Sky Broadband problems?

Was due to have a Sky fibre optic and phone line install on 29th August. Waited in all day, no show.

I then spent most of the weekend paying 20 a min via my mobile to be told that my order had been rejected. They have now passed this to the 'Sky recovery' team, who were supposed to call today to let me know what's happening but again, no call etc.

ATM I feel very much in the dark.

To add to the mystery, my phone line has a dial tone, although it's impossible to call out. The previous owner closed his Orange landline account down on the 22nd, and Sky assure me that they have not enabled my landline at all...confused all round and rather frustrated.

Two questions: 1) anybody have any clue as to why i'd have a dial tone when nobody has set up an account here 2) any other experiences with Sky recovery etc? Shall I just ditch Sky and go with the dreaded BT?

1. Dialtone may still be present, as probably still connected to the hardware at the exchange. Does 17070 give you any options

2. Going elsewhere at this stage tends to cause just as many problems, as half finished orders can cause delays again, i.e. might compound things.

just tried 17070 and it gave me a range of options inc the welcome message that gave a phone number of what I presumed was the old owners LL number but upon checking wasnt. Anything I can do via 17070 to 'cleanse' this line as the Sky rep I spoke to today mentioned that it may be the presence of the dial signal etc that caused the order to 'fail'?!

In reply to a post by jutsenberg:

the welcome message that gave a phone number of what I presumed was the old owners LL number

Can you ring in on this # from your mobile?

thanks. cant call out or call that number either. I guess it's a case of waiting for this mythical recovery team to get into contact...?

One phone line but with the vdsl injected at the cabinet in the street

Thanks!

Been some more developments so any advice greatly appreciated.

I have since been told by Sky that I cannot get FO on my line. However, I spoke with an openreach engineer today --the same guy i spoke with last week--and he told me again that I definately can. My exchange is currently running 17 FO with a capacity for 200 in total. I spoke with Sky and they said that FO capacity for me is still 'unconfirmed' by openreach and as such, any order for FO will be rejected again.

So, is it a case of waiting for openreach to confirm or what...any advice?

When you said "17 FO with a capacity for 200 in total" did you mean your green street cabinet has 17 connected to a FTTC service with capacity for 200?

The exchange the fibre backhaul goes to will have capacity for a lot more than that, but does raise issue are you confusing availability at the exchange with availability at your specific address?

If its available at your address from other providers, then probably just the case that Sky is a bit slow at getting the cable installed at the exchange building to link fibre customers with their own hardware.

Edited by MrSaffron (Thu 05-Sep-13 12:11:53)

Thanks. Dont know the answer re: exchange etc.

Either way, I am presuming (hoping!) that as soon as FO is available for me, Sky will notify me that it is or perhaps I am better off going with somebody else?

ATM, Sky can only offer me Very slow BB

Try this checker

https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html but rather than telephone number select the ADDRESS CHECKER option where you enter house number, street and postcode.

BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER

Available Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

Featured Products

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 2.5 -- 1 to 4 Available
ADSL Max Up to 2 -- 1 to 3.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available

==============

Which one's the FO ?

If Fiber was available from BT/Sky/Talktalk it would have a line which says...

WBC FTTC Up to 58.8 Up to 20 -- Available

Looks like you've only got ADSL not Fibre. It might be that the checker hasn't caught up with the work they've been doing...

Edited by timl (Thu 05-Sep-13 14:38:38)

In reply to a post by jutsenberg:

BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
Available Products
Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Downstream Range(Mbps)
Availability Date
Featured Products
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 2.5 -- 1 to 4 Available
ADSL Max Up to 2 -- 1 to 3.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available

==============

Which one's the FO ?

Is there not a line which lists the cabinet?

Can you try a near neighbours telephone number?

You could be on an exchange only line. That would be unfortunate.

No it is NOT.

They do 128, 256 and 288 sized variants, and a very rare but has been played with 48 line unit for Hybrid FTTC on EO lines.

Here is one of the smaller ones in a real street http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/news/5745-camou...

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

The smallest NGA BT do which is the common little green box can take 288 connections.

Its not "little" - the HUGE Huawei 288 line cabinet - http://robertos.me.uk/html/bt_furniture_2.html

This doesn't give any scale, but they're about 5.5ft tall!

1.4m high normally

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

1.4m high normally

Okay, that's 4.5ft

A little knowledge can be dangerous!

If it has a single door then a 128 or 144 line module. Two doors is 288 line.

And probably eci kit in it

Just had this back from openreach. Guess I am [censored] re: FO then...damn!

Thank you for your enquiry about fibre broadband, you are connected directly to the exchange and not via a telephony cabinet located in the street, this is referred to as an E/O line.
Our deployment is based on the commercial criteria for each exchange and in turn, how broadband is delivered from the exchange. Unfortunately, as your line is fed directly from the exchange it fails to meet the commercial criteria. This is because the solution to deploy Fibre Broadband to lines connected this way would not provide a return on the investment based on the costs for the construction and on-going running costs.
Government funding is available to county and borough councils to assist in the upgrade of lines that are connected directly to the exchange. It would be worth contacting them to enquire if they have discussed funding with BDUK to help upgrade lines such as yours. http://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk/
You can also register your interest for upgrade via the following link http://www.openreachfibrebroadband.co.uk/expression-...
Please note, the telephony network over which fibre broadband is bespoke, as such, all premise are served from dedicated distribution points which are connected via their own underground duct network either directly to the exchange or to telephony cabinets. There are no interconnections that can be utilised to give fibre broadband services between E/O lines and cabinets, therefore, I�m afraid we technically can�t move your service to a cabinet. In addition, it is not Openreach policy to rearrange the network to enable services where they are not currently available, which is what would occur if your service was moved.

If you have any further questions, please ensure you have read the FAQ's on our website, http://www.openreachfibrebroadband.co.uk/faq/ . If your question is answered within the FAQ section, we will not respond to your e-mail.

Just to add, on the dialling tone point. What you have, as correctly identified, is 'soft' dial tone. Basically the original BT Wholesale based service is still coming down the line, but the only thing that works is the 17070 which engineers use to verify directory numbers, amongst other things.

All that needs to happen to make this line Sky's/yours is for new exchange jumpers to be run in.

I am full LLU and I get some yank woman when I dial it.

That's not any old Yank woman, that's Zoe ! ..... and what a thoroughly grating tone she has .....

Morning Andrew

Any idea of what proportion of lines are "E/O"; and by what criteria they were installed?

Est around 10% but varies from exchange to exchange

Criteria cost, time, objections to more street furniture etc