topic Re: Loss of landline services in Home Phone

Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:03:34 GMT

I lost the landline service sometime around 12th July. I have no problems with full fibre internet and TV services, only the landline phone. I have reported the issue twice (fault ref Numbers: 3-1219692616894 & 4-1217604193486). On each occasion talktalk have arranged for an Openreach engineer to visit but the fault appears to be with an overhead copper wire running from a telegraph pole whilst the engineers have only been able to deal with fibre problems. Both engineers reported the issue back to Openreach and said I would receive a follow up visit. In neither case has this happened. Openreach cannot be contacted directly. How can I get an Openreach engineer who CAN deal with copper wire issues to visit my property?

Re: Loss of landline services

Karl-TalkTalk — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:15:31 GMT

Can you please add your home phone number or Account number to your Community Profile.

We will not attempt to call you, this is so we can locate your account and run tests on your line if you are reporting a fault.

We will then reply via this thread in our Community with any further advice or next steps.

If unsure of your phone number, and if your line is working simply dial 17070 from your land line phone and this will confirm the number for you. Alternatively these details can be found within My Account online or may be on the heading of any paperwork you have received.

Please post back on this thread when this has been done.

Thanks

Karl.

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 09:13:52 GMT

Community Profile now updated

Re: Loss of landline services

Karl-TalkTalk — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 09:40:20 GMT

I've logged this out to Openreach. The last fault report was passed back requesting an appointment to be made however as this was not done within 72hrs the fault report then auto cancelled.

They will probably request an appointment to be made again, so check back here in 24hrs for an update and we can check the fault report to see what they say.

Karl.

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 11:14:27 GMT

Thanks for that.

I doubt Openreach's story that the requests for follow up appointments were not passed back until 72 hours after their engineers' visits. Both engineers assured me that they would report the issue on the same day of their own visit. It'll be interesting to find out if Openreach might contact me in advance of any subsequent visits. The previous two engineers turned up completely unannounced.

Thanks again.

Re: Loss of landline services

Karl-TalkTalk — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 11:18:05 GMT

Openreach will not contact a customer directly. They passed the ticket back to us requesting the appointment but as this was not then actioned within 72hrs it closed.

If you give me a nudge tomorrow I can check the ticket and see if its in an appointment state, and then confirm this for you.

Thanks

Karl.

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 08:54:33 GMT

Hi Karl, any news for me regarding a new Openreach appointment?

Re: Loss of landline services

Karl-TalkTalk — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:14:42 GMT

not yet, I've checked and openreach have updated the fault this morning to indicate it has manually assigned the fault to an engineer.

I'll check again later. If they do request appointment, do you want me to grab the first available slot?

Karl

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:33:13 GMT

Yes, please get the first available. It shouldn't matter whether I'm here or not as they should not need access inside the property and the gate will be open to allow access to the rear. It still seems incredible to me that they won't communicate with the customer even to let them know when they are likely to arrive!

Thanks again

Re: Loss of landline services

Karl-TalkTalk — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 05:29:40 GMT

latest update from 04:00 today is that fault is now past point of no return, meaning we cannot make changes, and looks like it is assigned to the frames team.

Karl.

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 12:56:50 GMT

Hi Karl,

You probably won't be surprised to learn that, far from being past the point of no return, an Openreach sub-contractor arrived (without any prior warning of course) just as we were about to leave the house at 1pm. We've had to make a few re-arrangements to our day because initially he DID need access to the interior of the property. He is now attempting to resolve the issue. I'll let you know if he is successful. He did tell me that "the frames team" would not have been the appropriate people to deal with the matter!

Thanks as ever I wouldn't have got this far without your assistance.

Re: Loss of landline services

Chris-TalkTalk — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 13:06:27 GMT

Hi asdfg11,

Thanks for the update, apologies for any inconvenience

Chris

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 14:14:58 GMT

Hi Chris,

The engineer from Openreach’s sub contractor (Circet telecoms) arrived at the same conclusion as the first engineer who visited on July 17th. The problem appears to be damage to the line extending from the telegraph pole at the rear of my property to the house itself. A secondary problem is that the line is routed through large trees (not mine) also at the rear of the property. I’m led to understand that the trees, along with recent bad weather conditions, are the likely source of the damage and that a new wire will be required before my landline connection can be reactivated. Given the size of the trees this will first require Openreach to organise the cutting back of some branches. The engineer is now progressing this with Openreach.

In order to avoid what is developing into a major job, he suggested asking if talktalk could switch my landline phone service over to something called Voice Over IP (available through the fibre service providing broadband and TV, he told me). I, on the other hand, am wondering if the simplest option might not be simply to have talktalk cancel the landline altogether? Can you tell me: a) if VOIP is an option and b) what difference cancelling the landline would make to my monthly bill?

Thanks

Re: Loss of landline services

Chris-TalkTalk — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 05:39:06 GMT

Hi asdfg11,

Thanks for the update

Thanks for the update. Unfortunately cancelling the phone service wouldn't make any difference to your monthly bill as broadband and phone are sold as a package and aren't available individually

VoIP should be available with our Future Fibre service (FTTP). If you are thinking of upgrading there is more information here - Guide to Full Fibre and FTTP | TalkTalk

Chris

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 07:43:57 GMT

Hi Chris,

This thread is missing the last communications between us regarding my landline issues, including confirmation that Openreach's engineers managed to restore the line on Friday August 4th. Can you update the thread as it constitutes an almost complete history of the issue.

Also, my latest bill includes charges for the landline service and boosts during the period 8th July to August 7th, a 31 day period for at least 23 days of which I had no service. It's also the case that part of the reason I had no service is because on two occasions talktalk closed off Openreach jobs before they had completed their work. On each occasion (because there is no way of communicating directly with Openreach to check whether they would be returning) I wasted a full week anticipating an arrival that never came. It strikes me that in addition to adjusting my bill, talktalk should be offering me some form of compensation if only for the number of hours I've had to devote to resolving what, in the end, seemed to be a relatively straightforward job.

Thanks for your assistance

Re: Loss of landline services

Chris-TalkTalk — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 08:19:53 GMT

Hi asdfg11,

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean about the missing communication?

please also see - About your auto compensation credit - TalkTalk Help & Support

Thanks

Chris

Re: Loss of landline services

Gliwmaeden2 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 09:11:38 GMT

@asdfg11, auto compensation should kick in but takes a month to show. If it doesn't, then post afresh in the billing section for staff to chase it up.

When posting, make sure the blue button turns to pink. Otherwise it won't show, and there will be no record of it on the forum.

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 14:18:02 GMT

Many thanks. I think you have explained what happened to my Fridays posts in response to Chris' last post.

Re: Loss of landline services

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 05:41:19 GMT

Morning,

Ok thanks for the update and please let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks

Re: Loss of landline services

asdfg11 — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 13:50:36 GMT

Hi Michelle,

Similar to my previous bill, my latest bill includes no reduction in the landline charge to compensate for the three weeks I was without those services during July and August, and nothing to compensate for the time I wasted waiting for contact from Openreach that was never going to come because talktalk had cancelled their jobs without first having checked if their work was complete. How best to pursue these issues?