Openreach monopoly and length of time to repair services

Our broadband and telephone services both failed on the morning of the 28th December. We are with TalkTalk Business (both my wife and I work from home) and after going through diagnostic tests it appears that there is an issue with the line and Openreach are responsible.

Apparently Openreach can not get to us until Monday and they also do not work on a Sunday! We will be without telephone and broadband for at least three days.

We all depend so much on broadband today and will become more so with time. Many houses are becoming �smart� and rely on broadband for a wide range of services e.g. alarm systems, garage doors, heating, entertainment, lighting, door locks to name but a few.

Should we not expect Openreach to resolve broadband and telephone issues as urgently as the utilities given our dependence on broadband?

Openreach have the monopoly in our area of the country thus I assume this issue would be the same irrespective on provider, I am questioning the benefits of a business account as a consumer account issue would be dealt with in the same way...

Is government not looking at repair times for providers such as Openreach given our dependence on broadband??

Edited by ajd1 (Sat 29-Dec-18 14:41:44)

What year are we talking about

morning of the 28th January

You can pay your service provider for quicker response times.

It is down to your chosen provider to chase this issue on your behalf.

With both you and your wife so apparently dependant on such services maybe having a back up service might have been wise.

You appear to have a mobile connection, can you tether your phones connection as a work around ?

Which grade of fault repair did the provider pay for?

Many opt for the 2 working day option, rather than 1 working day, though holiday season does play havoc with that.

Ofcom is who govern what is and is not a reasonable repair time for the money we pay. Most of the forthcoming changes are around compensation for not repairing within contracted time frame rather than making it something like same day repair.

NOTE: if you can only get into your house when there is Internet access, then you need to rethink how you do things, since power faults can affect people for 2 or 3 days in the winter particularly

Oops, should be December, have corrected. My provider has a 2 working day option.

My comment is more a general one given our increasing dependence on broadband, Openreach's monopoly, and treating broadband the same way as other essential utilities.

I am using tethering (from my iPhone) for some services but it is chewing up my data...

A lot of businesses and homes are implementing technologies that are dependent on both broadband and power and I suspect are not aware of the implications of failure of either service...

In reply to a post by ajd1:

A lot of businesses and homes are implementing technologies that are dependent on both broadband and power and I suspect are not aware of the implications of failure of either service...

I�d argue the opposite. Most are fully aware of the necessity of both.

They may be aware of the necessity of both, but are they aware of the implications of failure, and are manufacturers of smart technologies doing enough. As an example, we have the Hue light system, and it is working fine via the app on our network even though our broadband is down. Our home heating system (Hive) however is not accessible via the app (you can use the thermostat to control). Our Ring doorbell system does not work at all without broadband despite the fact that our internal network is fine...

In reply to a post by ajd1:

Apparently Openreach can not get to us until Monday and they also do not work on a Sunday! We will be without telephone and broadband for at least three days.

They do, but you have to pay for it.

Highest service level provides repair within a few hours, Monday-Sunday including public holidays.

Of course, if this was a wider outage affecting many, it would not cover such a scenario as they'll be working to fix as quickly as possible already but factors outside of their control may prevent a speedy repair (i.e damage, stolen cable etc).

Matt

Openreach's monopoly

Openreach has no monopoly. It may be the largest player but there are many other companies such as Virgin, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, Vodaphone (in some areas only as yet but expanding) and others that make no use of the Openreach network. That you chose to not to pay for an upgraded service plan is a problem of your own making rather than one for Openreach.

Incidentally I was without electricity for nearly two weeks following the 1987 hurricane and more recently water for two days due to a major mains pipe fracture.