Beginning to think TT was a bad mistake

Warning - this is a long rant!

After signing up my in-laws for TT, and a weekend spent unsuccessfully trying to get their broadband up and running, I'm beginning to think TalkTalk was a bad mistake....

Not because of the technical problems, I've been through enough of them with a few ISPs for myself and other relatives, problems happen. No, the annoying thing is the inability to actually get hold of any customer support empowered to resolve the issue.

It was quickly apparent that my in-laws broadband service was DOA from the start, the Huawei modem would talk to the PC over ethernet or wireless without any problem, but configuring the modem manually or with the getting started CD gave an internet connection. The ADSL syn'd OK with a green light, but no internet connection. Tried and retried password and username many times, and followed the configuration notes to the letter as we just to check for any dumb errors. Disconnected all other landline equipment, tried a new filter, tried the master socket, no joy. Tech support were pleasant enough, insisting that all the basic steps were checked and re-checked again (understandably), even trying changing the password on the system with no success before referring us to second line support. That's where things got worse. Waited for 30 minutes for the problem to be registered as directed, only to find that 2nd line close an hour before they say they will (nice... from a post a month ago I see this was supposed to be a short term "fix". Well it's not fixed yet!) Next morning spent 50 minutes on hold before giving up. Then again another 40 minutes. Then again another 40 minutes (how many days do you need to sit listening to the same 2 talktalk tunes looping before anyone answers?)

Gave up, and decided to burn

Welcome to TalkTalk!!!!

I'm in the same boat (having just recommended a friend). I think the boat is being rocked by BT to make it as painful as possible to switch to TalkTalk. They can't compete, so have resorted to sabotage instead.

Clearly, all the problems (caused by BT) increase the load on TalkTalk call centres, and then we are kept listening to "We have got to get it together" over and over for hours on end....

If it's any consolation, I've had TalkTalk working at my place for just over 12 months now... Once it finally works it's good.

Try asking for help here at TalkTalk Members

I must say that when I changed to TT from Waitrose ( which isn' all it is cracked up to be!) several months ago I also had several small ,but niggling, problems but I hung in there and in the fullness of time it all came good and I am quite happy now. I agree that BT were never very helpfull. The only advice I can give is to persevere. Customer technical service is improving slowly but still has a distance to go yet.

Interesting concept but in this case if the ADSL is syncing and connected to the Talk Talk MSAN then BT has nothing to do with further errors the wiring has been done.

BT Openreach make money out of Talk Talk LLU connections, so to break millions of them is cutting off the hand that feeds you.

If Charles Dunstone had evidence of sabotage I am sure he would have gone public by now

I read a press release a couple of years back, it was either from TalkTalk or Bulldog and they were stating that the failure rate when BT LLU a line is very high. In fact, I think at that stage the majority would not work the first time. I'd hope they've had enough practice now having done millions of them.

I can compare the TalkTalk customer service situation to that of Bulldog a couple of years ago. Switching to Bulldog was also a huge pain, but once it was up and running people were generally happy. The same is true of TalkTalk.

Saying this, Easynet/Sky also use LLU but in general it appears that things don't go wrong for them less. Do they do the unbundling at the exchange themselves, or does BT Openreach do the work for them too?

Edited by PipexADSLUser (Tue 29-Jan-08 09:20:01)

Easynet use the same process as TalkTalk. Openreach jumper the connections to their kit.

Just so as I can come to understand how 'BT' are sabotaging TalkTalk installations, can you enlighten me as to how the guys running the jumpers know which provider each job is relating to?

As far as I know, the jobs are not marked as 'Sky' or TalkTalk or Tiscali. So I am wondering if there is some hidden code in the works instructions that relates to TalkTalk in order for the jumper runners to give TalkTalk inferior service?

Maybe TalkTalk's fail rate is sometimes down to TalkTalk having absolutely no idea of which telephone number has been allocated to which port?

BT Openreach must know which providers kit they are switching to. They must know whether the line is to be connected to TalkTalk, Sky, Tiscali or whoever else to do the job.

In my friends case, the problems have been caused entirely by the switchover when his line was "cross jumpered", and his incoming calls were going somewhere else, and another BT users calls were coming to him.

Everybody knows that lines that are LLU'd suffer a higher failure rate. Even the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OFFTA) published a report in September 2007 to this affect, and put the blame on BT Openreach. The link: http://www.uk-bug.net/News-article-sid-1632.html

Peter Black OFFTA executive chairman said "Whilst Provisioning performance has been stable throughout the month, Repair performance continues to run substantially below par. This element of the Openreach plan clearly needs further development."

If the ADSL is working at expected sync speeds on the LLU kit, then the jumpering has been done.
Mis directing calls could be down to incorrect information or set-up in the Opal side of Talk Talk.

When talking about LLU failure rates be sure to know if talking about MPF or SMPF the two have very different stats.

NOTE: Repair performance is the fixing of faults after they have happened, so is different to a normal jumpering job, that is not a repair but day to day work.

LLU with the locked/secure access to the LLU providers kit makes fault work harder as the BT guys cannot simply pop to the other end of some jumpering work to check it, they will need a key and permission to access an area at times and LLU providers tend not to have an in exchange presence.

I'm not saying that Openreach has not had teething problems, but charges of systematic sabotage sound too fantastical to be real, there may be the odd bad apple but this applies to any job