Trees fouling BT line

[twentythree]

I had a poke around with the radio last night but can't find anything conclusive. I noticed that the green box and the wires running up the telegraph wires were kicking out a lot of noise but perhaps this is normal? Within the flats, the old GPO distribution box makes a lot of noise as do the boxed in risers which appear to carry both the electrical and telephone wires to each flat. Within my flat, I could hear the router as expected but noticed that the router's power supply plug gave off a hell of a lot of noise. This is located right next to the NTE so could be causing problems even with the RF3 filter fitted. I'll move the router's plug onto an extension and try to keep it as far away from the NTE as I can. My massive old CRT TV made an impressively deep and loud feedback type noise and the gas boiler sounded like a jack-hammer even though it wasn't heating water at the time. The noise from these and others doesn't emanate very far but I am concerned it may be getting into the electrical circuits so I've ordered a mains conditioning extension to plug the router into. It can't make things any worse after all!

[twentythree]

Quote from: Matt

We're hoping to get an update on both the escalation to complex faults and the engineer later on this afternoon but unfortunately it may be tomorrow - either way we'll let you know as soon as we get it.

Any news from BT? The ticket hasn't been updated in over 24hrs. I thought this had been escalated? Seems very slow considering the BT engineer came on Monday...

[twentythree]

Very disappointed not to have received an update today. For a supposedly "escalated" fault which is now 64 days old there doesn't seem to be any kind of impetus. Not good enough Plusnet  >:(
Virgin Media have confirmed they can't connect me to cable broadband so looks like I'll be off to AAISP soon as they offer to fix faults within a month or let you leave for free if they can't.

[orbrey]

Hi twentythree,
I'm sorry I'm so late getting back to you today. We did get an email back from the complex faults team, stating that no fault could be found but they'd arrange for another engineer visit to your premises to investigate the mentioned issue 65 metres from the test socket. This was rejected back to them with a further request to advise of the route the line takes.
As yet we've not heard anything back but Riyaz is working this evening, he's advised that if no reply is received by 8pm he'll call to chase and escalate this further. You'll get a call later on.

[twentythree]

Riyaz called about half an hour ago. I'm feeling much happier that this is being properly progressed after speaking with him. The communication makes all the difference - now that I know what you have been doing and what you plan to do I feel much happier - please keep it up!
For anyone still following this thread, BT have finally confirmed that my line is routed via the telegraph poles on its way to the green box. However, they do not accept that the tree branches touching the wires are causing a problem or that any of the ancient joints on these poles are faulty. They have also ruled out changing the line spitter, which was also under question. Instead they want to focus on the old GPO distribution box just inside the flats and the wire from this to my NTE. I'm guessing this is because it is the easiest/cheapest leg of the connection to work on but I'll have to wait and see.

[twentythree]

The farce continues...
A BT engineer (No. 12) was booked for Monday 19th April... and didn't show up! No engineer, no phone call, no excuse, no update on my ticket despite me phoning the Sheffield call centre and also asking on the "Why Is BT Treated Like The God Emperor" thread in the Your Feedback forum.
I requested a rescheduled appointment for Thursday 22nd April which was only confirmed at 6pm on Wednesday 21st April. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances I could not provide access on Thursday so had to cancel the engineer's visit. I requested another appointment be made for any afternoon this week, preferably today, Monday 26th April. I did not receive confirmation of this appointment until after I added a note to my ticket this morning asking if an appointment had been made - 9.17am! According to the person who responded to my query, "The confirmation came through late Friday evening to advise us that this afternoon has now been booked for you." So, why didn't PN inform me until now then?!? This is not enough notice - I can't arrange access this afternoon at such short notice so I've bounced it back to PN to arrange another appointment.
In addition to this, PN still haven't told me what the engineer will be doing on this visit other than "investigate the internal DP". Do BT have any intention of checking each joint on the line and remaking any that look bad? Do they intend to physically replace any wires? Is there any rational plan of action or are they just going to continue to stab in the dark until the fault is fixed by luck?
75 days since this fault was reported and counting...

[twentythree]

Just had a call from the BT control office asking why their engineer can't get into the flat. Obviously Plusnet did not cancel the appointment!
What the hell is going on?!? I am at my wits end now - still no response from PN regarding a new appointment...

[stallan]

Sorry to hear the saga is still going on....  I just hope someone senior at PN picks this up and takes ownership of problem, thus updating you on a daily basis - given the length on time the problem has been running I think you deserve it (plus compensation).
In addition I think the service you have received from BT is unbelievably bad. Seems to me someone needs a reprimand.
Let's hope you next installment is more positive

[twentythree]

Thanks stallan. It sometimes feels like I'm banging my head against a brick wall but hopefully my next instalment will be more positive. I'm just trying to arrange another BT appointment with PN.
Someone senior at PN taking ownership and giving me daily updates would be great - is that likely though? And as for compensation... I'll be addressing that if/when the fault is finally resolved.

[adamwalker]

twentythree,
I've just looked at this with our faults team now and can see that you have updated ticket 32619112. I can't commit to dealing with this now but I will review this again with faults tomorrow before we come back to you and confirm an appointment.

[twentythree]

Thank you adamwalker, I appreciate your involvement. Hopefully the appointment for Wednesday can be confirmed tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the engineer visit on Wednesday won't be the end of it as the engineer has only been tasked to identify / rule out any problems within the block of flats. I was under the impression this had been done numerous times by different BT engineers but perhaps this time around they'll find something that was missed.

[adamwalker]

Thanks,
We're dealing with booking your appointment now and will confirm this to you shortly. We can also request the engineer who should be visiting tomorrow (pending our confirmation) to perform additional checks to help us escalate your fault further with our suppliers.

[adamwalker]

A booking has now been made for you and ticket 32060215 has been updated to confirm this.

[twentythree]

Thanks adamwalker.

Quote

We can also request the engineer who should be visiting tomorrow (pending our confirmation) to perform additional checks to help us escalate your fault further with our suppliers.

Please do - anything that will help to get this fault resolved would be appreciated.

[adamwalker]

I've updated BT to requests that a series of checks are done with a view to passing certain 'quality gates' that allow us to escalate the fault to their complex faults team. This should be useful for helping to eliminate any other external factors that may be exacerbating the fault you seem to have been experiencing.