topic Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues in Broadband

Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:23:50 GMT

What is the best way to contact Talk Talk about a new Fibre installation that has not been fully completed?

The issue I have is that although a BT Openreach engineer completed all his tasks at my house, he was unable to get the service working - because some connection at the fibre network exchange/splitter has not been done correctly on their end. I was told that it would be sorted out first thing today but it has not.

Contacting Talk Talk on anything specific such as this is completely frustrating for many of the 'usual' reasons: call centre staff with poor English, too much focus on verifying my account etc, sitting holding for far too long whilst staff try to contact Openreach and find out what is going on. There really must be a more efficient and effective, rapid means of contacting TalkTalk/BT Openreach about these issues - and especially when it is a new installation.

In general, TalkTalk customer service is woeful on all the basic things that should be simple to get right: a telephone number with a real human that speaks English natively. A much quicker account verifiaction procedure that does not ask all the same questions that you already answered when first dialling-in ... etc etc.

Above all, specific contact points/phone numbers for specific types of issues so that we don't have to suffer the ridiculously long and painful process of being funnelled through the same Customer Service contact centre every time for every issue.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Debbie-TalkTalk — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:26:42 GMT

Hi @JamesyD1

I'm sorry to hear this.

Please can you add your name and TalkTalk account number to your Community Profile, we can then take a look at this for you.

Thanks

Debbie

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:52:16 GMT

Thanks Debbie. Those details should have linked when setting up my forum profile - but obviously that doesn't work. I can't see any field for talkTalk A/C number - but you can work off phone numbers right?

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Debbie-TalkTalk — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 13:08:45 GMT

Hi @JamesyD1

Thanks for adding your details.

I have spoken to our order management team and they have advised that the order has been delayed. Openreach have said that the build is correct but the light is not reflecting at the ONT (FTTP box inside the property) and this needs to be resolved by Openreach to get the order progressed.

This has been escalated to the relevant team to resolve and the next update is due on 06/10. I'm so sorry for the delays.

I will keep checking for additional updates for you and I will post back on this thread.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 13:16:54 GMT

Thanks very much Debbie. I know its out of TT control but such a shame that the engineer did all his work yesterday really neatly and quickly yet the service doesn't work and probably just needs a couple of key strokes at Openreach to assign the network connection to my ONT. Can't see how that takes more than a couple of minutes - not 7 days. But I guess the 7 days is probably waiting/queue time.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Debbie-TalkTalk — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 13:21:21 GMT

Hi @JamesyD1

Thanks for your reply.

It could be resolved before this date and we will keep you updated as soon as we have further information.

Debbie

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 13:43:45 GMT

Whilst the connection/activation issue is still being investigated - another area of the fibre service, which was not addressed yet, is the connection of a phone for VOI using our existing phone number.

The supplied Eero router has only 2 ethernet ports. One is used to connect to the ONT for the incoming signal, leaving one for connecting another device - such as if we want to use a wired connection/ethernet (which we do). Plus, the Eero's 2 ports (RJ45 sockets) are not compatible with a typical telephone device (RJ11 sockets).

What are we supposed to do to connect our phone, using our existing landline telephone number - that was agreed and confirmed when we subscribed to the fibre package?

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

ferguson — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 13:52:11 GMT

Did you specifically order Full Fibre with VoIP? If so, you should have been sent a Digital Voice Adapter which allows you to connect your existing handset. This does also require connection to one of the ethernet ports on the eero. If you want to connect additional devices via ethernet then you can buy a simple ethernet switch to expand the number of ports.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 13:59:30 GMT

Hi Ferguson - thanks for the reply. The short answer is 'Yes' - I did order that. But as with everything these days, its not as simple as what the customer asks for. Its whether the supplier/TalkTalk actually record and translate this into an order that actually gets delivered agains the customer requirement - or not, that counts. I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but it really is that situation or process that seems to go wrong so much. I expect that this happened here again. We did not receive anything other than the Eero.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

ferguson — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 14:02:54 GMT

OK, well the support team will certainly follow up this added issue for you.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 14:13:15 GMT

Thanks again.

Actually, it seems to make sense to keep the old copper landline anyway - and of course its still needed because the fibre is not working yet.

By absolute coincidence, a BT Openreach engineer turned-up just now to check the connection/installation. No warning, no message no nothing. Luck we were at home. He was sent out as if its a 'start from the beginning' standard issue diagnosis. They must have money and time to burn on a Sunday. They should be starting the diagnosis from the other end of the network - not returning to our house to check what was just installed and reported 3 days ago.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

ferguson — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 14:18:56 GMT

The copper line should not be disconnected until after the Full Fibre service goes live, you would have a whole host of differentb issues otherwise!

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 05:47:14 GMT

Hi James,

Thanks for the update. Is your connection now working ok since the Openreach visit?

Michelle

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 07:59:43 GMT

Hi Michelle

No , it is not working. Thanks for checking.
The BT Openreach engineer checked the installation and serial no. of the ONT. Then he went to the next point ‘upstream’ on the line/network (eg the next point on network before the street pole the installation engineer had worked on) to check its connection., by breaking the line and reconnecting it. All of this to check the correct ONT is where the signal is being assigned or attempted. After all that the conclusion was the problem is even further ‘upstream’ at the exchange etc, which he could only put a call in for someone else to check and fix later. This diagnosis is exactly what the Kelly Services engineer said was and called in as being the problem last Thursday when he did the installation!

Its easy to see how things are so inefficient snd ineffective when companies like BT Openreach spend time and money on a weekend sending out engineers, unannounced, to check and duplicate their subcontractors’ work before actually focusing on what the subcontractor already reported is the most likely cause of the problem. Out of TalkTalk’s hands on this example I know. But worth you taking this scenario and feeding it right back into the chain with BT Openreach and avoid wasting everyone’s time on future installations. It should be seamless communication and diagnosis of these issues, but it seems its only compounded by people who do not listen to or act on the details what has been reported.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Debbie-TalkTalk — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 08:35:40 GMT

Morning @JamesyD1

This is the latest update from Openreach - Please review this order on 04/10/2024 for next update. We will endeavor to complete this work earlier.

I will keep monitoring for updates.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:14:20 GMT

Hi Debbie - another BT Openreach engineer just knocked on the door to advise the service is now running. Thanks at last!

I've just connected up the eero router and have it working.

Now trying to sort out the speeds I'm getting. Its strange that on my iphone I can get almost the 500Mbps download speed. But on any other device - such as 2 different laptops, I can get no more than 55Mbps - but with nearly 60Mbps upload.

Not sure the eero is really up to the job of coverage in our pretty small house. The laptop is only about 15ft from the eero so should really get a better wifi signal.

Any ideas why the speed is 10x slower on 2 laptops than on a mobile device? One laptop is brand new latest spec with latest wifi tech.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:37:16 GMT

Hello again,

I'm glad to hear this and thanks for the update. Can I just confirm, what speeds do you see on the laptops if you move closer to the eero please? Is there any improvement?

@KeithFrench - would you also be offer any additional advice on the wireless speeds please?

Thanks

Michelle

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

KeithFrench — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 10:48:09 GMT

Yes of course I will @Anonymous. I will read through this thread after lunch.

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

KeithFrench — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 11:51:49 GMT

Hi @JamesyD1

I assume that you have the eero Pro 6 with your package, how many of these do you have?

The Full Fibre 500 or 900 packages often mean that customers do not achieve the speeds they think they should (obviously, around 500 or 900Mbps). This is often not an issue or design of these services, but the connection between their devices and the router. The Wi-Fi network adapters in these devices often cannot deliver speeds as fast as the fibre service can.

Take the example of some older Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) adapters that might work at speeds up to 433Mbps, when used in a perfect wireless environment, which most homes are not. When an internet speed test is performed, the speed achieved is down to the slowest link in the chain, namely the 433Mbps Wi-Fi adapter. Speed tests in this case might achieve somewhere around 400Mbps or less.

Older Ethernet connections can suffer as well. If a device only supports the 10/100Mbps standard, not the normal 1000M (1Gbps) or even the newer 2.5Gbps available on some desktop PCs, they are likely to only record 100Mbps on a speed test.

To get close to the 500/900Mbps on a speed test, that device must either have a minimum of a 1Gbps Ethernet connection or if wireless, a much faster WiFi adapter. This would be a higher specification Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) or Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) adapter. Even so, at these wireless speeds, signal quality must be near perfect (signal strength with very little Wi-Fi interference).

There are some basic checks that you can do to ensure that your devices have the best chance of achieving these higher speeds:-

1) Check that these devices are connected to the 5GHz WiFi band, not the 2.4GHz band and with the eero Pro 6, then as many devices as possible should be using the 5GHz (High) band.

2) Which eero Pro 6 is each device connected to, it should always be the gateway or closest/fastest extender node. The more extender nodes that you go through to get to the gateway, the slower the speed will always be. In fact, you will probably need to be connected to the gateway to have any chance of these speeds. In addition to this, with the eero Pro 6, any device capable of a 2402Mbps link speed must be connected to the 5GHz (High) wi-fi band. The 5GHz (Low) band is not as high a specification as the high one.

3) To aid with step 2, is "Client Steering" enabled within the eero app, as well as "Local DNS Caching"?

4) Have you checked for WiFi interference, a topic that I can provide a lot of help with?

What are the WiFi specifications of this new laptop?

Re: Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

JamesyD1 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 13:36:53 GMT

Hi Keith - many thanks for jumping into this.

I will go through your advice/pointers here.

This is the eero Pro 6 router but I only received one unit. I don't know if TalkTalk have considered properly whether a single unit from mesh type system is really suitable for coverage. Our house is not very large and no corner of any room is more than 20ft distance from the router. Our previous TalkTalk router on the Fibre65 always covered the house fine.

The location of the eero is in a large walk-in press where the combi boiler is also located. This boiler has a Wiser smart app (radio not wifi) for controlling thermostat etc. I did consider if this would cause any interference but it shouldn't. And besides, we are supposed to be accommodating more wireless technology in the modern home, as should ISPs for sure too and should not have to be worried about interactions between different wireless technologies. The location needs to be here for the reasons of connection to the street fibre cables (which are on poles) and it being very troublesome to locate the ONT anywhere else without having route fibre cables all over the place. The installer and BT Openreach saw no issues with the location and potential wifi coverage.

My iphone 12 works fine with the eero from everywhere in the house, although I do notice the speeds are inconsistent when furthest away from its location (only about 20-25ft in a straight line) but always above 250Mbps.

The laptop is a new Asus Vivobook that has an Intel WiFi 6E AX211 160MHz adapter. The drivers are the latest and just updated after it was purchased on 14th Sept. So, it really should be latest wifi spec.

On your 1) - I cannot see how to select between the 2.4 and 5.0 GHz bands. But I am just not getting speeds any higher than 60Mbps and the upload speed is always higher than this download speed - something I've never experienced before on any connection with any device.

The speed improves a little when standing right next to the eero - but this really shouldn't be on the agenda.

I have an older Dell laptop which has older Wifi adapter but it actually connects better and achieves speeds above 100Mbps now in the same location as the new laptop. It is showing the same behaviour whether on 2.4GHz or 5.0GHz.

On your 2) - there is only the one eero - so I guess this is academic?

3) Both the Client Steering and Local DNS Caching are now set to Enabled (the default was Enabled for Client Steering but I had to make the change for the DNS Caching)

4) on Wifi Interference - some of my points above re. the smart bolier control app - as well the fact we have a smart meter for both electricity and gas might be relevant. But these were all there before with our Fibre65 service (not FTTH but on old copper) and never interfered. The only activity which ever did interfere with some wifi-enabled activities was the microwave oven - which would usually cut the Apple Airplay connection!

As mentioned above, the signal strength and coverage seems to be worse with the eero than the old router - which makes me question why TalkTalk are sending out a single eero unit when its clearly designed to work as a mesh system with a single unit seemingly not able to cover more than a 10ft radius very well - and it doesn't seem to have a signal strong enough to pass through standard wooden doors and floors unaffected.

Just as a slight aside - we have a 500Mbps FTTH service at our other house which is in Ireland. This service is very stable in terms of speed and only drops when there has been a power outage and it can take a day or so to get stable again. The wifi signal is strong enough to reach about 50ft and only gets affected by the fact it has to pass through concrete floor for upstairs. Our smart heating system does not interfere with the wifi at all. I use a wired ethernet connection there alot anyway. But the eero and our house here make it very impractical to start running ethernet cables. But I would definitely be using wired if it was straightforward.

Thanks for your help.