Digital Voice phone no incoming calls

[CarolineW1]

Hello,

I escalated my complaint on an email to BT on Saturday.

I had a callback from the execute complaints dept this afternoon, now saying they will set my phone up on 6th December.  When I said I still wasn’t happy with this date the stupid BT complaints girl suggested I use Whattsapp instead!.  I am sure my elderly mother without a mobile will love trying to contact me on WhatsApp in an emergency.  I don’t even have Whattsapp!

6th December is still 11 days away and will mean nearly a month without a phone so still unacceptable to me.  As no one in BT is able to help further I have as now asked for a deadlock letter so I can take it to the ombudsman.  Probably won’t help me get my phone sorted any quicker but BT deserve to be fined my Ofcom if their broken systems allow this to happen and they shouldn’t be allowed to continue the roll out of digital voice  across the whole country if it doesn’t work.

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[pddco]

@CarolineW1 

Another thought. Have you tried calling your  landline from your mobile while  you’re in the house and answering the call while it’s ringing out from the mobile even if it didn’t ring? If so, what happened? 

[CarolineW1]

Hello,

I have tried this one.  It’s deadly silence on the landline Bt phone I am afraid.  Just the mobile has a ringing tone.  Thanks anyway though.

Caroline

[pddco]

Hi Caroline

You say your mobile signal is poor?  Do you have WiFi calling included in your mobile plan? Some do, some don’t. But  if it has, your mobile should be able to make use of the strong broadband WiFi to make and receive reliable standard mobile calls when the normal mobile signal is weak.

The mobile should switch to WiFi calling automatically. But an easy way to check is to put your mobile in Airplane mode. And then try and make a normal mobile call.

Check that the mobile still has WiFi switched on after putting it in Airplane mode. Some phones switch the WiFi off too - which you don’t want - WiFi must be on - so you may need to switch it back on again. 

If you find that this  doesn’t work, yet your plan includes WiFi calling, you may need to delve into the mobile network settings of your phone to enable it. 

Oh, don’t forget to switch off Airplane mode when you’re done with the testing. 

[CarolineW1]

Thanks for thinking of alternative solutions however I really need need my landline for people to call me on as not every person and organisation has my mobile number.

[pddco]

Of course. Fully understand. Just seeing if there was something else you could try while you’re waiting for BT to get its act together. And at least have some assurance that you can be contacted reliably provided WiFi calling worked for you.  Frustrating when all it might take is a few keystrokes to sort it! Hope it gets fixed soon. 

[CarolineW1]

BT complaints have now told me that my telephone service (digital voice) won’t be restored until 16th December  after saying 6th December on Monday.   (Will now be 5 weeks with no incoming calls) but I’ll believe it when I see it, and part of me thinks I have lost my phone forever now.
Absolutely shocking how this can happen.  I could be a pensioner who has no outside contact with the world other than through their phone.

[SS66Cornwall]

Any luck with this?  My mum is having the same issue!

[CarolineW1]

Hello, Sorry to hear your Mother is affected by this as well.  
I’m afraid I am still without a working phone.  I have been told it will be fixed on 16th December so only another 10 days to go (if they stick to their word) although I haven’t much confidence.  I have been following BT s formal complaints procedure to the very end where they have to issue you a deadlock letter if it hasn’t been resolved.  They told me they issued me a deadlock letter over a week ago but I still haven’t received anything from them yet so probably another BT **bleep**-up.  
I have reported details of my problems to OFCOM and I suggest you do the same for your Mother.  I know they won’t get my phone working, but they need to know the way BT is failing the public so badly for such unacceptably long periods by their faulty systems,  and the impact on vulnerable people of losing a potential lifeline.  I hope they give BT a massive fine and are forced to make urgent changes to their systems.

[CarolineW1]

Why is my problem now marked as “solved” when it is not solved

.  I have been without a phone for a month now, and I have been told it will be another week at the earliest before it is fixed.