Bt Line Fault

[OnOff]

The fault is BACK on the home phone line, same as we had earlier this year. No phone or broadband. Reported and got the stock "the fault is on or near your property" etc. 3 days to fix etc. Really needed it last night for work and had to go to the neighbours.

Just to make sure I thought I'd double check "our" side: Pole in the street with a 2 core, figure of 8, blue drop wire to the corner of the house. Grey BT box with a few cobwebs etc and a brass terminal strip. The cable from this runs along under the eaves down the wall and in through the side of the window to the BT master socket. This cable looks like this:



The cable is several metres long tacked here and there, covered in masonary paint etc. I isolated it both ends and whacked the meter on. Have continuity on both cores (same resistance). Only oddity was the IR - looking at around 250Mohm - would have expected infinity. Guessing a bit of a breakdown somewhere as this black 2-core looks very old.

Whatever, I bypassed this cable with a couple of single 1.5s and still the same - no phone/b'band. I even connected a master direct to the grey box again no dice.

The teller I guess is  zero volts apparent on the line!

Main question though, where can I get some more of this black cable or is there a modern equivalent? Tbh I'm tempted just to run a length of 2.5 T&E in some mini trunking with the CPC snipped out and just heatshrink the last foot and 2 cores in black!

Thanks.

 

[ProDave]

I haven't seen that 2 core figure of 8 used for years.

These days they use I think a 3 pair cable like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BT-SPEC-EXTERNAL-TELEPHONE-CABLE-DROP-WIRE-5-78-PER-5M-/300820569914?pt=UK_Phones_PhoneLeads_RL&hash=item460a4d9f3a

If Open Reach are coming to fix it, why are you bothering?  no volts on your bit means the fault is further down the line. Or are you planning in climbing up the pole?

 

[Blue Duck]

I'm sure I got some from the purveyor of tat ( TLC ) but BT guys are always hawking their wears on ebay

It's horrible stuff, plastic sheath with a plasic bag full of jelly and wires inside.

Dunno if you need the bell wire but I don't think you have one? I'd stick with a multi core cable just in case you need another line some day?

Can you get hold of one of those magical line testers that kerching has? Perhaps hire one?

 

[OnOff]

According to BT's "test" the fault is on or near our property. They said the very same back in Feb when it proved to in fact be a couple of km away. The wife rang them to report the fault and their stock response is to tell you that it's on or near your property and that they will charge you £129.99 if it is so.

I emailed them and said that the fault is their side as there's no line voltage etc citing the previous time it happened. Two answerphone messages from them on the mobile: The first saying they had the email, it would be dealt with in 3 days and they noted we'd agreed to paying £129.99 if the fault was found to be....blah, blah. No name given, struggled reading my surname off her screen and an obviously Indian call centre with heavily accented English. Had a second call 3 hours later, could have been the same girl. Trotted off the same spiel. Call quality was appalling aside from the accent. Anyway the fault will be fixed on the "static / mush on the line"th of November! And they will email me with "the requirements" which I've still yet to receive.

BRITISH Telecom? About as British as BG!

 

[Sharpend]

Wrong, it is the new multicultural British that our politicians are striving for!!!

 

[Blue Duck]

That will bankrupt our country in interpreters fees as no one wants to speak English here  :facepalm:

 

[OnOff]

That will bankrupt our country in interpreters fees as no one wants to speak English here  :facepalm:

My mate's missus is Polish (he's 50 & she's 28 btw) & speaks excellent English. When having their first baby the NHS offered her an interpreter........when she's sitting there speaking to them in near perfect English!

She said no, why would she and that it would be a waste of tax payers money etc. They then offered HER a job as an interpreter. Can't remember the rate but it was more than reasonable. Go figure!

EDIT: Got a ringing tone yesterday when dialing from outside. Today it's an engaged tone. Something must be happening! Now have a date for fixing it tomorrow, the 13th by 5pm. Found I can pay I think it's £4 per month for "priority" service on faults rather than having to wait 3 days. The last BT engineer suggested we should anyway be a priority (without paying) as there is no mobile coverage so no other means of communication but the Indian call centre didn't want to know!

 

[Blue Duck]

I was thinking more about the groups who don't intergrate and have built up communities where no one needs to speaky English until they get arrested or have to go to hospital.

Japanese interpreters charge £120/hr

Glad your getting it sorted 3 days seems a lot without internet or telephone given that were moving closer towards being totally dependent on it for our daily lives.

:C

 

[Sharpend]

Several years ago I had need of an interpreter, I was told that it would cost something like £12 per minute!!! Didn't need interpreter to understand what I said to that!!

 

[OnOff]

All sorted. Came back on yesterday mid morning according to the wife. Obviously something "their" side and certainly not local or on the property despite their stock answer. Clear that they were doing "things" by me first getting a ringing tone (but the phone in the house NOT ringing) then an engaged tone when phoning in from outside.

It got me thinking..........they state they will charge £129.99 if the fault is found on or in your property. Fair enough if say you have let tree branches damage the line, but "their" boxes and cabling? As I say, grey BT box on the wall, badly fixed with a single, rusting, big countersunk wood screw. So tight to the soffit the lid doesn't fit properly). Then their black BT 2-core cable as per the above photo for which the IR to my mind is less than what it should be. Then inside the house the BT master socket. What's the score if one of those 3 has gone simply through age etc?

And how do I stand when I test for voltage on their line?

Still, a bit of moaning + an email & just over a day without the line!

 

[NozSpark]

They own the bit up to and including the master socket or junction , so it's their responsibility.... They don't however take any responsibility for any extensions , that's why the NTE5 sockets have a removable face plate that you wire extensions into

 

[Blue Duck]

Most bt stuff I notice is just jelly crimps floating in the wind, the external boxes usually smashed to bits or hanging off the wall.

Had a customer with a line fault recently they(Virgin media) insisted that it was the customers phone which had gone wrong and they would charge £150 to come out and have a look. Turned out that some one had made a dodgy extension, floating in the wind no clips etc and some guy's who were removing some bars on the window of the flat below had just left the bars on the cable.

 

[OnOff]

I actually remade the connections in their grey box as on all 4 ends the copper was covered in verdigris, this along with evicting the snails and other invertebrates. Amazing to think that the last bloke in there was a BT "engineer" and he leaves the connections like that and the lid just on! We had a little email from them saying our speed might not be back to normal for a few days.......I think according to Speedtest it was just over 6Mbps last night so any improvement would be welcome. I just wish they would stop trying to flog me Infinity when the line won't support it.

 

[Blue Duck]

Copper to the box, we're still on telegraph poles over here too. No cable either! Fortunately the box is round the corner probably 150m away and we get around 38mbp/s, although they are offering 100mbp/s!

Decent quality cable should help with the resistance your end but not by much! How far is your box :lol:

 

[steptoe]

thats one thing about talktalk [business anyway]

they tried to sell my fibre, but told me that i would never get anywhere close to the advertised speed, they reckoned maybe 15-20 would be good for me.