BT trying to obtain my IP address; should I be worried?

jenniewb

Had a technical failure (no broadband) and called up BT for help after it didn't turn back on again.


The (Indian call center?) person I spoke to appeared to know very little about what he was doing. Normally after the initial try restarting the router, tried-the-master-socket? type questions the line is checked for faults, the area is checked for ongoing works and then further router based tweaks are done).


The person I spoke to straight away told me to go to the start menu and bring up some sort of an internal computer search (small black screen appeared), he then said he "needed to find my IP address" and gave me details to type in in order to search for it.


At this point I told him that was not his information to take and told him to check ongoing work on the line. He came back within a few seconds telling me "he was right that there were ongoing works on the line". (It was my suggestion not his!)
I called back the next day to check things; no work was being done on the line or had been done or been reported to be done.



The next day I tried reporting it to BT via the website but all I got was a load of robots calling me back at 6am speaking incoherently saying they were from BT to which I hung up. I've no way to report this! I didn't give out any details but it concerns me BT have staff who work like this :eek: Is this something to worry about and does anyone have ideas on how to report it if it is?

jadziad

By "small black screen" I assume you ran "cmd" and then he wanted you do do "ipconfig". This is a normal part of diagnostics - it shows whether your PC is getting an IP from your router. Generally it's followed by ping and maybe tracert. The most awkward aspect is getting the person in front of the screen to go through the text which subsequently appears.

If I needed someone to do an ipconfig and they responded with "that was not your information to take" then it would make for a very difficult call and might ultimately not be able to be progressed. The language barrier would also be a factor.

You probably just need to call back and speak with someone else - he might perhaps have been new to the job.

Personally I prefer UK call centres, but there can be some excellent overseas ones - Bulgarians are generally awesome, or at least they were for me a few years ago.

onomatopoeia99

jadziad wrote: »

If I needed someone to do an ipconfig and they responded with "that was not your information to take" then it would make for a very difficult call and might ultimately not be able to be progressed.

Yep, not sure why people are so precious about RFC1918 addresses.

duchy

Why would you ring your provider for BB support and then refuse to troubleshoot ?

I don't work for BT but I do work for another provider in broadband tech support and can confirm it's a legitimate troubleshooting step. If a customer refuses to troubleshoot there's not much the company can do.

There are various BB faults and depending on the test results and symptoms the troubleshooting steps will vary so your assumption that every BB issue will require exactly the same steps is incorrect.

jenniewb

Thanks for the replies.


I had no idea how the BT person was going to obtain my IP address and remote access being that he himself had just found out I had no internet access.


I've had many many internet failures before, sometimes lasting hours, sometimes lasting days, they seem to mainly start at night and I usually whatever supplier get the same routine: first check my router, then plug in via the master socket, next check the line itself for any work on the line and next check any other changes I could make via the connection myself via me typing in the 192.1.1..etc on my computer.


In all my years with Talktalk and 02 and Sky and Plusnet I've never had anyone try to get my IP address and do things that way, that's why I was a bit concerned. It's just a bit of a concern because it wasn't what I've been used to everywhere else.


But thanks for clearing it up and for the reassurance.


FIY when I called up the next night due to more failures (I was told the line repair should have been fixed within 12-24 hours) the next guy did all of the above I'm used to and in the end the problem was sorted his end apparently he was able to change some manual settings with my connection (not sure what he did but it works again for now). No need for my IP address anyway!

brewerdave

Big difference between your external (ISP supplied) IP addy,and the one your PC gets given by the router. He was just trying to make sure that you actually had a connection to the router. My "internet" connection goes down a couple of times per day from my desktop -but its actually due to the powerline adaptors losing touch over my house wiring.

jenniewb

brewerdave wrote: »

Big difference between your external (ISP supplied) IP addy,and the one your PC gets given by the router. He was just trying to make sure that you actually had a connection to the router. My "internet" connection goes down a couple of times per day from my desktop -but its actually due to the powerline adaptors losing touch over my house wiring.

Thanks.


I've been told in the past by many (too many to remember!) BT OpenReach people who've visited in the past that the faults are due to the line being degraded and needing to be upgraded. I've also been told that for this to be done would cost far too much and so BT have not done this. Apparently it would mean digging up the road which still baffles me because I witness BT OpenReach teams many times using various pavement lid covers to access cables and haul them out on a circular mechanical cable turner yet apparently to fix this would mean digging things up rather than obtaining cables any other way.


Until then I will continue to get connection issues which I will need to continue to log each time because eventually BT will get the message and fix the problem! I'd move to Virgin but their customer service is so bad that I could spend hours just writing up the experience of their trying to send someone to connect me.

brewerdave

jenniewb wrote: »

Until then I will continue to get connection issues which I will need to continue to log each time because eventually BT will get the message and fix the problem! I'd move to Virgin but their customer service is so bad that I could spend hours just writing up the experience of their trying to send someone to connect me.

...if you are in a Virgin area, I think I'd be tempted to give it a go - one of my s-i-ls has the full Virgin package and sings their praises;)

Your BT street cable issue will never go away until everyone on that cable loses connection !- BTOpenreach don't perform preventative maintenance -its just catastrophe management:mad:

prowla

jenniewb wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.


I had no idea how the BT person was going to obtain my IP address and remote access being that he himself had just found out I had no internet access.


I've had many many internet failures before, sometimes lasting hours, sometimes lasting days, they seem to mainly start at night and I usually whatever supplier get the same routine: first check my router, then plug in via the master socket, next check the line itself for any work on the line and next check any other changes I could make via the connection myself via me typing in the 192.1.1..etc on my computer.


In all my years with Talktalk and 02 and Sky and Plusnet I've never had anyone try to get my IP address and do things that way, that's why I was a bit concerned. It's just a bit of a concern because it wasn't what I've been used to everywhere else.


But thanks for clearing it up and for the reassurance.


FIY when I called up the next night due to more failures (I was told the line repair should have been fixed within 12-24 hours) the next guy did all of the above I'm used to and in the end the problem was sorted his end apparently he was able to change some manual settings with my connection (not sure what he did but it works again for now). No need for my IP address anyway!

Seeing if you have an IP address is a simple way of finding out if you have a connection from your PC to your router.

If it's 192.168.something, then it is a "private" address contained within your house and divulging it won't matter, as many, many other people will have that same address inside their houses. Mine is 192.168.1.2, if you're interested.

It's not the same as your external address (ie. from your router to BT), and indeed that is usually the combination of an IP and a port number (probably in the range 1024-65534), so many houses will have that same IP too.

prowla

jenniewb wrote: »

Thanks.


I've been told in the past by many (too many to remember!) BT OpenReach people who've visited in the past that the faults are due to the line being degraded and needing to be upgraded. I've also been told that for this to be done would cost far too much and so BT have not done this. Apparently it would mean digging up the road which still baffles me because I witness BT OpenReach teams many times using various pavement lid covers to access cables and haul them out on a circular mechanical cable turner yet apparently to fix this would mean digging things up rather than obtaining cables any other way.


Until then I will continue to get connection issues which I will need to continue to log each time because eventually BT will get the message and fix the problem! I'd move to Virgin but their customer service is so bad that I could spend hours just writing up the experience of their trying to send someone to connect me.

I had a connection issue some time back and the run from the switch cabinet in the street to my house had to be re-done; the cable had degraded over the years and water had got in and was causing errors.

jenniewb

prowla wrote: »

I had a connection issue some time back and the run from the switch cabinet in the street to my house had to be re-done; the cable had degraded over the years and water had got in and was causing errors.

Well, BT OpenReach have been aware of the problem for at least 8 years now, no signs of them doing anything, they have also offered Fiber but it's always available "next year". It's been several years of it being "next year" and doesn't seem to be changing! I wouldn't mind but it's an added irritation when you get so may leaflets from all providers posted at you saying how Fiber/high speed internet will soon be available in your area and that they have this amazing deal....I don't care about faster internet, I just want a working internet and am prepared to pay more/go without just for that; companies don't seem to be bothered about sorting Fiber though as it's also been on the cards for years. What a joke!