2 MONTHS and counting to fix an Openreach connection issue.

[AndrewSP]

New build house, openreach connection installed as part of the build across the estate but when attempting to get Full Fibre connected an issue was detected... on the 20th of FEBRUARY.

First up let me say the BT staff have been friendly and helpful throughout but they are the only way with which I can in anyway communicate with openreach.

Openreach have known about the issue here for 2 months, and whilst I have been given update or resolution dates they only ever seem to result in a new date a week down the line. I have been chasing BT, who then chase Openreach for over a month and in an astonishing display of mismanagement the wrong or uncertified engineer was sent out to resolve the problem week after week.

Eventually last week I get a call saying the external network issue has been resolved but there is still some work needed on the line tomy property (why not knock on the door and do it there and then?)

That bring us to today, engineer due between 1300 and 1800. Nothing. Call BT who continue the merry dance of chasing Openreach, apparently an engineer did come today, didn't knock on my door though, didn't resolve anything was possibly even looking at the issue resolved last week.

So now, once again I am waiting for an appointment time I can squeeze during my working week and site visits on the faint hope that the engineers might deign to grace me with a knock on the door to fix the issue.

What sort of system, or lack of a system do they have in place to track and monitor issues? Surely in this age they have a GIS database  or something similar with technical notes tagged to georeferenced locations? How can the wrong issue, affecting so many houses, take so long to properly resolve?

Has anyone else encountered this seemingly unfathomable levels of incompetence from Openreach, is there anything else I can do except continually pestering BT (who have been excellent) and hoping they can light a fire openreach? Maybe its a good thing I can't speak directly to Openreach as I might not be able to hold back the tirade of vitriol that has been slowly stewing over the last month but maybe it might be useful to actually getting a vaguely competent and time efficient service out of them. Who knows how much of their money and time has been wasted on resource mismanagement, not to mention my own.

Cathartic rant over, but seriously, any ideas how I might resolve this faster?

[iniltous]

The way Openreach and CP’s ( communication providers ) like BT have to interact is down to Ofcom and other CP’s , who claimed that OR favoured BT , and would discourage consumers from using alternative CP’s OR could speak directly to consumers, because of this Ofcom dictates the end user ( you ) has to deal via your CP who contact OR , and any info going the other way , goes OR, CP then to you.

Has the ONT been installed in your home ?, if it has, is the green PON light steady , or flashing , or is the red LOS light lit ? , this info will give an indication of what’s needed ( if LOS lit, then no ‘signal’ is at the ONT, steady PON, the ONT is authenticated at the OLT (therefore shouldn’t need much to get service working ),if PON flashing , ONT isn’t authenticated but is receiving ‘light’ from the OLT …obviously if the ONT isn’t even fitted , until it is , then you won’t get service.

FWIW, there are occasions where the developer ( who is paid by OR to install the internal optical cable from the ONT location to the external wall ) damage the cable …if this is the case , and they can’t or won’t install a replacement ( which likely means knocking holes in walls /ceilings ) then the ONT would need relocation, close to the external wall where the CSP is fitted 

[AndrewSP]

I'm afraid you lost me with some of the acronyms there.

The ONT is already fitted (lights were green in November when the house was viewed) when we completed at the end of February the green lights were replaced by a red one on LOS and despite all the times they've been out to "fix" the issue that has never changed.

[iniltous]

The red LOS ( loss of signal ) basically means that there is no light being received, so no optical signal , this could be either a fault , or the service has never worked, if you had previous seen the green PON light lit , then that suggests a fault has developed , rather than the infrastructure has never been in place.

Do your neighbours have working service ( it doesn’t necessarily have to be with BT, but any CP that uses Openreach, your immediate neighbours are likely to be wired to the same place , so if they are working and you are not, perhaps either their are too many property’s for the size of the CBT provided ( for example a 4 port CBT but 5 houses wired back to it ) or perhaps the CBT is the correct size but the port you are connected to is faulty and there isn’t a spare one to move your connection to.

[AndrewSP]

Neighbour's on this side of the street have/had the same issue. The other side of the road does not. The line between cable boxes was identified as the problem and supposedly fixed.

My issue is not with indentifying the problem, there's clearly a knackered connection somewhere. Its the fact that I have had to repeatedly take time out of my day to indirectly chase Openreach or wait for an engineer to fix the problem or and so far they have invariably failed to do so. It is incredibly frustrating for me and an incomprehensible display of incompetence from Openreach to have had so much time to fix this and failed consistently to do so.

[GDog2]

When I had an issue with cutting through the communication nonsense I contacted the National Director for Infrastructure at OpenReach. Sorted it out in a jiffy.

They bounced it to 

Sharon Gibson

Senior Technical Fibre HLE Manager|Chief Engineers Office
Openreach

Who got on to it.