FTTP installation in the morning - still orange in the evening

[Jasonm]

I had my FTTP installed this morning... Everything went smoothly until the engineer tried to activate the broadband and test the connection via my SH2.

Overheard him speaking to someone on the phone and the person on the phone insisted that it wasn't related to activation - but that there must be some issue on the line/exchange...

The engineers left and two phone calls with BT later they just told me that there is a fault but that this shouldn't impact my broadband... And that it's just not activated, yet... And I should wait until midnight...

It's just very strange because I already received the email that BT is now active and in that exactly moment my old NOW FTTC line went offline... So I think there's something deeper that's the issue - but somehow I'm stuck between BT and Openreach...

The ONT semms fine... Three solid green lights as it should be... Only the router stays orange

 

[Pheasant]

Sounds like the ‘pipe’ back to the headend exchange is fine (PON light solid and no red light on LOS) so it will be an ISP issue

 

[Jasonm]

Yeah... Just woke up and it's still orange... Doesn't help that BT plays the "it'll be activated soon" game... Guess I gotta be a bit more of a Karen on the phone later

 

[Jasonm]

Another engineer will come on Thursday... I have my doubts that they will be able to fix anything... but we'll see

 

[drevilbob]

I don't think this is an engineer problem, this seems like provision problem e.g. BT wholesale, maybe query with this with a 2nd line tech.

 

[Jasonm]

According to the person on the FTTP line today they checked everything on their side... Most likely they will do a CTH test then to confirm its northing on the OR build side of things

 

[Pheasant]

According to the person on the FTTP line today they checked everything on their side... Most likely they will do a CTH test then to confirm its northing on the OR build side of things

Pretty easy to tell if you have a laptop running a PPPoE client - ideally Linux/Unix/MacOS - set it in verbose / debug and try and connect to the BNG/Bras with your PPPoE creds.

 

[Jasonm]

Pretty easy to tell if you have a laptop running a PPPoE client - ideally Linux/Unix/MacOS - set it in verbose / debug and try and connect to the BNG/Bras with your PPPoE creds.

Sadly running on Windows here. Had a chat with a neighbour who also just got OR-based FTTP installed last week. They are with Sky and have no issue... Called up the Fibre team again and told them... They said they checked all the systems (incl. wholesale etc) on their own end - everything seems ready... So the agent on the phone was relatively optimistic that the fault engineer will at least be able to point out what the issue is on Thursday (at least they're not sending in another installer who can't check those things)... Fingers crossed!

 

[Pheasant]

Sadly running on Windows here. Had a chat with a neighbour who also just got OR-based FTTP installed last week. They are with Sky and have no issue... Called up the Fibre team again and told them... They said they checked all the systems (incl. wholesale etc) on their own end - everything seems ready... So the agent on the phone was relatively optimistic that the fault engineer will at least be able to point out what the issue is on Thursday (at least they're not sending in another installer who can't check those things)... Fingers crossed!

Wouldn’t be the first time Wholesale is late to the party with cablelinks etc and beaten to the punch by Sky, TT, Vodafone and the like with their own backhaul.

 

[Pheasant]

According to the person on the FTTP line today they checked everything on their side... Most likely they will do a CTH test then to confirm its northing on the OR build side of things

Level 1 “support”: they must just go through the motions….to sate their masters

If there was a genuine Openreach issue ie no / not enough light coming out of the pipe: the LOS light would be bright solid red in colour.

If your ONT was unauthenticated with the OLT or on the wrong PON, the PON lamp would be either off completely or flashing (sometimes in sequence with LOS lamp)

Seeing as it’s neither, then it’s a BT issue as the ISP.

 

[Jasonm]

Level 1 “support”: they must just go through the motions….to sate their masters

If there was a genuine Openreach issue ie no / not enough light coming out of the pipe: the LOS light would be bright solid red in colour.

If your ONT was unauthenticated with the OLT or on the wrong PON, the PON lamp would be either off completely or flashing (sometimes in sequence with LOS lamp)

Seeing as it’s neither, then it’s a BT issue as the ISP.

Yeah... I kinda made the same argument to the call agent of the BT FTTP team... But they argued that Openreach handles most of this part on behalf of BT... God knows... I can imagine that I'll be ping-ponging for a while between OR and BT. At least, they'll provide a 4g modem in the meantime... Doesn't help that most of my lights and security equipment around the house require broadband

 

[drevilbob]

Openreach handle the physical network but backhaul etc is handled internally by BTW not OR so probably talking waffle as they don't actually know what's wrong

 

[Jasonm]

Openreach handle the physical network but backhaul etc is handled internally by BTW not OR so probably talking waffle as they don't actually know what's wrong

Yeah - I think you are right... I guess I'll have to hope that the OR fault engineer can at least log what appears to be the problem here

 

[Pheasant]

Yeah - I think you are right... I guess I'll have to hope that the OR fault engineer can at least log what appears to be the problem here

Local ONT and any light tests etc will all pass. Then it'll be passed up the chain where it ought to be clocked and appropriate steps / action taken.

 

[Jasonm]

Local ONT and any light tests etc will all pass. Then it'll be passed up the chain where it ought to be clocked and appropriate steps / action taken.

The agent on the phone made it sound as if the fault engineer will start at the exchange and only if needed enter my house... I hope she was right and it won't be another check of "is the red cable in the WAN port?"

 

[Pheasant]

....the fault engineer will start at the exchange

While they're in there they should start by checking the BTW Cablelink is plugged in at both ends!

 

[Jasonm]

While they're in there they should start by checking the BTW Cablelink is plugged in at both ends!

I hope they actually do that

 

[kommando828]

I was stuck in limbo like this with my first ADSL install, had to email the BT CEO to get it resolved, took 48 hrs after the email. Bert has moved on but the process still works so if the OR fault engineer does not clear the fault I would escalate.

 

[Jasonm]

Yeah... Turns out they are sending a "BT Home Tech Expert"... So I'm not keeping my hopes up... When I rang up the FTTP team and told them that this is not the type of person I need / I was promised to get - they got a bit defensive... So I think they are literally following a script here (no way for me to speed up the process)...
At least their little 4g mini hub arrived and I could change the SSID and WiFi password so that my devices at home (most of them at least) think they are back in a regular WiFi network
I guess I'll be stuck in a limbo for a while... But at least that 4g mini hub keeps me online (and seems relatively stable for a 4g connection)

 

[drevilbob]

Seems about right, they‘re trying to make out that your home set up is the issue, there won’t be anything they can do… good chance this ‘expert’ will have no idea what’s wrong.