No Internet for a Week during Lockdown

[#1]

I have had no internet since 2nd July as there is an apparel fault at the Exchange. Open Reach have been to the exchange Monday and Tuesday this week to say it is fixed yet it isn't and Plusnet state it is showing as not fixed. I have had to ring up everyday to be on hold for 40 minutes to be told they'll ask Open Reach to go out again. I have requested that Plusnet call me with an update but they never do. I can't work from home during Lockdown so having to take holiday days. 

Nearly a week now and I am unsure what else I can do. They haven't even offered me a dongle or anything.  

Has anyone else experienced the same? 

[#2]

Thanks for your post @cherrytree65

I can see that our suppliers have stated the fault is with equipment in the exchange and unfortunately, they have no spares of the equipment in question.

As soon as we know more we'll be in touch

[#3]

Really?

And no spare capacity on other equipment - accessible by a TPM or lift and shift given BTOR's inability to facilitate a repair?

[#4]

I understand that Matthew but we have to carry on with no broadband and keep paying the monthly bill to you for no broadband with no timescales.

From the 2nd July I’ve been told 3 times by yourselves it was fixed to now be told that it needs a part but there is no idea when the part will be available. Open reach clearly don’t want to pay for the part given they’ve known about the issue since the 6th July.

The only reason I’ve not signed up with someone else is that I’ll be requesting quite a large refund on the money spent on dongles and no access to other internet subscriptions such as sky or Netflix accounts. I’ve documented it all for when required.

Why as a company would you not look at trust pilot reviews and see that the service you provide has become shocking when it used to be very good. Clearly there is a relationship issue with open reach that needs to be resolved.

Another weekend and no further progress or timescales. Wonderful.

[#5]

Still no broadband. They've stopped calling me daily now as it seems Open Reach don't want to fix and get the part. Engineer coming to the house this morning and which I assume will try blame us for the issue and charge us £65. 

[#6]

Since the 2nd July we still have no phone line or broadband. I thought a phone line was a necessity? What is it was an elderly person with no mobile?

Open Reach are running rings round Plusnet and closed the fault so it had to start again. 

[#7]

@Gandalf @MatthewWheeler @Natalie26

No working service and elderly - does this qualify for priority attention please?

[#8]

I would love to know what does qualify for priority attention.

Open Reach have told plusnet to check back Monday. It would be acceptable if we were offered an alternative to access a phone line which the government state is a necessity. 

[#9]

Hi @cherrytree65

I am sorry to hear about this ongoing fault. I can see that it is being dealt by our faults department on this ticket which was updated today.

[#10]

Plusnet have advised that due to the fault being at the exchange and the xy ties that if I leave and join a company who also use open reach that the problem will continue. So basically we are helpless and beholden to open reach who have not made any progress since the 2 July. Everyone on the street uses sky etc and has no problems.

Can anyone advise?

[#11]

It is difficult to advise as no specific details have been furnished.  You have no idea if those who are working are working because they are using Sky (who in part have their own equipment in the exchange) or because the shared exchange equipment they are connected to is not broken.

I would expect that there are other Plusnet users nearby who are connected to equipment which is not broken.

Without clarity of what is broken, it is difficult to advise.  If it is a DSLAM than one would expect that you can be connected to a different one ... unless there are no spare working ports (major failure!!).  If this is the case, then choosing a LLU supplier might circumvent the issue ... but if the fault is closer to the line, then as advised, changing internet supplier (unless Virgin Media is an option) is not going to get you away from broken BT Openreach equipment.

@Tibzor @MatthewWheeler is this on escalation to the DSO?

@cherrytree65 I have found that emailing the CEO of BT and BT Openreach, requiring the latter to take action can be effective in moving a log-jam within BT Openreach's at times questionable management proficiency.  Indeed the mere suggestion of "reputational damage" can move mountains.

[#12]

Thanks @Townman 

I know Plusnet faults team can't do anything more and it was not their fault that BT Openreach just closed the fault last week so all timescales had to start from Day 1 again but it is utterly frustrating. 

I know from speaking with my Parish Council that there is nobody left with Plusnet as they all left due to issues with the exchange, maybe a reason why BT Openreach do not want to obtain the part to fix it. 

This is possibly the best summary I can provide of the issue:

"Main Fault Location: EX (Fault located at exchange (BT Wholesale side of MDF)). Fault Code: NDT (No Dial Tone). Clear Code: 171.3"

"Faulty x and y tie pairs on exchange causing earth fault. No spares". 

"Line card routing ok and line test ok. Unable to dial tone and make test call due to test network being silent, passing FM to draw dial tone and make test call from frame. If ok please pass back to DT for Openreach to investigate further. I have sent a mail to the Frames manager to get the latest update"

[#13]

BT Wholesale side of the MDF (main distribution frame) suggests that going with a LLU supplier might circumvent the issue, but it is a question which should be expressly addressed before making such a decision.  This sounds like a basic telephony issue - no dial tone effectively means that the line is non-operational and therefore does not meet the minimal level of required voic service.  Note that there is no obligation to provide a data service better than 56kbps!!  @198kHz - can you add anything to the discussion here please?

Plusnet is but one of many ISPs using BT Wholesale broadband services. It would be useful to ask which other suppliers people have walked away from - for example BT retail, EE, Vodaphone, post office, Zen. Etc, They all use BTw and if it turns out that it’s just Plusnet who are impacted at this exchange, one has to challenge the impartiality (or lack of it) from BTOR.

[#14]

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@Townman wrote:

@198kHz - can you add anything to the discussion here please?

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I can't speak with any authority on this, but the basic problem seems to be, as quoted by the OP

"Faulty x and y tie pairs on exchange causing earth fault. No spares". 

My best guess is that back in the day the resident engineer in charge of the exchange (there's no 'ownership' these days) would put every effort into clearing the earthing fault. If that failed, he would run in temporary pairs to give the customer service. Unfortunately I can't see that happening in today's compartmentalised box ticking culture.

As you suggested earlier, an email to the CEO can often knock some heads together and allow an engineer to go to the exchange and 'be creative'.  🤔

[#15]

@MatthewWheeler please can you ask Derek Wood to call me back. For some reason I have can't access my account even though my details haven't changed. Derek called me this morning but I can't reply to his message on the thread. 

BT Open reach has indicated that the line test is working but could not confirm the dial tone was working which was part of the original fault. Our phone line is working but still no broadband connection. 

Is this another case of false hope?