Responsibility for Master Socket on Halo 1 upgrade with a failed connection

[RodoRod]

Hi

A question for a priest friend who is concerned that he may be incorrectly charged.

He has just moved from talktalk to HALO1 with BT to get a better internet.

All went well with the connection initially after the router was connected (other than BT initially "forgot" to send a router - saying he already had one - despite moving from talktalk!)

After a couple of days the signal went down - he phoned BT and the line was checked - he was told it had seen 80 plus "disconnects" the day before and was most likely an external fault and an engineer is booked.

He has now had an e-mail saying that the fault is most likely internal and he will be charged for the visit.

Looking at his situation he has a very old master socket - and when upgrading to fibre BT just sent an adaptor rather than put in one of the new types of socket (which was put in automatically when I moved to fibre some years ago).

Questions:-

• Why does BT not now upgrade the Master Socket to the new type when someone upgrades to fibre (especially when moving from another standard line provider)?
• If the visit finds an issue with the Master Socket (which looks very old and worn) is it BT's responsibility to replace it, or will the priest be charged for this?
• As an extra comment HALO1 has an always on guarantee - why has he not been offered a mini-hub until the issue is sorted?

As the priest holds services and meetings via Zoom (due to the pandemic) from his vicarage this is most concerning for him to be resolved - he upgraded to BT to improve the connection and get a better speed - not to be left without internet and to get e-mails saying he may be charged (everything was working with talktalk - it was just slow...).

Any advice that can be given to enable me to give him some peace of mind would be appreciated.

Thank you

[iniltous]

Ignoring the obvious joke opportunity, a Priest with a Halo, the chances are it didn’t say he would be charged, just that there was a potential for charges if the problem turned out to be something he was responsible for, that could include the master socket in some circumstances, if for arguments sake it had been knocked off the wall with a vacuum cleaner, or the dog had a chew on it , or liquid had been spilled into it, but that type of thing aside, the master socket is part of the line rental and covered alongside fair wear and tear, damage isn’t wear and tear.
The master socket probably will have a lower removable section that covers a test port, using the test port eliminates any extension wiring, sockets etc, so if the service doesn’t work there, then irrespective of where the provider thinks the issue is , it must be on something the consumer isn’t liable for......except , if for arguments sake , there was a wire from a telegraph pole to the property and it was damaged by a thief on the roof stealing lead , then again OR equipment didn’t fail , it was damaged , and it’s possibly a charged for repair, usually you would check at the master socket and be aware if there was an issue within the property curtilage 

[imjolly]

as this is a new customer connection and you are having connection problems then you should get a free engineer visit to sort the connection  there is a mod post that confirms that but cant find but I am sure @Keith_Beddoe  will have it

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

Its here

https://community.bt.com/t5/Landline/Master-socket/m-p/1747188#M54967

[RodoRod]

Many thanks for the comments

The engineer fitted a new master socket (why one was not offered with the move from talktalk I would not know) and the internet is working... looks like no charge.....

The internet works fine - but sadly in the process the engineer somehow disconnected a second line that served the alarm - the  alarm company could not reset and then sent an engineer who spent one and half hours to no avail - so a simple change from a working talktalk line to the BT service is proving pretty stressful and I hope the HALO can stay intact.... 

Hopefully engineers will get together and resolve the issues caused by moving to BT - hopefully........

[RodoRod]

PS - I guess the answer about the responsibility for the Master Socket has been answered correctly