BT Trying to charge for repair

tberry6686

Anyone know the rules on BT charging for line repairs ?

I am being told that if the line is damaged on any part of my property I must pay for the repair.

I'm sure I read somewhere that repairs are not chargeable up to and including the master socket ?

Roland_Sausage

Incorrect.

It's chargeable if any part of the line within your property or land has been damaged, eg you've smashed the socket with your vacuum cleaner, or it's gone faulty due to your house being damp, or your trees fell on an overhead cable, etc.

If it's just age or weather related failure then it's not chargeable.

tberry6686

thats fair enough then. No trees, Damp or damage to the socket.

jenniewb

tberry6686 wrote: »

thats fair enough then. No trees, Damp or damage to the socket.

Be aware that those are only suggestions- there are many things that can happen to the socket that are not mentioned, just be aware that anything once it's inside your property (including cables soon as they are inside and the socket/s itself/themselves) are what they are talking about when they explain possible costs.

brewerdave

If its not an overhead cable, check that the wire from the "hole in the ground" to its point of ingress into your house, hasn't become damaged by vegetation growth (or over enthusiastic pruning!!)

tberry6686

I've no idea where the cable comes into my house.

The problem I'm having is that my connection speed is only 35mbps. It used to be 70 mbps constantly right up until they fixed a line fault (both phone line and broadband down) earlier this year (never came near my house to fix it - all done at the green BT box in the village) I suspect that repair wasn't very good.

iniltous

When you report a problem, they try and get you to connect your equipment in the master socket test port, this elimates your own wiring and extension sockets ( and anything that could be connected in those sockets ) as the cause of the problem.
As already said, 'fair wear and tear' OR side of the master but within in your curteledge is covered , but damage is not.
When you report a problem, they should test your line, if a problem is obvious, like a short, battery or earth condition, then , if the tester indicates the issue isn't at your property, the warning about charge isn't needed, but if your line seems OK ( the tester detects no issues) they give a warning , as you could be making a frivolous report, but the tester isn't infallible , and some conditions are not easily detected.

Have you done the basic checks, trying a known working ( preferably corded ) phone in the test socket , dial 17070 and tease the quiet line test, if any noise is audible , then that may well be the problem.

tberry6686

Have you done the basic checks, trying a known working ( preferably corded ) phone in the test socket , dial 17070 and tease the quiet line test, if any noise is audible , then that may well be the problem.

I have no idea what this is. There are no issues with voice calls. The only symptom is decreased Broadband speed

jenniewb

tberry6686 wrote: »

Have you done the basic checks, trying a known working ( preferably corded ) phone in the test socket , dial 17070 and tease the quiet line test, if any noise is audible , then that may well be the problem.

I have no idea what this is. There are no issues with voice calls. The only symptom is decreased Broadband speed

You don't know how to check or you don't know what the problem is? I'd strongly recommend you do the basic checks (master socket and so on) if you don't know what the master socket is, check on the website of your broadband supplier- if it's not easy to find, YouTube it and it'll be on there somewhere. You may need to purchase a second microfilter if you have one already- because IME they are the first to go and this would count as "in your home" even if they supplied it.


Next try different cables- these can also affect speed if they've developed kinks or have poor connectors, this would also count as "in your home", but the microfilter itself- easy to do but complicated to explain, you'd need a screwdriver to get to it and once you've worked out that using the microfilter has not changed the speed, I'd suggest that (assuming you've checked all the cables you can see that connect you for any slight bends or possible snags) you've by then done everything basic to ensure it isn't in your property.


Other steps could be checking the connection to your PC or Mac or whatever you are using (be that wifi or a cable) you could try using your phone or if you have one, a tablet to see if the speed is very different compared to the PC/MAC, try again with a different cable to make sure it's not the connecting equipment (obviously turn off the data if your using your phone- just use the wifi). Try both a PC/Mac and another machine to check it's actually the connection and not some form of virus or malware slowing things down in some way. I'm imagining you've run checks on the speed but viruses could theoretically affect things in unpredicted ways, it doesn't hurt to make sure you are not affected.

tberry6686

Ive connected the Hub directly to the master socket and attached my laptop using Cat 5 cable. Similar speed result in the speedtest. (Around 35mbps). Wireless shows the same. Both microfilters have been replaced with no change.

I really don't see what else can be checked by me short of buying a new hub (there is nothing to suggest that the hub is faulty).

iniltous

tberry6686 wrote: »

Ive connected the Hub directly to the master socket and attached my laptop using Cat 5 cable. Similar speed result in the speedtest. (Around 35mbps). Wireless shows the same. Both microfilters have been replaced with no change.

I really don't see what else can be checked by me short of buying a new hub (there is nothing to suggest that the hub is faulty).

Connecting in the master socket rather than the master socket test port doesn't eliminate any potentially faulty extension wiring , extension sockets or anything plugged into the sockets alongside the filter/router, and neither your provider or Openreach are responsible for items such as these.
If you don't have any extension sockets or wiring, then obviously the test socket is less important , unless the removable lower consumer panel itself is the problem.