Getting missing poles replaced

Due to the way that ISPs deal with Openreach you can have the most obvious and visible problems with your phone line, but absolutely no way to raise a case to get it fixed unless you pop out with wire cutters and lose service.

We are located in rural mid-Wales. In a storm at the end of November two poles were taken down by fallen trees interrupting service. These were located a stone's throw from our property on farm land. After a delay of a fortnight, due to the backlog of storm damage, our local Openreach guys heroically strung our phone line back through the treetops which required trailing it across a field normally occupied by sheep. Because the line is still working (suprisingly well), there appears to be nothing our ISP can do to expedite the repair which is now two months in the waiting. A separate issue is that pole erection is sub-contracted to a firm in South Wales who are reluctant to visit mid-Wales unless they can tackle multiple jobs in one visit. Surely there should be a time element in the SLA?

It is very hard to raise a case directly with Openreach unless there is a direct danger to livestock or the public due to the state of the line.

In a previous incident a partially fallen tree was resting on the line, but the ISP could do nothing unless the service failed. This was resolved by direct action, not by Openreach - our neighbouring farmer removed the tree with a loader and the line pinged back into place! We should have been able to get this fixed via the ISP.

Should the procedures between ISP and Openreach be amended to cover these situations?

Edited by gtrman (Sat 02-Feb-19 12:15:25)

You can Damage to Openreach network independently of your ISP.

I would expect that in the process of repairing your fault the engineers raised a damage case internally, which is probably sitting in a list with a pile of other similar jobs waiting to be resolved.

That is what "should " happed but some guys think just putting notes on the job will get it done ,it will not.

Indeed they did. My point in posting in the first place is the hole in the procedures set up with unbundling. We pay line rental to our ISP of which Openreach get their cut, but we have no contract with Openreach so there is no way we can escalate a complaint directly to them. To be fair, the Openreach helpdesk have responded to requests for information and have given us planned dates for the replacement poles. Those dates have come and gone with no action. Our ISP (plusnet) make sympathetic noises but claim not to have any mechanism to push for the fix. Our neighbours, whose line shares the affected cable, are getting a bit more effort from their ISP (phone coop), but still to no avail.

The temporary fix as described has been in place for nearly four months now, so maybe I shouldn't be calling it temporary I am hoping that the March gales will rip the line down so that we can make a bit more of a stink, but my partner can't see the funny side of that approach.