Independant telecare and upgrade to full fibre

[#1]

Such a pigheaded openreach engineer - looking for any excuse not to do the install. It's overhead cables, he moaned about that wanting to come through the front of my home, then it was the side through the hallway - then he saw my telecare - just what he had been looking for so he didn't have to do the job! And plusnet don't want it either! The telecare device has it's own sim card, is not attached to the landline or the broadband, Reach & Beyond is the provider. I won't change to BT for double the cost, why should I? So I'm getting disconnected on January 11th. It's so frustrating, can anybody help? I resurrected an old post with the same problem hoping for an update - and noticed the problem solver had retired! I have enough problems without adding internet problems to the list!

[#2]

Moderator's note:       Duplicate posts removed. Double posting causes confusion and nugatory work. It is also against Forum rules

[#3]

Where is the duplicate post, I can't even find my other comment. No help here either?

[#4]

@Susie_1010 

No-one can help if you cancel the service. I can understand your frustration but this should be your last resort if you need an Internet service.

I have escalated this thread, hopefully a member of the Help Team will come along and assist/advise.

[#5]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Full Fibre to My Order

[#6]

Not sure whether my problem was the same as yours but Plusnet admitted that when they placed the order with OpenReach they had neglected to mention the existence of our telecare box even though it was not dependent on the PSTN line.  This delayed our installation whilst Plusnet first cancelled the order and then placed the order again including the information about the telecare box.  It was certainly very frustrating including the fact that I had to start paying the out of contract rate for FTTC because by this time I had passed the end of my contract.  Fortunately Plusnet readily accepted it was their error and refunded the excess charges.  Our new FTTP cable comes in the front of the property ond then through the loft to exactly where I needed it.  Like all companies Open Reach will have staff who are good, bad and downright what yours was.  Fortunately both of ours eventually got the job done despite all the problems put in the way.  You have to keep battering away at Plusnet because ultimately it is their problem.  Fortunately I am retired and did have some time to do that without problem.  Good luck!!

[#7]

Hi @Susie_1010,

I have sent you a private message to get some details from you to help us look into the issue you are having with your full fibre installation being impacted by your independent telecare service. 

Alex

[#8]

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@Alex_H wrote:

... help us look into the issue you are having with your full fibre installation being impacted by your independent telecare service. 

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@Alex_H 

... but it is NOT impacted by the FTTP install...

@Susie_1010 wrote:
.... then he saw my telecare - just what he had been looking for so he didn't have to do the job! And plusnet don't want it either! The telecare device has it's own sim card, is not attached to the landline or the broadband, Reach & Beyond is the provider.

This just reads as a BTOR engineer (or their sub contractors) looking for an excuse to not do the installation.  Not all telecare systems are dependent of POTS, many will use IP and this work just the same after the phone service is discontinued whilst other such as this have independent connectivity.  This does not need to be moved to BT Retail or EE.

@Susie_1010 

What is 'driving' the 11th Jan date?  Who is providing the existing service?  The existing service should continue until the FTTP service is live.

Is this "Reach and Beyond" or "Reach & Respond" (based in Scarborough)?  I could not find R&B.  R&R clearly state that their base units can be SIM based ... What is telecare and how does it work?  - Reach & Respond

[#9]

It's Reach & Respond! And Beyond housing
I'm out of contract and being charged £47 a month for a really [-Censored-] broadband and a landline I don't want and don't use anymore, I only get phone calls from scammers and my sister-in-law!
The Jan 11th date was because plusnet gave me no hope of getting full fibre, and when I mentioned being charged £47 - exclaimed "I noticed that....."
I am a pensioner, I was expecting full fibre for £23.99

[#10]

@Susie_1010 

So have you actually cancelled the service?

My suspicion is that the technician that turned up was not an Openreach employee, but one employed by one of the large subcontractors used by Openreach. Some of these are paid per job and it's not unknown for some to try to avoid jobs that take longer than average to complete.

My advice is to hold fire/stop the cancellation for a few weeks and see if this can be resolved. 

[#11]

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@Susie_1010 wrote:

The Jan 11th date was because plusnet gave me no hope of getting full fibre, and when I mentioned being charged £47 - exclaimed "I noticed that....."

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Something seems confused here...

If Plusnet gave you 'no hope of getting full fibre' who is doing the fibre install?  If Plusnet cannot offer FTTP, that means that there is no BT Openreach FTTP service available ... though there might be service from a third party alt-net.

If BT Openreach has full fibre infrastructure (and capacity at your location), then Plusnet most certainly can supply FTTP broadband service, but that will not be with a 'landline' (VoIP) voice service.  You have though indicated that you do not want such.  If Plusnet supply your current ADSL / FTTC service and you are upgrading to FTTP with Plusnet then your existing service should continue to operate until the FTTP is installed.

If the date that the engineer visited was a CONFIRMED installation date, then I would expect that the Ofcom Automatic Compensation Scheme should now be payable for the failed installation.  Such should more than cover the extra cost of paying the out of contract price for another month whilst this is resolved.  This issue needs a core staff touch to reschedule the installation with a BT engineer willing to go the extra half mile.  From what you have shared, the telecare service has no bearing here on the switch to FTTP (or indeed SoGEA if you just wanted to ditch the unwanted phone service).

@Marsh / @Windings / @Gandalf 

[#12]

I was on a 2 year contract with plusnet for their lowest grade of broadband at the time there was no fibre in my area - the area was upgraded to full fibre about 6 months ago - I was uprating my broadband to full fibre on a 2 year contract - or so I thought. I don't understand why plusnet are doing what they are doing - I'm fed up, nothing is ever straight forward these days
Plusnet said they're not doing it

[#13]

I had a quick look earlier, the product change was cancelled and the account scheduled for cancellation. 

@Susie_1010 if you want to stay with us and give the upgrade another go, I’d suggest calling 0800 013 2632 to stop the cancellation and re-submit the product change.

We can then arrange another engineer and try to escalate things if they don’t install the service again. 

[#14]

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@Townman wrote:

If Plusnet supply your current ADSL / FTTC service and you are upgrading to FTTP with Plusnet then your existing service should continue to operate until the FTTP is installed.

Point of order!

I agree over what "should continue" in these circumstances - it's what the customer would expect. However, as my own experience showed, it is not what can actually happen in practice. It seems to me the PN accounting system is not actually set up to handle a landline to FF transition (with it's potential for delays) smoothly.

PN now seems to have agreed with me over my billing during such a transition, but not without some arguing over the phone after first encountering the old "Computey says no!"