Back in 2006 a BT Engineer installed an ADSL filter faceplate to my master socket to resolve our issues with slow connection. It worked OK until last night when we lost the broadband connection completely.



I was able to get my connection back by removing the faceplate and connecting the Home Hub via a microfilter.



I phoned BT this morning with the simple (so I thought) objective of obtaining a replacement faceplate.



The call centre operative insisted that the problem was with "my internal wiring" and told me to remove the faceplate and try to connect the Home Hub via a microfilter; it took me a while to make him realise that I'd already done this.



When I'd finally got him to understand the situation, he announced that they couldn't send me a replacement faceplate - the whole socket would need to be replaced - and that that would be done at a price of £99. I pointed out that that was a ludicrous amount to charge to repair a faulty item which would cost pennies - and which was BT's responsibility anyway.



He contended that the BT socket counted as "Internal wiring". I said this wasn't the case: the socket was fitted by a BT engineer and it is the only socket in the house (there is no internal wiring running from the socket) - but he then seemed to change tack announced that this was a "one-off installation fee for the new socket".



So, it seems that I have to pay BT £99 to repair a faulty BT socket which was fitted by BT engineer - an for which I pay thirty quid a month (for a 2 megabit connection).



I can't believe that they can get away with this - do I really have to pay BT a hundred quid to for a minor repair to my BT socket?



Do OFCOM really allow them to get away with this?

you can get the new openreach branded filter off E-bay for £5-10. dead easy to fit yourself. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BT-phone-s...item2ec994af0e

They work brilliantly with ADSL2, best filter i've ever used.

getting Bt out to fit a new one will probably end up costing you the call out charge as you have a working microfilter, there is no issue with the test socket and you don't have FTTC. The ADSL faceplate will probably count as internal wiring.

Then why don't you just go to the likes of Maplin, B&Q or Homebase and buy a new faceplate?

I've an adslnation filtered faceplate , much neater than using a microfilter.

Yes, I'm aware that I can buy a faceplate - that's probably what I'll end up doing.

But the point that I'm making is that BT are charging people to repair BT sockets - they're not taking responsibility for their own installations.

The call centre guy is mistaken. The Openreach engineer wouldn't put in a charge unless you have obviously visually damaged the socket. I wouldn't worry about the £99.

BT are ripping you off!

I'd say the call centre guy is mistaken saying that you need a new socket, if it works in the test socket then you need a new faceplate .... but check first that the wires are seated correctly.
They may say that the faceplate belongs to you and as it was fitted 7 years ago it is out of guarantee so the charge applies.

As said available on Ebay etc.

Certainly puts the frighteners up you when they say you could be charged 99.
Personally id change it myself anyway

if you want someone too come out from bt and fit it for you and ensure it all works then the engineer will need paying .

£99 seems fairly reasonable for a almost 7 year old piece of equipment that you now own .

as others have said buy your own ...

The faceplate is on your side of things and therefore classed as your internal wiring, unfortunately what BT are saying is correct so just bite the bullet and buy an ADSLnation one.

As it is on your side then you will get charged, just like water pipes if it is on your side of the boundary then it is your responsibility even though you didn't put the pipes yourself.

As it is Openreach who would carry out the work, then it wouldn't matter which company you are with (Talk Talk, Sky, Plus Net etc..) the charge would be the same.

Anything internal is always charged at £99. It is in the contract!

The ex owners had shifted the master socket in my house by basically extending the 2 cables joining by twisting. However it was syncing at full 24 meg and never a problem for 11 years. However I was migrating to bt broadband and on the day they somehow cut me off. When I phoned they told me 99 quid if internal. Even though it seemed too much coincidence that it went off migration day. It was enough to make me panic so I shifted master back to original bt location to discount my end. Of course it still wasnt working but just the cost was a frightener. Its a lot of money for what is 2 wires but maybe the cost includes any parts or cables required and can understand they must come across some dodgy diy internal cabling at customer end, which I presume they would fix anyway within that charge.

£99 is cheaper than the £149+VAT I was quoted a few years back to have an extension socket fitted to the study room where my computer is located. This was at a time I was having trouble with slow or intermittent broadband and was told that the cause was my internal wiring. I didn't have the work done, preferring to get a dedicated cable connection from Virgin instead. As the only thing on the end of their cable is their modem/router, if it stops working they can hardly blame my internal wiring!

I still have the ADSL broadband (it's Sky Broadband Lite so it's free and didn't need to be cancelled) which, after the phone line went dead in May and therefore had to be repaired by Openreach, now works fine and faster than it ever used to!
I'm sure there was a fault on the line for years which caused the broadband troubles and often a crackly phone line but because it wasn't actually broken nothing was ever done about it. I probably wouldn't have bothered with the cable broadband had this fault been sorted sooner, although saying that it's still much faster then the ADSL and I've got used to that now so might keep it on!

It really used to annoy me the way the first thing the ADSL call centre people say is 'It's your internal wiring that's causing the trouble' - an easy way of getting out of having to actually do something I suppose!

They have to tell you the charge that it will be £99.00 anyway, in most cases though, it will not be internal, it will be external.

The £99 is the engineer call out charge not specific to your problem. That frontplate was provided to you in good faith really to solve your problem, it would have 1 year guarantee at best. So replacement is not BTs responsibility. They offered to do so but with charge.

I'm was charged 99 quid because of infinity issues, basically i'm not happy with my infinity 2 speed as its currently sitting at 32 mbps down, 6.4 mbps up. Was arguing with a daft bint who said that it was a good acceptable speed, its not anywhere near acceptable in my book. My neighbour just has infinity and they are getting 38 mbps down but India does not listen so had an engineer investigate who said that there was no fault.

I spent near six hours on the phone to them today alone trying to get them to fix it but to top everything so far there is the BT Vision issue with HD, they are unable to put ITV HD on 853 citing the excuses of living in Scotland and rights restrictions yet my neighbour can receive it .

That's not how Infinity 2 works, to my knowledge.

I believe that unless you're achieving the top speeds on Infinity you won't see an advantage with Infinity 2.

It isn't like they bond two lines.

As for 32Mb not being acceptable, you need to be far more realistic. That is far and above the UK average.

If your neighbours were getting 50s and 60s and you were getting 30s then yeah you clearly have an issue there, but otherwise I think you're quite wide of the mark calling the phone operator a stupid bint.

Just count yourself lucky you don't have aluminium cables. They, myself included, have estimates that we're lucky to even see half of.

The neighbour has the Infinity basic product thats why im pretty hacked off as I was getting 58 Mbps, if wanted infinity basic then I'd be happy with that speed.

And I don't think I am being harsh regarding that woman, she had no clue and was clearly reading from a script, come Friday when they realise it cannot be improved on I will be released from my contract as the woman from customer service agreed that anything less than 51 Mbps on infinity 2 is unacceptable.

Even at the very abysmal speed currently which is hitting 27 Mbps I get buffering, I'm not prepared to compromise at all, 51 Mbps or they release me from contract.

Well it sounds like either you were mis-sold Infinity 2, or incorrectly chose to upgrade to it yourself as you have a misunderstanding of how the product works.

As I said, if you don't get a connection that essentially maxes out the standard fibre product you won't see any benefit from the 76/80Mb products available, because you're already attaining the maximum speed your line can handle.

So as an example I only get 10Mb on a standard fibre product, my ISP has an 80 package but if I chose to have it I wouldn't double my speed to 20Mb. ISPs will release you from contracts if you cannot obtain a sync close to your estimate, and there is a minimum threshold too for fibre products.

As I only receive 10Mb, the minimum acceptable level is 15Mb and I am free to leave when I wish, but I have no desire to as it beats 7Mb with ADSL2+.

So you shouldn't be on Infinity 2 if your line is incapable of such speed.

32Mb is not an unacceptable speed. Perhaps for the product/tarrif you are on, yes, but to call 32Mb a pathetic speed is ridiculous.

As for buffering - 38Mb can sustain multiple people streaming HD streams. So you're either watching videos from congested websites, your exchange is congested, or there's traffic shaping going on.