Internet connections over Leadhills and Possibly Wanlockhead are experiencing repeated drop-out, with some connections too badly affected to be usable. This does not appear to be affecting all Leadhills lines, but numbers seem to be rising. The problem is affecting all Internet Service Providers.
If you have friends or neighbours in Leadhills or Wanlockhead who are experiencing problems, please ask them to call their Internet Service provider’s help line and inform them of the problem; we know Newnet, Talk-Talk and BT services are affected. The issue lies with a protocol problem at BT possibly arising from a transmission fault at the Leadhills exchange. The problem prevents communication with ISP servers once a connection is authenticated.
The problem has been conveyed to BT by Newnet engineers, but more calls means more pressure. It is nearly 24 hours since the problem appeared; the delay in identification and repair is unacceptable.
If you have had issues since mid-afternoon of 31st May, please call me on 74428, I am trying to map the problem and am in contact with Newnet engineers who are liaising with BT.
This item was posted using a 56K modem dial-up – my broadband is down too!
UPDATE:
As of 21.47, Friday 1st June, the Internet issue affecting several lines in Leadhills has been resolved. The problem was caused by a faulty transmission card in the Leadhills exchange. A BT engineer arrived at approximately 9PM with the brief: “to wait there until a replacement card arrives by courier and then replace the offending card.”
If you are aware of anyone whose Internet connection is still down, please advise them to turn off their router or Home Hub for ten minutes and then restart it. This should clear any remaining connection problems. If it does not, ask them to call their ISP or call Mike Fuller on 74428 (who will be happy to advise/assist).
Many thanks to Newnet (my ISP) for quickly escalating this issue to BT, having recognised that the symptoms were consistent with an exchange fault. They referred this to BT Thursday evening after a brief conversation and diagnostic tests with me and then proceeded to pursue the matter with BT through Friday morning until BT officially identified the issue; frequently updating me with progress during the day. Thanks also to all those who took the time and stood the frustration, of calling BT facing the usual scripted conversations, evasive responses, and downright daft suggestions; not to mention the ubiquitous “No one else in Leadhills has a problem with their Internet”. This being despite the fact that one can produce a list of neighbours who have already complained and that an known exchange issue has been on record at BT since approximately 9am that morning. Does any department at BT talk to any other? Is there no means of flagging issues for the benefit of customer service operatives who are on the front line of BT operations and who bare the brunt of our displeasure? Come on BT, there has to be a way.
It really is time BT was taken to task over their broadband customer service. When a fault lies outside the customers home, all too often BT customer service resists the idea that the problem is BT’s or insists that the customer is at fault. And the hoops one has to jump through to get proper attention are frankly, a complete pain. Furthermore, when faced with an IT professional, the hoops are still rigorously insisted upon, despite the professional clearly and decisively eliminating a home problem. Once in a while, one gets to speak to an advisor who can deviate from the script, can understand the symptoms of the problem and can act quickly to resolve it. It seems there are too few with that ability at BT or perhaps they are simply discouraged from taking the initiative. And I shudder to think how many Home Hubs / routers are needlessly sent out each year to replace units that have been misdiagnosed as faulty. What is that adding to the cost of our broadband? Though to be fair, if you have a problem with your PC, BT techies are usually pretty good at sorting it; why not the broadband?
Posted using my broadband, yea!