Full Fibre nonsense

[rayd8or1]

On 12th February my fibre 65 stopped working, it was installed 2 years ago. I contacted TalkTalk and eventually an engineer was sent. The engineer arrived at 9am (was told 1-6pm slot!) and found the service light out on the ONT. He made a call and the service light came on. He could not connect to the internet. For some reason at about 8pm the internet came on. 2 days later internet off again. Contacted online chat, which if I'm being brutally honest is appalling unless it's just a loose cable. After about 3 hours of being bounced from one agent to another and going over the same questions repeatedly I was so frustrated that I used my phone to look at Zen Broadband. I was about to switch, when TalkTalk phoned me. The agent told me that to solve my problem I should switch from Fibre 65 to Fibre 500. It was at a better price and with the latest modem which would be with me in 3-5 days. In total I spent 8 hours on the phone and online chat, it is not fit for purpose. After 5 days and no router appearing, I contacted chat again. It would appear that my fibre 65 was cancelled, therefore no internet. I was not told that I would be without internet as I was simply switching from one service to another. I was told that I had a go live date of 17th March 2025 and an engineer would come and install the full fibre! What? No matter how many times I tried to explain that full fibre is already installed no one seemed capable of understanding this. I assumed I was just switching from fibre 65 to 500. I am so angry and frustrated, I work from home for a local hospice, my wife works for a medical museum and needs internet at home to plan visits and talks, my security cameras require Wifi as does my printer. So in summary TalkTalk have deprived me of our work, security and general internet usage for over a month. Nothing seems to change when I try to speak to them, just reminder emails of my impending totally unnecessary installation. PLEASE can someone sort this out before I explode!!!!! I had aggressive prostate cancer diagnosed in July 2024 and a prostatectomy in August. I rely on the internet to receive appointments etc, this is really affecting me and my family at this important time.

[rayd8or1]

So today I received an email from Openreach saying 'you're connected!" I am NOT connected. The install engineer couldn't connect me due to the pole outside having a broken connector and someone would be out within the week to fix it. I also got a text from TalkTalk to say a specialist would attend to complete the connection on 25th March. Do these 2 companies speak to each other? Utter shambles. Now 6 weeks with no internet. Unforgivable!!! 

[rayd8or1]

And so it continues... Openreach attended this morning and installed the Openreach ONT and new fibre cable. They left the old City Fibre box and cable in place (apparently they can't touch it). So I now have 2 ONTs side by side and 2 cables from the pole outside to my house. However, once all installed, the engineer went up the pole to connect everything up only to find the pole connector was broken! (The old City Fibre connection is separate to the Openreach one, so not the cause of my initial loss of service). He said someone from Openreach would attend within a week to fix it. So another week with no internet to make it 6 weeks in total, and that's if they actually turn up. To say I'm annoyed is being kind. Also, despite the promises for TalkTalk to contact me within 48-72hrs on 3 occasions, they have become broken to match my outside pole! I will expect considerable compensation for this loss of service, in my opinion there was no need to disconnect my old service 5 weeks prior to my new one. I've had to upgrade my phone contract to Unlimited data to allow a measly 5mbps hotspot which is poor at best and awful most of the time. Roll on the next 7 days...

[Gliwmaeden2]

It looks like there are problems with upgrades if they don't stick to the same infrastructure engineers that did the first installation, @rayd8or1.

A similar situation here with a new Vodafone customer being told he'd need another ONT etc if it's not the same company doing the upgrade:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CityFibre/comments/1fhg436/if_i_already_have_fibre_and_bt_ont_why_do_i_need...

Competition not just between ISPs but between the different installation companies, aiming to get us all abandoning our copper lines by the end of January 2027, leads to complications for the end user, @rayd8or1.

It's maybe just a case of making sure that a Cityfibre engineer is sent, rather than an Openreach one, for a smoother upgrade.

Staff will be back on during the day - hope you can make swift headway with this as they are not then on here over the weekend to follow things up. 

[rayd8or1]

The original install was 2 years ago by City Fibre - I think the engineer who came on 13th February was from OpenReach. Still no contact from TalkTalk, utterly unforgivable. I should be getting them here on Monday 17th March and the router is due to be delivered tomorrow. None of this was necessary and the online chat with TalkTalk is a disgrace unless it's a simple problem like not switching the router on. So so angry that I have been treated this way having been a customer for so many years I can't remember. If I don't get online on Monday I really will throw many teddies out of my massive pram!!!!!  

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Thanks for the information. Was your full fibre service with City Fibre?

Chris

[rayd8or1]

Hi Chris, I was using the landline for internet for the past 2 years as full fibre would not reach most of my house. I still have telephone service but as part of the upgrade to fibre 500 I opted for VOIP and retain my current phone number. I connected to the ONT when the engineer was here on 13th February but even he couldn't connect to the internet. My main concern is that TalkTalk have disconnected my broadband one month before I get fibre 500 on 17th March as they insist on engineers to install the full fibre. I already have the ONT installed. No one seems to be able to grasp that fact! Just switch me over to fibre 500 please! Does everyone who switches have to go through this nonsense? Or have TalkTalk initiated a new install by mistake? I think so....

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi rayd8or1,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing problems with your service. Just to confirm, you had broadband service with your router connected to the ONT up to the 12th? Do you still have a telephone service via your old telephone socket?

Chris

[rayd8or1]

Hi Keith, nothing I said was aimed at you or this community, sorry if I gave that impression. Having read many of the posts on here I am hopeful that my issues can be resolved. Thanks again.

[KeithFrench]

Hi @rayd8or1 I am simply trying to help you. You will find that the TalkTalk staff on this forum are thought by many to be much better than the service centre, have this reputation for a reason. They also do not work to scripts either. If you haven't heard from them by midday tomorrow, then let me know & I will use another route to them.

[rayd8or1]

Thank you Keith. I get that message regularly but no contact so far. I cannot believe that in this day and age, with the internet being so much a part of society, that things like this can happen and not be resolved. One month with no internet is unacceptable. I'd like to know how they think they can possibly compensate me for this? This isn't just about not being able to use my smart TV, there are far more important issues for me, my cancer treatment, my security cameras, my work etc. Really unbelievably bad service. Nice to know I immediately get email notifications of my community badges though! Really makes up for this nightmare! NOT!

[KeithFrench]

I have asked one of TalkTalk's support to pick your thread up and investigate it for you.

They aim to respond within 48 hours (Monday - Friday) excluding Bank Holidays, but if more urgent you can always try the Service Centre on 0345 172 0088. The posts are responded to in time/date order, oldest first.