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Poor service all down to slippery BT Open Reach

I think the worst thing that ever happened to this industry was when BT was broken up but then allowed to keep the slippery arms-length-from-consumer Open Reach. Open Reach is so, so distant from the consumer it can easily employ as few people as possible and doas little as possible so be profitable for BT and the BT ISP arm can say 'sorry for the delay it's all down to Open Reach', which is part of BT but not really. So I order my line nearly six months ago, first with Plus Net and one minute its here but in the wrong place and then its not here at all so maybe BT can reach the parts Plus Net cannot. Open Reach were supposed to finally turn up today but 'sorry they could not complete the work they were too tired'. Pathetic. Open Reach the profitable but untouchable useless company that is part of BT - yet isn't really.
 
In fairness BT need Openreach to be working effectively in order to keep the roll-out of superfast broadband and their own services flowing but, just like any technical / utility trade, you can't always expect them to turn up on time. A frustrating reality for those of us whom are often left without a working connection until they get the job done. Virgin Media sometimes do this too.

I can also understand why Openreach are only accountable to ISPs but having said that there is an apparently growing "pass the buck" culture, which can often cause added frustration and confusion. The ISP blames Openreach and then Openreach blames the ISP and vice versa.

At least in this instance you know it's not the ISPs fault and in that case I do think it would be useful if consumers had some direct point of contact with Openreach.
 
At least in this instance you know it's not the ISPs fault and in that case I do think it would be useful if consumers had some direct point of contact with Openreach.

Will that ever happen? Very much doubt it. They cause lots of hassle yet can hardly be held accountable for it. A "sorry" just does not cut it sometimes.

Matt
 
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I would also be quite surprised if it ever happened. It's a difficult one to juggle since otherwise there's a risk that ISPs might shirk some contractual responsibilities and simply heap the problems / support calls on to Openreach, which would be trickier to deal with than telling customers to go through the ISP directly as their primary point of contact. I doubt a solution could be found that all sides would agree too, at least not in the current regulatory climate.But from a consumer’s PoV, the more access you have to engage with Openreach directly the better.
 
It's all very well this ....keep the roll-out of superfast broadband ... but how many people actually work for Open Reach. It seems to me its sleepy profitable bread winner for BT but naff all useless for the rest of us - the consumer. Open Reach the unaccountable, unreachable part of the telecoms industry.
 
open reach are useless waste of space not fit for purpose our town has had the green cabinets since late 2012 they are powered up but still to this date no body is connected to them since open reach live on the dark side and uncontactable some in the town are now looking at satelite broad band at a huge cost to get better speeds than 800-900kbs in 2014 this is not aceptable new players are required to kick start usless open reach
 
My experiences with OR through BT and other large ISPs has nearly always been bad, but my experiences through small ISPs have nearly all been positive.


Vispa (before they went to the dark side), and Aquiss got line issues sorted out and OR on the job very quickly.

Orange (as they were) and Talk Talk took weeks to even acknowledge a problem, and in Orange's case, made no attempt to get OR to fix the problem for over a year.

Go figure.
 
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Openreach are so rude sometimes! I had to have a new line installed a few months ago from my broadband company and the guy turned up late, told me he hated his job repeatedly and laughed about how he had four more customers to visit, but he couldn't be arsed and he was going home instead. I was polite and laughed along so he wouldn't abandon his work but I felt bad for the other people who waited in that day. I had a second visit for my broadband which was better, but he still complained to me about his work instead of just doing his job. it's incredible when you think about it :hrmph:
 
This seems to be the norm for many BT engineers I had one soon wiped the smile off his face when I said I was a BT shareholder and others he was thinking of not going to could also be a shareholder.

I informed him I would raise this at the next AGM about moral and the fact customers were having to listen to such complaints from engineers. Needless to say he left looking very sheepish bet he did those other customers though.

This type of engineer are not the norm some are very helpful even staying longer until the job is complete.
 
I've mentioned before, the engineers who have visited me over the years have been very good - staying to make sure my equipment could connect to the new fibre service, running a speed test for me and even replacing my phone socket with a new iPlate some years ago at no cost.

My biiggest gripe is the fact they dont clear trees/tree branches any more, in the old days they would clear lines and poles then bill the land owner, these days they just replace the damaged cables, pole boxes even though they know the next high wind is going to cause the tree to rip it all down again. I have had my line replaced 3 times in 12 years due to this.
 
I've had positive encounters with them. Much better than the useless India call centers BT offer. 45 minutes on the phone to the call center and we've established that my router light is blue. Luckily, I have a friend who works for Openreach who obviously couldn't help me off duty but gave me a number to call. I got through to somewhere in Manchester and within 5 minutes of me explaining the issue to them they knew what the issue was and resolved within 2 days.
 
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This seems to be the norm for many BT engineers I had one soon wiped the smile off his face when I said I was a BT shareholder and others he was thinking of not going to could also be a shareholder.

I informed him I would raise this at the next AGM about moral and the fact customers were having to listen to such complaints from engineers. Needless to say he left looking very sheepish bet he did those other customers though.

This type of engineer are not the norm some are very helpful even staying longer until the job is complete.

I've mentioned before, the engineers who have visited me over the years have been very good - staying to make sure my equipment could connect to the new fibre service, running a speed test for me and even replacing my phone socket with a new iPlate some years ago at no cost.

My biiggest gripe is the fact they dont clear trees/tree branches any more, in the old days they would clear lines and poles then bill the land owner, these days they just replace the damaged cables, pole boxes even though they know the next high wind is going to cause the tree to rip it all down again. I have had my line replaced 3 times in 12 years due to this.


If you can stand a bit of awkward unprofessionalism, it's always funny having a conversation with them. I didn't have any trees, but one did tell me he might have to abandon my line installation because he was only allowed an hour. Luckily, he did the work, possibly because I kept him in biscuits :laugh:
 
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