Fibre Broadband Activation - Contact Issues

[JamesyD1]

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.

[JamesyD1]

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.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

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.

[JamesyD1]

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.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi James,

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

Michelle

[ferguson]

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!

[JamesyD1]

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.

[ferguson]

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

[JamesyD1]

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.

[ferguson]

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.

[JamesyD1]

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?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

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

[JamesyD1]

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.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

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.

[JamesyD1]

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?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

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