Line test failed, but was it kosher?

I ordered freeserve broadband and sat there like a lemon for 10 days waiting
for the
light on the alcatel speedtouch 330 to stop flashing.

After 10 days it was still taunting me, so I phoned up freeserve. Spoke to
some muppet who just kept asking me about usernames. "But I haven't even
got a connection yet, you idiot!" (at least I wished I'd said that last
bit!)

So he goes away telling me he's off to perform a line test (like he does it
himself). Comes back two minutes later and says I failed (or rather the
line did) on quality issues. Did he (or someone) do the test THEN, or was
he reporting on an earlier test? At this point I was speaking to freeserve
on my mobile and was connected to the net with my dial-up anytime
connection, so could they do the test with the line in use? Could the test
have been performed ealier that week with my line in use?

Anyway, spent half the weekend on the phone to BT 151. They did a standard
line test (which was A OK), but made me put my phone down (which is what
made me twig about freeserve). After speaking to various operators and
engineers I find out I'm about 5km from the exchange and the test came back
amber. This reminds me of an online test I found which was different to the
normal test (which just says "your exchange is enabled blah blah" etc.) Did
I
dream of that test? (Can someone please give me a URL if that test DOES
exist?)

The curious thing about where I live is that BT have recently replaced all
the phone poles on my (big) estate except mine (and I'm furthest from the
exchange). I figured any weakness on the line could be right at my end, so
I spoke to a BT operator about it who told me I'd defintely be able to find
out about replacements from customer services on Monday. But after just
speaking to them, they
just forwarded me to bt broadband who just told me to drop an email to the
broadband web-site. Anyone got any ideas on who to speak to about the phone
pole issue?

The woman at bt broadband sort of hinted I might try bt broadband (well she
would) but that I might be turned down instantly if they just consulted
their records and saw last week's test. Anyone know if I might
'mysteriously' have more luck going through BT (they might be more willing
to make a few tweaks etc.)?

I had the gain turned up a couple of years ago (to '2' I think?). I asked
for
it to be reduced at the weekend, but the lady at bt broadband just told me
it won't make a single bit of difference either way with a digital line. Is
it worth getting a retest through freeserve with the zero gain? I was also
told the weather can make a difference, and it was lousy on Friday when I
phoned.

Can anyone tell me what my options are? I'm not the bill payer, so I can't
just go ordering new lines etc willy nilly. I was told I could have an
engineer come out, but it would cost me £50-odd if no fault was found (and
there won't be if they just check for voice).

Congratulations if you stayed awake this far!

Jeeeez that's a long story.

Hve you tried 'testing' your own line at:

http://www.bt.com/broadband/index.jsp

It is a basic record lookup Ie. your exchange and possibly the line
length. This is the test that Freeserve did, no actual line testing is
involved.

garham

Hi, much of your tale of woe rings true .... sadly,

5km should now be ok as BT Wholesale have increased the 'reach' (even of the
rate adaptive version 5.5km to 6.5km) ... However, old or poor quality
cabling at your end could effect you, or having a Sky digibox on the same
phone line/circuit can impinge your connection, as could wet/damp weather
(at the time of line testing !!)

Adjusting the gain has it's own problems in as much as you increase the
gain, you also increase the noise, so stear clear of that ... The BT
Broadband website is probably best for info as it's the wholesale part of BT
that is nothing to do with BT Openworld (Oftel directive) .... I have an
Eclipse 512k line and I had the 'modem flashing, I aint doin nuffin, light'
scenario too for about a week, went through pretty much the same as you re
help? desks .... It was the wiring in my NTE sockets at home, I took them
apart and cleaned, dusted, 'electrolube' type wiped them, and touch wood,
it's been spot on since ... If you try acouple of ADSL number checkers and
they return a 'number ok' message, then you need to look nearer to home for
the problem, my line terminates outside in a little junction box, if yours
does, check that for damp, cob webs, the ex-insects of summer also . Cheers,
FH

"Graham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jeeeez that's a long story.
>
> Hve you tried 'testing' your own line at:
>
> http://www.bt.com/broadband/index.jsp
>
> It is a basic record lookup Ie. your exchange and possibly the line
> length. This is the test that Freeserve did, no actual line testing is
> involved.
>
> garham
>

Hi

Thanks for the reply. Hope springs eternal etc etc.

There is a fair bit of crap around the socket. It is also a pretty cold and
damp part of the house being right by the front door (which is just one
reason). I only connect up sky for pay-per-view footy, so that shouldn't
intefere. No fax machines etc. I never thought I'd have to apply lagging
to a phone socket! I've never noticed the weather having much effect on my
dial-up to be honest, whatever the conditions.

As far as nnumber checkers go, they all give broadly the same answer: no
channce of 1/2 mbits/s (in my dreams!), but should be OK for 512kb download.

I've also found a program from a web-site somewhere called 'advanced adsl
checker' that returns a coded message for any given number. For me it
returns R/A/E/Z which means no chance of 1/2 mbit/s connection (R),
borderline whether capable of getting 512mb(A), Exchange enabled (E) and no
extra info about line (Z). I tried a number for half a mile down the road
(not necessarily in the direction of the exchange, but at least slightly
closer) and it gives a 'G' instead of 'A' which means good chance of getting
ADSL at 512kbits/s

Has nobody any info on how to find out if my phone pole is being replaced?
I was sure some BT bods would be lurking around this group.

"Franc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi, much of your tale of woe rings true .... sadly,
>
> 5km should now be ok as BT Wholesale have increased the 'reach' (even of
the
> rate adaptive version 5.5km to 6.5km) ... However, old or poor quality
> cabling at your end could effect you, or having a Sky digibox on the same
> phone line/circuit can impinge your connection, as could wet/damp weather
> (at the time of line testing !!)
>
> Adjusting the gain has it's own problems in as much as you increase the
> gain, you also increase the noise, so stear clear of that ... The BT
> Broadband website is probably best for info as it's the wholesale part of
BT
> that is nothing to do with BT Openworld (Oftel directive) .... I have an
> Eclipse 512k line and I had the 'modem flashing, I aint doin nuffin,
light'
> scenario too for about a week, went through pretty much the same as you re
> help? desks .... It was the wiring in my NTE sockets at home, I took them
> apart and cleaned, dusted, 'electrolube' type wiped them, and touch wood,
> it's been spot on since ... If you try acouple of ADSL number checkers and
> they return a 'number ok' message, then you need to look nearer to home
for
> the problem, my line terminates outside in a little junction box, if yours
> does, check that for damp, cob webs, the ex-insects of summer also .
Cheers,
> FH
>
> "Graham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Jeeeez that's a long story.
> >
> > Hve you tried 'testing' your own line at:
> >
> > http://www.bt.com/broadband/index.jsp
> >
> > It is a basic record lookup Ie. your exchange and possibly the line
> > length. This is the test that Freeserve did, no actual line testing is
> > involved.
> >
> > garham
> >
>
>

"As mellow as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote in
message news:bpav9t$tkg$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I ordered freeserve broadband and sat there like a lemon for 10 days
waiting
> for the
> light on the alcatel speedtouch 330 to stop flashing.
>

I live on the extreme range for broadband but my number past the checks even
though my neighbours don't. Broadband was installed last week but I kept
loosing sync with the exchange (flashing light). As I am actually a BT
telephone engineer I wondered whether upgrading the house wiring would make
a difference as my phone socket for the computer was last in line out of a
set of 4 sockets so went though 4 sets of joints. I shifted the master
socket to the computer room and upgraded the cable to Cat 5 computer wiring
and then wired back to the other sockets. Problem solved. Now one could
ask why if the ADSL has travelled 6km why has the last 50 ft of cable made
a difference but it did. The bottom line is that if I didn't work for BT
and knew what I was doing then I would have lost my ADSL.

> After 10 days it was still taunting me, so I phoned up freeserve. Spoke to
> some muppet who just kept asking me about usernames. "But I haven't even
> got a connection yet, you idiot!" (at least I wished I'd said that last
> bit!)

I`m no expert, but I think your muppet comparison is probably fair and
accurate. No, scratch that, a muppet has someone intelligent controlling
it.

> So he goes away telling me he's off to perform a line test (like he does it
> himself). Comes back two minutes later and says I failed (or rather the
> line did) on quality issues. Did he (or someone) do the test THEN, or was
> he reporting on an earlier test?

It sounds to me like a delaying tactic - pretend to do something and just
leave the customer on hold.

Was this a premium rate call ? - i`d be complaining to ICSTIS at this
point ;-)

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
* old email address "btiruseless" abandoned due to worm-generated spam *
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

"Informer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fb942d0$0$248$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>
> "As mellow as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote
in
> message news:bpav9t$tkg$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I ordered freeserve broadband and sat there like a lemon for 10 days
> waiting
> > for the
> > light on the alcatel speedtouch 330 to stop flashing.
> >
>
> I live on the extreme range for broadband but my number past the checks
even
> though my neighbours don't. Broadband was installed last week but I kept
> loosing sync with the exchange (flashing light). As I am actually a BT
> telephone engineer I wondered whether upgrading the house wiring would
make
> a difference as my phone socket for the computer was last in line out of a
> set of 4 sockets so went though 4 sets of joints. I shifted the master
> socket to the computer room and upgraded the cable to Cat 5 computer
wiring
> and then wired back to the other sockets. Problem solved. Now one could
> ask why if the ADSL has travelled 6km why has the last 50 ft of cable
made
> a difference but it did. The bottom line is that if I didn't work for
BT
> and knew what I was doing then I would have lost my ADSL.
>

Sadly I'm have little or no knowledge of telecomms and things electrical
(I'm just a computer geek). I guess I should point out that I have a 15m
cheap cable running up the stairs from my (one and only) wall socket to the
adsl modem. I once uprooted my PC and plugged it in at the bottom of the
stairs so I didn't need the extension lead, but it made no discernable
difference to my dial-up experience.

If you're connected with BT, can you tell me who to contact to find out if
my pole is being changed? It's really ancient and I can't remember the line
being changed in all the 25 years I've been here (although I was only 3 when
I moved in!). And would an engineer like yourself charge me for coming out
and finding no physical fault at my end? I could always exagerate a voice
fault in the hope that the lines will get changed! Is that likely? I have
been offered an engineer visit, but threatened with a charge if no phyiscal
fault was found.

"Colin Wilson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> > After 10 days it was still taunting me, so I phoned up freeserve. Spoke
to
> > some muppet who just kept asking me about usernames. "But I haven't
even
> > got a connection yet, you idiot!" (at least I wished I'd said that last
> > bit!)
>
> I`m no expert, but I think your muppet comparison is probably fair and
> accurate. No, scratch that, a muppet has someone intelligent controlling
> it.

I think this guy was reading a script. I think a muppet was allowed to
adlib!

> > So he goes away telling me he's off to perform a line test (like he does
it
> > himself). Comes back two minutes later and says I failed (or rather the
> > line did) on quality issues. Did he (or someone) do the test THEN, or
was
> > he reporting on an earlier test?
>
> It sounds to me like a delaying tactic - pretend to do something and just
> leave the customer on hold.
>
> Was this a premium rate call ? - i`d be complaining to ICSTIS at this
> point ;-)

Just national rate I think. I wasn't even on hold long to be honest.

> --
> Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
> * old email address "btiruseless" abandoned due to worm-generated spam *
> --- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

"Graham" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Jeeeez that's a long story.

I saw lord of the rings the other night- now THAT'S a long story (although
it could be summed up in less words than I used I guess!)

> Hve you tried 'testing' your own line at:
>
> http://www.bt.com/broadband/index.jsp

Yes, I've tried 'em all. I think ISPs use this when you first register just
to make sure your exchange at least is enabled.

> It is a basic record lookup Ie. your exchange and possibly the line
> length. This is the test that Freeserve did, no actual line testing is
> involved.

I reckon freeserve did this 2 weeks ago when I registered (well, upgraded
actually), but surely they wouldn't just have done the same thing again
after 10 days! Even if they did, it comes up as maybe, not noway.

> garham

I see my long story made you a bit drowsy.....

"As mellow as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote
>
> Sadly I'm have little or no knowledge of telecomms and things electrical
> (I'm just a computer geek). I guess I should point out that I have a 15m
> cheap cable running up the stairs from my (one and only) wall socket to
the
> adsl modem. I once uprooted my PC and plugged it in at the bottom of the
> stairs so I didn't need the extension lead, but it made no discernable
> difference to my dial-up experience.


My dial up was fine but the ADSL wasn't. Its a very long shot but if you
move your PC to the master socket and try it there with no phone plugged
into the filter you will at least know that your house wiring and phone are
not making a difference.


> If you're connected with BT, can you tell me who to contact to find out if
> my pole is being changed? It's really ancient and I can't remember the
line
> being changed in all the 25 years I've been here (although I was only 3
when
> I moved in!).

Poles are normally only changed if they become a D pole and are considered
dangerous to climb. By changing the pole does not mean that they will fit a
new cable to it as they could reattach the old one.


And would an engineer like yourself charge me for coming out
> and finding no physical fault at my end? I could always exagerate a voice
> fault in the hope that the lines will get changed! Is that likely? I have
> been offered an engineer visit, but threatened with a charge if no
phyiscal
> fault was found.


You could report intermittent noise on the line. As it is intermittent no
engineers could charge you. If you keep sending in a repeat fault they
will put in a new drop wire and then change the pair back to the exchange
although that does not mean you would get a better line.