Who is responsible?

[The Duke]

That’s intresring. I was just guessing for the reasons, but to me it seemed likely.

[Richard]

Old saying, if you want it done properly do it yourself; caveat only if you can do it the way you want. If not do not rely on SKY.

[JayCeeDee]

Robin Long wrote:

When we got sky shortly after we moved in the guy installing told me he could not run the cable through the loft, sky discourage it due to people altering their lofts after installation and then blaming sky for any problems its not worth their time apparently, which back’s up @sgb101 earlier post. I seem to recall a question when you sign up for sky about the height of property, maybe this has something to do with insurance and loft installs?

 

It could be more to do with the fact that they don’t like using long ladders. Quite some years ago, in fact when we changed from Analogue to Digital, Sky needed to fit a new style aerial. Ours was fitted on the chimney stack ( 3-bed semi ). They wanted to fit it onto the house wall, just above the top of the front downstairs bay window. SWMBO didn’t want that ( she called it a giant zit ) so told them they needed an aerial fitter who could access the roof. That took several visits by people who couldn’t fit the aerials above a certain height, – their van was only equipped with short ladders – until we got a locally contracted aerial fitter, who was like a monkey. I thought he was going to rope from the stack with a harness, but he climbed the ladder with a spanner, trotted up the valley to the stack, loosened the old aerial and came back down the valley with it over his shoulder!! Then repeated the process with the new aerial. The cabling came down to the front of the lounge, then back up over the roof – not ideal – to our son’s bedroom at the back. By this stage I was just glad to have the new aerial up in situ so we called it done!!

 

[Bob Williams]

jaycee, that reminds me of the time we had our first digital TV antenna fitted, by a guy in the village who has now moved to a commercial business, setting up systems for businesses and blocks of housing.

Our village is below the Wolds, has poor TV and NO mobile coverage. He climbed a ladder at the side of our bungalow with a long scaffold pole to which he had attached the antenna and a signal meter. He kept raising and raising the pole while checking the meter, thought he was going to fall off the ladder! When he came down, he said the tree over the road was blocking the signal, gave us a letter for the landlord. In those days, the landlord was still a local East Lindsey Trust, and they took down the tree, after consulting the Environment Agency and other government faces. We wound up with an antenna pole about 12 feet high, all the other homes followed suit in order to get a decent signal. He was paid well for this all over the village, which I believe set up the commercial side of his business. A neighbour asked him to repair her antenna last month: he gave her the number of a one-man band, who fitted a new one for less than the first guy charged, a good few years ago.

Our village has tall TV antennas on the roofs, and people wandering around with phones to their ears, trying to get a mobile signal.???

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

We had a great aerial fitter in the village. He was an alcoholic, all ways hammered, I mean smashed. The more drunk he became the thicker his N.Irish accent became. He had been in the village for over 50 years.

some how he would be up and at your house at 8am on the dot, and running over the roof. His work was good fast and cheap.

Sadly his lifestyle caught up with him about two years ago and he had a major Stoke, his wife now takes him the pub for one drink each afternoon.

God only knows how she put up with him.

[Bob Williams]

An alcoholic Ulster Mick aerial fitter on the roofs of a North Wales village! Lolz, couldn’t make it up, Steve.

Must be a TV comedy series in there somewhere…??

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Robin Long]

“God only knows how she put up with him.”

LOVE, SWMBO has had more chances than she should have, lord only knows how liver failure hasn’t got her. You just get on and make do with your lot.

Cheers Knight,

RIP Spike09 Your Missed
If I'm not here, I'm there.

Finally joined Twitter! longr79

[Richard]

Drezha, after the topic took the usual  trip round the houses I wondered if the original issue was ever resolved and if you now have all services AOK?

[Drezha]

Richard wrote:

Drezha, after the topic took the usual trip round the houses I wondered if the original issue was ever resolved and if you now have all services AOK?

No such luck yet. It took me until yesterday to get them a letter to change the details and organise an engineer visit becuase their system was down over the weekend. ಠ_ಠ

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Drezha]

TalkTalk/Openreach must be having a laugh. Was told they’ll contact me in advance to arrange a date.

Missed call and a text message at 14:53 today stating that an engineer will be there shortly to run some tests, no need to be at home.

Except that it’s a gated compound that is left unoccupied during the day. If I’m charged for that, I’ll change provider. I was expecting at least a weeks notice, judging on BT’s performance!

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

If there’s no need to be at home they’ll be testing stuff in the green box or the exchange.

Change ISP all you like, with copper you can’t avoid OpenReach and it’s them that are the issue not TT. Your only alternative would be Virgin if they have cabled your estate.

[Robin Long]

I think that the issue here is if Openreach come back with no fault found. if they cannot see/access the break and diagnostic equipment says all is well they will enforce charge.  I realise that the green box is usually always outside the actual property but it would be nice to be given the chance to speak to the engineer and say “here I think this is the fault!”

 

Cheers Knight,

RIP Spike09 Your Missed
If I'm not here, I'm there.

Finally joined Twitter! longr79

[Dave Rice]

It’ll be in the street and could be several streets away. They might even be going to the exchange or a manhole somewhere.

What they are trying to convey is that they are working on the problem and that they don’t think it’s on the premises.

If there’s no fault there they will move to the premises and make an appointment when they will contact the customer because they’ll have to to get access.

I can only think of one occasion where an engineer has actually had to attend the site itself and that was when (it later became apparent) the charity’s telecoms supplier had screwed up the settings on their Draytek router. I’m sure OpenReach will have charged them but the charity never had to pay a penny.

All the other faults I’ve been involved with have been at the exchange, more usually the green box (ever seen the spaghetti inside one?) and lately a corroded connection on the telegraph pole in the street.

[Robin Long]

Dave Rice wrote:

All the other faults I’ve been involved with have been at the exchange, more usually the green box (ever seen the spaghetti inside one?)  

Every time I do, I look on in wonder at how the F*** anyone can understand what the hell is going on in their(though I suspect its very logical and actually quite easy!)

Cheers Knight,

RIP Spike09 Your Missed
If I'm not here, I'm there.

Finally joined Twitter! longr79

[Drezha]

Dave Rice wrote:

If there’s no need to be at home they’ll be testing stuff in the green box or the exchange. Change ISP all you like, with copper you can’t avoid OpenReach and it’s them that are the issue not TT. Your only alternative would be Virgin if they have cabled your estate.

If that’s the case, then I’m less fussed. I assumed that the phone call I had after the text message was the Openreach guy telling me he can’t get in.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Dave Rice]

“no need to be at home.” Is the clue, but they could be a lot clearer in where “there” is in “an engineer will be there shortly to run some tests,”

It’s all OpenReach not TT, but TT do tend to pass on everything they get from OR in the belief that all knowledge is worth it if only to let you know you’re not being ignored. I find it hard to slag them off for that approach, but maybe you only need to know when you need to be involved. But then you may think you’re being ignored if it’s taking a bit longer behind the scenes.

A bit damned if you do and damned if you don’t. It is hard to get these things right as everyone has a different opinion on what is right. But one thing for sure, OpenReach still act as if there is a monopoly. Maybe that’s because there is.

My own experience of TT as both a home and business customer differs only in that as a business customer you get a UK based helpdesk that answers calls a bit quicker. I’ve found both to be very efficient and if voice is involved they will divert all your calls to a designated mobile number for free for the duration. OpenReach however can be a PITA but it’s in their admin and not the local engineer. Try phoning OR direct:

“If you’re at home or work and have a problem with your phone or broadband or want to change an engineer appointment you MUST contact your service provider (the people who you pay your bill to). They will raise the issue with us on your behalf.”

[Drezha]

Second phone call from an Openreach engineer trying to access the property.

Last one was last week, where I advised them that I cannot just drop tools as I don’t work nearby. The engineer was very helpful and said that they could book an appointment.

TalkTalk came back with an appointment for Thursday afternoon.

Except, I’ve just had a second call from an OR engineer trying to access the unit today. Again, I can’t make it because I’ve meetings all afternoon (let alone that the guys were outside waiting to get in and I’m a 25 minute trip away).

Running joke at the minute.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Bob Williams]

BT have a big exchange and base for the engineers and vehicles in Louth. They took ages to get “Superfast” cabled up in the town and have fought for years against Virgin coming into the mix. It was suspected for years that the Town Council was hand-in-glove with that, but ther has been a minor revolution there, as all the Oldpharts on the Council have been replaced. Virgin have been given an unbelievably short set time period to cable up the town. This has rebounded on the Council, as Virgin are using at least 3 local construction companies to get it done. According to a Virgin engineer I spoke to outside my gson’s flat, they are well ahead of schedule.

Now, this has affected my vote about moving out of this village that I love so much! Thought we had a nice, new build flat in Louth, with garage, set up, but it has gone.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Good luck getting this fixed if you dont meet an engineer at your property.

A friend of mine had 3 unattended visits from open reach last year to fix a badly crackling line and each one came back no fault found.

I tested my freinds line after the first visit and advised him that the fault was most likely in the junction box at the top of his telegraph pole.

On the 4th visit my friend was in and caught the engineer outside on the phone. He was just about to clear the call NFF again but agreed to come in for a listen.

45 min later the fault at the top of the pole was fixed.

 

[Drezha]

Well, the appointment is confirmed for tomorrow, so I’ll see if it gets sorted.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Author]

Posts