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BT's Big Broadband Break started 8 Sep 05. Here is the history, rather difficult to read as the entries are 'latest at the top'.
At 15 Jan 06 yet another report of an ISP unable to restore a subscriber's service after weeks of trying. Is this an isolated case?
At the end of November 2005 I was still getting calls from subscribers who are not being re-funded their help desk call charges, despite earlier promises from all the ISPs that the charges would be re-funded. The latest was from Simon G who is still being told by his ISP, TISCALI (name and shame) that its nothing to do with them. Retail laws apply here, its the ISP who refunds our excess call charges AND subscription for the duration of the Big Break. An ex-gratia of £20 has been offered. Its up to each ISP to re-claim from BT Wholesale, the real culprits. Bear in mind that you must present your ISP with as detailed call records as you can.
Dave P called me 5 Nov 05 to say that his BB service was broken and AOL were being a pain in the butt. AOL asserted that there was a Major Systems Outage at the Ridgeway Cross exchange and seemed to be at a loss what to do about it! All the service providers appear to be as un-professional as each other. After 2 weeks calling AOL repeatedly Dave is now back on-line (8nov05).
Received 2 November 2005 by Parish Council Chair from the Clerk - “Hello David, hope you received the copy letter sent to BT which was also copied to Ofcom and the MP. I received a reply from Bill Wiggin today saying that he is appalled that we have not received any reply and agrees that their behaviour is utterly disgraceful, adding that he will write to BT again asking for a full explanation. I have heard nothing from BT so will get in touch with them again urging for a reply."
The Customer Manager,
British Telecom,
Correspondence Centre,
Durham DH98 1BT. 20th October 2005.
Dear Sirs,
Loss of Broadband in Cradley/Storridge. Malvern.
I refer to my previous letter dated 2nd October 2005 to which I have not received any reply.
The broadband break started on 8th September 2005. Complaints to BT resulted in little or no information. For those of us in the village with other internet service providers, the initial reaction was that there was no fault and that there must be a home computer problem. Several people actually called professionals to visit and look at their computers, only to find there was nothing wrong. It took BT seven days to notify other internet providers that there was a fault. Some villagers have now been down for five weeks. The following are some of the problems which have arisen.
Not one person in the village has received an apology from BT and their manner has been both unhelpful and arrogant. There seems to be serious problems with the BT interne't service and also BT's relations with other ISP's.
A whole community has been isolated for a considerable time and treated with distain by a public service provider who has no commitment to compensate private users. It seems other ISP's are now offering some compensation; it's called "customer relations"!
Surely questions should be asked by you at a high level; if there is no apology or satisfactory response, then a question should be asked in the house.
Yours faithfully
Clerk to the Council.
The original letter sent by Parish Council on 2 October 2005 is not available on the web site
The History. Apologies if this is difficult to follow, the most recent events are catalogued first...
My sympathy to all the businesses affected by this incident, the consequential losses must be considerable. If your Broadband does not work please ensure your ISP continues to have the fault logged. BT Wholesale have been restoring and then disconnecting lines to keep their outage figures down.
It's Friday 7 Oct and I have been re-connected at 2Mbps! But there is now news of a crossed line and the engineers still have work to do at the exchange. Tiscali have a promise to customer for restoration of service on 10 October. So much for the BT press office promising full service by Wednesday 5 Oct! On Monday I had a new report from an unconnected subscriber ("I thought it was just me, not the whole village"). Apparently Wanadoo are now promising to re-fund help desk call charges. Tiscali and Plus have promised to waive charges for the duration.
The chairman of Cradley Parish Council, David CN, has confirmed that the PC will include this issue at their next meeting at Storridge VH at 7.30pm on Tuesday 11 October. The village newsletter reports that the council has written to BT, copy to Bill Wiggin, but I have not been given a copy of the letter for the web site yet (PC minutes have to be approved by the subsequent meeting before general release).
As at Sunday pm 2 October there is another reconnection report, it is significant that BT wholesale are addressing our problems on a Sunday!
TalkTalk customers can take heart with news from their High Level Complaints (HLC) department 01925554335 as they have promised compensation.
See also the 30 sep Malvern Gazette (8 Sep, not July!) and 23 Sep articles archived below.
Martin MacAleese has formally reported the problem to OFCOM 0845 4563000, on behalf of the village, reference 2525549. OFCOM have passed the complaint on to BT high level complaints 0800 671580 who logged a CBUK# Virtual Channel Pass Failure (i.e. a Major System Outage at the exchange). This will be the 'software' fault originally admitted by BT.
Stories that the floor of the telephone exchange has collapsed and that it will take several days before the engineers can carry on appeared to be untrue. The small hole was fixed the morning after it was found, and it never even got in the way of the engineers. The engineers are managing to re-connect only a handful of subscribers each day - but they do appear to be making progress. Please be polite if you go to the exchange - OFCOM's actions have reduced the pool of engineers working for BT Wholesale and the few that are left are now having to work long hours.
I sent the following message to our MP, Bill Wiggin re... "BT Broadband wholesale; Major Systems Outage at the Cradley Ridgeway Cross 01886 880xxx exchange, see cradley.org.uk for latest status. Are you aware of this problem or should I start a 'write to your MP' campaign? Many thanks..."
...and got the answer "Thanks for the email, I was not aware but will forward this on to BT to try to get it put right. Perhaps instead of writing to their MP, write to BT. I will send you any information I get. Thanks Bill"
A Cradley business has written to his ISP, BT Business Broadband as enclosed. Domestic ISPs usually have a disclaimer when the problem is not their fault, so when you send your letter to them explain that they must inform BT Wholesale of the forthcoming action. You will need to reclaim any help desk telephone charges, as the ISP's handling of the fault calls has been, and remains to be, totally UNACCEPTABLE. We now need legal advice, is there anyone out there who can help? Any losses must be clearly identified with proof of financial disadvantage - and should be recoverable in the small claims court.
As of 27 Sep 05 my ISP reported "Your order is in delay due to NO CAPACITY IN EXCHANGE. We have to wait for BT to install new equipment or for a circuit to be ceased in your local exchange. We will keep updating this ticket every few days and will update you once the order is progressing, This may take a few weeks, your account billing will be put on hold until the order is complete. The next action on your Contact Us Ticket is due on Tuesday 4th October at 9:00am."
Look at the 'free' internet service providers if you have to change your contract to go back to dial up (my ISP provides roaming access via dial up as standard). The phone call is charged to your phone bill, usually local rate 0845, and you should be able to access other mail boxes using webmail. It only costs the 0845 phone bill so its worth trying if you need Email.
On Thursday evening 8 September 2005 the Broadband service for the 01886 880xxx Ridgeway Cross exchange stopped working. As of Tuesday 13 September my ISP reported that the problem was not even showing on the BT fault logging system! Please report any problems you may have to your ISP - it is then their job to report it to BT wholesale if they judge it appropriate.
The response from my ISP at 5pm Thu 15 Sep was - "Dear Mr Copp, As per the previous test results, we have not been able to identify a line specific issue and there are no general outages in your area affecting your service. It's most likely that if we progress this issue with BTwholesale and the issue is not a line issue, BT may apply a charge for the unrequired fault referral and this cost would be passed onto yourself and you would be no closer to resolving the issue. We can progress the issue with BT if you reply to this ticket accepting the possibility that you may be charged if the fault is not something that BT can fix. Please reply to this ticket and we will action/advise further."
In return, I wrote "Yes, PLEASE REPORT THIS FAULT TO BT WHOLESALE. This is NOT a line issue, it is something wrong at the exchange between the ADSL modems and the BT radius infrastructure, probably induced by the 2Mb upgrade. I agree to underwrite any costs that BT may arbitrarily assign, but please inform them that as the BT Broadband campaigner for the Ridgeway Cross exchange I will ask for those costs to be paid by all the villagers who are currently affected by this outage (via local press). There are lots of angry customers out there and all the ISPs are prevaricating about contacting BT wholesale.
Many thanks in anticipation, Tony Copp
P.S. Down time now in excess of seven days and counting."
By Friday morning BT had over 58 faults logged (all the lines!) and admitted to a Major System Outage; this information was discovered by staking out the telephone exchange till a friendly manager arrived. My ISP wrote -
"BT advise that it can take up to 48-72 hours for an update, but we will contact you with any further updates on this issue."
As of Tuesday evening 20 September my ISP informed me that the service would be restored by BT on Thursday 22nd. Proactive as ever, villagers are now writing to the press and contacting our MP. This web site is being maintained using my old dog and bone line.
Many thanks to those of you who managed to get through the fault logging systems, and to those who let me know how you were getting on. I understand that under some circumstances it may be possible to get a refund, especially on premium rate call charges if your ISP is BT. Keep records.
Copyright Newsquest Media Group - A Gannett Company, Local newspaper network.
From the Malvern Gazette 30 September 2005, ack Robert Hale:-
Net link still severed
BT has still not sorted out broadband access problems in Cradley, despite assurances last week.
Up to 58 customers in the village have been suffering problems since July 8.
Last week, BT said it would be fixed by Thursday, September 23. But this week, several residents are still having difficulties.
Parish council chairman David Creed-Newton said: "Some people are back on but quite a few aren't. Some businesses are having difficulties because of this.
"We're not getting very good information from BT about what's going on. The real problem is finding somebody to tell us what's going on, and who will be accountable for it."
Frank Jolly, who runs an engineering firm at Storridge, said: "One day they say the fault's at the exchange, the next it's your equipment. If you call them, you're left hanging on for 40 minutes, missing work calls. It's appalling. I'll be taking legal action."
A BT spokeswoman said: "We really expected to have the service repaired by last Thursday, but there was an unexpected fault at the exchange, for which we apologise."
She said all customers should have had service restored by Tuesday or Wednesday.
From the Malvern Gazette 23 September 2005, ack Robert Hale:-
Anger at failure to fix broadband fault
CRADLEY residents are furious at BT's failure to fix a fault with broadband internet access.
Up to 58 properties in the village have been without broadband access since Thursday, September 8.
Customers are angry the fault has not been fixed and that BT has not been able to tell them what is going on.
Tony Copp, who runs the village website, said: "People were reporting the fault to their internet service providers, who then had to report them to BT."
Last Friday (September 16), villagers kept a close eye on the local automated telephone exchange so they could accost any technician who visited it.
"This was how they found out that BT had logged 58 complaints and had declared a major systems outage", said Mr Copp.
He has posted updates in local shops to keep people informed about the problem.
John Edgar, though retired, still does some business consultancy overseas.
"I've
got the best part of £3,500 stuck in India and I can't get it out," he said. "I've had contracts that I've had to renege on. I've been forgiven, but it still shouldn't happen.
"There are other people who do business from their homes using broadband and they are all affected. It's a mistake of some magnitude."
A BT spokesman said the fault had been caused by software that had corrupted during work to upgrade the exchange and all customers should have had service restored by the end of yesterday (Thursday).
Message received from BT Thursday 23 December 2004 reads...Anthony, as the campaigner for Rideway Cross, I reget to inform you that there has been a change to your RFS date.
BT Wholesale makes every effort to meet the original dates that we estimated the exchanges would be ready by. In the vast majority of cases we do meet these dates and are able to provide ADSL service to our customers very soon afterwards. In some few cases we cannot meet the planned dates and, regrettably, have to delay the Ready for Service (RFS) date of the exchange.
The core network routes originally planned for your exchange will require additional capacity to be provided before commissioning can take place. As a result the planned enablement dates of the following exchanges have been delayed. The new date has been revised to 23/02/05.
BT regret any inconvenience caused.
Regards
Ashley Jahn, Broadband Marketing Manager, BT Wholesale Markets, www.bt.com/broadband,
E-mail ashley.jahn@bt.com
Newsletter for January 2005 was edited from the original material below, and the service was available from Feb/March 2005.
Newsletter for July 2004.
British Telecom have announced 28 June that the 01886 880xxx Ridgeway Cross exchange will be Ready For Service by 12 January 2005.
If you apply to your Internet Service Provider for the Broadband service then you will be able to use your telephone and have fast access to the internet at the same time.
Newsletter for June 2004
BT announced on Tuesday 27 April 2004 the replacement of the 'trigger level' campaign by a planned roll-out of broadband services to exchanges that have a trigger level (i.e. us) by 'Summer 2005'.
BT will publish our Ready For Service date by early July, many thanks to all of you who supported the campaign! BT originally announced our trigger level shortly after I registered the campaign - it is felt that BT are now responding to the pressure and publicity driven by the campaign groups. They claim "We would not be able to bring broadband to exchanges serving 99.6% of UK homes by Summer 2005 if we maintained the registration scheme."
Since we had not achieved 90% of our trigger level, the planning of our rollout will be done on a regional basis because that reflects the way BT's network is configured. "The remaining 565 smallest exchanges, serving less than 100,000 households between them, for which no trigger was set, will not be included in the upgrade programme at this stage." Organisations such as the Herefordshire Partnership 'We Want Broadband' campaign are there to look after these communities.
BT announced Tuesday 27 April 2004 the replacement of the 'trigger level' scheme by a planned roll-out to exchanges that have a trigger level (i.e. us) by 'Summer 2005'. BT will tell us our Ready For Service date in early July. Many thanks to all of you who supported the campaign, all the pain should now be over! I'll keep this campaign page on the site for your reference.
[As of April 2004, its too late to] pre-register at 'we want broadband' and your Internet Service Provider (so you keep your eMail address). The WeWantBroadband leaflets were delivered to you with the first Cradley and Storridge Parish Council newsletter.
The BroadBand Cradley campaign, including Mathon and Storridge, supported by the Herefordshire www.wewantbroadband.org campaign. See Tenbury Computers for a progress listing of local exchanges. Pre-register your interest now with the Herefordshire Partnership and your Internet Service Provider (so you keep your eMail address). Look at the Frequently Answered Questions. See also a Guardian article about WiFi, it is possible that Air-Band could be selected for Bromyard. The Federation of Small Businesses also note the Rural Area BroadBand Inclusion Trial alternative.
This was put in the May Newsletter, published just as BT announced the roll out plan.
Continue to watch this space for further developments: your impressive response to the Herefordshire Partnership 'We Want Broadband' leaflet campaign was awesome! Continue looking at www.cradley.org.uk for the latest information.
April Newsletter, with text from the Herefordshire Partnership:
The cup is half full! At the start of January we had only 15 pre-registrations with the 'We Want Broadband' Herefordshire Partnership campaign and we now have 95. This is very encouraging and may give us access to support, advice, and installation of a Broadband service from a competitive supplier.
The cup is half empty! Pre-registrations with BT are now 86. With new registrations currently coming in at about ten per month it will take a long time to get to the trigger level of 150. There seems to be some reticence about pre-registering - please remember that pre-registration is only an expression of interest.
I am effectively the (unpaid) Cradley campaigner for BT wholesale. You obtain your Internet service from your Internet Service Provider (ISP); the ISPs provide you Internet access by renting services from BT wholesale. The ISPs pass on your broadband pre-registration to BT wholesale. The Herefordshire Partnership cannot pass on your pre-registrations to BT as they arrange installation of broadband from a variety of competitive sources.
So please make sure that you have pre-registered with WeWantBroadband and with your ISP - the people who you dial-up and who provide you with your eMail address. You may not think that the extra cost is worthwhile today - but we can expect the Internet to provide ever-increasing usefulness. Look at the broadband campaign page at www.cradley.org.uk for more information.
We Want Broadband Campaign Gathers Momentum
The campaign to bring broadband services to Herefordshire is quickly gathering support following its launch in January. The Herefordshire Partnership has funding that can be used to subsidise the setting up of broadband suppliers but only in areas that show a demand for a broadband service by registering on the campaign’s website at http://www.wewantbroadband.org
Some areas of the county, such as Upton Bishop and Lea, have already responded so well to the call to voice their demand for broadband that they will not need subsidy. The numbers of registrations required by the campaign have no relation to the trigger levels published by certain broadband suppliers. The Herefordshire Partnership hope to be able to offer subsidies to anyone supplying broadband in the county of Herefordshire.
In the next few weeks the We Want Broadband campaign will be sending out information packs to businesses in Herefordshire on how broadband can help improve day-to-day operation.
Tony Copp, Text from the Herefordshire Partnership
This was put in the March 04 Newsletter. The 'We want broadband!' leaflets were delivered to every household.
Cradley Broadband for the Ridgway Cross Exchange 01886 880xxx
Half way there? This month we achieved over half of our BT target for 150 pre-registrations. But is this cause for celebration or reflection? The best ratio for the take-up of Broadband appears to be 10% of subscribers, with most areas no better than 5% - and we have only about 700 lines on the exchange!
This is why you are being encouraged to pre-register with the Herefordshire Partnership. They are there to help Herefordshire villages get access to Broadband services by facilitating access to funding, and their 'trigger level' is much lower than BT's. So please pre-register with them; visit the Hereford cows on your notice board at www.cradley.org.uk.
This was put in the February 2004 Parish Newsletter...
If you live in Cradley, Mathon or Storridge, or your telephone number starts with 01886 880 then you are probably on the Ridgway Cross exchange.
Why bother to pre-register? If you use the internet then broadband will not only work a lot faster, it will let you use the plain old telephone at the same time. This might be of marginal interest if you are one of the 608 domestic customers and use the internet once a week, but there are also 75 business lines in the village. Many people have had to order a second line to use the phone and internet at the same time, increasing costs. Broadband can be 'always on' so you only need one line and should not have to pay call charges every time you access the internet. Help to improve our village services, pre-register now!
The campaign is being run from your village web site at www.cradley.org.uk or www.storridge.org.uk. You will find up to date information and web links on the notice board. Pre-registration does not commit you to anything - it is an expression of interest.
We started this campaign in November and now have 70 pre-registrations (just after the New Year). BT need 150 before they will set the Ready For Service date.
This was put in the January 2004 Parish Newsletter...
CRADLEY BROADBAND FOR THE RIDGWAY CROSS EXCHANGE
The campaign started last month with 50 pre-registrations. We now have 63 with a target of 150 before BT will set a date to update the exchange. Pre-register your interest in broadband with the Herefordshire Partnership and your Internet Service Provider. You will find up to date information and web page links on the notice board at www.cradley.org.uk (the list of FAQs below was printed)
You may need to use MS IExplorer to view the BT site. They originally took pre-registrations, but as a 'wholesale' equipment provider they now wish you to use your own ISP. It is a good idea to stay with your existing provider so that you can keep your eMail address.
My service provider is PlusNet, if you wish to pre-register with them use the 'is ADSL available?' link on their home page:
See Advantage West Midlands Pilot Broadband campaign. There are alternatives to BT, involving satellites (AvonLine, SilverMead, Pro.net) and wireless networks (WiFi, 802.11, etc); we would have to manage the service but there is match funding available from Advantage West Midlands (search for "broadband"), etc. HIT may provide internet services to the new school, but they are not suitable for Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) working as they provide a protected service suitable for government and educational establishments.
As at 19 November 2003 there were 54 pre-registrations
This was put in the December 2003 Parish Newsletter...
Are you interested in Broadband? Do you know what it is? Quite simply, broadband gives you a high-speed connection to the Internet that can be ‘always on’. Whether used for business or leisure, it enables you to:
talk using your existing telephone handsets and surf at the same time on the same line
instantly access the Internet whenever you like without having to dial up the service provider
view web content up to 10 times faster than before
The Broadband service is delivered over a standard BT telephone line – you won’t have to waste time or money getting a new line installed. In most cases, your telephone number will remain unchanged and depending on what package you choose, you’ll either be able to install everything yourself or have an engineer come to help you. All you need is a computer that meets the minimum requirements, plus a broadband modem and microfilters (phone adapters).
So who is going to be interested in Broadband?
People who like to use the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) while someone else is on the net.
People working from home who need an 'always-on' connection
"Silver Surfers" - older people using email to keep in touch with family and friends
Online gamers, interested in playing games over the Internet
Music enthusiasts who like listening to digital radio over the Internet
The goal of the Cradley Broadband campaign is to get our local telephone exchange enabled for broadband by generating interest in the form of pre-registrations. We already have 54 pre-registrations. Once 150 people have pre-registered, BT will set a date to introduce broadband, and homes and businesses across the area will be able to order high-speed Internet access.
13 November 2003, campaign started with 50 pre-registrations, in time for news letter.
Q. 17Dec03 Tony C - How many lines are there on the Ridgway Cross exchange?
A. BT say there are 608 residential and 75 business lines.
Q. 1Dec03 John C - Have you considered using the building of the new primary school as an added lever to get BT to connect Cradley earlier. Isn't there a Government policy to have all schools connected to Broadband by a certain date?
A. The LEA is going to provide a private educational network to the existing and new school based on BT megastream. As it will be a private network using ISDN technology it does not relate in any way to our campaign for general purpose Broadband.
Q. 27Feb04 Tony C - What is ISDN? I thought it was an expensive option for getting two digital circuits at 64Kbps each. Several people in the village already have this.
A. David C - ISDN? I Still Don't Noe.
Q. 5Dec03 Tony C - why did the counter stop at 60? Did it retire early?
A. The BT FAQ page admits that sometimes BT get snowed under by the weight of nationwide pre-registrations and it may take several days to update the counter.
Q. General theme - I have two lines, should I pre-register them both?
A. Yes, each line should carry a 'vote'. But when you get BB you may be able to reduce to one line. If you are running two computers (or more) then look at your ISP's business options for a HUB rather than fitting an ADSL modem to each computer. And check to see if you can continue to use both original phone numbers with different ring tones on the one line. Note that ADSL is an alternative technology to ISDN2, they are different.
Q. 3Dec03 John T - I have recently moved in and having moved from a broadband connection to the old system, I'm starting to suffer from withdrawal symtoms.
A. Cradley is already behind its neighbours in applying for Broadband. We must try harder to make sure others are not disappointed!
Q. 3Dec03 various - Just read a disturbing report in the Sunday Times this week that in Salcombe [etc] the target of 150 was reached only to find it had been raised to 450!!!!!!!! OR 25% of households and businesses.
A. What BT choose to do when we reach our target is unpredictable. In St Johns they installed the infrastructure in weeks, other places have waited months. At the end of the day we may have to provide the infrastructure ourselves - there are plenty of other villages around who have had to do just that. But any alternative supplier would also need to see plenty of pre-registrations!
Q. 2Dec03 Rus G - I would like to register for broad band - but couldn't find the registration item online.
A. BT have withdrawn their pre-registration option as the competition felt it was unfair. There is confusion over what the BT services are - we need BT Wholesale to supply hardware at the exchange, we don't need BT as an ISP in particular. Pre-register with Herefordshire Partnership and your ISP.
Q. 1Dec03 Frank H - If you can check it I would be pleased to know that I am ACTUALLY on it?
A. The provisions of the Data Protection Act make it impossible to check. However, BT authenticate every entry to avoid double counting so please feel free to pre-register with Herefordshire Partnership and your ISP as many times as you wish!
Q. 24Nov03 Paul M - can I help with leafleting?
A. The village newsletter has a circulation of 600. That, with a poster campaign should get to everyone. The general tenor of many questions indicates that good neighbour support would give excellent returns - those who know about the technology can help those who don't know they don't know enough (ack Rumsfelt).