This topic

BT Faults

apav — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 19:55:25 GMT

When I bought the contract, they sent me the ID details to use the hotspot access until they installed the fibre. This worked for a few days and then it stopped working. It blocked access to anything google. You could not login to gmail, check the maps, do a google search, etc. I registered here and I received automated replies to reset the router which I did not have or that it should work.

When they installed they fibre, there were all sorts of problems. I was taken by surprise by what is needed to install this fibre. I am afraid that the fibre cable is very fragile as it has been set up. They had to drill the wall, which is not just the wall, but has additional layers of insulation. The drill did not come through on the first attempt. Finally there was a hole, the cable came through and some silicone partially covered the outside hole.

But it stopped working when it was installed. I had to catch the installer before he ran away. He was surprised, cut a piece of the cable, then another piece, then another and it kept going like that making a mess. The small white box on the wall is very fragile and bodged together with the fragile cable make a combination that you do not know whether it is fine. The hole on the wall is massive and the cable tiny. The hole inside is not covered up. I have no idea whether water runs in from the outside. It is darker below the installation.

I went through so much stress that day. It worked at the end and I started getting used to it. It was not reliable but I gave up because they said it would not be realiable for the first weeks. After four weeks I made a fault and they replied that they needed to call me. However, as I do not have a reliable connection, the phone does not work. The automated faults on the website are not meant to provide them communication and evidence. So I cannot provide any description or make any further request.

The online system says that there is a problem and because of that I will also have problems with the phone. So as long as this goes, I will not have any communication with BT because they do everything on the phone. All that concerns me because I have the installation done but it feels very cheap quality. That white box on the wall and the cable are not right. I am concerned that the problems will not go away and I will become liable for this installation.

Do you have any ideas how to approach BT and ask them a line line to be made? I feel that I paid for this installation but it was not done properly. It looks like it is ready to collapse, like it has limited life span. So even if it manages to survive the contract period, I will still be liable for it after that. I am not sure whether I am framed in a situation like when you buy a new item and once the warranty expires, you are left with nothing.

Re: BT Faults

pippincp — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:09:26 GMT

Give the FTTP team a ring. 0800 587 4787

Re: BT Faults

apav — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:15:51 GMT

Hello piping, I cannot either to receive or make calls. So this is not an option. I think it is something serious but when I did the diagnostics, the system said that everything was fine. They give you the option to overide the system and reply that it is not fine. Only then on the second diagnosis they found out that there is a problem.

Everything now runs through the fibre, both the broadband and the phone. The only test from BT is the speed connection and they initially found it fine but then they discovered some problem which they have not specified. It is fibre to the premises, and it runs from 1mbps, 10mbps, 30-40-60 and it keeps doing that without being able to establish a connection.

Re: BT Faults

pippincp — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:17:11 GMT

Do you not have a mobile phone?

Re: BT Faults

apav — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 20:57:48 GMT

No. I was between the BT mobile contract and the BT broadband contract. Both of them 24 months and the price difference was about 50% more for the broadband.

Both would give BT wifi access but when I tried the BT wifi access it did not work as normal internet connection. So I was lucky that I chose the broadband contract.

If I could get hold of somebody to answer my questions when I was buying, it would had been better. But I chose to pay the extra money to buy security of private connection and not to rely on hotspot.

But now I am not really happy with the installation and the service is poor as well. No ADSL connection was existing to go beyond 1mbps and so fibre was the only real option.

But I was expecting higher standards and now I feel a bit cheated. The installation does not take place until after the cool off period is gone and so you cannot go back and reject the contract.

Now it will be in the fun business of trying to persuade them that what I got does not meet the original product. They have accepted this silently as the connection does not match the minimum guaranteed speed which is half of the package advertised speed.

So if they cannot match even half the speed, I think there is some kind of problem. But I am concerned that the problem is not in my installation despite the fact that looks bodged together. So somehow they may manage to fix it remotely, who knows how many weeks later as we are already 2 weeks tracing the fault, and then the rest of the bodged installation will remain with me.

Re: BT Faults

pippincp — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 21:19:04 GMT

Coule of things you can try.

Turn off the ONT for 5mins. The factory reset the hub using the pinhole button on th back, hold in until lights flash. Once it reboots turn off smart setup. https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/what-is-smart-setup-on-the-bt-hub--how-can-i-turn-it-on-and-off-

Re: BT Faults

Starwire — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 08:17:20 GMT

Sounds like a sloppy install, unfortunately they are becoming more and more common.

What the Engineer should’ve done is drilled a 10mm hole then widened it internally to 12mm to fit an Internal Lead In Kit, as pictured below.

That way the plug covers the drill hole and offers some protection to the Fibre Cable.

Re: BT Faults

apav — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:08:34 GMT

Hello people,

It is not the reset and I do not want to hack it. It failed minutes after it was set up. I run the diagnostics and suggested to turn it on and off. The engineer came back from the van and staight away told me that it is not a reset.

He went ahead and started installing these green bits one after the other. After five efforts or so, it worked. But I am not sure whether that was the problem.

The hole is huge. When he removed the protective layer and the fibre is left exposed, it is on the air. From there it goes to the green bit and straight to the white box which is not that stable.

After ending up cutting the cable again and again, there is not a lot of cable left. I do not like the huge hole on the wall but I do not want and I do not have anything to fill it up. I do not like the fragile fibre hanging there. I do not like the fragile white box.

All that is installed next to the radiator. That installation position was the big stress of the day as I was taken by surprise that I would need to make this decision and I do not like it where it is.

For me, the whole installation is fragile both internally and externally. There is no way a fibre installation can survive kids and pets. Outside it is the same.

I have to pay the bills in advance. When I asked them to reduce the delivery as that was the latest offer, they could not do it. They explained how it works but it was like they could defend everything.

In the contract it says that if the problem is at my part of the property, I have to pay for it. But now as it stands, the whole fibre to the premises is not part of my home. Well it is when it comes in but that was not there and it is so super fragile that it can collapse and then who knows how much I will pay to fix it.

I am not sure whether they will come back to check it internally. I have the old copper sockets and they are bomd proof. He cut the old copper cable and now I ended up with this super fragile fibre and no phone.

That role of fibre from the photo is cut and thrown away. The plastic cover for the fibre does not exist. It straight from the wall, white fibre, green bit and wall box that it is not stable.

Re: BT Faults

Starwire — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:25:08 GMT

Ah, what you are describing is a method called, FFC, Field Fit Connector.

Openreach started using it a few years ago as it got rid of the need to splice, which meant they saved money not having to give every Engineer a £6k Sumitomo Fusion Splicer.

Unfortunately FFC’s have a high failure rate of 25%. Hence why Openreach have started to go back to using Splicers, although they are now providing Service Delivery Engineers with these cheap Swift ones that would be better used as a door stop.

Most Engineers have now been trained up in splicing but there’s a few still around who haven’t and are still fitting FFC’s. Unlucky for you, you got one.

Re: BT Faults

pippincp — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:57:47 GMT

@apav You can make a complaint to Openreach about the install HERE,

You can also ring the FTTP team about your connection. 0800 587 4787

Re: BT Faults

apav — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:53:38 GMT

Hello people,

I am already doing multiple ADRs with so many other traders. I hope we will manage to get somewhere without an ADR because they are a bit cold and impersonal. You usually end up with some clapping. I need a more robust installation and a more reliable service.

So I have to chase both sides of BT, the openreach and the broadband sellers.

https://www.ppc-online.com/blog/vector-the-end-to-field-fit-connector-issues

He used the expensive looking machine but still I am concerned for a tiny fragile optic cable coming through the wall and being exposed into a fragile box on the wall. It is on a corner next to the radiator but it looks so fragile that you do not want to even go close to clean there.

If they provide guarantees that they will forever service that connection for free, then I will live with it. I just have this feeling that installing such fragile equipment in such exposed fashion, is not going to end well.

They brought down a cable from the pole to the building. Then attached the naked cable to the water drain pipe with zip cables and then nailed it along to the drilled hole.

In my mind, they could have used some piping to enclose the cable and protect it. Then when it enters the property, for sure they should not have left the fibre exposed to the white box. Even the white box, does not screw securely on the wall.

So all that combination of exposed fibre and white box are sensitive. They could have invented some plastic enclosure to close all this but now they installed in a way that leaves it properly unprotected.

I want to clean up and I cannot. You cannot anay close over there because that combination cannot be touched.

I received the second bill today and still no progress with the service. I have internet on and off and no digital phone. I am not sure why I should pay the bills like I get all the service I paid for.

If they do not try to reach me by the next weekend, I will try to find out how I can raise a complaint through the BT account for both the installation and the service. That is the last thing I need right now but I need to find a way to communicate with them and because I raised a fault, the system does not allow me to add any more notes.

Re: BT Faults

licquorice — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:18:07 GMT

Neither the fibre cable or the ONT are 'fragile'. The fibre itself is the diameter of a human hair, and is protected by several layers of various materials within the cable including kevlar.

Re: BT Faults

Starwire — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 12:56:45 GMT

As said the fibre cable has multiple layers of protection.

Once the outer sheathing (black part) is stripped off you have a 5mm Micron Core Layer. Then under that is a layer of Kevlar Yarn, the stuff they make Bullet Proof vests with. Under that is then a 2mm layer of Micro Core. Then you have the Fibre.

I’m not entirely sure what other layer of protection you think it should have?

Re: BT Faults

apav — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 19:44:39 GMT

No way people. This is not in theory but in practice.

The black part is gone, there is only the white part and at the end there is the green connector. He had to cut this several times until it worked.

The way he handled the hair, shows that it is sensitive. The white part with the green connector can move.

The white box on the wall is screwed in but it moves.

Combine the movement of the whole set and it will cut off.

Compare this with the old copper BT socket. The copper cable comes in the home with the whole protection attached. Then there is a bomb proof socket scewed on the wall.

You walk around that copper setup, and you are not afraid of touching it and then falling down. For example, the guy came in with the tools, hit the door, hit the walls on the way.

Now put this guy around this fibre set and he will prove that the robust theories stand no chance of surviving.

I have left at a corner. The white cable almost touches the floor. If you try to clean up, you must avoid the cable. You must avoid going close to that wall because the white box will come off.

As long as you do not go close to that set up, it will not fall down. But if you want to fully use your home freely, this is not a proper setup. Both the white box can fall off and the exposed white cable is not right.

Check the photo above how another way to set this up would be without having an exposed cable. It would had cost pennies more to add even this small protection.

For me they have to come up with a box inside where everything will reside. Inside there would be the white box, plus the green connector and all that is closed in a box.

Anyway, the fragile set does not seem the problem but still my connection is poor and I have no phone. So something must be done. For a two year contract, I was expecting a better product.