question about signing up and reporting faults

[cerberus123456]

Hi,

First I dont know if I have posted this in the correct place.

I am with Utility Warehouse for my landline phone and broadband.

My landline phone is completely dead, and my broadband keeps cutting out and is slow.

utility warehouse have said they said they have fixed it, but the phone is still completely dead, and it seems they have reduced my broadband speed from about 30 to 35Mbs to between 9 to 14Mbs download speed, it does cut out a lot less now (but I still have issues with it cutting out, and too slow a speed).

And they have no way of reporting a fault if your phone is not working and you don't have a mobile phone to call them, so I am stuck (previously I had to contact my sister on facebook and get her to call them and report the fault).

And because now they have said they have fixed it they are no longer responding to emails explaining it has not been fixed.

So I want to change over to you for my phone and broadband, but I have run into issues already.

I tried to sign up to the bt website, but it wanted to send me a code to my phone, so I cannot sign up to the bt website to ask questions.

so if I change over to bt and I have to log in to your website to report a fault with my phone being dead I cannot do it.

And the bt "Message now" button does not work on this page (tried using brave and firefox browsers)
https://www.bt.com/help/contact-bt/technical-support/landline
(also tried the link on the broadband info page)

So am I going to run into the same problems with bt ? (not being able to report a fault if my landline does not work and I don't own a mobile phone), I have even tried to send a message on facebook, all I got was a message to phone bt even after I explained I cannot do that.

Thank you,

Steve

[Kimberlin]

@cerberus123456  Not sure why no one has actually answered any of your questions, but I'll give it a go.

From my understanding, Utility Warehouse partners with TalkTalk for the provision of broadband and telephone. Whether this means you could attempt to contact TalkTalk and explain the situation to them, I'm unsure. They might just say that you're not one of their customers and bat the ball straight back to Utility Warehouse, so back to square one. TalkTalk customer telephone number is: 0345 172 0088.

The link https://www.bt.com/help/contact-bt/technical-support/landline  does work on my own browser including the message now option. I use Brave Browser, so not sure why it isn't working on yours. If you have Edge browser on your PC, try using that instead.

The ideal scenario for you to switch if you are out of contract, is using the One Touch Switching Method online. You can use it to switch away from Utility Warehouse to BT or EE (it doesn't really matter which one you choose, same company slightly different package options and pricing). You can do this by going on to either BT or EE webpages and sign up using the One Touch Switching Method. The problem there is, although I have successfully used One Touch Switching myself, I am unsure if you are required to have a mobile phone on hand for a one time code.

Whilst I appreciate that you state you currently don't have a working landline, you do have a telephone number, so as that is in place, I'm sure that BT/EE whichever you choose, will be able to sort out the landline element during any switchover whether the line is working or not. You have not stated how your broadband is currently delivered, but if you are currently on FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet), this is an ideal opportunity to switch over to FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) if it is available in your area.

So firstly, check you are out of contract to avoid any switching fees, although, EE offer a switching payment up to £300 I believe to offset any in contract fees you might have with your present provider.

As you don't have a mobile phone and if you want to speak to BT by telephone, then you can always go old school and find a public telephone box and dial their freephone number 0800 800 150. Trying to organise something from a phone box isn't ideal however and it isn't exactly very private. Best bet, find a friend with a mobile who will let you use it and call the freephone number.

Best of luck.

[cerberus123456]

Hi Kimberlin
Thank you for your reply.

The link on the page https://www.bt.com/help/contact-bt/technical-support/landline does not work for me, I don't have Edge installed, only Brave and Firefox, maybe its because I don't have a account with bt ? when I click the button "Message Now" nothing happens, I have even tried turning off the brave Shields.

I just have standard Broadband, not Fibre.

I am not on contract with the Utility Warehouse, reason being I first signed up to the Post Office broadband many years ago, they passed me on to Origin Broadband, then they passed me on to the Utility Warehouse.

I suppose all I can do is change over and hope they find and fix the phone issue while they are sorting it out, if they don't I have no idea how I will be able to inform them the land line does not work as I cannot find a email address for them, and the "message now" button just does not work, and I cannot sign up to the bt website without a phone. I guess I will have to get my sister to call them like I do with the utility warehouse to report faults with the landline.

Its rather annoying how a lot of companys require you to have a mobile phone, us older generation in a lot of cases don't have one and have no use for one.

Its the same with Banks, I used to have just a postoffice account, that was all I needed, but I needed to get a bank account, the only bank I could sign up to was HSBC, all the other banks I approached required you to have a mobile phone.

Just tried the Message Now button again and nothing, I guess you need a bt account to use it.

I also sent a message to bt on facebook, all they did was send me a phone number to call, I replied saying (again) I do not have a phone, but I got no reply, another dead way to connect with bt.

These companys want your money, but they don't want to talk to you.

Again thank you for your reply.

[imjolly]

@cerberus123456 

you don't need to be a BT customer to use the link.  I have tried the link posted by @Kimberlin  and it works as does the message now so I think it is a browser problem - I have tried chrome and edge and both work ok

[cerberus123456]

strangely I cannot get the link to work even with firefox (I have also tried brave).

I will have to dig my other computer out and try with that.  I do know on this windows computer I have completely stripped it down, no bloatware left, no microsoft AI left, no microsoft browsers either, I may have gone too far, but then I have no issues with anything else or other websites

I was looking at what was available on the bt website, for where I am its part fibre technology (not full), but that should be fine (I think).

But I got a bit confused with this (see pic), does it mean they will send someone around ? it says "we wont send a home tech expert" and that would cost £30.00,  the other option is to set it up myself,   I presume the modem will be like my one I have now ?  I just plug it in ? so  I dont think I need the paid £30.00 option as I can plug it in myself ? 

[Kimberlin]

@cerberus123456  If you've managed to debloat Windows by getting rid of Edge, Copilot etc, then switching broadband providers will seriously be a cinch!

As I mentioned earlier, as you have access to a PC and you clearly know how to bring up web pages, in this case either BT or EE, then switching to either one using One Touch Switching, is from experience, straightforward.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/switch

If you use the One Touch Switch method, under no circumstances contact your current provider, it will massively over complicate things and could cause the switch to falter. Just do as the advice states, initiate a switch and let your choice of provider handle the logistics.

To answer your question about setting up your system, again, if you can handle stripping down your computer operating system, you should easily mange setting up a brand new router out of the box.

If you are switched to FTTP from FTTC, Openreach will install the necessary ONT box once they have run fibre optic cable into your property. You will no longer require the telephone master socket to plug a telephone into because the old copper network is being switch to digital voice, so a phone will be plugged into the back of your new router.

[cerberus123456]

again thank you for your reply.

It seems I cannot get full fibre where I am, only part fibre technology is available, so I presume that is not using a ONT box  ? in that case I dont need a engineer to fit it for me.

If it does require a ONT box  I get the impression it will need to be attached to the wall, in that case I will need a engineer as I dont have anyway  to fit it to the wall (no drill).

Thank you again

[WSH]

For Part Fibre (FTTC) it just involves plugging the router into the old phone socket.  They should send the necessary cable and microfilter adapter with the router.

For Full Fibre (FTTP) it is somewhat more complicated that just screwing a box to the wall.  A whole new cable needs to be connected out in the street and run through the wall to connect to the ONT box attached to the wall, so a specialist technician will be required.  It also requires power and so needs to be positioned in reach of a mains socket.

[cerberus123456]

Understood, thank you for clearing it up for me  🙂