No service for 13 days and counting...

[Keith_Beddoe]

The fact that your speed has dropped to less than half, would indicate a disconnection in one wire only, somewhere between the cabinet and your master socket (assuming that is where you are plugged into).

BT Retail do not provide or maintain the external network. This is done by Openreach (A BT Group Business) who work for all Service Providers apart from Virgin Media. BT Retail do not get any special treatment.

They are very busy at the moment, so the appointment you have been given, would have been the earliest available.

[Bollard]

@Keith_Beddoe I apologise if I was not clear, but i have no internet connection whatseover. The speed has always been poor, but last Tuesday the connection lost completely. I will update my OP to clarify.

[hombre]

Hello

I sent the email complaint via the BT Site after logging on (had to do it for obvious reasons from work).

Just followed the 'make a complaint' link on BT.

Eventually you get to this

https://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/5642,5676

Posted my complaint and it states they will reply within 7 days.

I didn't get an email reply but did get two calls (followed up by texts)

I think (and I could be wrong here) that it's pot luck who you get calling you and from what part of the world they're calling from.

Of the 2 calls I got (frustratingly missed both) on my mobile 1 seemed to be from India and the other Northern Ireland.

As I said before your problem might be something totally different but maybe the email will get you speaking to someone who can check this out for you.

Cheers.

[pippincp]

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@Bollard wrote:

Thanks for the responses.

@Keith_Beddoe, if a landline was so essential then why was one not supplied with the hub? Like many people, I use my mobile for calls and so don't have a corded telephone. While I can see it may be helpful to diagnose the cause, that should be something BT do on my behalf - I should not need my own engineer's toolkit.

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When you purchase broadband from an ISP the only legal requirement for them is to supply the connection. This can be done with nothing more than a modem. Marketing, however has to compete with other ISP's who all have their own form of Hub.

It is entirely up to you if you have a corded phone or not but for the cost of £5 it could save you a charge of £129 if the problem is the wiring in your home. That's your call.

BTW you don't state which exchange.

[Bollard]

@pippincp Thank you for response. Exchange is Vauxhall, as per below. Regards telephone, I would surely hope BT can run the same diagnostic line tests that I could from any telepehone on my end.

[licquorice]

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@Bollard wrote:

@pippincp  Regards telephone, I would surely hope BT can run the same diagnostic line tests that I could from any telepehone on my end.

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Err, no. Only you can tell if your problem exists within or outwith your internal wiring by disconnecting it at the master socket.

[pippincp]

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@Bollard wrote:

@pippincp Thank you for response. Exchange is Vauxhall, as per below. Regards telephone, I would surely hope BT can run the same diagnostic line tests that I could from any telepehone on my end.

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Unfortunately it doesn't work like that for obvious reasons. Assuming you have a split Master socket with a removeable bottom half then by removing it and connecting to the test socket behind the you rule out any internal wiring.

There's no Openreach issues listed for either your exchange or cabinet. It could be a BTWholesale problem or a line problem, unfortunately without a phone you will never know.

[pippincp]

@licquoriceAre you a scot perchance?

[licquorice]

No, outwith just seems the appropriate word.

[gg30340]

BT tests only test up to the master socket. After that, the wiring to any extensions can not be tested by BT except by an engineer visit and if the wiring after the master socket is found to be faulty the engineer visit would be charged to you.

The reason for this is that anything wired after the master socket is your responsibility. It can easily be eliminated from being the cause of any problems by carrying out a few simple tests such as connecting a telephone to the master socket and listening for any noise.

If there is any noise you then remove the face plate from the master socket and connect to the test socket. You then check your extension sockets have no dial tone. If there is a dial tone at the extensions you have what is called as star wiring and this can cause all sorts of problems. That need to be fixed and will probably be charged to you.

There should be no noise when connected to the test socket. If there is it is a BT problem and there should be no charge to fix it.

Its up to you but for the sake of a few £s to buy a phone it could save you a lot of money.