BT...a short(ish) rant.

[RockySpears]

If you do not have the cables newly laid to your premises by the likes of Comcast/NTL/Virgin/any other "cable" provider, then you are using BT infrastructre.

As a one time Frames Engineer (Frames are where the actual, physical connections to your home are made) I can assure you that whether you have Sky, Talk-Talk, Orange etc etc, the cable, junction box etc are the same all the way back to your exchange.  It is an OpenReach engineer that connects for Sky, Orange etc, they do not have their own engineers (or at least, did not when I left them a couple of years ago).  So those getting "better" than BT are, in fact, using the same physical cables as BT, they own the cable from your house to the exchange, that is who the line rental fee goes to.

  In the exchange, there is equipment belonging to the different BB suppliers and this equipment is connected to the BT Frame by OpenReach engineers.

  Other than a few individuals, no one has fibre connected to their home.  It is fibre to the cabinet, then crappy copper cable to your house via the telegraph pole for the older houses, or via the underground cabling system for newer homes.  If you have a telegraph pole, then your cable could be 60-70 years old, and may NOT even be copper as, during the Uganda crisis, aluminium alloys were used.

  For those in the countryside, you may not even know where your exchange is (it can look like a lock-up garage to be honest, and they generally have no external indication that they are BT property.  This is an attempt to stop scrotes stealing the cables.

  You can find your exchange here : Timperley, for example WA15 7UN,  is 2Km from the Altrincham  exchange.

Hope this is of interest to some at least,

Yours,

RS

Edited November 29, 2017 by RockySpears
Spelling

[mossy835]

iv worked for bt for 34 years. and still there,the small people they are not very good with we have just pulled in optic fiber, and the people have been off for 12 weeks.its the big companys they look after, the money is there.i feel you you all.

Edited November 29, 2017 by mossy835

[Dougy]

I recently cancelled my BT email address as I didn't use it and being charged for it. 

Rang BT and asked about cancelling the contract..I was told that I was not on a contract, brill I'll just cancel the DD. 

Received a letter telling me I owed £19.00. Mmmm what for I thought. 

Rang them up and they said it was for used service. 

I could go on and on. 

They threatened court action for none payment. 

Mmmm interesting. 

Anyway to cut a very long (5 months of letters and calls) story short. They ended up paying me a £3.49 refund. 

I rang them up just for the craig and asked to speak to someone who worked for BT.

Not getting any sense from anyone speaking in to me in Punjab I asked to speak to someone a little higher. 

I gave up in the end, British Telecom ----  a joke

[Lord v]

I have to deal with BT a lot in job for commercial connections/disconnections/diversions etc.

If it's any consolation they are just as **** at that as they are at the private stuff. 

 

[mossy835]

i shoot one farm, and the were building a cottage, the water board, and gas came out ok. but they had a job to get bt there,in the end they did turn up.

[Scully]

Quick update. BT have sent us a router! We now have two! 

OH. Has been on phone for 40 minutes getting it sorted. They have promised us we will be connected on the 12th Dec. I’ll be away on site in Aberdeen. It will be nice to come home to internet!

??For some reason I can’t stop laughing! OH thinks I’m a cynic!