Vodafone - The Nation’s Notwork!

cannugec5

Well,  we are back to square 1! 

Open Reach has relocated the Master Socket back to where it always was. He said he noted a wiring fault showing when he tested it last time. However as we had told him there were old telephone sockets that had been removed over the years he thought they were probably the cause and it was 50/50 whether the new MS would work! He didn’t tell us that last month! 

So I now have the land line telephone plugged into the router under the sink with the phone balanced on the edge of the sink! 

If we were with BT there is a ‘bridging’ device for just this situation. Doesn’t work with Vodafone routers. I renewed my contract with Vodafone at the start of this fiasco otherwise I’d be switching today. 

I’ve been on the Vodafone Community forum and nobody has an answer. 

M25

Have you thought about moving to full fibre optic (FTTP)? Is it available?

That would mean a brand new cable coming into the house.

Why is the telephone next to the sink? Can't you buy a £1 cable extension and move it somewhere else?

You musn't expect too much from from OR or Vodafone they can't do everything for you it's your house.

See how things are with the new master socket and if there is still a problem OR should find that problem and fix it.

Do not tell the OR engineer anything other than you're getting a drop of signal.

kinger101

M25 said:

Why is the telephone next to the sink? 

I suspect a phone tap.

cannugec5

The Master Socket is in the utility room. The house was built before we all had routers. We had telephone extension sockets all over the place ( we did not build the house). In the dining room we had 2 extensions one either side of a door way. 

As time has gone on we have done away with unnecessary sockets retaining the one in the living room that we had the landline plugged in and the one in the utility room for the router. Over time we added a new low level power socket so we didn’t need extension power cables to the router, and the added Hive Hub for our central heating. These both sit neatly on a small shelf under the sink. 

This has worked fine until Vodafone said we needed to move to Digital Voice. They phoned me. They promised me that I could keep my landline in the living room. If it was not for that call that persuaded me to renew the contract for another 24 months, I would now be able to switch  to BT who CAN provide a wireless adapter so that the router can be separate from the telephone. 

But they only work with BT/EE routers. 

I appreciate it’s our house and our old wiring mess. But Vodafone have trapped me into a contract. 

There is a great risk now that the phone will be knocked into the sink that is in use on a daily basis, with it being balanced on the edge. 

I’m not blaming OR but am disappointed he was unable to produce a solution  ( other than showing me what BT has to offer).

I AM  blaming Vodafone because I provided them with all the information and they told me an untruth - that a wireless adaptor was available - when the reality is that it does not work with their equipment. 

I am thinking my only option is to exit the 24 month contract, but I’m only 6 weeks into it…

Edit: FTTP is not available here. 

littleboo

it should be possible to connect your extension wiring into the router phone port - it would be worth looking for a local person who could do that, unless you fancy having a go. That would still be cheaper than abandoning a 2 year contract

M25

So has the fault been fixed?

Those BT adapters are very good I had one years ago.

You agreed the contract and must have known your setup before staying with Vodafone. There's no way they will release you from the contract unless you pay a fee.

Any cheap extension with resolve the problem of the telephone near the sink like https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5523692 or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276633095266

You could use a similar cable and hard wire it to an extension but I'd stick with a standard extension cable.

As good as those BT wi-fi sockets are it could add another level of technology that could cause a problem.

Stick with the cable extension.

cannugec5

M25 said:

So has the fault been fixed?

Those BT adapters are very good I had one years ago.

You agreed the contract and must have known your setup before staying with Vodafone. There's no way they will release you from the contract unless you pay a fee.

Any cheap extension with resolve the problem of the telephone near the sink like https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5523692 or https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/276633095266

You could use a similar cable and hard wire it to an extension but I'd stick with a standard extension cable.

As good as those BT wi-fi sockets are it could add another level of technology that could cause a problem.

Stick with the cable extension.

I had no idea that our set up was relevant at the time of the conversation as the rep on the phone told me it would not need to change. 

We had - and now have again- perfectly functioning internet from the router at the oddly placed MS. 

In that conversation I did say, highlight, repeat and reiterate that the router and phone were and need to be in separate rooms and he assured me that was no problem, the had plug in thingies to both that would facilitate that. 

Anyway for what it’s worth we have now bought an additional hand set  compatible with the base station phone . Hubby has made an extra shelf under the sink for the main phone and base station to sit plugged in and unused, but it will ‘talk’ to the new phone in the living room. Our problem is now resolved and I’m moving on. 

M25

Most important thing is you now have a fully working service so that's good

cannugec5

We have had another weekend of internet hell. Outages of 3, 18 and 28 hours! 

I’ve been back onto Vodafone, calling from
a friends house as we have no telephone without internet. They got back in touch with OpenReach who have said there is a fault in the local exchange that they are dealing with. We should expect further outages for the next week! 

It is back on again now, but drops out a minute here and there. 

Over the weekend we were contemplating Starlink, but that feels like a retrograde step to us as we previously had satellite broadband and found it quite restrictive. Also it is more than double the price. Even if we had to pay up to £1000 to get a decent new phone line into the house it would still work out cheaper than the extra it would cost for a year of Starlink. Plus I don’t want anything associated with Elon Musk! 

I just have to be patient and hope OR sort out the issues. 

QrizB

Does your phone line come into your house via an overhead wire or an underground one?

Ours is overhead and runs through the canopy of one of next door's trees. Every 5-8 years the trees manage to wear through the insulation on the wire and let water in. The first clue we get is that we start to lose the internet during bad weather. We need to contact our BB supplier, go through their whole "try plugging straight into the test socket" faultfinding script and then convince them that the fault is external to our house. they then get OR out who replace the overhead line and we're good for another few years.