This topic

My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:03:18 GMT

I live in Chester, Cheshire. My land line went dead on 28th March. I raised the issue with BT and was assured it would be back by 4th April. People on a local social network were also raising problems, and especially the fact that you COULD solve the problem yourself by plugging phone into your router. I couldn't do that. I have a very old HOME HUB 3 with no phone slot. I raised the issue with BT again, as by now it seems clear the exchange has gone to VoIP. I was told this wasn't the case. Then came a "hard sell" for the new system, as I'm no longer in contract with BT! Yesterday I raised the issue again. This time I was really talked down to online by a "manager" who denied that BT have probably shut down my service - and again came a hard sell to enter into a 24 month contract. I said NO. Today my own investigations show that the exchange I'm linked to has a Y against WLR. That means there is only digital (VoIP) coming from there now. Not only have I been lied to, but also treated with contempt. There IS a solution, which is that BT should send me either an adapter, or a Smart Hub 2. I don't classify myself as "vulnerable" but I am 72 and their records should show that. At no point did I get asked if I used any of the alarm systems some of my age group use. Negligent.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

DavidM — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:11:58 GMT

Hi @Liz15 and welcome to our community.

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with us recently. I'd like the chance to look into this and put things right for you. Please check your inbox for my message and drop me over the details.

Cheers

David

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:19:49 GMT

Just out of curiosity, if you log onto MyBT > Your Products, is there a section there for Digital Voice?

But please reply to @DavidM's message as that's your best chance of a prompt resolution.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:29:17 GMT

Thanks. Will look under products. Will respond to David 1st.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:46:57 GMT

Just to check. Responding directly from my email address to BT Community message aok?

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:55:38 GMT

You should have a message showing under the envelope icon at the top right of this page.

Reply using that.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Jane2018 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 08:34:39 GMT

Thanks for that tip. I ijust tried it for my different area where we have had no landline since 15 March and in my case it is NOT showing digital voice. Service status also says as of today

Landline - Current Service Issue

We're sorry about the problem - we're working on fixing it.

Reported:

Fri 15/03/2024 at 11:42

Estimated fix time:

Fri 12/04/2024 at 17:26

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 08:56:25 GMT

@Jane2018 Also not showing Digital Voice. Current Status shows Time for the issue being resolved keeps getting further away!

Estimated fix time:

Fri 12/04/2024 at 16:00

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:05:41 GMT

@Liz15

That would suggest to me that the social media posts were possibly well intentioned but misinformed about a move to DV. Although never say never, it would be highly unlikely for a mass migration to take place with no comms or supply of the necessary hardware.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

iniltous — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:23:54 GMT

All areas have DV for new BT customers that require a phone service , so in that sense every ‘area ’ has DV ( it’s not delivered from the exchange) , and customers recontracting may be able to individually move from PSTN to DV ( that’s what I did when I changed my broadband contract ) but it’s not to be confused with a BT instigated migration where BT contact the customer and state that the migration to DV is imminent, a prerequisite for DV is a SH2 , so if someone is told by BT that they are to be migration to DV and they don’t have a SH2 they are sent one .

If someone had a SH2 , but were not on DV , and the PSTN phone service developed a fault , it’s nonsense to suggest that by simply plugging the phone into the SH2 the migration to DV will miraculously take place , it may be possible to call BT and ask for a migration to get around the PSTN failure , but that will probably require a new minimum term so may not be a good solution for some , for those it’s a case of waiting for whatever the problem is to be fixed.

If broadband is working and the PSTN phone isn’t , and it’s a problem affecting many customers, it suggests an E side cable problem , that’s the major cables from the exchange to the cabinet , the FTTC broadband service would be unaffected by this

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:18:28 GMT

@Anonymous I tend to agree with you on social media comments. Re the switch over to digital, I'd watched You Tube/BT film, and also some "Which" information on same to be prepared. What I had not realised (and maybe never picked up on because I don't recall this being mentioned) was I have an extremely old BT Hub that doesn't have a phone socket for my land line for when the digital swap happens.

Anyway, via access to BT inf I've found - hopefully - the area and cabinet number for my land line. If this is correct, then it does look as if that cabinet is only VoIP now. If that's the case then it looks as if the only solution for me is to have an adaptor or a new Hub to re-activate my land line. But I'm not an engineer, just a cut off for the moment "land liner."

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:18:44 GMT

There has ben a general stop sell on analogue/copper phone lines since I think September. But that only applies to new/recontracted connections.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:29:46 GMT

@iniltous That is really interesting about whether a SH2 can help the situation or not. I think my confusion regarding this, was unfortunately reinforced by a BT customer message interaction. That seemed to imply that a new contract with a SH2 would resolve my lack of land line issue. I could of course be wrong! Anyway, the date for resolution is slipping backwards for my land line anyway.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

flaxzune — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:44:51 GMT

Thanks. Will look under products.

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

iniltous — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 10:50:32 GMT

TBH , migrating to DV , if you are happy that it will be a recontracting event , so new minimum term , possible change to calling plan , for example 700 mins isn’t available so if you have that , you would change to PAYG or Unlimited, then getting DV and a new SH2 router as part of a new deal should get around your PSTN phone problem , as stated DV is mandatory for new BT phone customers but not existing ones , the alternative is to wait for whatever problem that is affecting your PSTN phone to be fixed .

If there is a major cable fault ( for example ) and it requires road closures etc. to affect the repair then those type of issues can be time consuming, notice for the council etc , and if it’s a main road that’s not a simple request, so by recontracting your broadband and including a migration to DV , it would get around that issue …but it’s your choice , eventually the BT instigated change would happen , but that doesn’t change any existing contract , but obviously that means you wait until the PSTN issue is resolved, the BT instigated change to DV could be upto 20 months away

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 11:06:23 GMT

@iniltous Thanks. Some advice which I'll consider. Wouldn't it be really good to have local engineers etc who can let consumers know what the local issue is & probable real time scales involved for resolution? Ah. Memories!

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Jane2018 — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 08:21:46 GMT

I might be wrong but it seems to me the digital voice roll out may be having some kind of impact on landlines. I have not been moved to DV yet but since 15 March in this bit of outer London my landline has been down and each week the date to fix on "service status" is pushed back another week - now supposedly 12 April but I will believe when I see it. May be BT are doing a lot of work to ensure all mobile and landline numbers of all kinds can still call landlines once moved to DV and this is calling thes local landlines down for days (or weeks, nearly a month in my case).

Re: My BT landline down for days.. Chester. Unable to get a reason from BT.

Liz15 — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 10:40:20 GMT

@Jane2018 You could be right about digital voice. However there is definitely major work being done by Openreach in my area judging by the number of vans and temporary traffic controls I went past yesterday. Could be a fault not linked to digital voice roll out. Such a pity that the customer services "arm" of BT have no local knowledge of what is going on. That wasn't the case in the past.