On Sunday, at 8am, I received a BT SMS on the landline at home. Thought it was a bit odd because they have been told to contact me on the mobile. I knew that when I first placed the order that I gave the home telephone number as the number to call me on but after not very long, I got this changed so they would call the mobile instead but the people that I'd normally speak to in BT Retail would not understand that so I asume that this text was sent by them.

I contacted the Chairman's office to tell them about the text that said there was an appointment for the 24th between 8am and 1pm.

This was checked out and it appears they have no record of any appointment, nothing new from openreach or enterprise.

I got told that the completion dates for the ground poles to be sorted remains the same for by the 27th so i will be contacted saturday morning unless she hears of anything or if it happens sooner. Was told the the second part of the job cannot be started on until the 1st july at least but is still due to be done by the 4th. I made it clear that I want it done by the 11th july latest but if things get moved between now and the 4th, I'd very much doubt things could be sorted by the 11th. So it's best all round that I don't contact them until then at least as usually any news they give me when I contact them, often isn't good.

It seems as though the contractors are here doing cabling and replacing poles. I've seen it for myself. I will post back when I know a bit more. This is fantastic news.

In the lane nearby, there are about 4 poles that have been replaced but my line is still not up and running yet. I went for a walk about 4:30 and they had gone with no idea when they would have left but all the cabling for residents seems to have been restored to how it was before.

I've phoned the chairmans office to see if they can get more information. It started raining here before and was heavy for a while so they might have left about 2pm for all i know. At 2pm when I was taking the dog for a walk and it started to rain then and i could see slack cable dangling from the poles. It could be that a blockage has been found with the duct to the DP behind the caravan and that might delay things. Whatever it is, I'd want to know about it.

I'm not sure how they work but with them starting the work today, they must continue the job over how many days it takes to complete right?

Just if there is a blockage or something like that, I wouldn't like to think of being pushed to the back of the queue because of how long its taken.

Doesn't look like any work will be done today. It's raining. The chairman's office said the line plant is set to be there for tomorrow though. Still not telling me anything that they haven't said before.

Still following, Kosmos.

Hope the work does continue tomorrow, although if rain is stopping play, then you may be out of luck - I don't think the forecast is great for the next few days

have just tested the line and it's now testing to a socket with a phone plugged in. you may be working now. fingers crossed.....

The line is the same as before, does not appear to be working. I dialled the number and it had the dialling out tone But my phone did not ring or receive the call.

There must be connections for the line in the exchange though. Would that be why it appears to ring?

Enterprise came today and we've got another problem. Finding the hidden box!

It seems that there is another DP or Joint Box between DP 162 in the lane and the DP behind the caravan.

The guy from enterprise had thought that the cabling had run from the post to the DP behind the caravan but it doesn't.

The cabling is also not in any duct and is not very deep in soil. Telecom cabling runs through a stream! Although there is grey shielded cable I think. So whoever laid the cable a long while ago, did not do a proper job.

We know that the cable is 300m from the DP in the lane and 124m from the DP behind the caravan so the hidden box is closer to the caravan than the pole therefore the cable from the pole in the lane must run in some direction towards the caravan.

With the way the cabling is under the ground it could run in many directions with no duct being there. I'm saying it won't run in a straight line. We've managed to find some cable in the stream and that seems to go towards the field in front of the caravan though i couldn't say for sure.

There are containers on the boat yard so it could be under one of those or even under some rubbish that's on there where there's like a mountain of soil. There is a coil of cable behind one container which would have been left there by an engineer. Would he have left it near the hidden box?

I'm thinking that the hidden box is on the boat yard with there being a payphone in the kiosk just yards from there.

Openreach maps might not show the location of the hidden box? The guy said he will be back on Monday with some equipment cable of detecting cable in the ground so maybe we can locate the box.

I've been having a look for the hiden
box meanwhile. Anyone got any suggestions for measuring distances from the DP behind the caravan?

I don't have many ideas of my own to be honest. I've got GPS but i'm goingbto guess that it wouldn't be suitable. There's some wi-fi access on the site though it's limited. A program might tell me the distance I am from an Access Point. The box could be in one of the gardens but i'd have to leave that searching till people have gone home lol. Don't want people to think what is that guy doing?

I have no idea what will happen on Monday for sure, though they say they will be here with equipment to find the box. I just want to do all I can to make sure that things go fine for getting the landline working.

they will be bringing a cat and jenny, they clip it onto pair testing dis towards the caravan and it transmits a pulse down it with which the cat can track on the surface. basically he will walk the route of the cable and when the signal starts to die off thats roughly where the joint box/buried joint will be. the problem with buied cable is it can go any old route. that grey cable through the stream is our armoured cable(has a steel sheath under the grey) and is often not buried very deep.

Your legs. A normal stride is about a metre, unless you are a midget. Works for me, I use this measuring method to measure up when quoting for jobs.

Found the hidden box at the stream LOL. Got the line all connected up now. For some reason I seem to have my broadband activated and all working as this is the connection that I am using right now. Also, it appears that my phone is not working. Everything else seems to be ok though.

Nice one. At least it is a start. The phone shpould follow shortly, hopefully, as you now have a line.

i've just tested your line. it's still testing "dis" which is why your phone isn't working. however b/band will still work through a dis(especially if it's just 1 leg). this does mean that 1 of our lot is going to be out on a visit to try and find it. as the machine will test the line as i have, and until it tests socket the job will not close down. oh well. half way there.

Will Openreach need to visit property? I don't think that there would be any internal connections that need sorting?

Is there much work to be done?

Will they be able to set up charging etc for the broadband on a line that does not fully function?

The broadband is syncing at 3,104kbps downstream, 448kbps upstream. Will it likely stay like this or change a lot? Would be well pleased with it if it can stay at this speed as I am only getting 1mb at home.

they shoudn't need to visit, as i'm pretty confident that the inside installation is o.k. they should be able to locate the dis quite quickly.
the charging for b/band is done seperately as it is a different service.
and as for the speed, even i'm amazed at that, seeing as when i tested your line is was 5.37Km to the dis. if anything i would imagine it to improve. whats your attenuation as reported by the router?
though just thinking about it, your now in the 10day stabilazation period so expect that to go up and down like a brides nightie.

ADSL Line Statistics from BT Home Hub


Uptime: 0 days, 5:11:34

Modulation: G.992.1 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 3,104

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 46.86 / 71.51

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 57.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 7.5

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 1 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 11,348

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 109

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 95

Line Profile: Interleaved

Latest is, enterprise came out yesterday wanting to put another line in. The guy quoted the number allocated to me and I had told him that the line had already been put in. I said that I thought BT had thought I placed an order for two lines and I explained this was not the case but I have a GB account and WN account. It seemed to be that the GB account got cancelled so the woman in the chairman's office had rebuilt the order on the old system to get things moving a little quicker as its became well known that there are a lot of problems with the new system.

The guys fortunately didn't put another line in there, as I did not want to lose the broadband. I said that I knew the guy from enterprise that came out and the name of the company he actually worked from, along with the area he said he was from. The guy that came out said he knew who I was talking about so he checked with him that the job had been completed.

I've been told that the number I have been given was in my mothers name on the GB account but in my name on the WN account so I spoken with chairmans office to get that problem sorted out. They say its my name appearing on both accounts and that if a problem occurs, then it won't be a big issue to sort out.

Anyway, the other day I explained that the telephone was not working but the broadband was.

This was the case up until this morning when the broadband went on and off about three times before it went all together.

About half an hour later, I decided to check the telephone for a dial tone and it was working. So the phone now works and the broadband doesn't.

Then I got a call from the exchange and the guy explained that he was testing the line and that connections are completed. I called chairman's office back and they had also told me that it all has been confirmed as working as it should now but any order for broadband will have to wait until Friday so line settles etc.

Broadband is now back on the line.

not bad, said it might be a day earlier.

Having some problems with voice calls. Volume is very low on the BT Verve 450 handset and also BT Hub Phone when making calls. The Hub Phone has not yet been used to make calls via the internet but as both phones ring when I have an incoming call on the landline, the volume is very low. I know that when I've been speaking to my brother, he's had to put the phone on loudspeaker to hear me and even then my voice appears faint.

But on my side, its been difficult to hear the other person on the other end of the phone without the need to switch on loudspeaker. If there was anything else in the area making any sort of noise, a television or dog barking, regardless of whether the phone is on loudspeaker or not, I would not be able to hear the other person speak.

I've noticed in some calls where the sound has gone incredibly silent so I've not been sure whether the person on the other end of the phone is speaking or not which I find annoying.

It could well be the phone with the problem. I've noticed since using my dial-up connection, the tone the modem makes when making that connection sounded lower than how I remembered it, which makes me think that it could not be the equipment. Though I have also read about others saying the Verve 450 handset has poor volume on it.

Another thing I've noticed is a bleep sound when on the phone to my brother. This happens when I seem to call him only. I've not been able to distinguish what is making that noise.

Anyway, I shall get hold of a corded phone to try out and see if that makes a difference but I'm doubting that it will.

I did report a potential fault earlier on today. I did not hear back from anyone about that so I called to speak to an advisor who suggested he could increase gain on the line until he realised that I have broadband. He told me that the line tested OK but I have no idea what they would have tested for so fault appears to be closed.

I shall post back if there is anything else to add but I feel that apart from this issue over voice calls, everything is pretty much sorted now.

DSL Connection

Link Information


Uptime: 0 days, 0:38:59

Modulation: G.992.1 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 2,816

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 1.04 / 4.64

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 57.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 20.0 / 5.0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 260 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2,557,055

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 7,089

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 5,027

Line Profile: Interleaved



Had an engineer out today due to faint calls on the landline phone which is also the same with the Hub Phone (not using Broadband Talk) and Home Hub reboots itself quite often. Anyway, I've decided that I'm not going to use the Hub Phone and will eventually get rid of the Home Hub.

The engineer tried all three phones that I have here. He said that he could not really compare the Binatone corded with the cordless BT Verve 450. I mentioned about how similar the Verve 450 and the Hub Phone are in quality and that as far as I'm concerned there is a fault with the line.

I was also going to say the engineer seems to think it is the phone with the issue so I guess I will be charged for the callout now.

At Around 1pm the phone had no dial tone but broadband was on and then the dial tone came back and broadband went off. This was before the engineer came out.

just looked at his fault notes, the clear code he has used is chargeable, so they will have been raised. but with all the ongoing issues i'm sure kerry will get them zeroed. i'm thinking that it is a problem in the exchange as the line tests results stored are all o.k and don't vary much from each other. possibly a poor connection or a fault with the b/band equip. your stats are showing high errors now and reduced speed as a result, could be part of the 10 day period but i'm sure thats over now. if your still experiancing the drop outs may be best to go down the engineer route from your isp. llu sfi as its known. we can fault both the PSTN side and the b/band side.

Kerry did not have anything to do with the appointment of the engineer coming out yesterday. Though I had to phone her not long after he had left as I had a bill from BT for line rental charges and was told that my account had been credited, therefore should not have to pay line rental for a while at least.

I doubt that she could get the charges for the appointment zero'd but I don't accept that my handset is at all at fault. It would be incredibly rare that you have three phones all with low volume and intermittent faint calls on the line.

Engineer might as well have said that there is no fault on the line. Just I know from using the phone at home, the volume is not all too good Broadband was playing up though yesterday. Like I said at around 1pm the broadband went off after the phone had no dial tone but one seemed to be working while the other wasn't. I just thought that either he or someone in the exchange had possibly disconnected me but he didn't know anything about that.

He had his engineer phone with him and that seemed OK on the line however. After he left, those stats posted above were the ones that I had. It did not take all that long till the broadband dropped out on it's own, maybe down to the 10 day cycle, and home hub has not rebooted in almost 24hrs now. The stats and errors are dramatically reduced from the ones I have posted above.

Do you know exactly what the charges would be? I was told about £116 and £90 for each hour after? I don't think I will be getting an engineer out again.

DSL Connection

Link Information


Uptime: 0 days, 23:27:22

Modulation: G.992.1 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 3,200

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]: 387.47 / 1.40

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.0

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 31.5 / 57.0

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 20.0 / 6.0

Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / TSTC

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): 0

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 2,690 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 200,005

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 188

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 163

Line Profile: Interleaved


Those are the results as of now.

if he hasn't charged(done on a seperate screen on our laptops), then the trc spotters(group of people who look at our jobs after we've done to see if were charging properly) would have put one on. it should be just the visit charge as no work was done, so should be just the £116. did he use a blue tapper(phone) or a yellow one? as the blue one has built in amplifier and is useless for checking a quiet line(it's great for picking up crackle though). also did he ring anybody from the line? usually i call the control to test it(0800 number). they had tested the line with the test system a couple of times that day and that does kill the b/band and phone for a short while.