Getting back home yesterday we found our main number has died, i.e. no dial tone, no broadband, nothing at all.

Ripped out all broadband filters etc and stuck on a phone I tested on the second line. Nope that's dead.

You got the automated service on 151 which you can use to check your own line etc.

No fault found.

Eventually ended up re-running the test by redialling. Guess what, a fault found - Yeah I kinda knew there was a fault, and it no doubt will be the same as last time, dodgy wiring which no doubt has been shorted again :thumbdwn:

If I am available morning/evening/school run or not. Great idea, shame that doesn't work when you have a wife who works shifts and have a car that needs to be put on the road + have to find a passport back asap

No doubt it will require an engineer visit, which means shifting loads of stuff out of the way again (book cases, computers, hifi, generally a nightmare). Has to be done, but that's biting out days out of my holiday again of course.

On the positive side, you are able to forward the phone to a mobile free of charge until the problem is fixed. This will be interesting as when I am in Poland week after next, that's gonna cost them a fortune...

iirc they will only forward the call to a uk mobile number for free, bear in mind that on many mobile networks you also have to pay to recieve a call whilst abroad

Indeed - however I have call forwarding on my Orange phone for free to my work number, which in turn then auto-forwards abroad at the company's expense

There are always workarounds to keep my personal cost to zero

Wow that was fast - it has now been identified as an external fault. Interesting as the first time the test was run it was no identified

Frustrating as this the fault is, I am very impressed with the efficiency of follow-up, BT has come a long way since the last time I had a problem

1. Text message updates to my mobile

2. Free forward (as already mentioned)

3. 1 GBP day refund on line rental after first 24 hours.

4. estimated fix by engineer outside property - Thursday

5. Call back carried out within half an hour, explaining external fault.

All-and-all a pretty darn good experience so far, and it would mean the problem should be fixed before I go to Poland which is a lot more pleasant

I must admit BT were pretty good with my repair too. Got the texts keeping me informed, and the problem was sorted OK. Maybe they're starting to actually be "efficient" :eek: surely not?!

when i ordered BB from BT i kept getting updates on the order and even got reminders that someone needed to be in when equipement arrived etc

i think they upped the service a lot over the last couple years due to pressure from other companies

Wish I could echo this praise of BT but I cant. My phone became crackly on 14th Jan and died on 15th - however strangely my broadband still working but with lots of dropouts and reduced speed.

I reported the problem on the 14th, BT did some tests and said no fault detectable, would I make some tests i.e. disconnect everything (ADSL Filters etc) and then try another phone standing alone on the line - did this and still faulty. They had closed the original fault report so I opened another on 15th.

They will not attend until the 23rd (next tuesday). This is a really miserable delay.

So as a BT customer I am entitled to £1 per day while fone was down ? They havent mentioned this to me - hoping to fob me off perhaps ? we'll see!

Anyone got any ideas what might be wrong ?

Call 151 again - first time it didnt detect a fault, second time it did.

Hopefully it will sort it for you as well

After Thursdays wind, I had a cable hanging down in my garden, plus in the field behind my house more cables were down (my line was not affected though). By Saturday morning it was still there, so I called 151 and today they were out doing the cables. And I didn't even tell them I worked for BT too. I got a text this morning at 8 telling me the engineers on the way:eek: . 2-3 hours later another text telling me my service was back to normal :confused: there was nothing wrong with my line in the first place and the guys were still fixing it? But all in all I was impressed.

Wish I could echo this praise of BT but I cant. My phone became crackly on 14th Jan and died on 15th - however strangely my broadband still working but with lots of dropouts and reduced speed.

I reported the problem on the 14th, BT did some tests and said no fault detectable, would I make some tests i.e. disconnect everything (ADSL Filters etc) and then try another phone standing alone on the line - did this and still faulty. They had closed the original fault report so I opened another on 15th.

They will not attend until the 23rd (next tuesday). This is a really miserable delay.

So as a BT customer I am entitled to

The problem at the moment is in some parts of the country BT engineers are still out repairing lines damaged by the storm, some parts are worse than others. They will have had lots of calls last week, and these will all have a priority higher than yours. If you line was dead it would be diferent, but as it still kind of works you will be a low priority.

the telephone is dead, been so since 15th, yet broadband still working after a fashion ?

Here's an update on the above post - my phone remains dead, yet on the fault tracking system it tells me my phone was repaired yesterday ! Wow hows that for a rubbish service !!!