Talktalk and Openreach - Issues with the cable?

vasso

Hello. 
I need some advice please.

I've been a TalkTalk customer for 5 years. In December, I renewed my contract (same plan) for another two years. 

I noticed this week that my connection drops completely in the morning and in the evening for hours and during the day it is very slow (download 2Mbps. upload 5 Mbps - contract states 48 Mbps). I never had any issues before. 

An OpenReach engineer came today and he said that the problem is the BT cable in the wall that runs from my flat to the box at the building's entrance. He said he can't fix it because I'm at the top floor flat and they need a kind of scaffolding? to do that.

I'm a little bit sceptical about why this happened now, out of the blue. Also, how expensive can this be? Is it something that the customer should pay? (I'm a tenant)

I was wondering if there's a way to get out of the contract and try Hyperoptic (I assume they don't use BT cables?) but then the cooling period has expired. 

Any other thoughts? Any advice? Thanks a lot in advance. 
 

JSmithy45AD

Water ingress? Degradation due to age? I'm not sure what's to be suspicious about?

You won't pay for it but it sounds like the cable run needs to be replaced if he's correct. Above a certain height, health and safety come into it, presumably a suitable team will have to come out but you'll have to check with TalkTalk.

If you can't get the guaranteed minimum then you should be able to cancel or switch without an ET payment but you'll have to take it up with them.

Eldi_Dos

If it is a area that is due to have FTTP ( fibre to the premises) upgrade there will be a reluctance to spend a lot of money replacing a copper cable in the situation you describe.
Best make enquiries about availability of FTTP.

vasso

Eldi_Dos said:

If it is a area that is due to have FTTP ( fibre to the premises) upgrade there will be a reluctance to spend a lot of money replacing a copper cable in the situation you describe.
Best make enquiries about availability of FTTP.

Make enquiries to TalkTalk? I know that Hyperoptic dug outside the building last year

iniltous

Something doesn’t quite add up …..MDU’s (multiple dwelling units ) can have various ways of being connected , but whatever they are ‘BT’ are not responsible for any cabling , so it’s weird that an Openreach tech would say that .
If we assume that the external network cable (Openreach) comes into the MDU in a common area (like a utility cupboard or room ) and each flat/apartment was individually wired from this point , then that cabling was normally provided by the developer/building owner when construction was taking place , and the phone provider uses it …..depending on the exact circumstances Openreach (and therefore the ISP using Openreach , the demarcation point could be in the utility room and it’s the building owner responsible for the internal cabling not Openreach for the cable to your flat , if you think about it , the building owner may not be keen on someone like Openreach breaking into  walls or ceiling trying to locate the faulty cable length .

Rather than get into a wrangle about that , depending on the circumstances it may be easier to run a new cable to your flat but obviously that can be easier said than done ….however unless some physical damage has occurred, like someone drilling into a wall and hitting the internal  cable to your flat , then why has it gone faulty ?

As far as getting out of your TT contract and using an Alternative Network, you would need to discuss that with both TT and the Alternative Net , it’s not likely an Alternative Network would be using the existing internal cooper wiring even if it’s the building owners cable .

vasso

iniltous said:

Something doesn’t quite add up …..MDU’s (multiple dwelling units ) can have various ways of being connected , but whatever they are ‘BT’ are not responsible for any cabling , so it’s weird that an Openreach tech would say that .
If we assume that the external network cable (Openreach) comes into the MDU in a common area (like a utility cupboard or room ) and each flat/apartment was individually wired from this point , then that cabling was normally provided by the developer/building owner when construction was taking place , and the phone provider uses it …..depending on the exact circumstances Openreach (and therefore the ISP using Openreach , the demarcation point could be in the utility room and it’s the building owner responsible for the internal cabling not Openreach for the cable to your flat , if you think about it , the building owner may not be keen on someone like Openreach breaking into  walls or ceiling trying to locate the faulty cable length .

Rather than get into a wrangle about that , depending on the circumstances it may be easier to run a new cable to your flat but obviously that can be easier said than done ….however unless some physical damage has occurred, like someone drilling into a wall and hitting the internal  cable to your flat , then why has it gone faulty ?

As far as getting out of your TT contract and using an Alternative Network, you would need to discuss that with both TT and the Alternative Net , it’s not likely an Alternative Network would be using the existing internal cooper wiring even if it’s the building owners cable .

Thanks so much for your detailed response. The engineer said that the cable is old and not even a proper cable (not sure what he meant. The previous tenant had BT and he didn't have any problems using exactly the same line. He said that everything looks fine at the cable box outside the building and at my socket. However, the speed suddenly remains very slow. No physical damage has occurred. 

I just got a text from OpenReach stating 'We're still working on repairing your service. Tests suggest the fault is outside of your premises but our engineer may be in touch'.

I guess I have to call TalkTalk but I just wanted to be prepared about the discussion we might have. Thanks again for your help. 

JSmithy45AD

vasso said:

iniltous said:

Something doesn’t quite add up …..MDU’s (multiple dwelling units ) can have various ways of being connected , but whatever they are ‘BT’ are not responsible for any cabling , so it’s weird that an Openreach tech would say that .
If we assume that the external network cable (Openreach) comes into the MDU in a common area (like a utility cupboard or room ) and each flat/apartment was individually wired from this point , then that cabling was normally provided by the developer/building owner when construction was taking place , and the phone provider uses it …..depending on the exact circumstances Openreach (and therefore the ISP using Openreach , the demarcation point could be in the utility room and it’s the building owner responsible for the internal cabling not Openreach for the cable to your flat , if you think about it , the building owner may not be keen on someone like Openreach breaking into  walls or ceiling trying to locate the faulty cable length .

Rather than get into a wrangle about that , depending on the circumstances it may be easier to run a new cable to your flat but obviously that can be easier said than done ….however unless some physical damage has occurred, like someone drilling into a wall and hitting the internal  cable to your flat , then why has it gone faulty ?

As far as getting out of your TT contract and using an Alternative Network, you would need to discuss that with both TT and the Alternative Net , it’s not likely an Alternative Network would be using the existing internal cooper wiring even if it’s the building owners cable .

Thanks so much for your detailed response. The engineer said that the cable is old and not even a proper cable (not sure what he meant. The previous tenant had BT and he didn't have any problems using exactly the same line. He said that everything looks fine at the cable box outside the building and at my socket. However, the speed suddenly remains very slow. No physical damage has occurred. 

I just got a text from OpenReach stating 'We're still working on repairing your service. Tests suggest the fault is outside of your premises but our engineer may be in touch'.

I guess I have to call TalkTalk but I just wanted to be prepared about the discussion we might have. Thanks again for your help. 

I'd wait for OR then if they say they're on it, TalkTalk won't be able to do anything further and may just muddy the waters.

vasso

JSmithy45AD said:

vasso said:

iniltous said:

Something doesn’t quite add up …..MDU’s (multiple dwelling units ) can have various ways of being connected , but whatever they are ‘BT’ are not responsible for any cabling , so it’s weird that an Openreach tech would say that .
If we assume that the external network cable (Openreach) comes into the MDU in a common area (like a utility cupboard or room ) and each flat/apartment was individually wired from this point , then that cabling was normally provided by the developer/building owner when construction was taking place , and the phone provider uses it …..depending on the exact circumstances Openreach (and therefore the ISP using Openreach , the demarcation point could be in the utility room and it’s the building owner responsible for the internal cabling not Openreach for the cable to your flat , if you think about it , the building owner may not be keen on someone like Openreach breaking into  walls or ceiling trying to locate the faulty cable length .

Rather than get into a wrangle about that , depending on the circumstances it may be easier to run a new cable to your flat but obviously that can be easier said than done ….however unless some physical damage has occurred, like someone drilling into a wall and hitting the internal  cable to your flat , then why has it gone faulty ?

As far as getting out of your TT contract and using an Alternative Network, you would need to discuss that with both TT and the Alternative Net , it’s not likely an Alternative Network would be using the existing internal cooper wiring even if it’s the building owners cable .

Thanks so much for your detailed response. The engineer said that the cable is old and not even a proper cable (not sure what he meant. The previous tenant had BT and he didn't have any problems using exactly the same line. He said that everything looks fine at the cable box outside the building and at my socket. However, the speed suddenly remains very slow. No physical damage has occurred. 

I just got a text from OpenReach stating 'We're still working on repairing your service. Tests suggest the fault is outside of your premises but our engineer may be in touch'.

I guess I have to call TalkTalk but I just wanted to be prepared about the discussion we might have. Thanks again for your help. 

I'd wait for OR then if they say they're on it, TalkTalk won't be able to do anything further and may just muddy the waters.

I called TalkTalk and they informed me that OpenReach will need to contact external contractors in order to use a hoist for replacing the line. I hope they don't ask for the building's owner permission as I don't have a clue who he is!

JSmithy45AD

vasso said:

JSmithy45AD said:

vasso said:

iniltous said:

Something doesn’t quite add up …..MDU’s (multiple dwelling units ) can have various ways of being connected , but whatever they are ‘BT’ are not responsible for any cabling , so it’s weird that an Openreach tech would say that .
If we assume that the external network cable (Openreach) comes into the MDU in a common area (like a utility cupboard or room ) and each flat/apartment was individually wired from this point , then that cabling was normally provided by the developer/building owner when construction was taking place , and the phone provider uses it …..depending on the exact circumstances Openreach (and therefore the ISP using Openreach , the demarcation point could be in the utility room and it’s the building owner responsible for the internal cabling not Openreach for the cable to your flat , if you think about it , the building owner may not be keen on someone like Openreach breaking into  walls or ceiling trying to locate the faulty cable length .

Rather than get into a wrangle about that , depending on the circumstances it may be easier to run a new cable to your flat but obviously that can be easier said than done ….however unless some physical damage has occurred, like someone drilling into a wall and hitting the internal  cable to your flat , then why has it gone faulty ?

As far as getting out of your TT contract and using an Alternative Network, you would need to discuss that with both TT and the Alternative Net , it’s not likely an Alternative Network would be using the existing internal cooper wiring even if it’s the building owners cable .

Thanks so much for your detailed response. The engineer said that the cable is old and not even a proper cable (not sure what he meant. The previous tenant had BT and he didn't have any problems using exactly the same line. He said that everything looks fine at the cable box outside the building and at my socket. However, the speed suddenly remains very slow. No physical damage has occurred. 

I just got a text from OpenReach stating 'We're still working on repairing your service. Tests suggest the fault is outside of your premises but our engineer may be in touch'.

I guess I have to call TalkTalk but I just wanted to be prepared about the discussion we might have. Thanks again for your help. 

I'd wait for OR then if they say they're on it, TalkTalk won't be able to do anything further and may just muddy the waters.

I called TalkTalk and they informed me that OpenReach will need to contact external contractors in order to use a hoist for replacing the line. I hope they don't ask for the building's owner permission as I don't have a clue who he is!

Since it's replacing an existing line I wouldn't have thought that was a problem? How many floors are you up?

vasso

An engineer came today and he used a ladder. He managed to replace the cable externally. Thanks for the advice everyone. Much appreciated. 

iniltous

So presumably this was copper cable on wall , not internal cabling ( that was first implied ) , when you said the cable running to  the building entrance from your flat it suggested internal cabling not C.O.W , if there was ( is ) an external block on the outside wall (or several blocks around the building) similar to those on top of a pole ,  then running a cable externally around the building on an outside wall before entry into each individual flat was common practice with relatively low rise MDU’s built in the 1950’s through to the 1980’s .