h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

hi prof
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i lost the virginmedia on the pc yesterday at the lbrary, its the first time the website as crashed on me, so no acsess to blueyonder.
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for years my fav saying/quote as been"if lifes a bowl of cherries, why do i keep getting the pip, but as someone pointed out, cherries dont have pips,".
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its like the you can have upto so many megs, but dont get them. jim

GT

I suspect some of the countries are coming late to broadband and aren't bogged down with a mixture of old systems and are coming in straight with up to date technology.

Fingers crossed Prof. on the way


Websailor

from Sunday afternoon

Dear Mr Prof,
We have checked the progress of your fault with our supplier. At the moment this is still being investigated by their diagnostics team. We will continue to check for updates and let you know as soon as we have more information.

I have replied this morning (Monday)

hi prof
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looks like the runaround, time to cut your losses and threaten to change servers, that might get them off their butts. if no joy, sack them and look for another for real jim

threaten to change servers, - that's part of the reply

hi prof
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if it dont work, then change thats all you can do, and claim back the money for lost service.
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thats what i do with virgin. jim

Jim, the fault is on BT's lines somewhere and it wouldn't matter who's ISP I'm with, I would still have the same fault

Prof!!!

I know what it is!!!

A little copper wire somewhere is oxidising.....

And the 'Men in the Ivory Towers' can't be assed in trying to find where it is!!

Give me a couple of hours and a 'Time Domain Reflectometer' and I would show them where to dig the dammed hole!!!!!




GT

from a reply I sent them the other day


Therefore I think that this now shows that it is NOT my wiring/connection at fault(as the extension in the bedroom is out of the loop), but BT's wiring/connection from the BT installed wall socket to the junction box on the outside wall to the telegraph pole and beyond. This problem/fault is now nearing 6 weeks and seems no nearer to being rectified. I now ask that a Open Reach engineer brought in to hopefully rectify this situation.

I'm an ex television engineer and like you GT, I CAN see the wood for the trees

GT

received Monday 7th 5.20pm

BT have completed comprehensive remote diagnostics on your service and have been unable to locate any service faults. Due to this, BT are currently requesting an appointment for an engineer to attend and review the fault from your property.

It should be noted that such a visit is not intended to fix problems with internal cabling, modems or other devices on your line.

Through our advice you should have already completed comprehensive checks to verify such elements are not the source of the problems experienced. If BT were to find that equipment and/or cabling under your own control is the source, charges may apply at a value of £144+vat.

Prior to booking an appointment, we would like to ensure you are aware of all appropriate checks to perform. We would like to help ensure that these charges do not apply as we appreciate they are not a low value.

1: You should unplug all devices from the line which will include but is not limited to the following devices:

* phones
* faxes
* modems
* ringers
* sky boxes

2: Plug your current modem into the master socket to help establish if internal cabling may be to blame. The master socket is the socket were your telephone line enters the property. If you have ever had a prior BT engineer visit your property, this will normally be the main socket they test from.

3: Try an alternate filter with your modem to establish that the current one is not a source of the issues. Were at all possible, you can bypass filters by making us of a standard modem cable.

4: Attempt the use of an alternate modem on your connection.

We appreciate this is not always possible as you may not have a spare device available. For the purpose of this test, loaning a device may be possible from a friend or neighbour.

We would be willing to dispatch a modem to you if required at our cost for the purpose of testing. Should you wish to retain this equipment after you have received this, charges may apply.

The final thing you can try is to plug into the engineer's test socket behind the master socket faceplate, this can rule out common master socket faults, though as you will generally need to unscrew the front plate, we advise to take care with this and do not recommend trying it if you are unsure about what you are doing as any damage accidentally caused, you would likely be liable for. In the event that a fault with this is found you can either replace the front plate yourself (again if your confident doing this) or we can raise it to BT to have them change it themselves (they do charge for this however).

The BT Test Socket can be found just behind the master socket front plate. To access this you need to remove the 2 screws from the front of the BT Master Socket then remove the lower front plate. The Test Socket is then just behind this, as in the image below.

(links removed)

If you do not have a test socket, please let us know and we will investigate with yourself plugged just into the master socket.

If you are confident that your local cabling and/or equipment is not the source of this issue, then we will continue to organise an appointment for you.

BT can arrange engineer visits from Mon-Fri between 8am-6pm.

Available appointment times
--------------------------------------
08:00 - 13:00

13:00 - 18:00

To book an appointment
----------------------------------
Please reply to this ticket with the dates and times you would be available for an engineer to visit. Alternatively, you can call us on 0845 1400 200.

Please say what appointment times would be most suitable for you. We recommend you choose a minimum of 3 options on different days. Once an engineer has been booked for you, we will ring you to confirm the appointment date and time.

Please note: if you have access to the Help Assistant then the appointment details will be shown in your open ticket.

It is not possible to deviate from the time slots shown above, as the slots are provided by BT. We will confirm the booked slot to ensure that any inconvenience is minimised.

My reply....

Dear Sir, over the last 6 weeks, I've followed all instructions given by Plusnet personnel, a BT/Open Reach engineer can call at any time, as I can arrange to be in with notification of said day/time. I am still convinced that the fault is nothing to do with my equipment or internal wiring. The main wall socket is BT's and was installed by BT and from that socket to the telegraph pole etc is not chargeable to me

How many times to they need telling???

I wouldn't mind, but they're based in SheffieldI expect more from a Yorkshire company

Maybe Manchester's been tugging on the line

bloody foreigners

Yeah!!!

Saves us climbing over the Pennines

we only have to walk over, it's only a small hill

It might only be likkul from your side

You should live here, over the border Prof!!

When missus and me moved in, phone line did not work at all. Careful investigation by yours truly found that BT's wire to internal junction box was broken. Could have fixed myself, but was unsure of connections protocol; so called out BT....

Engineer arrived.

As fault was INSIDE property, he told me I would be charged c£120.00 to fix. I told him to connect up 'his' side, and I would connect up mine, if he told me the colours.....

At this, he recognised my elactronics knowledge and fixed the fault for free, saying that he would put it down to 'external fault'...

Now that is what I call GOOD customer service!!!!

(Even though I am still only getting around 700Kb/Sec!)



GT