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??