Should I complain to BT?

[Jamez]

I ordered broadband 7 weeks ago, and have not received any updates about the progress of my order at all. I've phoned Tiscali several times, and they tell me that BT Wholesale is dealing with my request for line provisioning.

They've dug up the road outside my house twice, and buggered off again.

I've phoned BT to ask why my broadband order is taking so long, and they tell me that BT Wholesale is dealing with it. I asked if I could be put through to BT-W, but they said it wasn't a public company, and I can't contact them.

So I've had to make do with dial-up all these weeks, and then on Tuesday my phoneline goes dead (with just a crackle) for most of the day.

I phone BT to report the fault, and they said that the fault was in my local exchange, and would be fixed tomorrow (wednesday).

Wednesday came, and the line was back, but with a loud electric buzz and intermitent crackles and pops and a muffled dialing tone.

I report the fault again, and BT tell me that it will be sorted by tomorrow (thursday).

Today, the the buzzing is still on the line making it impossible to connect to the internet at more than 14.4Kbps, compared to my usual 32.2Kbps. I phoned BT again today, and this time they said the fault must be in my house, and that it will cost £140 for a BT engineer to come and look at it on Monday. I declined this, because they originally told me that they HAD detected the fault at the exchange.

So, what with the broadband fiasco and now my phoneline being messed around with by BT, am I right to register a formal complaint to BT and to Ofcom?

I'm so fed up with this now, I'm prepared to do anything to sort this out promptly!

Opinions grateful!

[marksi]

If you are connecting the modem directly to the master socket in the house and you can hear interference on the line, and you have tried at least two telephones connected to this socket which both produce the same result, you can safely assume the fault is BTs.

[Neil Jones]

Today, the the buzzing is still on the line making it impossible to connect to the internet at more than 14.4Kbps, compared to my usual 32.2Kbps. I phoned BT again today, and this time they said the fault must be in my house, and that it will cost £140 for a BT engineer to come and look at it on Monday. I declined this, because they originally told me that they HAD detected the fault at the exchange.

If BT come out and the fault is determined to be with your wiring (that is, anything after the master socket which includes any extensions) then they have a right to charge you.

If on the other hand, somebody comes out and finds a fault with the wiring up to and probably including the master socket, then it's BT's responsibility and they shouldn't charge you anything; they didn't when similiar events happened on our line, the broadband wouldn't work and the fault was traced to a patch of cable between where it comes into the house and the master socket. As it came under BT's responsbility (being before the master socket), it cost us nothing.

I'm so fed up with this now, I'm prepared to do anything to sort this out promptly!

If you are absolutely 100% confident that the fault is not in your own wiring/extensions (you can test this by plugging into the master socket and trying to dial-up from there) then call BT and ask for a call out.

Note that you can disconnect the extensions you have by just unscrewing the bottom plate of the master socket and you'll find an extra connector under it to test with. Plug into there, dial-up from there and that's as far out "into" the BT Network you can go. If you still hear the noise even with the extensions disconnected and the bottom plate of the master socket removed, then you can call BT in the knowledge its not a home wiring issue.

[shaun]

Tiscali

It's probably not BTw at all as to why your dialup ADSL hasn't been activated, it's probably been passed around in tiscali for a bit before being sent as Tiscali like doing that. Even when you do get this fixed speeds are likely to be a trickle as they can't run a network (or ask for their datastream vps to be enlarged).

That may explain why your line is dead, possibly - a bad connection during ADSL provisioning may have taken out your line and that's BT's problem. You can't speak to BT wholesale - you are not their customer, Tiscali are.

If you had a decent ISP, say Zen or Nildram, they'd be onto it for you. (Zen did for me back when I had ADSL provisioning troubles, but that was because the exchange had just been enabled - they rang BTw for me and kept me on hold while they did it!)

(ex tiscali friaco customer, i grew to enjoy the sounds of the engaged tone after time)

[Jamez]

Can cancel my Tiscali order?

I think I'm within my rights, dont you think?

[shaun]

Given that the service hasn't been activated yet, you may be lucky (but you're outside any 14 day period, but that depends on the terms and conditions as to whether it applies after activation).

If tiscali are un co-operative, changing the name on the BT line account always clears any markers from the line. If all else fails, try ofcom (or the one for isps - i can't remember).

[Sput]

Take the opportunity! Escape from Tiscrappy before it's too late!

[Jamez]

News Update!

Just received an automated email from Tiscali telling me that my phoneline has now been enabled for broadband, and that my special tiscali modem pack (which is going to be a Sagem modem) will be arriving through Royal Mail within the next couple of days.

I doubt it will arrive tomorrow, and theres no post on Sunday, so it will probably arrive on Monday or Tuesday. I don't want to wait another 3 days - I've already waited 7 weeks.

However, I already have two DSL modems here with me.

1. Is a Creative Broadband Blaster which allows simple Ethernet connectivity

and the other is a BT Voyager 105 modem (USB).

Obviously Ethernet is superior to USB, so I've hooked it up to my PC via the Ethernet port at the back, plugged in the phone cable into the back of the modem and I've plugged it into the microfilter (which luckily happens to be in the hallway outside my door!).

On the Creative modem, there are 3 lights. Ethernet (ON) DSL (FLASHING) and Power (ON).

And now in my Network Connections folder the 'Local Area Connection' icon is lit up and the icon has appeared in my taskbar. However, I cannot connect to the net because i dont know how I enter my user details to connect to Tiscali.

When I connected to PlusNet I vaguely remember typing something into my browser, which then prompted me for my username and password, but I cannot remember what it is I typed!!!!

Any help?

[shaun]

If DSL is flashing, it means you do not have sync with the exchange, at least it did with the modems I use.

It could mean synced but not logged in. Because you are using an ethernet modem, you will have to go to a webpage and type in your details - download the manual for your modem and find out.

I don't know why you cant' wait for tiscali - it'll be slow and unreliable. Dialup is faster.

[Jamez]

My plan is to move back over to PlusNet once this is all sorted out.

They have a far far far superior customer support service than any other ISP I've been with.

I just need some form of always-on internet at the moment, which provides a half decent speed.

I'm on dial-up right now, and my connection speed is 14.4Kbps, which is so slow I can't even log into MSN messenger!!!!

[Jamez]

Right, I've just given the Voyager 105 modem a shot.

I've done everything it said, and ive brought up the dial-up terminal window, dialled 0,38 as it asked and it says "No dial tone".

For gods sake.