Nightmare Trying to Move to BT Broadband

hollie.weimeraner

I have been one of the unlucky punters to have had my broadband with a company called Origin on South Yorks Digital Region (SYDR). While it was working it was brilliant but 2 years after signing up it's gone bust:( ( The fallout can be viewed here http://drlforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=7)

Unfortunately Origin failed to provide a MAC code before everything stopped working (and are unable to provide them any more) and although FTTC is available I am unable to sign up with BT due to tags/markers on my line.

The BIG problem is trying to speak with someone at BT that knows what they are doing. I spent ages on the phone trying to explain what SYDR was and because they don't understand I just get passed from pillar to post. I have now been waiting for at leat 3 different call backs for over a week. Every time you ring them you get a different team that then has to start the smae process time and time again, it's like a multi headed monster. I would love to just get a new line but am unable to do this as we have a business and additionally pay line rental 12 months in advance.

I am hoping someone from BT can pick this up and take it on board as it is beyond a joke.:mad:

JJ_Egan

Are you phoning the BT team for a business line ??

hollie.weimeraner

No it's not a business line. The business is a driving school and has been associated with the number for 10 years so we really cannot change the number. The issue is the broadband provision.

Browntoa

holding on and not answering the BT front end system or doing anything ends up with a UK based BT rep

hollie.weimeraner

Browntoa wrote: »

holding on and not answering the BT front end system or doing anything ends up with a UK based BT rep

I have spoken to the exceptions team who are UK based and although I have spoken to them on a number of occasions each time I speak to someone I have to go through the whole process of trying to explain what SYDR was and why I need the marker/tag removing. Despite there being what must be notes akin to a full manuscript on the account no-one seems to be able to get the markers removed.

I have never had a conclusive answer and inevitably get passed through to another internal team that the public can't reach.

The best that has happened is that someone took pity on me and gave me free access to BT FON for a month:j which is a bit hit and miss but better than nothing as I also don't get a mobile signal where I live or I'd have bought a dongle for the computer.

iniltous

Did this now defunct company take over your line ( MPF ) , take over part of it ( sub loop unbundle ) where they install their own street cabinets next to the BT copper cabinet ( the same way FTTC is supplied, but the fibre cab isn't BT's but SYDR's cabinet ) or did they install their own network from scratch, with no connection to BT whatsoever, apart from porting the number from BT ?
If it's the number that's important and a company goes bust, getting that number back to its original 'owner' or porting it to another provider may well be a problem...
If BT/wholesale say there is a tag on the line, don't they have a department for removing it ?, I presume you don't want a brand new line with a new number, but what you may have to do is order a brand new line and then try and get whatever number they give you renumbered to the number you really want when that number returns to it's original range holder...(BT presumably) it doesn't help you , but I think OFCOM are looking at this number port thing when company's go bust, after all you leave BT, take the number with you, and if it all turns bad, you expect BT to be able to sort it out for you, they could presumably say, you made your bed now lie in it.
if I were in business with a number that was an important asset to the business I would think twice before moving to a new Telecom entrant, given that systems seem to be in place to help you leave BT, but none in place in case you want to move back should the brown stuff hit the fan

hollie.weimeraner

iniltous wrote: »

Did this now defunct company take over your line ( MPF ) , take over part of it ( sub loop unbundle ) where they install their own street cabinets next to the BT copper cabinet ( the same way FTTC is supplied, but the fibre cab isn't BT's but SYDR's cabinet ) or did they install their own network from scratch, with no connection to BT whatsoever, apart from porting the number from BT ?
If it's the number that's important and a company goes bust, getting that number back to its original 'owner' or porting it to another provider may well be a problem...
If BT/wholesale say there is a tag on the line, don't they have a department for removing it ?, I presume you don't want a brand new line with a new number, but what you may have to do is order a brand new line and then try and get whatever number they give you renumbered to the number you really want when that number returns to it's original range holder...(BT presumably) it doesn't help you , but I think OFCOM are looking at this number port thing when company's go bust, after all you leave BT, take the number with you, and if it all turns bad, you expect BT to be able to sort it out for you, they could presumably say, you made your bed now lie in it.
if I were in business with a number that was an important asset to the business I would think twice before moving to a new Telecom entrant, given that systems seem to be in place to help you leave BT, but none in place in case you want to move back should the brown stuff hit the fan

My line remained with BT. SYDR laid a fibre network throughout South Yorks. The fibre cabinets were installed alongside the BT copper cabbinets and then a BT engineer came along and connected the SYDR fibre to the BT copper line which left me with up to 40mb internet connection. The problem appears to be getting this connection removed as Origin only issued MAC codes to those people that requested them before the system died.

The business does not rely on the internet(fortunately) so we can live without it for a while. It's very easy to be wise in hindsight (at the time SYDR was the only fibre option and infinitely better than the .5mb that I was getting on ADSL with no openreach FTTC in sight) which is why I am now going with BT so that everything is together. As I said earlier I was hoping that someone from BT may pick up on this thread and be able to help as a single point of contact would be much better than dealing with the multi headed monster that BT contact services is.

kwikbreaks

You've tried the standard procedures and got nowhere so eMail the BT group CEO expaining the problem. I say BT group because there will probably be a mishmash of BT Retail BT Wholesale and Openreach involved in getting this sorted out.

For reasons beyond me this board censors links to the obvious site to find the CEO email address you need and I've had parts of posts and indeed entire posts in the past deleted when explaing how to get that email so just use google - it will take about 10 seconds.

Good Luck

iniltous

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

My line remained with BT. SYDR laid a fibre network throughout South Yorks. The fibre cabinets were installed alongside the BT copper cabbinets and then a BT engineer came along and connected the SYDR fibre to the BT copper line which left me with up to 40mb internet connection. The problem appears to be getting this connection removed as Origin only issued MAC codes to those people that requested them before the system died.

The business does not rely on the internet(fortunately) so we can live without it for a while. It's very easy to be wise in hindsight (at the time SYDR was the only fibre option and infinitely better than the .5mb that I was getting on ADSL with no openreach FTTC in sight) which is why I am now going with BT so that everything is together. As I said earlier I was hoping that someone from BT may pick up on this thread and be able to help as a single point of contact would be much better than dealing with the multi headed monster that BT contact services is.

So your telephony remained with BT, and the FTTC was supplied by SYDR, so exactly the same arrangement as 'infinity' in that the BT exchange supplies the dialtone ( and presumably the correct number) it leaves the exchange, arrives at the BT copper pair cabinet , is linked in and out of the SYDR 'fibre' cabinet then back onto the BT copper cable that goes to your property ?
If this is the case, your problem appears to be that to disconnect from SYDR presumably OR need to be given an instruction from a company that doesn't exist anymore, is this causing you a problem with telephony( dialtone going into the SYDR cab, but not coming out on the other side,) or is it that you want to get BT FTTC and the order won't progress while the system shows you already on someone else's FTTC ?,
MAC was never intended for FTTC or MPF connections , it just tied together the cease of the old provider and provision of the new providers exchange based (SMPF/ADSL) broadband, switch to Talk Talk or Sky from BT they don't even ask for a MAC...
As far as a single point of contact for BT, try emailing the chairmans office, high level complaints, may be something like CEO @ BT.com, they seem to have some success in getting past the customers service reps ' computer says no' response, but like all these things , the customer service reps don't have the authority ( or time, or training, ) to sort out non standard stuff like this, and then add into the mix, you speak to BT Retail, who don't have any special arrangement with Openreach or BT wholesale, and that's because of OFCOM, it's no wonder you are having problems

hollie.weimeraner

kwikbreaks wrote: »

You've tried the standard procedures and got nowhere so eMail the BT group CEO expaining the problem. I say BT group because there will probably be a mishmash of BT Retail BT Wholesale and Openreach involved in getting this sorted out.

For reasons beyond me this board censors links to the obvious site to find the CEO email address you need and I've had parts of posts and indeed entire posts in the past deleted when explaing how to get that email so just use google - it will take about 10 seconds.

Good Luck

Emailed the CEO this morning and had a response within the hour with a single point of contact and a promise that things will be sorted:T

Also posted this on the Origin broadband forum and a number of others in a similar position have also had a similar response. Hopefully a result!