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Bennage
11-03-2009, 11:39
Oh dear.
The Virgin peoples came and went yesterday, installing the whole shabbam - TV, Internet & Phone.

They were in a rush to leave. So much so, that they left their tools in our garden with the cable running across the top of the lawn. That's another problem...

If I pick up the pone, I have 2 dial tones - seemingly, 1 from BT and the other from Virgin.

if I dial any number, I get through, but at the same time, I get the voice saying "the number you have dialed has not been recognised. Please check and try again". The voice plays over the phone call for the usual duration. Then, after 5 minutes, it plays the siren designed to alert you to a phone off the hook. At this point, it's COMPLETELY impossible to continue any call.

I just spoke to several people in India. The final manager says it will be sorted within the next 4 hours, but to be honest I don't have much confidence.

Is this a problem that should have been sorted by the installation engineers?
Is this a problem that anyone else has had? (I couldn't find anything on the forums)

Any info would be great!

Many thanks in advance!

b

Chris
11-03-2009, 11:59
At a guess, I'd say you tried to get your number ported from BT to Virgin? Sounds to me like that didn't go very well.

As for the cable on the lawn, that is totally unacceptable. Did they say they were coming back to finish it? It should be properly buried, at least a foot down.

FairyFairy
11-03-2009, 12:53
You poor thing ... it sounds like its all been a nightmare. (I hope the tv and broadband are working ?????)

Those installers shouldn't have left the cable like that .... and don't they want their tools again ?? or perhaps they were leaving the job that day and didn't need them!!!!

Hope you get it sorted - but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth ---- and that's not counting the phone call to India!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(One of our installers left their mobile - they were in such a hurry to leave!!!)

MovedGoalPosts
11-03-2009, 13:00
Did they provide a new phone socket in your house, or have they reused an existing one? I'm suspecting the latter in which case they will have wired BT into Virgin and vice versa.

fireman328
11-03-2009, 14:33
Have you got a line splitter to seperate phone from ADSL, if you are using it ?

Bennage
11-03-2009, 14:58
Ahoy.
So here it is. My story of how badly my Virgin installation has gone wrong.
I'm going to try to keep it as short as possible.

Yesterday, I had 2 guys that looked like they came from the local tip to install my phone, 50meg internet and TV package. From the off, I was far from impressed.

Problem no. 1: A second van turned up and an internet guy installed the router. He asked where he should put it. I said on the second floor, which he said he couldn't do, because they weren't allowed to go up ladders that high. (I should use this excuse more. As a rigger I fear it may not go down so well!)
As a result, I pointed to a cupboard they could drill into from the outside wall. After installing the cable box, they strolled up and asked, "so where's the power?" Obviously, there are no power points anywhere near, so there's now a nice long extension lead going across this bedroom floor.

Problem no. 2: This nice gentleman then asked how many computers I would have running wirelessly. I said 6 (big family). He wasn't too keen on this, but continued. He asked if there were any Apple computers used. I said all of them. He said this was a problem. Of the 50meg I paid for, I would only get a maximum of 20meg. This was proven by him by using my laptop to test the connection (it seemed that the use of my computer was crucial to his installation several times).
The solution is to buy a new router as the Netgear one supplied is the problem. More expense.

Problem no. 3: Cabling all over the place! The photos will give you a good idea. There's a lovely big bright green cable going across the front lawn. main cable box is nicely exposed and has cables spewing all over the place. have a look at the photo of cables along the window sill. Why couldn't they put all the cables under there (hidden nicely) not just one??

Problem no 4 - THE BIG ONE: My phone line is being served by both BT and Virgin. I am meant to have the same phone number being ported to Virgin. if I pick up the phone, I get 2 dial tones playing over each other - very bizarre sound.
If I make a call, I get through, but also hear the voice saying "the number you have dialed has not been recognised. Please check and try again". The voice plays over the phone call for the usual duration. Then, after 5 minutes, it plays the siren designed to alert you to a phone off the hook. At this point, it's COMPLETELY impossible to continue any call.
Incoming calls are just as f*cked up.

On speaking to various people in India, they claim it will be sorted within 4 hours. That was 3 hours and 47 minutes ago. No change yet.


The engineers have left various tools behind in their desperate attempt to flee at speed.
I will be holding them ransom - more photos to follow...


Anyway, this is more of a rant than anything else. I'll be copying most of it and sticking it in a letter demanding some form of compensation. I wonder how incredibly that will fail. Ergh.

Any ideas/similar stories would be interesting.

Ta.

b

Bennage
11-03-2009, 14:59
I've put the whole story in another post, with photos.
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/62/33647022-uber-virgin-nightmare-my-story.html

And no, I don't have a splitter. :/
The 'engineers used the same BT box, to save installing new sockets all over the house.

Bennage
11-03-2009, 15:01
More photos...

Chris
11-03-2009, 15:12
If they have been messing with the BT master socket, they have been breaking the law. The most they should have done was installed a separate Virgin master socket next to the BT master, which would have made it easy to disconnect all your extensions from the BT master and wire them into the Virgin master instead.

This is a serious c0ck up if what you're saying is true. Can you absolutely confirm, the Virgin install tech has re-used your BT master socket?

---------- Post added at 14:05 ---------- Previous post was at 14:03 ----------

I've put the whole story in another post, with photos.
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/62/33647022-uber-virgin-nightmare-my-story.html

And no, I don't have a splitter. :/
The 'engineers used the same BT box, to save installing new sockets all over the house.

Please do not start multiple threads on the same subject. I've now merged them.

---------- Post added at 14:12 ---------- Previous post was at 14:05 ----------

The line about Macs reducing your internet speed from 50meg to 20meg is BS of the highest order. It's so brazen he should be in line for an award.

To be honest this installation seems to have gone so badly wrong I can't see how India can sort it out for you. You need someone in the UK to manage the remedial action in some sort of co-ordinated manner.

We have an official escalation route with Virgin Media - if you like I can pass your details on to a senior manager who is in a position to fix this mess for you. If you want me to do that you will need to PM me your real-world name and phone number. The town you live in would be handy as well. They have been very good at sorting stuff like this in the past.

LondonRoad
11-03-2009, 15:17
Not a good start with VM is it? I think the line about the macs can't be right.


Don't cut your grass for a couple of months and you'll hardly notice that cable on the lawn.:erm:

Hope it all gets sorted pronto. ;)

Bennage
11-03-2009, 16:23
it's all going off at Bennage HQ!

Chris - I've sent you a PM with requested details. Any help would be epic!

The 4 hour estimated time for the fix has been and gone. i phoned again, and managed to speak to someone in the UK AT LAST! The trick was to phone up, memorise which buttons to press to speak to someone, then hang up and try again pressing the buttons quickly before the siren started again. I quickly stated that my phone would self destruct in 30 seconds and stated my mobile number as fast as possible. Right on queue, the siren sounded.

They phoned me back and I was told that 4 hours is wrong, and that the problem will be investigated within 3 days!

I've just noticed that only 2 of the 4 phones in the house rings upon an incoming call (and ring weirdly at that).

To make things even better, my internet speed has ground to a halt at a a speedy 500kbps. Router doesn't seem to like connecting to anyone's laptops with any sort of signal strength either.

I love days off. You get to do all the things you wanted, like go for walks in the park.

No, wait...

---------- Post added at 15:17 ---------- Previous post was at 15:14 ----------

Harmitage:
I've got some bright green spray paint somewhere. I might just paint the lawn the same colour as the pipe. A faster way of blending in than waiting for the lawn to grow...

---------- Post added at 15:23 ---------- Previous post was at 15:17 ----------

1 more thing,
the pic above of the grate is of the cables poorly attached along the step up to the front door as they failed to flick the cables over the top (I watched them try - didn't realise that they just gave up!)
I do a lot of cabling at work. Pretty sure there's some H&S issues here.

YIPPEE!!

FairyFairy
11-03-2009, 16:29
Well I wondered where those PG Tips Chimps had got to ...... :monkey:

Bennage
11-03-2009, 17:54
A Virgin van turned up, rang the door bell, blew it's horn and drove off before I could go downstairs to open the door.
I think they may have come back for their tools.
I have prepared for this.
I will be sticking the attached image to the front door in case they come back.

A man can get very bored if he has no phone or internet (at youtube speeds).

Mr_Moo
11-03-2009, 18:10
Ha ha!

Bennage
11-03-2009, 20:05
I realised that I have the mobile number of one of the engineers who turned up yesterday, as they phoned my mobile to let me know what time they'd be there.

I phoned the number and I think I spoke to a manager of some sort. I explained the situation and he said that he would come over tomorrow morning at 9am with the guys who were here yesterday and 'resolve this issue'. Let's see how that goes.

Now I need to get the net speeds back up.
Ergh.

fireman328
11-03-2009, 23:32
Priceless !!!!!!!!!!!

Peter_
11-03-2009, 23:38
If an install was left like that then I would cancel the contract and sue them.

Dean Ashton
12-03-2009, 00:00
I will be sticking the attached image to the front door in case they come back.
Fantastic! :D

danielf
12-03-2009, 00:09
I wonder what'll happen if Bennage dials his own number from his home phone :D

Chris
12-03-2009, 00:30
Well, I've passed this one on to our contacts at VM, so let's see what remedy Bennage gets. Fingers crossed. :)

Bennage
12-03-2009, 03:08
Big thanks for the support, guys. I really appreciate it!

Chris - You said that there's no reason why a mac should get slower speeds. If I connect one of my mac directly to the cable modem, I get a very sexy 50meg according to various speed test sites.
However, if I use the router supplied (Netgear WNR2000) the speed drops to 30meg. (Wired)

Is there an easy fix for this?

Also, if I connect to the router wirelessly, it's dreadful. The range is utter pants, and usually just fails to connect at all.

Ergh.

jungleguy
12-03-2009, 09:16
first thing is that the wireless router VM provide is not compatible with Mac. You'll need to buy your own. Its due to the WEP code not being supported with OSX. IF your good with Mac's there's probably a solution, I bought a Lynksis far better router (I've been using Mac's for over 10 years). Also VM wireless router is known as the no walls router, it doesn't go through walls very well.

Frustrating as it is, for health and safety reasons installers can't do 2nd floor installs. The problem is the guys on the day gave you some bullshine about Mac's running slow on VM 50mb connection. This will naturally make skeptical about any other advise these guys gave you.

For them not to bury the cable is unacceptable, your house looks well maintained and no doubt your house proud. The cabling around the omnni is shoddy too.

You need to raise this as a complaint.

Chris
12-03-2009, 09:53
I promise you, OSX does support WEP. The only thing I can imagine put the installer out was the setup CD probably doesn't have a Mac wizard on it. However I would be surprised if Bennage doesn't know how to set up a wireless network for Macs, seeing as he has a house full of them. It's very easy.

edit

Not that I'd use WEP, mind you. It also supports WPA. Does the Virgin router not work with WPA?

jungleguy
12-03-2009, 10:31
trust me the wireless router supplied by VM is not supported on the Mac platform. Doesn't mean it won't work. I've had conflicting answers why it won't work. And yes the CD supplied does not work on a Mac. Also WEP or WAP is not supported on OSX 10.3, this is the older OS. I do run OSX 10.3 on one of my machine cause its a classic Clamshell iBook, and thats the latest OS I can run on it. (I'm a retro Macuser).

Bennage
12-03-2009, 10:39
I have 2+ supervisors coming with technicians in the next half an hour. We'll see how this turns out.

Someone upstairs seems to have given them a kick up the arse.

---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------

+ I tried doing some WDS (boosting the wireless signal with another router) but it obviously doesn't support it. Very useful.

jungleguy
12-03-2009, 10:57
If the other wireless is an ADSL (has a built in modem) then it won't work.

The install manager will be able to install you on the 2nd floor. (I know I've just contradicted myself) Health and Safety legislation will hold the install manager responsible if one of his employees falls and injures himself, meaning threat of injured at work claims. Meaning if the install manager does the work, if he falls he is responsible for himself. (loop hole if that makes sense) I'm sure to keep you happy they'll oblige and do the work you want.

cheers

Chris
12-03-2009, 11:00
trust me the wireless router supplied by VM is not supported on the Mac platform. Doesn't mean it won't work. I've had conflicting answers why it won't work. And yes the CD supplied does not work on a Mac. Also WEP or WAP is not supported on OSX 10.3, this is the older OS. I do run OSX 10.3 on one of my machine cause its a classic Clamshell iBook, and thats the latest OS I can run on it. (I'm a retro Macuser).

There's a difference between 'not supported' and 'not compatible', which you said eariler. ;)

If it's not supported, it will simply be because Virgin don't supply a Mac setup wizard on the CD. It's very easy to do manually though. All versions of Mac OSX from 10.3 onwards can automatically detect when a network is using WPA or WEP and are fully compatible with both. OSX 10.2 and earlier are not compatible with WPA but will work with WEP. I believe it may be possible to employ a workaround to get WPA working with the later updates to 10.2 but I'm not certain of that.

---------- Post added at 10:00 ---------- Previous post was at 09:59 ----------

I have 2+ supervisors coming with technicians in the next half an hour. We'll see how this turns out.

Someone upstairs seems to have given them a kick up the arse.

---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------

+ I tried doing some WDS (boosting the wireless signal with another router) but it obviously doesn't support it. Very useful.

Glad to hear things seem to be moving - let us know how you get on!

Bennage
12-03-2009, 15:14
Okay.
1 guy turned up in his flash car.
Then a technician turned up in his van.
They both looked around and shook their head a lot. At least they agree it's been done really badly.
They buried the cable in the front, and fixed the phone so that we can now make and receive calls, however we still only have 2 of the 4 phones working.

They promptly ran off and promised a guy would come round later today to fix the phone and cabling.

I have a slight suspicion that I'm going to be fobbed off again. The guy in the suit said, "I can't leave my technician to do this now, it'll take all day."

I don't see how that's my problem, but he insisted that he'd send back 2 others later.

Another day away from work.
Another day of hassle.
Ergh - again.

lymmranger
12-03-2009, 15:45
:erm:.......sounds hopeful!

....my installation was imacculate I had 7 men on site at one point!

Wonder why their (vm:dozey:) quality of installs is so variable?:td:

chickendippers
12-03-2009, 17:03
Wonder why their (vm:dozey:) quality of installs is so variable?:td:

Outsourced, underpaid and overworked contractors unfortunately.

FairyFairy
12-03-2009, 17:22
They didn't need to shake their heads and say it had been done very badly .... we all knew that!!!!!

It will be bad news if its not ALL sorted

beeman
12-03-2009, 18:08
Okay.
make and receive calls, however we still only have 2 of the 4 phones working.

They promptly ran off and promised a guy would come round later today to fix the phone and cabling.


To be fair the VM instellation ONLY covers 1 phone point, all internal extentions are your responscability (this applys with BT aswell). IF they do come and fix the rest of the phone sockets that would actually bee over and above what there suppose todo (though its something they will/may do as a way to part-compensate you for the troubled install).

Bennage
12-03-2009, 20:34
Victory!

Various people have been and gone today - the last of which left about half an hour ago.

They've sorted it out completely.
They agreed that the whole thing was messed up. The word 'cowboys' was used several times.

The phone sockets which didn't work were existing extensions of the original BT line. If they were to just swap over the number, they should have been brought along. All in one.
We worked out that the reason that the extensions didn't work, was because the first 'engineers' had cut the wire. They used the wire coming from the master socket to the extension, cut it, and then attached it with PVC tape to the cable box.
Madness.

The icing on the cake was a call from somebody "working in the Chief Executive's office who had heard about my problem through the cableforum website."

I'm guessing that was Chris' handy work - again, MASSIVE thank you for that!

One of the guys on the phone originally said they would charge me extra for fixing the two extension sockets. This didn't go down very well. I then spoke to HIS manager, who asked "are you having a giraffe? After all the hassle we've put you through?! Of course we won't charge you!"
That was more like it.

Finally, after a s@*t load of hassle, I have an almost 100% service.

The only problem now, is that I appear to be having drop outs in my broadband.
...But that's another story...

FairyFairy
12-03-2009, 21:24
Glad to hear you are almost sorted!!!

Hope those cowboys get booted out .... and not inflicted on anyone else!!!

What a forum this is where there is such good support!!

Drinks all round :beer::beer::beer::beer::ghugs:

Chris
12-03-2009, 22:14
Happy to have offered whatever help we could. :)

LondonRoad
12-03-2009, 22:15
Good news and well done for keeping us informed and maintaining your sense of humour throughout.:tu::clap::clap:

Bennage
13-03-2009, 02:21
Big thanks peeps!

The only problem I have left is that my BB connection keeps dropping.

My speeds are brilliant - just under 50meg when using a wired connection (with PC hardware). However, every few minutes, when I try to load a new page, it stalls, and nothing happens for about 10+ seconds. It's not only certain websites - whenever it happens, I try to load google.co.uk or bbc.co.uk and they both just think about it for ages, before coming back to life again.

Is this a familiar problem? I had a search, but couldn't see anything on the forums.

thanks again!

b

EBD3000
13-03-2009, 09:33
The important question now is what have you done to their tools?

LondonRoad
13-03-2009, 09:38
The important question now is what have you done to their tools?

Yes. Free the Cowboy 3.

them tools didn't do nuffink wrong Gov.

superbiatch
13-03-2009, 09:56
Yay! Victory ;)

greyposter
13-03-2009, 10:46
Glad you have had good news.Will be on VM in a few weeks and hope it goes better for me ?

Bennage
14-03-2009, 01:17
I gave the tools back. I should have held onto them until the internet was fixed. Still having a nightmare with that. I loose my connection every few seconds.

When it's good, it's very, very good, but only in between the gaps.

LondonRoad
14-03-2009, 01:21
I gave the tools back. I should have held onto them until the internet was fixed. Still having a nightmare with that. I loose my connection every few seconds.

When it's good, it's very, very good, but only in between the gaps.

Phew, that's a relief. A sleepless night worrying about them, especially the pliers... they just looked so vulnerable. :(

You should downgrade to 10Mb. It's been great since all 20/50s have move to a different docsis :D:D

Chris
14-03-2009, 13:11
I gave the tools back. I should have held onto them until the internet was fixed. Still having a nightmare with that. I loose my connection every few seconds.

When it's good, it's very, very good, but only in between the gaps.

Did the person from the CEO's office give you their phone number? Now you're on their radar you might as well make the most of it. Give them a call on Monday.