BT Problems (constantly....)

londonerryan

Hi everyone.

I wondered if anybody might be able to provide some views for me here.

I'm with BT and have been for a few years. The internet is rubbish, the phone is always crackling, and these issues constantly re-occur every few weeks. Sometimes the internet and phone work 'well' (if you consider 3 mb/s internet speeds 'working well') but every couple of weeks or so they both just stop working properly.

Today, and as of last week or so, my internet is working at 0.3 mb/s and phone is crackling.

I phoned them up and they said this: They will send an engineer out to me BUT if there is a fault that is not BT's fault, i'll be charged £120 (or something like that).

I told them there is no chance of them getting a penny from me even if it is 'our fault' and that i'm going to be asking BT for a refund anyway as we've been paying for something we're not getting.

Anyway...

- Have any of you had issues with BT and similar to this?
- Did you have to pay for engineer's service or did you tell them you weren't paying them and won?
- Was the fault BT's fault and they dealt with it for free, no questions asked?
- Would you get the engineer round knowing you might be liable to a big call out charge?

I'm a bit worried that they'll send an engineer out and his generic view will be "yeah, it's your fault, pay us!", as surely it is in BT's interest to always charge, whether their fault or not (as it must be difficult for a customer to KNOW it is not their own fault).

Thanks!

Gordon_Hose

BT are only responsible for the line outside your house up to the phone socket. If there's an issue with your wiring inside your house (everything after the phone socket) why shouldn't you pay to have it fixed?

Obviously, if it turns out to be the wiring outside you won't have to pay a penny.

Have a look here first: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/connectionprobs.htm

C_Mababejive

BT have to tell customers this these days because if they didnt, they would be undertaking all manner of work /callouts which turn out to be nothing to do with them.

If your line rental is with BT then they maintain the copper pair or wires between you and the exchange. If you pay them for calls then they sort out call issues. Broadband? Well if you need to speak to your BB provider who may engage openworld to look into it.

Is your line on poles or underground?

iniltous

londonerryan wrote: »

Hi everyone.

I wondered if anybody might be able to provide some views for me here.

I'm with BT and have been for a few years. The internet is rubbish, the phone is always crackling, and these issues constantly re-occur every few weeks. Sometimes the internet and phone work 'well' (if you consider 3 mb/s internet speeds 'working well') but every couple of weeks or so they both just stop working properly.

Today, and as of last week or so, my internet is working at 0.3 mb/s and phone is crackling.

I phoned them up and they said this: They will send an engineer out to me BUT if there is a fault that is not BT's fault, i'll be charged £120 (or something like that).

I told them there is no chance of them getting a penny from me even if it is 'our fault' and that i'm going to be asking BT for a refund anyway as we've been paying for something we're not getting.

Anyway...

- Have any of you had issues with BT and similar to this?
- Did you have to pay for engineer's service or did you tell them you weren't paying them and won?
- Was the fault BT's fault and they dealt with it for free, no questions asked?
- Would you get the engineer round knowing you might be liable to a big call out charge?

I'm a bit worried that they'll send an engineer out and his generic view will be "yeah, it's your fault, pay us!", as surely it is in BT's interest to always charge, whether their fault or not (as it must be difficult for a customer to KNOW it is not their own fault).

Thanks!

If you don't accept the warning that if the problem isn't on Openreach's area of responsibility you may be charged, they won't send anyone out to check....it's easy to check if the problem is on the line and not on what you are responsible for, do a search for NTE5 test socket, say you had Sky and the Sky box was plugged into the phone line and was causing the problem, who should unplug the Sky box to prove if it's causing the problem or not, Openreach or you ? It's your box after all, not OR's box, same as anything else you may have plugged into the line.
Once you have proved the problem is outside your home, you can be confident that reporting the problem won't cost you anything, all they are doing is making you aware of the potential cost if it's your, phone, filter, router, internal cables , extension sockets etc that's causing the problem, all these things OR don't supply and are not responsible for, and it doesn't matter if it's BT, or Sky or TalkTalk they all give the same warning when you try to report a fault,

duchy

Simple steps - Does the phone crackle/not work when plugged directly into your master socket without router or filter attached ?

If so if you remove the front plate of the phone socket and connect to the socket inside on the right does the phone still crackle/not work ?

Have you tried a second telephone (not handset - completely different phone) in both sockets ?

If after trying these 3 steps the line is still a problem then it isn't your equipment.

C_Mababejive

unplug everything and plug a bog standard phone into the test socket.
Dial 17070 and select quiet line test.

Listen for any snap,crackle or pop.

If there is noise, this will affect your broadband and needs to be checked.

Make sure the noise isnt being generated in your home.

macman

The reason your internet is 'rubbish' is that you have noise on the line. Simple. The later causes the former.
Test from the master socket, if still noise then report a line fault (not a broadband fault). You will not be charged, unless the damage is user-inflicted.