New contract

[iniltous]

FWIW , although an existing order on the common ordering portal may stop another order being raised until the existing order is completed or cancelled ( the idea behind this is to stop the obvious issues that would occur if someone were stupid enough to ask company A to provide service then immediately ask company B to also provide service at the same address , this ‘conflict’ of two competing orders both for the same thing can’t happen , but isn’t limited to full provision, seemingly any order  regardless of how minor the change , has to be completed or cancelled before another order can be placed on the portal that every provider that consumes Openreach products uses to access them , but even with an open order for migration to DV , this shouldn’t stop the ISP offering/discussing  whatever deal they want ( this doesn’t need the common ordering portal) , but with the proviso that the order  couldn’t be placed immediately.

I’d suspect there is more to this , especially as the poster states they didn’t get the automatic notification of contract expiration and the renewal offers that are part of that notification.

[JohnRH]

@ iniltous

Things move on.

As I said previously DV is coming 23rd July. All fine.

However my landline went dead on 11th July. Reported it as a fault and was told it would be sorted as a fault.

Turns out some "error" within BT or Openreach and they disconnected my old copper landline before DV was ready.

I am without a phone and despite pleas to BT they tell me nothing can be done (computer says no) and I just have to wait until 23rd for DV.

Wonderful.

Just when you think the service can't get any worse it just goes to show it can.

[iniltous]

Assuming this is the way things panned out for you , inexplicably your PSTN switch off and DV initialisation having different dates , it just indicates an isolated instance and you being very unlucky ( BTW , I doubt this is the case, as there are two orders on dependent on the other , don’t get DV , the cease PSTN is held pending closure of the DV order , but whatever ) is your BT  router already compatible with DV  ( basically does  it have a phone port ) , if yes , then the obvious thing to do is bring forward the DV date ……, similarly if it is  compatible , have you tried your phone connected to the router, after-all no point whatsoever leaving the phone in the wall socket .

[JohnRH]

@ iniltous

Strange enough the moment my friend told me that he couldn't get through to me on 11th July and the fact that my broadband was working an early switch to DV was what I thought had happened so I did plug a phone into the green socket but alas it was dead.

A phone call to BT on Saturday 11th they did a line check but registered it as a fault, not that it was turned off. To me this is odd.

But yesterday when I chased BT about a reconnection they confirmed that the PSTN was turned off on 11th. 

Yes I did ask BT to bring forward my DV connection and was told that it couldn't be done and that the 23rd July was in effect set in concrete. 

So 12 days without a line.

I work in building services and building management systems. I cannot believe that this cannot be solved remotely much in the same way we do where control systems have a internet connection. We can check parameters, sensor readings and turn systems on and off without going to site. I cannot believe that someone has to come to my local village and flick a switch or move a wire. 

But it is what it is. 

Thank you.

[JohnRH]

@ iniltous

Well my DV is working.

Strange really, an email dated today 23rd July and timed at 00:25 dropped into my inbox telling me it was up and running.

So either Openreach are working 24 hrs a day or as I suspected all along this is a change programmed into a control system which begs the question, why was it that when my PSTN line was disconnected on the 11th July nobody could be arsed to switch me to DV earlier.....computer says no!

However given this issue and that of an elderly friend who lost her broadband and DV for a couple of weeks and the total farce that surrounded getting that reconnected after nearly 20 years as a BT customer I question whether I wish to continue. 

Thanks to a good friend my alarm system no longer needs a phone line and now has a GSM dialler.

I have opened another email account elsewhere and just need to get my friends and customers to update their systems for the new email address from my BT email address.

I have survived fine using a mobile phone.

My neighbour uses Starlink.

What do I need BT for?

They clearly couldn't give a toss about me.

[iniltous]

No one is held hostage, if you want to leave , there is nothing stopping you …..

As far as control systems, your PSTN telephony cease order is basically held in a pending state , dependent on the DV order being successfully closed , so there is a failsafe, if DV isn’t provided then the PSTN cease should never go ‘live’ , it almost certainly the case there was something else causing your PSTN service to end early,

as a counter to your experience (and your experience although unfortunate is not  the norm) , when I was advised of the date of my migration to DV (the PSTN remaining in service until that date ) as the phone service is somewhat secondary I wasn’t particularly motivated to do this simple switch and I didn’t actually move my phone to the router on the date advised, in fact a day or two later with the phone still working in the wall socket  , I received an email from BT effectively saying ‘we noticed you haven’t connected a phone yet to the router, can you do it soon  ) the PSTN service was still working ….I moved the phone to the router , and within an hour the DV service was working and the PSTN wasn’t, indicating this failsafe actually working , the PSTN cease held in abeyance even though a couple of days past the official date , until I actually physically connected a phone to the router .

[JohnRH]

@iniltous 

I fully accept that nobody is held hostage.

Saying that I would have been had I been in contract. In that event I would have lost my line but despite a poor service I could not have left my contract without a penalty charge.

Yes things go wrong I fully accept that, but what always stands out is how some companies deal with an error or a fault while others do not or as per my experience couldn't give a jot.

Yes I fully accept that this error was perhaps unusual but it happened and caused me lots of problems and all it seems it needed was for someone to look at it and instead of making me wait 12 days to instead altered a switch on date for my DV. As I keep saying it was not a case of OR coming to site, merely altering something at a keyboard.

I am self employed, I deal with building services and building management systems. I understand in principle how these things work, I also get continued work from my customers not because I have tied them into a contract but because they consider me to be reliable and dependable.

Thank you for your comments.