A Question for a openreach engineer or cs staff...

Hey All

Just a quick question...

How long does it take for a tag to be taken off a record and how difficult is it to get removed once the issue its linked to has been resolved.

The reason I am asking is a few of us down my road (using same hardware) had tags (i.e. build issues) put on our records which stopped our FTTP Engineer work from being done.

This was due to our Splitter Node had issues, this issue required all the fibres to be re-spliced into the correct trays which was done on the 27th September.

Now everyone else apart from me has had their build issue tag removed and have had both their external and internal work done and are all live now but us.

I am hoping its just a matter of our case handler at BT to ask for it to be removed.

Because it really sucks to see everyone else that ordered after me that also had this tag issue get resolved, installed and all go live and me just sitting here with a tag on our record that pointing to a build issue that no longer exists

I am due a call from my BT case hander this evening with a result, so I am hoping for good news, due to my neighbours case handlers had no issues at all and had theirs resolved within 5 mins when they spokes to openreach on the phone and had an engineer booking for a few days later, so I am hoping for the same outcome.

So any answers would be great.

Thanks

Paul

Hmm, not really happy at all.

My case handler at BT phoned and told me that there is an underground build issue, yet everybody else on our Splitter Node and FibreDP that was also tagged as having the same build issue had the tag removed within 5 minutes and they also booked for an engineer at the same time.

Yet my case handler keeps being told there is still a build issue and won't remove the tag.

That underground build issue was with our splitter node that was completed on the 27th September, I know that due to I was talking the the engineers that did the work, this work was completed on the system or else my neighbours wouldn't of been able to get their removed and have their install completed.

This really sucks.

Paul

Have you suggested your "case handler" contacts the "case handler" of yor neighbour to see what was done?

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Have you suggested your "case handler" contacts the "case handler" of yor neighbour to see what was done?

Thanks for the reply.

Well when I told my case handler that at least one of my neighbours case handler only took 5 mins to resolve it and to also have an engineer booked, I was told they probably phone up openreach the same time as it was being removed, I am smelling a bit of bull s*** there.

One of my neighbours even had a go at openreach when they phoned them to cancel their install due to this build issue, and a few days later the engineers arrived to do their install.

I might ask my case handler to speak to that other case handler on Monday when they are due to phone next, I have asked them to keep me updated on a daily basis, which they are happy to do.

I know they said they have asked openreach to look into why it cannot be removed due to other homes using the same hardware (right up to the same FibreDP etc) that was also all tagged with the build issue before the 27th September, which have all been installed and are now all live but us.

I told them there should be no reason now that the build issue tag cannot be removed if everybody else is ok, to which they agreed, they went on to say they can only go by what they are told by openreach.

But to be honest if they are only going by what they are told by openreach then this will never get resolved.

Lets hope there is better news Monday.

Paul

Just an update...

I received a phone call earlier today from my case handler with very good news, stating that Openreach are very sorry for all the issues and have now removed the tag on our record and have an engineer book for a couple of days time to do the external work and gave a date for next week to do the internal work.

Well that really made my day, due to all the issues so far I was expecting another issue to be told to me, so yeah I am happy of the outcome.

I am not too sure if the emails that one of my neighbours and I sent to our local MP stating the issues, I also sent emails to Gavin Patterson (CEO of BT Group) and Michael Rake (Chairman of BT) consisting of the issues still current and that email also had the contents that I sent to my local MP combined with the work the case handler at BT did.

So I am assuming this all helped to get it resolved quicker.

So after nearly 5 years we will have our FTTP order go live next week some time

Paul

BT Group CEO has rarely failed. When it has, I suspect the complainer didn't handle it right.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

BT Group CEO has rarely failed. When it has, I suspect the complainer didn't handle it right.

Most possible, I don't really want to point fingers.

Well I wasn't even notified that they even received my emails until last night when I was told she had been given my last (i.e. second email) email.

I was starting to think my email was being ignored until I was told about my last one last night.

I don't really want to annoy BT or openreach at the moment due to I still have to wait for the install LOL

Paul

and Michael Rake (Chairman of BT)

ahem That's Sir Mike .... maybe that's why he hasn't replied

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

and Michael Rake (Chairman of BT)

ahem That's Sir Mike .... maybe that's why he hasn't replied

LOL

Paul

Praise the lord

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Praise the lord

They only get that after being sacked.

Oops! Sorry. After resigning with a large payoff before they get sacked.

It was more aimed at the fact we may now see some different content in the posts from Mr Kirby, although I suspect they'll be along the lines of "not getting 300mbps all the tkme"...

In reply to a post by lee111s:

It was more aimed at the fact we may now see some different content in the posts from Mr Kirby, although I suspect they'll be along the lines of "not getting 300mbps all the tkme"...

LOL, excuse me, most of my posts wasn't even about my connection, most was replies helping people

Anyhow that shouldn't really happen, the fibre in the splitter gets split up into 32 strands, only 4 (including ours) will be in use for the time being, 2 of them are only using 52Mbps, not too sure what the old lady 4 doors from us has.

But I worked it out as if every body (i.e. 32 connections) had infinity 4 and all 32 connections hammered their connection all would get a maximum speed of 78.125Mbps which is a hell of a lot better than out ADSL connection that has trouble running You Tube.

That won't happen due to they have only plumbed in 12 fibres from the splitter to our dp and everybody else between our dp and our splitter are not going to get FTTP for some reason, and that they are to be put on their new system when it starts, I was told by an engineer that it will be G.FAST when they roll it out to our area, it seems that our exchange is used a lot for trials.

So that's a 2.5Gbps fibre strand split up into just 12 fibres, so that's 208Mbps, unless they reduce the bandwidth down that fibre which they might.

I was also told the remaining 12K lines on our exchange that was originally down for FTTP which was halted in mid install will be moved over to G.FAST.

That's what I was told by a couple of engineers, not too sure if that is true or not.

But either way its better that what we have now LOL.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

I was also told the remaining 12K lines on our exchange that was originally down for FTTP which was halted in mid install will be moved over to G.FAST.

Interesting.

Unless everyone on the exchange is within 300m of the PCP, that suggests some of the G.Fast infrastructure is going to be placed deeper into the network than "just" the PCPs.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

I was also told the remaining 12K lines on our exchange that was originally down for FTTP which was halted in mid install will be moved over to G.FAST.

Interesting.

Unless everyone on the exchange is within 300m of the PCP, that suggests some of the G.Fast infrastructure is going to be placed deeper into the network than "just" the PCPs.

Well I know our PCP Cabinet is about ~432m from our phone pole (actual cable route), so where the rest of our road has been down graded to FTTC (so I was told) and then over to G.FAST.

Oh?
They should be getting the following depending on their distance:

Distance  Performance target[B]
<100m	  500�1000 Mbit/s 
100m	  500 Mbit/s 
200m	  200 Mbit/s 
250m	  150 Mbit/s 
500m	  100 Mbit/s

So 500m lines should see around 80 down and 20 up (i.e. 100 Mbps combined) on G.FAST, where as with FTTC it would be lucky to get about 30Mbps if that.

So the other two poles (I thought there was 3 other poles from ours, but there was 2) should get around 100 to 125Mbps going by the above graph and the following distances from the PCP to the relevant poles:

Phone pole 1: 349m
Phone pole 2: 293m

So I am thinking they will be fine, due to the FTTP hardware is there for them, but I think openreach wants the rest on our exchange to no longer get FTTP, probably due to cost, not too sure if the remaining will still be part of the commercial rollout, I know they was back in 2011, but I have see a few cabs get done as part of LEP, so maybe the 12K lines over 30 to 40 PCP, some are partially done as FTTP, so if the remaining 12K lines get put as FTTC or G.FAST we will start to see PCP's being listed as FTTP + FTTC or FTTP + G.FAST, which would be interesting to see.

Paul

Well finally after 4 or so years the external work has been completed and we now have a lovely Grey CSP Box on our wall.

And on their hand tool we have a signal level of 14dB at my CSP Box, I assume thats good, not really played with fibre since 25+ years.

Had a nice chat with the engineers while they worked.

So now I have just to wait to the 19th for the internal work.

Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Thu 13-Oct-16 11:23:24)

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

And on their hand tool we have a signal level of 14dB at my CSP Box, I assume thats good, not really played with fibre since 25+ years.

Paul

14dB - relative to what?

dBu, dBm, dbW or even dBM ?

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

And on their hand tool we have a signal level of 14dB at my CSP Box, I assume thats good, not really played with fibre since 25+ years.

Paul

14dB - relative to what?

dBu, dBm, dbW or even dBM ?

They didn't say, maybe Zarjaz would know.

All I saw was them stick one of our 4 fibres into the hand tool and it displayed 14dB, maybe I should of asked LOL.

*** update ***
Well I received a phone call from BT / Openreach asking if I was happy with the date of the 19th and that she was going to re-book it for this Monday, I said yeah that would be great.
I did mention that next door is getting their internal work done tomorrow, which was when she said she would phone the engineer to see if they have a free slot and that she would phone back with an update.

At this point I was like, yeah, Monday would be great, then a little while later she phoned back saying its now booked for tomorrow morning between 8am and 1pm for the internal work

So I am very happy now

I gave me enough time to redo some Ethernet cables so that its ready for the ONT and Smart Hub to be connected up.


Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Thu 13-Oct-16 18:02:30)

Well I received a phone call 7:30 this morning from the engineer saying he was on his way.

He installed the ONT + BBU along with the phone cable from the ONT to the master socket for the FVA which will activate later on.

The speeds look great.

Speed Test via speedtest.net
Speed Test via TBB

So yeah, it seems to be working fine so far.

Paul

Praise be !


Time to enjoy it after your long wait.

Paul

Looks like it was worth waiting for!

How are you going to use all that bandwidth?

How are you going to use all that bandwidth?

YouTube and Facebook innit

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Praise be !


Time to enjoy it after your long wait.

Hell yeah

I can see that a lot of online services cap you way before we hit the 300Mb mark, which isn't that bad, just means we won't affect anyone else in the house.

But overall I am very please

Any news on how long it takes for FVA to be enabled, I was told anything from 20 mins to a Month, its not an issue, I just want to get off the copper phone line completely.

Paul

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Paul

Looks like it was worth waiting for!

I think so yeah

In reply to a post by kitcat:

How are you going to use all that bandwidth?

Well I am a software / game developer in my spare time, so there is loads of uploading and downloading, which was a pain on our old ADSL2+ connection that lost connection when the phone rang LOL.
Now I will also be able to start thinking about content creation (I felt a disturbance in the force)

Also there is 5 Adults here that all use the internet, and with 300Mbps, everyone will have a reasonable speed.

Paul

Aye 60mbps per head just about seems "reasonable"

Edited by deleted (Fri 14-Oct-16 13:28:03)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

How are you going to use all that bandwidth?

YouTube and Facebook innit

Yeah, and no more buffering for Porn (gets ready for 4K Porn) LOL

Paul

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Aye 60mbpd per head just about seems "reasonable"

Yep, Xbox Live was capping the downloads at about 125Mbps, but their built in speed test had no cap and I got the full speed.
Also seems Xbox Live is based in the US due to we get a latency to them of 132ms so overall not too bad.

Paul

I think your sarcasm detector is broken

In reply to a post by lee111s:

I think your sarcasm detector is broken

I wasn't trying to be sarcastic, I was more referring to the fact I was unaware of them capping due to we use to have very slow ADSL speeds.

*** update ***
And I just realised what you meant, so my brain is broken LOL


Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Fri 14-Oct-16 13:52:24)

Any news on how long it takes for FVA to be enabled, I was told anything from 20 mins to a Month, its not an issue, I just want to get off the copper phone line completely.

Well usually simultaneous ...... Is the TEL1 light on on the ONTE ?

-14db would have been the reading from their light meter ..... all good, less than -22db

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Any news on how long it takes for FVA to be enabled, I was told anything from 20 mins to a Month, its not an issue, I just want to get off the copper phone line completely.

Well usually simultaneous ...... Is the TEL1 light on on the ONTE ?

Nope, neither TEL1 or TEL2 are lit, next door had their FVA enabled right away.

Also is this congestion, never had a good enough speed to know, its not an issue due to its still better than it was.
I am just curious that's all.

[09:54] <-- Full Speed
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

[18:00] <-- Lost just under half.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

I had the impression that our connection would be shared with the other 31 that was split from the same fibre at the splitter, if that's the case I am confused due to there are only 5 fibres used and 2 of those are Infinity 1 (52Mbps) or is the actual sharing done within the BT network.

Paul

If by shared you mean the 2.5gbps fibre link then that is only to the exchange as far as I'm aware.

Your connection is then handed over to Wholesale's backhaul network where it would still be susceptible to any peak time traffic "congestion".

Without running a speedtest you'd never ever know that your speed was "only" 150mbps.

Use the internet for whatever and don't become a speed obsessor.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

-14db would have been the reading from their light meter ..... all good, less than -22db

Ah yes, he did mention "22dB" was still fine, they just did mention the - (minus) part

Its good to know our -14dB fibre is good

Thanks

Paul

In reply to a post by lee111s:

If by shared you mean the 2.5gbps fibre link then that is only to the exchange as far as I'm aware.

Your connection is then handed over to Wholesale's backhaul network where it would still be susceptible to any peak time traffic "congestion".

Without running a speedtest you'd never ever know that your speed was "only" 150mbps.

Use the internet for whatever and don't become a speed obsessor.

Yeah, its not an issue, I only started to notice it when a download on my Xbox One was only getting 4Mbps (same as my ADSL2+ connection), did a speed test and saw 100 to 170Mbps was lost.

So I assume the Xbox Live network is also very congested at peak times , that's fine, I will download those when their network is better.

But yeah if it was only on the 2.5Gb fibre link to the exchange that would of been great LOL.

Still loving the latency though, 3 to 5ms

Paul