How To get a section of line replaced

So over a month ago I posted this,

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/bt/4381815-how-to-r...

Basically a brilliant engineer finally found the intermittent fault we've had for 3 years or something, tested all the other lines in the aerial cable (16 pairs?) and they were all bad while it was wet (middle of winter)

He put a job on for the line team to change that section, they came when it was dry, tested the lines which were ok while it was dry and swapped us to one of the others,

As soon as it rained the line went bad again, crackle when first picking up the phone and somewhat sad ADSL,

So the million dollar question is what do we do now? we have a faulty line, I've had another engineer visit since (dry day) and he couldn't find it even though I pointed him at the bit of cable, and because he couldn't he couldn't book the line team to change it,

Be persistent. U need to constantly be on their backs every time the fault shows itself. Just tell them its intermittent when u call so u don't get charged if they don't find anything. They don't seem to keep logs of what happened in the past so it gets logged as a new fault.
I had an intermittent fault which went on for several years, eventually they found the fault in the cabinet (which they fixed straight away)

just cut it with an axe and say omg BT why have no phone/bb whats going on ??

OR will replace it.

Complain again
and again
and again
explaining the situation
Ask for your complaint to be escalated

Of course, BT might charge for the work as it isn't wear and tear but an "error" by the customer.

As well as following some of the suggestions here, can I also suggest that you send them a notification via http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Make it clear that you have raised the issue on this Forum!!

My experience is that this would get monitored/actioned sooner!

Of course, BT might charge for the work as it isn't wear and tear but an "error" by the customer.

do you mean chopping it with an axe would be an error? lol


I have submitted an email ticket as per your instructions johnjburness so maybe something will happen

The best chance of achieving this would be to migrate isp's to AAISP , and if they cannot get it sorted out then i doubt that anyone can,in short if some local metal thieves decided steal the offending cables from under the footpaths or roads that would leave them little choice in the matter ( i accept no responsibly for the actions of others) there's not a great deal that can be done with BT openreach
If you cut your incoming telephone cable you will just be risking a bill for the engineers visit, and would possibly still have the same problem , they will only replace the copper/ali cables as a last resort due to the costs involved

Edited by tommy45 (Tue 03-Mar-15 23:11:09)

Thanks for the recommendation of AAISP I figured there'd be a best ISP to go with for customer service and kicking OR's ass and didn't even need to ask and you told me

It obviously wouldn't make sense to do anything to our nearest incoming cable as that's still in good condition, however on a wet day an engineer did point out the offending bit of overhead cable so I guess if I don't get anywhere with OR and AAISP I will just have to hope for some kind of very unlucky metal thief related incident....

Pole eh, i can hear the chainsaw already,lol,

I echo the comment about AAISP - they were very good with resolving my line issue that no other previous three ISPs could do!

They got BT to replace the cable from the pole to my house and all was resolved.

If AAISP can't fix it, you're free to leave at no costs. See http://www.aa.net.uk/broadband-trial.html

Another vote for AAISP. Just watch out for their charges. Not so bad if your a consumer, but if you get a business account (such as a homeworker might), watching IPTV or downloading a lot during the day is prohibitively expensive.

you have the right idea, that is exactly what my dad did, and the service worked a charm once fixed.

He also asked Virgin to move a cable in his garden as the contractor did not bury it deep enough. lots of well me xxxx it is ok do not worry on the phone support number. He then said, that's ok. I am going to dig it on yyyyyy day and when you see the cable service stop for the 50+ houses on the ring, you will know what 20M of cable needs replaced. They were out the next day to burry a lot deeper...

BT Care (helpful chap called Paul) have sorted it!!!

An engineer arrived, asked which the damaged section was, we pointed it out and it was replaced the next week, our internet has been much better, no resyncs for days!

Though the last lot of heavy rain has killed it and we're awaiting further tests to find the additional faults