Fibre speed has now dropped to 11 Mb/sec

[GoodTimes]

The service to my home is via an overhead cable.  The service fails every couple of years and OpenReach visit to perform a poor quality fix.  My recollection is that OpenReach last visited about two years ago and applied a fix that they described as "temporary".  The fix involved clipping a cable to the fence that runs beside the footpath to my home.

This "temporary" fix caused my speed to drop from about 25 Mbps to 15 Mbps.  My speed has been 15 Mbps for about two years.

I waited patiently for TalkTalk or OpenReach to tell me when the "temporary" fix would be replaced by a permanent fix.  Sadly, my patience was not rewarded and I never got a permanent fix.

In recent days, my service has been disconnecting two or three times per hour and achieves a speed of 11 Mbps when connected. 

I used the TalkTalk website to perform a connection test on 25 December and the test reported a fault and then reported that the fault had been closed after a restart of my router.  My attempts to perform another connection test or raise a support ticket have been thwarted by the website telling me that my fault has been closed.

My attempts to use online chat to report a fault have resulted in the display of a constantly spinning circle and nothing that resembles online chat.

What can be done to persuade Openreach to replace their "temporary" fix with something that works and brings my speed back up to at least 25 Mbps?

Thank you for you help.

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  Sadly things have not been great over the weekend.   Broadband and phone were disconnected for at least two hours between about 14.30 and 17.00 on Saturday (17 Feb).  At other times, speeds were slow with repeated disconnections.  For example, the router is currently reporting that it has been connected for only 25 minutes.  I am expecting more problems the next time that it rains.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 16.0 Mbps (Whoop Whoop).

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes,

How are you getting on, have you seen any improvement over the weekend?

Chris

[GoodTimes]

Thank you for your prompt replies.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 13.1 Mbps.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hello,

Thanks for the additional availability. We've just checked again now and it's still with the line engineer, Openreach haven't requested for us to book an appointed visit as yet, however we will re-check first thing on Monday morning and if a visit is required then we'll book it and will post back here to keep you updated.

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  I am available for an Openreach engineer visit ... 20 Feb PM, 21 Feb PM, 22 Feb PM, 23 Feb PM.

Thank you for booking the visit.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 13.1 Mbps.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Hi again,

Thanks for confirming. I've re-logged the fault now but the line test is still detecting a potential line fault (no appointed engineer required) so it won't let me book an appointed visit at this stage. We'll re-check this first thing on Monday morning and if the ticket shows that a visit is still required then we'll book the visit for you. Could you provide a few dates for next week so we have them available when we check this first thing please.

We'll also check it in 1 hour just incase it has updated.

Thanks

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  Thank you for your reply that says that I will be liable for charges if the "speeds are ok" and there is stability for a "period of time".  I appreciate that neither you nor I have any control over this not-specific nonsense and we need not discuss these charges any further.

I will accept the charges if no faults found.  Please arrange an Openreach engineer visit.  Thank you for your help.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 10.8 Mbps.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

I'm sorry for the delay. In order to arrange an engineer visit for you we would need for the potential time related charges to be accepted in full. If the engineer arrives and the speeds are ok and the connection looks stable for a period of time (no faults found) then potential charges may be applied. Would you still like me to go ahead and arrange the visit for you?

Thanks

Michelle

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  I was not able to progress this fault yesterday (14 Feb) because I was busy with other stuff.  I have attempted to book an engineer today (15 Feb) and everything went pretty much as I expected ... that is ... I was not able to book an Openreach engineer.

A SMS text message received on 13 February suggested that I go to support.talktalk.co.uk/fault-timeline ... I clicked the blue button labelled "Start live chat" on the webpage and nothing happened ... I tried this using two different web browsers on my Windows computer and also on my phone.  Nothing, absolutely nothing, happened when I clicked the blue button.

A second SMS text message received on 13 February included a link to initiate a chat via WhatsApp ... A tab on the link brought me to a webpage that asked me to install WhatApp.  I declined because WhatsApp was already installed on my phone.  I connected to your digital assistant Sara using the telephone number +44 7488 865886 via WhatsApp.  Sara helpfully suggested that I book an engineer and provided a link to the webpage with the blue button (I am hoping that you remember the blue button).

The current situation is, in summary ... my broadband service continues to be slow and disconnecting, I continue to be patient and good natured, an Openreach engineer has not been booked because I am not able to make the blue button work.

I am hoping that you can organise an Openreach engineer per my message on 12 February at 11.27, "I am available for an engineer visit on 13, 15, 16, 20,21,22,23 February in the PM on condition that I will not be charged if Openreach report that they are 'unable to find a fault'."

Thank you for trying to help.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 10.6 Mbps.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes,

If you received the SMS messages at around 11:30 yesterday then they have been sent at Openreach's request in response to me raising the fault (Openreach have decided that a visit to your home is now required) so you can reply and arrange the engineer visit

Chris

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  Thank you for running a line test and for notifying Openreach.

I have today (13 February) received two SMS text messages from Talktalk requesting that I "book an engineer appointment" and/or "... click this secure link ... and ... start talking to Sara ..."  I am ignoring these SMS text messages because I understand from your message at 08.46 today (13 Feb) that Openreach are already working on the problem (again).

Thank you again.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 6.1 Mbps.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes,

I've run another line test and it's now failing with an error code that requires  that we log this to Openreach as a non-appointed task, which I have done, Openreach will investigate over the next 72 hours and may contact you directly if they need to access your home

Chris

[GoodTimes]

Hello.  The broadband service disconnected frequently during the early part of the weekend and was disconnected yesterday from about 15.25 until about 15.45 but appears to have stayed connected since.  The speed of my broadband service continues to be below the "guaranteed speed".

The "Engineers charges" says, "We'll charge you if the Openreach engineer was unable to find a fault with your service  ..."  Openreach have done nothing to improve the speed or stability of my broadbance connection during previous visits.  Have Openreach reported that they were "unable to find a fault" with my broadband service during these previous visits?  Will I be charged if Openreach report that they are "unable to find a fault" with my broadband service even though the speed of my broadband service continues to be below the "guaranteed speed"?

I am available for an engineer visit on 13, 15, 16, 20,21,22,23 February in the PM on condition that I will not be charged if Openreach report that they are "unable to find a fault".

Thank you for any clarification regarding charges and for booking an engineer visit.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 13.8 Mbps.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes,

If you'd like us to arrange the engineer visit can you confirm:

• That you accept potential Engineers charges
• Provide availability, either AM (8am to 1pm) or PM (1pm to 6pm) between Monday to Friday.

Thanks

Chris

[GoodTimes]

I had not tested with a different router prior to your message at 12.10 PM today (9 Feb).

I have now tested with a different router (on 9 Feb).  To the surprise of absolutely nobody, I continue to get reconnections and slow speeds using the different router.

Please do arrange an engineer visit.  We might get a different result if we do the same thing over and over again ... Though I expect that none of us are holding our breath.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 11.8 Mbps.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

I'm really sorry to hear this.

I can see that the speed has dropped and there are a number of re connections showing on the line.

If you have already tested with a different router at the test socket then we will need to arrange another engineer visit, would you like me to arrange this?

[GoodTimes]

Hello ... It rained yesterday evening (8 Feb) and speed declined through the evening and was below 12 Mbps by about 11pm (with repeated disconnections).

A speed test from the Talktalk website reported, at about 11.20 AM today, "You're getting a download speed of 13 Mbps.   Your guaranteed speed: 16 Mbps   You’re not getting your guaranteed speed ..."

Thank you for anything that you can do to persuade Openreach to help Talktalk deliver my "guaranteed speed" ... as a minimum.

PS. Current fibre broadband speed reported by the router is 13.6 Mbps.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Openreach have now closed the fault as resolved.

Please can you monitor the connection over the next few days and let us know how the connection/speed compares.

Thanks

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi GoodTimes

Thanks for your reply.

I can see that the engineer has located the fault (externally on the pole) and they are working to fix this.

I will keep monitoring for additional updates from Openreach.

Thanks again.

Debbie

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks for  the update, please let us know how you get on

Chris