BT engineer coming saturday, what should i do?

Nocky24

Nocky24

Nocky24

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Cannock
I've been having a lot of issues with disconnections on my line the past 2 -3 months and have noticed that when i do a quiet line test i get some noise on the line (pops, crackling, etc) I've called both O2 (my isp) and BT and both heard the noise on the line and they have it logged, I was directly in my test socket at the time as well.

The main worry is will i definitely get the charged if the bt engineer doesn't hear any noise on the line at the time he turns up even though its in their notes? It mainly happens when its raining/at night so its hit and miss what will happen. Also i've installed an adsl nte2000 faceplate myself about 8 months ago on the master socket so should i change this back to my old nte5? I know its legal to change faceplates as its just your own internal wiring your messing with, but i just don't want the engineer trying to use that as an excuse for leading to possible damage or interference.

What you reckon i should do? :( I've got untill 2pm tomorrow to cancel/change the appointment.
 
Did you tell BT that it usually happens when it's raining/at night? If so and they've logged it, and it's a nice sunny day then the engineer should investigate and effect a repair. I had a similar problem and the engineer did what he could despite not being able to detect noise etc. However it was the same engineer who had installed ISDN, second line, ADSL etc over the years and he remembered me.
 
Tomsk said:
Did you tell BT that it usually happens when it's raining/at night? If so and they've logged it, and it's a nice sunny day then the engineer should investigate and effect a repair. I had a similar problem and the engineer did what he could despite not being able to detect noise etc. However it was the same engineer who had installed ISDN, second line, ADSL etc over the years and he remembered me.
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Yeh i think hes logged that as i told him to mention it in the notes, he also put down in the notes that he could hear the crackling noise himself when i called and put that in the notes as well (it was raining when i called them). They record all their calls aswell don't they? Also i've tried two wired phones at the master test socket and both are the same. The main worry is the filtered faceplate i installed myself.
 
I can't see the filtered faceplate being a problem if you were plugged into the test socket. I wouldn't remove mine, waste of time as it clearly isn't causing a problem.
 
I've always found BT's engineers to be more helpful / accommodating than the "official policy" you get thrown at you from the call centres.
 
I'm an Openreach (BT) engineer, if a fault has been detected by the line test system (and stored) when you reported it then you won't get charged if the line is OK when an engineer shows up. The same should apply even if you had a LTOK result when reporting a fault, as long as notes have been stored to confirm that we heard noise on the line when speaking to you then you won't get charged. If the line tested OK and we couldn't hear any noise (which would be stated in our notes) then an engineer turns up and hears no noise/gets a good line test result then you will be charged. I hope this clears it up for you...
If the noise is worse when it's raining then there is probably an open joint (which could be causing a HR fault) between your NTE5 and the MDF (exchange.) A good engineer should be able to spot this and even if they can't find the fault they may be able to provide a D/E side pair swap (this will depend on local circumstances, if your DP is full then this won't be an option.) Don't worry about the faceplate, as long as you haven't messed with any wires in the back of the NTE5 then you can't be charged for it.
 
Had the same fault on our line except it would drop completely in heavy rain. BT tracked it back to a faulty cabinet and also did something our end (probably that pair swap mentioned above). No charge to us and it's perfect now.
 
McHaMmEr said:
I'm an Openreach (BT) engineer, if a fault has been detected by the line test system (and stored) when you reported it then you won't get charged if the line is OK when an engineer shows up. The same should apply even if you had a LTOK result when reporting a fault, as long as notes have been stored to confirm that we heard noise on the line when speaking to you then you won't get charged. If the line tested OK and we couldn't hear any noise (which would be stated in our notes) then an engineer turns up and hears no noise/gets a good line test result then you will be charged. I hope this clears it up for you...
If the noise is worse when it's raining then there is probably an open joint (which could be causing a HR fault) between your NTE5 and the MDF (exchange.) A good engineer should be able to spot this and even if they can't find the fault they may be able to provide a D/E side pair swap (this will depend on local circumstances, if your DP is full then this won't be an option.) Don't worry about the faceplate, as long as you haven't messed with any wires in the back of the NTE5 then you can't be charged for it.
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Excellent! thanks for clearing that up, i love these forums aha but yeh i haven't touched anything behind the test socket/ the socket itself as i understand that it is BT's property so its just my internal wiring and faceplate i've touched. Also yeh i insisted to the BT advisor i spoke to to put the noise he heard on the notes when i called and he said he has so i should be ok there.

I'll be sure to be waiting with the tea and biscuits when he arrives anyways ;)
 
If the engineer knows that it's caused/related to rain then even if it's bone dry on the visit it's not difficult to see signs of water getting into places it shouldn't, so there's a good chance you can get your problem fixed.
 
The cabinet for my part of the street used to fill with rainwater every time it rained for close to a year, we had a bt engy in it at least once a month, for several months, before they gave up and just rewired the lot.

Then another few months after that :). Just when it was working properly the council changed the street lights and accidentally cut out phone lines, queue two days of rainy misery for the engy, again.

A year on, and the light that was miss-wired is still on (it hasn't been off at all =D). Most evenings, between 7&11, our phone emits a high-pitched "pip" and the snr halves from 5 to 12. My point, is that while you may not be charged, there's usually a point where the view goes from "fix the line" to "good enough".

p.s. engineers are much nicer than the call centre folk.
 
Azuse05 said:
My point, is that while you may not be charged, there's usually a point where the view goes from "fix the line" to "good enough".
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That point is when phone services are working - if you have a line fault affecting voice then it will get fixed. If after an engineers visit your voice service works perfectly but your SnR/attenuation is all over the place causing you to sync at half what you were before, then that's just tough.
 
What should you do?

Be prepared to get the reply "we cannot deal with line speeds", no matter what questions you ask. (this is only a joke)


I had speed issues once (sub 0.2 constantly on a previously static 6+ line), and had an engineer out. You could tell he gets hassled about it loads since he was so defensive about the fact I was claiming I had speed issues. (yes, there was a fault btw).

Nice person, but a bit stressy :p
 
It all depends on how the fault is reported, if you report an issue with the voice side (noisy line/cutting out/overhearing etc) and its also affecting your broadband, you'll get a none adsl trained engineer, who won't know much about SNR/dB's/attenuation etc

If you report a broadband fault to your ISP, they will generally request an SFI (Special Faults Investigation) from Openreach which triggers a job for a broadband skilled engineer to investigate
 
ljt said:
It all depends on how the fault is reported, if you report an issue with the voice side (noisy line/cutting out/overhearing etc) and its also affecting your broadband, you'll get a none adsl trained engineer, who won't know much about SNR/dB's/attenuation etc

If you report a broadband fault to your ISP, they will generally request an SFI (Special Faults Investigation) from Openreach which triggers a job for a broadband skilled engineer to investigate
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Yeh O2 referred me to BT as he could hear the noise on the line himself and that was a wired phone plugged directly into the test socket. The isp said he could send one of their engineers out, but they'd be limited to what they could do if it was an issue with the actual line. My line actually seems stable now with no interference so i don't know if someones done something remotely, but i'm not getting any noise and broadband is holding connection (for now). I'll be testing it over the course of tonight i think just to make sure.
 
Nocky24 said:
I've been having a lot of issues with disconnections on my line the past 2 -3 months and have noticed that when i do a quiet line test i get some noise on the line (pops, crackling, etc) I've called both O2 (my isp) and BT and both heard the noise on the line and they have it logged, I was directly in my test socket at the time as well.

The main worry is will i definitely get the charged if the bt engineer doesn't hear any noise on the line at the time he turns up even though its in their notes? It mainly happens when its raining/at night so its hit and miss what will happen. Also i've installed an adsl nte2000 faceplate myself about 8 months ago on the master socket so should i change this back to my old nte5? I know its legal to change faceplates as its just your own internal wiring your messing with, but i just don't want the engineer trying to use that as an excuse for leading to possible damage or interference.

What you reckon i should do? :( I've got untill 2pm tomorrow to cancel/change the appointment.
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we had this exact same problem. the crackling and messed up broadband. it was BT's fault and the yfixed the line. They then wanted £115. My mum rang them up and said and they cancelled the charge
 
Shakeel said:
we had this exact same problem. the crackling and messed up broadband. it was BT's fault and the yfixed the line. They then wanted £115. My mum rang them up and said and they cancelled the charge
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See this is exactly what i'm worried about. My line seems to be stable now with no noise, but this morning when i called bt it was very noisy and as i've said- the bt advisor put in his notes he could hear noise on the line himself, but still i reckon theres a possibility i'll get charged if this stability carries on. No idea why its gone stable again, last night it was absolutely unbearable.
 
The only reason you would be charged is if it is any of your own equipment i.e. your phone/sky box/extensions causing the noise. If it is a fault with either the E or D side as McHaMmEr said then it will not be a charge as that is a problem in the external network.

If you find out you have been charged and the fault was in the external network then they have charged you in error
 
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