Talk Talk Cut us off to force Fibre Contract - GDPR Breach

brewerdave

400ixl said:

Use your mobile is the alternative really when their is a power outage.

Some will see it as a step backwards and a safety risk, some will be pleased they no longer have to even have a home phone that they don't use but are charged for currently.

Unfortunately there is still not universal coverage for mobiles. We live about 6 miles out of Cardiff, ,so hardly the back of beyond but we cannot use the mobiles in the house for calls - that's both O2 and Plusnet (EE). Yet our exchange has gone to "fibre priority "status so we will, relatively shortly, be forced on to VOIP regardless. 

MilesT6060842

It looks like your only way to get high speed broadband without digging (unless you are lucky with ducting for the existing cable) is 4G/5G/satellite.  4G/5G is variable by location and the quality of the router supplied (Three are now issuing a very premium router for their 5G contracts and you may be able to get it for a 4G contract at well).  Spending money on external 4G/5G antenna can help a lot, but needs some specialist consultation. EE seem to have the best reputation for consistent connection.  You can buy your own router for an unlimited data SIM (the TPlink MR600 is popular for 4G, inexpensive second hand, and usually better than a MiFi dongle but doesn't support external 4G antenna).

If you want/need a "house" phone number (landline equivalent) then you should be able to get the existing number ported to a 3rd party VoIP provider and buy VoIP handsets or an ATA to convert the existing wiring to VoIP (disconnecting from openreach master socket of course!). 

Satellite is currently expensive and, at best, not quite as good as best FTTC, well behind FTTP.

If you need a dig, maybe do some investigation (spot digging) yourself to see what the ducting is like and can you get into it from inside the house. May need a metal detector to find the run (see if you can find one to borrow with an experienced detectorist).  You can get cheap little cameras on 1-2m of cable to follow ducts along (may need to tape it to a stiff wire, or a "plumbers snake").  I think the engineers will need to get a rope down the duct first to pull the new cable, and they may only do this to an exterior wall and then come inside or run round the outside on the walls to get closer to your desired entry point. 

If you want full control, you may need to pay a builder to run a new duct to the least impactful /optimal route--consult with OR (if you can) to see if you can do this and have them adopt it (similar process to a rural self-dig, which is the precedent).

wild666

SuzeQStan said:

@alleycat`-we are definitely in contract - doesn’t expire till Nov 2023. If we cancel we have to pay £10 per month remaining in contract. Really interesting points you raised said the same about the phones to OH - what do you do in a power cut / servers down etc. 

As it is TT who cancelled the BB connection, not you, then you shouldn't be hit with the £10 per month charge. Recall the latest DD and if they won't enter into any conversation with you cancel the DD at the bank. If they won't speak to you then you are in a deadlock situation.

In 2019 I was going to move to TT but on the day they claimed the router would arrive it didn't so I called the number on the email confirming the order and they said they had no record of me even though I had three emails from TT all confirming they would take over my BB from March 2019, just shows how bad they are when you get emails from them but they have no record of the person.

km1500

if you cancel the dd then you won't of course be entitled to the £8.40 a day

SuzeQStan

@iniltous - you’ve got it entirely - almost like you were here! 😉 - at this point we are thinking to stay with TT (we are over a barrel and we and TT both know it) - get fibre connection to property via trench (hopefully negotiated to be FOC) as our present deal beats anything else currently on market. And once our cheap contract ends we will be off to another ISP who probably will turn out to be just as disappointing as what we already have. 

SuzeQStan

OH has told me he is taking the weekend off from ringing TT - cant say I blame him. Will let you all know what happens come Monday….

iniltous

FYI , if you live in an area that is fed underground ( so no telegraph poles ) but the underground cables are DIG ( direct in ground ) , then usually Openreach will have done some preparatory work and installed an access box ( toby box ) in the footpath opposite your address, if someone orders FTTP , a cable is installed from the toby box to the house wall ( this obviously requires a small amount of excavation ) , but unless this is a huge amount of work , say 70m or more , or complicated like no soft  surface like grass can be used, and ( for example) a resin bonded driveway has to be got across, and  it would be impossible to reinstate that without an ugly scar, Openreach  cover the cost ( so it’s doesn’t cost TT a penny ) , and therefore it’s unlikely to cost you anything, as OR would ask TT for any excess costs and TT would expect you to cover it, so unless you have a huge garden and it’s entirely made up from hard surfaces, you shouldn’t have to pay anything.
If your underground feed is already ducted ( houses from the early 90’s and later are likely to have ducts ) then it should be straightforward 

SuzeQStan

@iniltous - thanks for this useful information. We are on an island of block paving and the previous owner of our (1960s) home effectively buried the existing copper connection on an internal wall due to an extension. Which is handily within mere feet of our offices. The likely (shortest) route to get fibre to our home will unfortunately be on the opposite side of the house to existing connection. At this point we will take anything! 😉. We went on a walk yesterday and noticed that every single property on our road has the fibre box on external wall with exception of ours. Even our 90+ year old neighbours (no smart
phones, tech, etc). So we are feeling completely left out of the party. One thing tho - all properties on our road appear to be with BT. I guess BT did a better job by its customers than TT did by us….

SuzeQStan

Update - OH spent 2.5hrs on phone with TT today who finally admitted they are in the wrong and we can cancel our existing contract with no penalty. They won’t allow us to continue our existing contract and say we would have to sign up to a new contract to take out fibre with them. We have nothing in writing so OH sent email confirming what was discussed. We’ve been advised by TT to try to find another supplier.  Interesting way to do business. The thing that gets me is I know they are
obliged to pay a daily penalty for our lack of broadband service on our current contract  - but they are refusing to put our service back without us agreeing to a new fibre contract.  So what should we do?  Do they technically owe us the penalty for every day of our remaining contract as they are refusing to reconnect our broadband without us signing up to a new fibre contract?!  The term
of our existing contract has another 14 months to run.  I don’t know how to proceed - any advice gratefully received. 

QrizB

SuzeQStan said:

The term of our existing contract has another 14 months to run.  I don’t know how to proceed - any advice gratefully received. 

Are you on Virgin's network? Could you sign up with them and continue claiming the £8 a day from TT for 14 months?