- Location
- Ceredigion
Keep a bit of wire handy and repair it yourself done loads of them
Rural Phone lines
- Thread starter Grain Buyer
- Start date
Watty
Member
- Location
- North Devon, UK
Start invoicing BT for loss of business and time spent dealing with their issues. Not just one liners but detail the dates, time spent, calls on mobile, costs of calls, business lost because customer couldn't get hold of you etc. Thant moves it up he priority list. Also write to them about yr elderly father etc and that if he falls ill and you are unable to call an
- Location
- East yorks
BT are the biggest waste of time ever. Complete shower.
Every time we've moved they've been the issue.
One reason I won't have BT sport or Internet, won't give them anymore money
Every time we've moved they've been the issue.
One reason I won't have BT sport or Internet, won't give them anymore money
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Grain Buyer
Member
- Location
- Omnipresent
7.30am- knock at the door, another engineer!! I told him someone had been yesterday, stayed for 4 hours and deemed the line unfit. He looked confused, kept looking at his computer thingy, then asked if he could have a look. He's now doing the same as the bloke did yesterday, apart from this one is a heavy smoker and my house now stinks of tabs...just off his clothes. Great thing is, neither he, or the one from yesterday can actually check the "junction box" which is underground and liable to flooding. Suggested he looked there as the problem only happens after a heavy rain event. His stock answer was, he was an engineer who was allowed to go up poles, he's not allowed down holes!! you couldn't make it up. I'm waiting for Jeremy Beadale to hop out any second (is he not dead??)
I have frequent trouble with my line - not the phone bit, but getting internet through it. I am 5 miles from the exchange, and the line between here and there has been patched many times. There are junction boxes which get rats in and water. BT are out here maybe 6 times a year, and currently they have been out for 3 occasions to deal with a broadband fault which has seen my speed go from 3mbps down to 0.25mpbs. As a result, I have decided to live without it. I have cancelled my BT line and am using just the mobile. I have cancelled my internet and on Thursday am having Quickline put me in a high-speed wireless connection which should get me 10mpbs downloads. Bets thing is it is cheaper than phone + internet to have unlimited wireless BB and practically unlimited Vodaphone mobile.
As I / we own all the land between here and the next village's junction box, I did offer to cut a new trench; purchase the cable; and refill for BT if they would install me a better connection. Not interested. Which is understandable as there are 4 houses down this 2.5 mile stretch and that cant earn them anything but trouble.
It's quite understandable, especially given the demands we make on telephony, but there are viable alternatives available. If you wanted a proper house phone etc then you could use voice-over-IP. My parnets have built a new house and arent even going to get a BT line connected and thats right close to a village.
As I / we own all the land between here and the next village's junction box, I did offer to cut a new trench; purchase the cable; and refill for BT if they would install me a better connection. Not interested. Which is understandable as there are 4 houses down this 2.5 mile stretch and that cant earn them anything but trouble.
It's quite understandable, especially given the demands we make on telephony, but there are viable alternatives available. If you wanted a proper house phone etc then you could use voice-over-IP. My parnets have built a new house and arent even going to get a BT line connected and thats right close to a village.
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Danllan
Member
- Location
- Sir Gar / Carms
Have generally found BT - as an organisation - to be very unhelpful and their Indian call-centre operators to be at the least irritating and at worst incompetent and dishonest, but...
All the engineers we have had for the last few years have been nothing but helpful, e.g.:
We had rodent damage to the main cable where it entered the loft and when I reported it, like a poster above I was told 'It will be £130 if the damage is inside your property'. Well, the engineer came, she had a look in and out, gave a hell of a pull at the cable and said 'You're lucky, the damage is just outside the house so you won't get billed.'
When we had cable down after the ice and snow another engineer really did a good job, everything re-connected and re-tensioned on first visit; all this even though it was pretty obvious that a fair amount of the problem was down to someone allowing a bit too much tree growth...
All that said, if we could get an efficient, economical and reliable alternative, I'd probably go for it.
All the engineers we have had for the last few years have been nothing but helpful, e.g.:
We had rodent damage to the main cable where it entered the loft and when I reported it, like a poster above I was told 'It will be £130 if the damage is inside your property'. Well, the engineer came, she had a look in and out, gave a hell of a pull at the cable and said 'You're lucky, the damage is just outside the house so you won't get billed.'
When we had cable down after the ice and snow another engineer really did a good job, everything re-connected and re-tensioned on first visit; all this even though it was pretty obvious that a fair amount of the problem was down to someone allowing a bit too much tree growth...
All that said, if we could get an efficient, economical and reliable alternative, I'd probably go for it.
- Location
- hereford
7 weeks no phone or net so far this year - engineer drafted in from up north said our cable is nadgered and puts in his report, feck all has happened and breakdowns since - our problem is that the farm lies in a bowl and cant get decent mobile signal ( orange crap now voda - lot better ) or any beamed in signal - don't care about landline its the internet I hate to lose - basically BT don't give a fig as we are 4miles from the exchange and only 4 houses - in the old days (!) the meb read the meter bt looked after us the trains were getting there (wherever that was) grammar schools worked and the poll tax made everyone pay a bit !!!!!!! Had to do a friggin questionaire the other day just to have some pheasant feed delivered FFS. Rant over off to do a risk assessment - the combine steps look a little high.
Paddington
Member
- Location
- Soggy Shropshire
Is it an urban myth or do BT have a call centre in Ireland that can be accessed at certain times of the day?
I once reported a faulty line to BT, volunteering the cause of the fault and was told that their engineers would decide that on inspection.(the pole was across the road where a tractor had knocked it down- not mine.)
I once reported a faulty line to BT, volunteering the cause of the fault and was told that their engineers would decide that on inspection.(the pole was across the road where a tractor had knocked it down- not mine.)
- Location
- South Devon
Do you get better service with a BT business line or am I wasting my money ?
Used to get squirrels eating the insulation,letting the water in.
I cleared the trees and they replaced the line - not had any trouble in over 10 years.
Used to get squirrels eating the insulation,letting the water in.
I cleared the trees and they replaced the line - not had any trouble in over 10 years.
Kevm
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
I think BT must have realised years ago that it would cost them millions/billions to trench in fibre optic cables down every little farm lane, so adopted a policy of p**sing the outlying customers off till they quit, then if they ever came back and asked for fibre optic in the future BT would say "your'e a new customer so the cable will cost you £20 thousand"
Kev
Kev
- Location
- hereford
Moved back to BT thinking we might get looked after a little better!!!!!!! b-----cks we do - should have stayed with Resource Utilities - at least it was one quick phone call and talk to the same guys and let them do the running around and prob had a bit more weight even though we are a business .
Wendy10
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
I mistakenly went back to BT a while ago. Am now counting the days till I can go back to plus net. (18th August) that took some weedling to get the date my contract ended out of them. Had to resort to sculdugery!
great word that should be used more often
Wendy10
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
Thank you. Not sure about the spelling though
think your safe no spell checker will even recognise the word,i should probably chat you up now tis what i do
Wendy10
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
Feel free. Husband on a vintage tractor run so I'm chilling for a change!think your safe no spell checker will even recognise the word,i should probably chat you up now tis what i do
excellent with any luck he could be gone for hours if it conks out,so what do you like to do when chilling?
Wendy10
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
Isn't this rather removed from the original thread?
At the moment I'm catching up on here, then I may go mad and make myself a drink, alcoholic as it's Saturday!
no problemo give me your land line number see we are back on topic
so what would the lovely lady's choice of aperitif be this fine evening?
Wendy10
Member
- Location
- Carmarthenshire
G&T with ice and a slice, as you are asking.no problemo give me your land line number see we are back on topic