This month I’ve changed my mind.
Over the several hours that I’ve talked to BT employees over the past month I’ve concluded this lumbering beast needs dismembering and fast. Everyone I’ve talked to from Jordan, Louise, Kate, Mia, Dali to Helen and many others have been articulate, intelligent and well mannered. But the cock-up over which they’ve calmly presided is baffling.
On the 18th of March they accepted my reporting of an imminent change of address and my order for fibre optic broadband with all the bells and whistles at the new address.
A week later having received no confirmation of the order I called and was unable to reach anyone apart from the BT sales team trying to sell me BT Mobile. It was like enquiring what the next train for London was and being asked if I wanted to buy a banana. Eventually I got someone who said they could help and they told me the first order had not been processed for technical reasons and a new one would be raised.
Hurray. It was and I was e-mailed confirmation and told an engineer would call to sort everything at the new address on April 2nd and that the kit would be sent.
The kit arrived. BT were really bringing it all together. So ‘twas on a Wednesday morning when the BT man came to call….only he didn’t.
And when I complained was told the earliest anyone could call was April 16th.
And then called again to say that was now April 20th. Because the sun was shining, Brighton is laid back and England had just won a cricket match I didn’t shout and was calm and reasonable and the Indian said wistfully “thank you Sir for being so nice in these circumstances”.
And then I got an invoice for the old address for my office which is where the broadband is based which didn’t mention termination so I rang and they denied all knowledge and said the line would remain live till April 20th this being the earliest they could react.
So I have broadband working where I used to live and nothing where I do live.
And about four hours of my life have been spent talking to people who are doing their best but do not grasp that the customer’s always right and needs to be satisfied.
But it’s all clearly my fault and I should be so lucky as to have BT supplying me.
BT is a beast.
I’m going to have to fire them but they’ve been family all my life so it’ll be a real wrench.
I’m going to check out alternatives and move on from bureaucracy….or not.
As Bob Hoskins might have said “it’s good to walk”.
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Part 2 Bringing the fibre to the new cabinet can be a slow and labour intensive process!
What else needs to be done?
The DSLAM needs to be installed on a concrete plinth and this will need to be constructed. Once constructed, the DSLAM can be put in place and fixed in position; this can be done either before or after the fibre has been brought to the site. If there are problems with getting the fibre to the DSLAM, it may be that the DSLAM is installed but it could be a matter of weeks or months before the fibre is able to be connected. Why is the DSLAM installed if the fibre is not yet in place? In order to ensure best value for money, we group together and work on a number of DSLAMs in a geographical area and it is more economical to deliver and install them all at once rather than have engineers called back to site at a later date.
Another vital step in the process is to connect the two cabinets together, the existing green cabinet (known in the trade as a PCP) and the DSLAM. This is a copper connection between the two sets of infrastructure and new ducting needs to be installed underground to run the cables through. The power will then need to be brought from an existing power source to the DSLAM.
Once the two cabinets are connected with the copper cabling and the power installed, the DSLAM needs to undergo a light test; this is to ensure that all of the many fibres are connected correctly. Following a successful light test, the DSLAM then needs to be registered on BT’s network.
Although BT is installing the network, it is an open network which means that a variety of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be given the opportunity to provide their services across the improved infrastructure; please note that the decision to offer services will be down to each individual ISP according to their business model and is outside the control of this project.
Once the ISPs have had an opportunity to register the DSLAM on their networks, the new infrastructure becomes what is known as ‘Customer Ready For Service’. It is at this point that you are able to contact your chosen ISP and upgrade to fibre broadband. However, it may be that not all premises within the same postcode area are able to order an improved service at the same time; this is because some postcodes may be served by more than one infrastructure and it could be that not all of the infrastructure has been or will be upgraded."
Lost the will to live?
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