the neighbourhood.

You only find out how good a service is when things go wrong. I rest my case.....

... it appears that other houses have no phone line either.

Have they all ordered their phone lines from Plusnet then, or is it all providers that can't get Openreach to sort things out?

I think I am the only one on PN. I know my immediate neighbour is Supanet.

Phone line still dead as the proverbial doornail but Internet has made a slow connection this evening. Could be worse I suppose, but not much. No sign of an Openreach van anywhere. Sppedtest is 0.8Mps compared with 9 normally.

That's probably just one wire of the pair connected.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 08-Apr-15 18:27:29)

Plusnet will report the issue to OR, then have to sit back and wait for the engineer report. THis will probably offer a "Clear", at this point PN should contact you to ask if the fault is fixed.

If not, they then "Reject" the clear and it is passed back to OR for further investigation.

PN as, to be honest, as much at the mercy of OR as the customer in situations like this.

If multiple providers are reporting issues it is likely a more major issues than a simple line fault, and likely to take a little longer to rectify as OpenReach will no doubt have to test several lines and equipment installations.

And as there was a 4 day bank holiday, OpenReach will be mopping up from that too.

In reply to a post by azrael316:

Plusnet will report the issue to OR, then have to sit back and wait for the engineer report. THis will probably offer a "Clear", at this point PN should contact you to ask if the fault is fixed.

If not, they then "Reject" the clear and it is passed back to OR for further investigation.

PN as, to be honest, as much at the mercy of OR as the customer in situations like this.

If multiple providers are reporting issues it is likely a more major issues than a simple line fault, and likely to take a little longer to rectify as OpenReach will no doubt have to test several lines and equipment installations.

And as there was a 4 day bank holiday, OpenReach will be mopping up from that too.

If your water/gas/electricity was 'off' for approaching a fortnight then all hell would break lose and yet a telephone/broadband service seems to escape that wroth were it seems alright to amble along day after day without even a hint of good PR explaining the issues to the customer. Your platitudes in your posting doesn't cut any ice with me.

Not much direct help either from Ofcomedy as they cannot handle individual complaints but at least they provide a "follow these steps" webpage if you can access it

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-bro...

Edit) ... forgot to paste this:- http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/landfault

Edited by Apprentice (Thu 09-Apr-15 13:36:43)

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

Not much direct help either from Ofcomedy as they cannot handle individual complaints but at least they provide a "follow these steps" webpage if you can access it

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/complain/phone-and-bro...

Edit) ... forgot to paste this:- http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/landfault

I like your terminology of Ofcomedy as clearly they are a joke when suggesting "If eight weeks have passed since you first formally complained you can contact the ADR directly". So two months could pass before they swing into action. It could be a long haul for the OP!

Thanks for your response to Azrael - you said it for me! Every day they put the fix forward another day and PN have offered me (when it is working again) a free month of broadband!! Currently free for a year to new subscribers!

We have three levels of irritation in our household - Incandescent, Ballistic, and Nuclear. when this is sorted nobody will be left unscathed!

If an essential service like Gas or Electricity was off for a week, then yes, there would be cause for getting irate, however the Internet and Telephone are not classed as an essential "utility", and probably never will be.

If your access to the internet is quite so critical why do you not have a backup option?

The very nature of the UK telecoms system means that it will never be free from faults and it is to be expected that you will get issues that require extensive work to rectify.

In reply to a post by azrael316:

If an essential service like Gas or Electricity was off for a week, then yes, there would be cause for getting irate, however the Internet and Telephone are not classed as an essential "utility", and probably never will be.

If your access to the internet is quite so critical why do you not have a backup option?

The very nature of the UK telecoms system means that it will never be free from faults and it is to be expected that you will get issues that require extensive work to rectify.

I have plenty of fallback options but only one line to my own home. When do school holidays end?

In reply to a post by azrael316:

When do school holidays end?

Wouldn't know, I don't have kids yet.

And as for "I only have one line", So do I, but as my access is critical I have ensured I have a 3G/4G backup access and a mobile phone should I need to make a call. You know, just in case the exact situation happens.

Now, have a snickers....

Latest update is that OR need to replace 300m of cable and it will take a further ten days to find a contractor. Then they have to actually get the work done. I managed to contact PN faults again via another connection and the "nothing to do with us now, guv" attitude was quite apparent.

They should be grateful I am not an enthusiast of Social Media!

In reply to a post by meldrew:

When do school holidays end?

Today.

In reply to a post by azrael316:

In reply to a post by azrael316:

When do school holidays end?

Wouldn't know, I don't have kids yet.

Apologies. I got the impression you had just done your GCSE in sanctimonious remarks recently.

Nope. Did my GCSEs a LONG time ago. In fact I was in the school year to actually do them.

Im not trying to be sanctimonious, and i'm not sure you're trying to audition for a remake of One Foot in the Grave.

Just having worked in the industry for many years it gets my back right up when after, what is quite a short period, in reality, its immediately a major issue.

I have know faults that have gone one for far longer than 2 to 3 weeks, and have actually stretched into months. I hope yours doesn't take this long, and it likely wont.

But taking to a forum like this isnt going to make any difference at all, your best course is to keep on at PN and they will keep on at OR.

(I used to work there too, so I know keeping on at the faults team does work. )

YOu do have a thread about this on their forums I take it?

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by meldrew:

When do school holidays end?

Today.

Depends on the county. I'm on the border of Surrey and Hampshire, and the Surrey kids go back next week, the Hampshire kids have another week.

Surrey had week before and week after Easter. Hampshire had two weeks after Easter.

Thanks, I was being too parochial.

In reply to a post by kasg:

Thanks, I was being too parochial.

Its a nightmare for families who work across the county boundary, affects a lot of my colleagues. Shame there isn't more of a standard. :-/

I'd suggest you keep an eye on http://roadworks.org to see if and when the work is planned.

Worcestershire - another week off here!

In reply to a post by azrael316:

But taking to a forum like this isnt going to make any difference at all, your best course is to keep on at PN and they will keep on at OR.

(I used to work there too, so I know keeping on at the faults team does work. )

YOu do have a thread about this on their forums I take it?

Useful advice. I have had effective contact with "faults" and the Community site has a lot of people bewailing the lack of communication between OR, PN and the customer.

Having been told that my problem is on hold for another week while OR sort themselves out I was completely taken by surprise when the phone rang today! Checking the line the broadband works too but with a low profile of only 2Mbps.

At this point I will wait to hear officially from PN and be thankful for small mercies but it is nice to know that so many others are in the same boat.

The speed will likely be down to the Dread Pirate DLM.

Faults will no doubt have info from OR by now, normally get it about 12 to 24 hours after the "appointment".