On 26 September 2024 at 14:54 bernard towers Said:

There’s a con going on here!!!

I think the same as Bernard, when BT changed my home line to digital voice all I had to do was plug the phone into my BT Smart Hub  no engineer involved, if you haven’t got a Smart Hub I think there is a adapter that plugs into the existing BT socket allowing you to plug your phone in

If at all possible move away from BT to a provider that has its own infra-structure. I know that is not always possible but new providers are appearing all over. They may be causing disquiet in some communities because of the erection of their own poles that don’t require planning permission but I would put money on them providing a better service at a price far below that of BT. The local provider has certainly done that for me. We are lucky in the village where I live because the local independent operator fibre-cabled the village but used the existing BT poles. I couldn’t leave BT fast enough and the government even paid for my installation under the Building Digital UK (BDUK) scheme!

However, if you want to keep your old land-line number you must specify this in advance and pay a nominal sum to have it ported over to your new provider. You cannot retrieve your old number later if you change your mind. We never use the ‘landline’ and nobody ever calls it except Mr. Patel from Microsoft but I kept it for sentimental reasons as it appears against my listing in the very last Phone Book ever to be published.

On 26 September 2024 at 15:41 MichaelR Said:

On 26 September 2024 at 14:54 bernard towers Said:

There’s a con going on here!!!

I think the same as Bernard, when BT changed my home line to digital voice all I had to do was plug the phone into my BT Smart Hub  no engineer involved, if you haven’t got a Smart Hub I think there is a adapter that plugs into the existing BT socket allowing you to plug your phone in

That’s the common case, but I don’t think it matches the situation described by Alastair.  Bearing in mind the evidence is wafer thin, this might explain it:

• The customer has an ‘Plain Old Telephone System’ connection.  Analogue phone connected over analogue copper back to the exchange.   Analogue is converted to digital in the exchange using equipment providers are keen to dump.
• Conversion to digital involves ripping out the digital converter in the exchange, instead extending the digital interface out to a digital converter in the customers home.   An installer is needed in the home because Alastair’s friend does not have internet already.  The installer expects to find a usable digital signal on the line, and normally does.  Not this time!
• In this case, I guess the POTS connection was in poor order, ‘good-enough’ for analogue telephony, but not able to handle digital.  The installer found digital isn’t working, and the exchange’s analogue gear is in a skip.   Disaster!

If the copper connection is duff, the provider will have to diagnose what’s wrong and fix it.  Could be expensive and time-consuming.  Men up poles and digging trenches etc.   That opens the door to another problem: how much effort should a provider spend on quick-fixing the unlucky few?   Obviously Alastair’s friend wants his phone mended pronto, but the provider is more likely to prioritise major problems, like a broken hospital, or Google off-the-air.

No idea if the EE involvement is accidental or not, but EE and BT are the same company , currently busy merging their services.

Not much practical advice to offer I’m afraid other than the customer making sure he uses the word ‘COMPLAINT’ when talking to the help desk.  Complaints are counted and reported to the regulator.  In this system, a 30 minute rant covering a long list of the service providers miserable failures counts for very little: it’s just normal business.  The customer has to be clear that he is complaining, by explicitly using the word!

If I’m right, switching provider will make no difference in this case.  A new provider is unlikely to take Alastair’s friend on because his line is broken!  He’s an immediate problem.  One way of increasing customer satisfaction is to only take on easy customers, because their infrastructure being new or in good working order avoids many issues.  For historic reasons BT has lots customers hanging off imperfect infrastructure, especially out in the sticks.   I think he’ll have to be reconnected by BT before anyone else will play.

We live in an imperfect world.

Dave

On 27 September 2024 at 12:59 Martin Johnson 1 Said:

[…] Does anybody know if BT will be dismantling all those poles and wire that are now redundant?  It would much improve ou view if they did.

Here’s the theory/promise/myth [whatever]
https://www.txo.com/blog/unleashing-the-potential-of-copper-off-in-the-telecoms-industry/#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20BT’s%20Exchange,exchanges%20into%20the%20circular%20economy.

Don’t hold your breath though !!

MichaelG.

On 27 September 2024 at 13:29 Alistair Robertson 1 Said:
[…]  Most locals are on Vodafone or “3” for their mobiles. My friend has a 3 mobile phone. […]

That’s probably the best news in the whole sorry tale.

MichaelG.

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Ref. __ https://www.three.co.uk/support/network-and-coverage/coverage