No talkitalki

I am with Newnet but my phone line provider is talktalk. My phone line went down yesterday morning - so I am not talking any more! Though to be fair they are tranferring all calls to my mobile. I am getting about 10% of my usual broadband speed.
Would be interested to know if anyone else on the Kings Norton Exchange is having problems and if there is advice for poor punters like me.

The talktalk website tells me that BT engineers are aware of the problem - why isn't that reassuring?
Reposted from Newnet discussion

If your attenuation is around double the usual value then likely one half your telephone wiring is broke and probably just you, rather than lots of people in the area

Damn - I missed what MrSaffron picked up.

Your line is a pair of wires to the exchange. If one wire is broken anywhere, or detached at a junction, you get the effect you have. The phone needs both wires connected, broadband can work with just one, but very slowly.

If you have reported a phone fault, when that is fixed the broadband will spring back to life. (Though depending on whether you are on ADSL or ADSL2+ there can be a time lag).

No point in reporting the broadband to Newnet at this stage.

The talktalk website tells me that BT engineers are aware of the problem - why isn't that reassuring?

It should be, it means TT have passed the fault to Openreach, and they, in turn, will fix it. Might be a bit of a wait as they are a tad busy at the moment.

It would be good to have some feedback - where the problem is, how long etc.. They [BT] just seem to juggernaut their way through everything without any customer care.
My elderly Mother is reliant on an emergency dial out system should she fall or be taken ill so with this inoperative I have to stay home and lose money. We have been told that this sort of weather will occur more often � it is AND HOW and will doubtless become even worse! So why is the technology not fit for purpose?
It just appears that Open Reach hides behind other providers and is not up to the job. Talktalk has a forum with which I have just registered but it will not let me post my problem! I just get the feeling that a lot of third world countries would be better organised than this � and at a cheaper cost.

Tomlee

Have you told Talktalk your mother is reliant on an emergency dial out system! if you have and they have passed that message on to Openreach she would be treated as a priority. You need to ensure that this is recorded on both systems!

Talktalk may not have put a priority on the fault as they have transferred calls to your mobile and they know you can use the mobile to make outgoing calls.

If you haven't told them or Talktalk have not passed the message on you will be at the bottom of a very long pile (weather related at present). So much of the country is underwater that there will be lots of faults.

Your customer care comes via TalkTalk and Openreach will only communicate with you about an appointment at your premises. You are not their customer, Talktalk is, and they have regulatory restrictions on talking direct to you.

TalkTalk giving customers priority ... which other one would you like to pull. Last time I heard of someone n a similar situation the response was "so what ... it will be done at some time"

Whereas with BT the response would very likely to have been a 2 or 4 working hour response. Having had parents in the same situation, I know that the various BT divisions will respond rapidly and have even had a case of report the problem in the early evening and a BT Tech arrived later that evening to sort the problem.

When having the equipment installed the service and equipment provider insisted that the line and service had to be provided by BT.

In reply to a post by tomlee:

It would be good to have some feedback - where the problem is, how long etc.. They [BT] just seem to juggernaut their way through everything without any customer care.
My elderly Mother is reliant on an emergency dial out system should she fall or be taken ill so with this inoperative I have to stay home and lose money. We have been told that this sort of weather will occur more often � it is AND HOW and will doubtless become even worse! So why is the technology not fit for purpose?
It just appears that Open Reach hides behind other providers and is not up to the job. Talktalk has a forum with which I have just registered but it will not let me post my problem! I just get the feeling that a lot of third world countries would be better organised than this � and at a cheaper cost.

Hi Tomlee,

If you join the TalkTalk Members Forum or Tweet us @TalkTalkCare we will be more than happy to check the progress on the fault.

Regards

Mark
TalkTalk Online Community Department

Update. I have just tried to go to TT forum to find it is OFFLINE. No doubt a different inundation!! I have followed Mark�s advice from TalkTalk Online Community Department and joined Twitter and made a comment there. Suspect it has just wasted my time. What a lot of disgruntled customers!

A friend contacted TT for me this morning and was once again promised repair by end of today. Since BT do not work past 20.00 hours that is another promise broken.
My friend when reporting this on Sunday informed them of the Emergency dialler � that made a lot of difference! It has been reported at every opportunity since. They don�t mind and we don�t matter!

About time we had another supplier for landlines in UK and got BT off their arrogant well upholstered backsides and had a little more competition going for us long suffering punters.
PS I am in Birmingham � Kings Norton exchange. OK it was wet but we�ve had it before and not lost landlines.

Isn't this anti-competitive??

I have been looking at Virgin cable lately.

Anyone know if it would be frying pan to fire?

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Nov-12 22:16:41)

What is anti-competitive?

I pay BT retail for a service level. BT Retail will contract with Openreach to provide the same service at a specific cost. TT can choose what ever level of service they want and if they do not want to pay very much then the service level is lower. Openreach will provide whatever service level their customer has asked and paid for - simple.

For disabled customers BT Retail will subsidise the Openreach charges, and TT can do the same if they wish.

There is no reason why another company cannot install an national copper network and provide service over it. But is anyone willing to commit to that expenditure for what is a small and diminishing return?

But there is no other supplier for national copper wire service other than BT or Open Reach. They have a monopoly there is NO alternative. Where is the competiion?

I have never heard of a tired service - what is it called? Where can I get details?

In reply to a post by tomlee:

But there is no other supplier for national copper wire service other than BT or Open Reach. They have a monopoly there is NO alternative. Where is the competiion?

You tell me? TalTalk claim to be wonderful - well if they are that great why don't they build their own copper network? There is nothing to stop them.

In reply to a post by tomlee:

I have never heard of a tired service - what is it called? Where can I get details?

Neither have I. Is it one due to go to bed?

Pardon me- sp mistake . Should have read " I have never heard of a tiered service - what is it called? Where can I get details."

If the country has lost so much of it's phone lines in this wet weather; why? It did not happen in 2007. Is BT using the wrong kind of Glue? What is going on?
NB I am not a great fan of TT. But they were the first in my area to provide Broadband rather than dial up. Their broadband service then went swiftly downhill so I am now with Newnet where you speak to people who get things moving.. But everyone is hog tied by BT.

As a residential customer you don't normally have a choice of service level. BT Retail has a blanket agreement as will others offering a voice or line service..

For Buinsess grade service it is possible with BT to have, Next Business Day, Next Day, 8 hour, 4 hour, 1 hour (onsite) and even a technician on site permanently during the working day or 24 hours/day. However, there is a cost to all of those.

The additional "benefits" that BT Retail provides to specific groups - seriously disabled, blind &c in the form of free Directory Enquiries, rapid response or enhanced repair times is paid for by BT Retail from their revenue stream and they pay Openreach for teh additional services.

If someone offers a cheap service, you need to ask, "What has been removed from or not available in the service offering?"



I don't think that we have lost more lines. Whenever there is a prolonged period of bad weather there will be damage to the network. The solution would be to have twice as many technicians ready and waiting for teh problems - but would you be prepared to pay 50% more for your line rental?

My telegraph pole was hit by a speeding car that split it in two. I was without a telephone service for six weeks. Previously, we have had telephone posts repaired the next day. But now someone comes to assess the damage and because the preceding pole, down line, was judged class D [unsafe to climb with a ladder] it was assessed that very special equipment had to be used.
Eventually a team came from Nottingham [!!!!] we are in south Worcestershire. They decide they did not need the heavy crane equipment or the traffic lights and fitted the new pole within an hour. The Engineers were disgusted at the management of BT.
When I questioned BT about it I got the excuse that there were highly technical problems at my site. Load of tosh!
BT couldn�t organise a Party at a Brewery. Now they are holding the UK to ransom whilst �third world� countries get the best speed and service ever. If I were a share holder I would take my money and run.

I am with TT and am happy with the service but do acknowledge that if a problem develops some people do have problems trying to get it fixed.
I have read reports that Openreach do drag their heels when it is a TT line in question. It may have been on this forum where someone reported that a broken pole was replaced and BT customers reconnected, but a TT customer had to wait for some days despite being fed from the same pole.
If true,why should this be do TT pay for a lesser service?

If things are this bad, then lobby the people holding venture capital to back firms that do use totally alternate networks, e.g. the Virgin Media one that half the country has access to, and if it could write off its billions of debt might expand more.

The regulation of the last 30 years has been to squeeze BT and its elements to make it more attractive for others to invest, alas the investors are not racing to the areas outside the cities, but going to the cities.

One reason Openreach can be so bad, is that when it was formed it was downsized on the engineering staff drastically, and many old hands got early retirement or left, so the knowledge base is not so broad now. Benefit has been that line rental costs have not risen as rapidly as they might of otherwise.

I have read reports that Openreach do drag their heels when it is a TT line in question.

That's just plain not true. In fact Openreach has to be seen to provide a positive bias towards LLU repair. Get a cut cable, and the emphasis is on getting LLU stuff back in service first. If the LLU providers thought they were getting anything less than equivalent service from Openreach, they would shout the loudest.

Thank you kitcat.
On every occasion the fault has been reported to TalkTalk it has also been made clear that my Mother is reliant on the emergency dialler. On Thurday morning I requested that it be treated as Proirity - more promises. Another phone call yesterday morning dadeda, This morning a friend phoned and Behold I got a phone back promise from India that my phone would be on tonight between 1900 hours and midnight.
A friend has told me that talktalk website has this on it:-
"Service status fo phone number 012******* [not you?]
We need some information from about the problem you reported.
Please check your mobile phone for atext message from us with more details"

Guess what?? No text received.

To err is human to to make a real catastrophe you have to depend on British Telecom!!

H E L P!! anyone please!

My blood pressure is up - I shall need the emergency dialler soon. Oh it doesn't workl! Like I said Be very afraid!

Latest - just phoned TalkTalk to be told my phone will not be fixed until 07 December 2012 [I think they meant 2012]

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Dec-12 21:48:33)

In reply to a post by tomlee:

To err is human to to make a real catastrophe you have to depend on British Telecom!!

I think it very unlikely the problem of getting this fixed lies with BT/Openreach.

Yes - the line is maintained by them, but unless TT have a suitable contract with them, or are willing to pay for emergency work, they aren't going to react. Do you even know that the emergency dialler side of it has been relayed to OR?

From what you've said, no-one at TT has a clue what to do.

Thank you for your comments.

What would you do in my position then?

I honestly don't know. I haven't got transcripts and copies of everything that has passed between you and TT for a start.

All I was saying was that Openreach's customer is TalkTalk, not you.

Why is the phone line with TalkTalk? Because it was cheap? If so, maybe this is why it was cheap - they have not got a contract or even arrangements in place to deal with this sort of issue.

Having said that, you'd think there was some way of getting Openreach out to it. But you have obviously tried and tried, without success. It reflects very badly on TT.

Ah! Email [email protected] and explain the situation re the line and your mother, including that it is a non-LLU TT line, (probably WLR). You might get action from his office.

Your time much appreciated.

will update you.
Thanks

What about an e-mail to the head of of Talk Talk ? Sorry, no idea who that is, but I guess someone will know.

Did this ever get sorted?