Caught between the ISP and reality

I suspect this is a generic problem with the way VSDL2 works hence me posting here.
Our internet has been in place for over 10 years with TalkTalk and plodded along with 4Mbs down and 1Mbs up. We need something faster so contact TT and are delighted to be offered up to 76 down and 20 up at less money so book that upgrade.
A new router arrives the next day as does a call so say that the upgrade has been cancelled because there is some problem with OpenReach and the premises address, something to do with the postcode not matching. Don’t worry we have logged the problem with OR and you can then re-order.
Waited a few days and re-ordered and was offered the same deal and yes OR has been fixed. Go live date I was last Monday so wait. New router sync’s at new speeds.
So starts the litany of OR engineer (all OK) new router(no change) and the frustrating chats/calls to support.

How is the change from ADSL to VSDL2 managed by OR? I am stuck in the middle without a working internet connection but telephone landline works fine.
Another clue is that if I go to another ISP and put in our details they intimate there is something wrong with the OR config still because you get things like ‘we will reconnect your line but don’t worry’.

Any ideas as to pointers to problem would be much appreciated because this seems more an OR problem so all ISPs would have the same issues?

Thanks

If new router is synced at the new VDSL2 speeds then Openreach have done the change at the cabinet

If there is no actual internet connection it may be that Openreach has put you on the wrong port at cabinet OR TalkTalk has failed to set you up at their end.

No matter whose fault, down to TalkTalk to arrange solution.

Thank you Andrew
I have been chatting to TT (to get the transcript!) and their solution is to send one of their experts to us in 2 weeks time.
Actually it must be an OpenReach prob because if I go to order a line from another ISP it comes up with stuff like ‘we will reconnect your landline’ but still would accept the order.
OR have been and tested and says it’s ok, TT say their authentication is ok, router changed twice. No IP address on router.
How to get TT to respond properly rather than fob me off for two weeks?
Any ideas?
Thanks

If authentication is OK then suggests they can see the router and it has an IP address.

Expert sounds like one of the TalkTalk home visit teams, if you have sync and everything is plugged in not sure what they will achieve though.

You have put your login details in the router ?.

Not normally any to enter for TalkTalk, its just plug in their kit and off you go.

Betting issue here is Openreach has connected you to Port XYZ in the cabinet but TalkTalk think you are connected to Port XZZ and can see an active connection on that port, but its not actually you.

If someone is authenticated then should be an IP address, and support should figure this out if they say you are authenticated but the web interface of the router is not showing a WAN IP address.

Exactly my thinking Andrew.
A bit more digging at my limited level shows that the address and telephone number don’t match as shown when I went to order from another ISP. Yet another said I needed a new BT socket which I guess is the same thing.
Since this was the problem when we first started it’s a real bummer and I am surprised TT don’t know this.
I will risk talking to support again.

Edited by rickw (Tue 21-Jul-20 14:05:32)

You say that you have been talking to support.

Do you mean that literally, or have you been using TalkTalk's online forum?

If not the latter I would strongly suggest that you give it a try - it is staffed by people who actually know the insides of the system and can take action - and they don't just have the ability to read from a pre-prepared script.

In addition, other TalkTalk customers are often able to give practical technical advice, as can also be found on here.

Actually both. I realised early on that you are quite right but actually had no contact from their OCEs or replies from them, so yes I have been back onto the script readers.
An interesting side is that I tried to sign up with some other ISPs but the answers were mainly ‘your address does not match the telephone number’ or ‘we need to install a BT socket pay £49’.
So it definitely seems an Openreach problem but TT are not convinced!

In reply to a post by rickw:

Actually both. I realised early on that you are quite right but actually had no contact from their OCEs or replies from them, so yes I have been back onto the script readers.

The TT community forum is not 24 hour support and is only staffed by OCE's Monday - Friday, there are some knowledgeable members who help during the weekend but they cannot as far as i know do anything other than post help to try to resolve problems.

Many TT customers also make the mistake of posting a thread and when they don't get an answer within 24 hours add new posts asking why they haven't had an answer this pushes the thread to the back of the queue so once you post don't add anything until you have been contacted, it can take a couple of days for the OCE's to catch up but once they have answered any further posts you add will be picked up quickly.


.

Edited by deleted (Tue 21-Jul-20 19:44:13)

What is a ' OCE's' ?

TalkTalk Employees
Our employees are here to help you find the best information and answers we have available. Within the community these guys are known as OCE's or Online Community Executives and like with the stars you'll notice the OCE title under their usernames which are also prefixed with "OCE_"

Thanks.

The OCEs really are very helpful.. I had my service transferred to a new home last Thursday.. The phone was fine but the BB didn't want to play ball. The Kelly's chap who visited told me that it would take up to midnight to go live but it didn't.. I contacted the TT forum and it was sorted by Monday. It seems my BB was 'parked' in some way.

In reply to a post by Andy_SP2:

The OCEs really are very helpful.. I had my service transferred to a new home last Thursday.. The phone was fine but the BB didn't want to play ball. The Kelly's chap who visited told me that it would take up to midnight to go live but it didn't.. I contacted the TT forum and it was sorted by Monday. It seems my BB was 'parked' in some way.

I agree, we recently had an intermittent problem with wi-fi which would kick us out of gaming and cause internet problems etc (ethernet was fine so it wasn't the connection) i requested a replacement router to see if it was the router that was at fault and once the OCE answered 2 days later a new router arrived the next day.

Its a shame they couldn't make it 24/7 support as i find typing and reading their replies a lot less frustrating than trying to understand a foreign accent and i always feel sorry for the poor customer service rep trying to understand my Cumbrian accent coming back at them.

One thing i would suggest if you decide to give the forum a try put as much detail in the first post as you can if they have to keep asking more questions it prolongs the fix,

Good luck and keep us posted.

I'm all sorted now and happy with the service so far.

I did think about going for FTTP when I moved but the building hasn't had it installed despite living in a city where they're rolling it out

OCE has started talking yesterday and we started well with resyncing the radius server and rebooting the router after 30minutes but still no IP address of connection. I am still not convinced that they understand that this is clearly an Openreach problem but not one that requires a visit, just sort out the config.

Andrew has helpfully suggested that our port is misconfigured. Does anyone know if the landline number is linked to the port number because the landline works?

Thanks

Landline carries onto the exchange so can be on wrong VDSL port and have voice.

Or you can be on right VDSL2 port, but the configuration mapping that port to the ISP was done wrong.

Thank you Andrew. Now I understand the DSLAM is actually in parallel with the copper from the exchange. Difty

The other info essential for which many thanks

Richard

Interesting thread. Was it resolved. Could you give us an update, thanks.

Edited by deleted (Sun 20-Sep-20 13:20:44)

Sorry for the delay.
The issue was resolved by escalating inside TT who then escaped in OR and indeed the port allocation was wrong. It took nearly one month but was finally resolved and the connection as expected and reliable.
Thank you to all who provided pointers.

Thanks for update.