Talktalk leaving me with faulty internet and phone long term, advice please

Prudent

I have had an ongoing issue with both my broadband and phone line for several weeks.

After an increasing number of incidences of no service, I contacted Talktalk. After an intrusive discussion about my health (I have significant and complex health issues) they agreed to send out an Openreach engineer. The engineer changed the front plate on the phone socket and tested our equipment which was all working okay.

The problems continued and after 10 days they agreed to send out an Openreach engineer again. He changed the entire socket and said our equipment was fine. I told both engineers and Talktalk that the problems were worse after the rain.

After another week of problems, I contacted Talktalk again. They kept me on live chat for two and a half hours. They refused to send Openreach again. They offered to register me as a vulnerable customer and send their own engineer at a cost of £50. They said because I was now classed as vulnerable I must allow their engineer to visit and check my set-up. This seems blatantly discriminatory and in spite of asking to complain to a manager, they refused me access to all other options. My illness means a phone line is critical and I had no other choice to agree. I am not sure if their action is even legal.

The Talktalk engineer arrived this morning and said as before that my own equipment is fine. The line was working at the time. He confirmed what I know that the lines in my road are old copper lines that are prone to issues like rust and water ingress and he felt that was the source of the problem. The first Openreach engineer had also suggested this is likely. The Talktalk said he would file a report but Talktalk and Openreach are unlikely to sort out the issues as the road is due to have fibre in around three years. 

I am in contract until July and I am now stuck in a situation that places me at risk if my phone line is out of action. I also rely on the internet for the majority of my frequent medical appointments. Please can anyone suggest what the best next steps will be?

tacpot12

It seems you are somewhat stuck with infrastructure in the road that Openreach is not likely to improve for a number of years. 

I think you have three options:

1.  negotiate with TalkTalk for a discount on your service as it is not reliable, and use the saving to buy a mobile phone that you can use if the line has dropped when you need to make a call. 

2. negotiate with TalkTalk for them to allow you to cancel your service, and take a phone & Internet service from BT and hope that BT have more leverage with OpenReach. (I'm always suspicious that BT and OpenReach are not quite as seperate as they should be.)

3. negotiate with TalkTalk for them to allow you to cancel your service, and take a phone & broadband service from a mobile phone network. If you are in a city and have a mast nearby you should be able to get a reasonable speeds, if you in an area where 5G has been rolled out, so much the better. A router with an external mobile phone aerial should give better results.  

Prudent

Thank you, that is really helpful. I will discuss the options with my partner.

Farway

I had similar problems, not with Talk Talk though, mine was Plusnet but still Open Reach

The fault was water ingress down manhole access junction and a frayed cable between the telephone pole and my house, like you it was only in inclement weather hence fine most of the time.

The fraying was where the strain wire held the cable at the pole end and invisible to a casual observer on the ground

Have you tried a silent line test? I assume OR visits will have done that though.

I phoned when it was raining and crackling on the line, that way the operator could not but fail to hear it

It turned out to be a hefty job in the end, the pole was rotten and had to be replaced, my external phone line had to be rerun and the road had to be dug up to sort out the junction boxes

Best of luck in getting in sorted

littleboo

The TT "engineer" was most likely talking out of his hat wrt to the copper replacement. I doubt he had any specifics about your road and is talking more generally about the Openreach fibre rollout which will touch some areas in less than 3 years and some in more. Regardless, the fibre rollout doesn't mean that copper faults don't get fixed. Intermittent faults are always harder to find TT should be working to get the issue resolved, they need to take ownership on your behalf and pursue it with Openreach. That's what you are paying them for.

iniltous

Openreach supply the network pair that has a minimum specification, if it fails to meet that spec then it needs to be repaired or replaced, Openreach cannot simply say too difficult or too expensive or it’s going to be replaced with FTTP so we are not going to bother , but ultimately it’s the service provider ( TT in your case ) to keep on at OR if the fault is persistent…that’s is if it is the OR network at fault.

Prudent

Thank you, everyone. This information helps me take things forward. I will get a line test when there is no connection and log every fault. I will keep pressing TT to pursue the matter with OR.

FreeBear

Is your street wired for cable (i.e. Virgin). If so, they may be in a better position to provide a reliable service.

cx6

You may be entitled to compensation - it is the law and they cannot refuse to pay it

Automatic compensation: What you need to know - Ofcom

longjohnjohnson

cx6 said:

You may be entitled to compensation - it is the law and they cannot refuse to pay it

Automatic compensation: What you need to know - Ofcom

But probably not

In March 2020, given the unique circumstances presented by the pandemic, Ofcom explained our view that it would be legitimate for providers not to pay automatic compensation just as if the civil emergencies exception in the automatic compensation scheme applies.

We have been keeping the situation under close review since that time. Changes at the network level and in engineer availability meant that by July 2020 all signatories were able to restart paying automatic compensation for at least some service issues.

So not all then.

And the OP has failed to say what their issue is.

phillw

littleboo said:

Regardless, the fibre rollout doesn't mean that copper faults don't get fixed.

I wish I had copper, we have aluminium wire wrapped in paper.
They come out when a line fails, dig up the pavement, chop out a section, replace it and fill the hole.

The vibrations of the digging will cause the insulation to break down on another cable (because it's 45 year old paper). They knew they would be back the next day.

ADSL doesn't like aluminium and it doesn't like joins, it especially doesn't like miles of joined aluminium. I stuck with it when ADSL was dirt cheap. The prices are practically the same now & fibre is 10 times quicker.

If broadband access is critical then I would look at wireless internet. Talk Talk might be able to offer you something.