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No Broadband Connection - 2 weeks and counting!

paulverine
3: Seeker
3: Seeker
Hi All,

We're currently experiencing an ongoing problem with our broadband and I wanted to put our particular problem out there in case anyone has had something similar to wrong and whether there's a solution. We've had no internet for two weeks and has so far stumped two engineers!

First call out of Engineer: The problem was diagnosed as an earlier lightning strike in the area and our lines were reset. This fixed our problem with our home phone (which wasn't working previously) but our router could still not connect to the internet. Red lights all round. Our router was replaced by vodafone and it still cannot connect to the internet.

Second call out of Engineer: They investigated the socket connection and tested for hardware / line faults. Could not diagnose problem. They reset our connection and left our home and said it might be fixed in fifteen minutes. Still broken.

There's a small amount of confusion caused by the fact our house has two master sockets (one was installed by a BT engineer that lived in our house prior to us) but apparently the other additional socket is disconnected and not in use.

Our home phone appears to be working fine so the issue appears isolated to just our broadband connection. The router is coming up on our network and seems to be working fine other than the fact it can't connect to the internet, so I don't believe it's a hardware problem.

Can anyone help / have any ideas about what the issue could be?

Any wisdom will be much appreciated. Desperate to get this fixed so we don't have to wait another week!
14 REPLIES 14

Nabs
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

My guess would be that there is some confusion over the master sockets. 
I'm guessing you've already tried the router in the second socket?

 

I'd personally be looking to get the engineers to come out and remove whichever socket is redundant. That would at least rule out 1 potential source of the issue.

However, given that your phone is working the line is obviously connected so it would suggest that either the data side of things isn't set up in the exchange correctly or there is an issue with the Vodafone servers. Vodafone should be able to tell you if your router is communicating with them, if it is it's likely Vodafone's problem, if it's not then they fault still lies with BT.

 

 

Alex
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@paulverine Sorry to hear the issues you're having.

 

We'd like to look into this further, I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch. :smileyhappy:

 

paulverine
3: Seeker
3: Seeker
Hi Nabs,

I've tested the upstairs socket and it's definitely redundant. Hopefully the call later will resolve what the issue is. I'd like to think I'm relatively clued up when it comes to this is sort of thing but I'm completely stumped!

paulverine
3: Seeker
3: Seeker
Hi again. Just by way of an update - It's been confirmed that the issue is not related to our telephone line, and that BT said the issue was fixed when it was not (something they've done both times). However, the second engineer that was sent was a BT telephone engineer rather than a fibre engineer, explaining why he only checked the phone lines which were actually no longer a problem. I'm not sure where the blame lies on this; whether a telephone engineer was requested a second time by vodafone or Openreach sent out an engineer that was not suited to fix the problem.

This is being chased up again tomorrow where we will hopefully be assigned the correct engineer. As it stands we look to be without internet completely for two and a half weeks and counting. No word of a refund yet for this issue but hopefully that will be offered as a matter of practice.

Nabs
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion
Good to hear theres progress of sorts.

In situations like this a refund (or more accurately an account credit) is usually processed once service has been restored so once you get back up and running give the team a shout and I'm sure they'll arrange something for you 😄

If you dont mind keeping the thread updated in the meantime would be good to know how the whole experience pans out for you

paulverine
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

Updating again to keep everyone posted:

 

Currently, my opinion of Vodafone is to not waste your time with their home phone and broadband. They've made numerous, admitted failings and I'll be making sure this gets some visibility online as no one deserves this level of farce.

 

I've just received a call from Brendan at Tech Two 'No Dial Tone' to arrange an engineer.

 

He was looking to arrange an appointment for a telephone line engineer to help resolve my problem with my phone line. I told him there is no issue with my telephone line and that I have a dial tone and everything is working fine - this came as a surprise to him

 

I told him I spoke to three different people last night regarding my internet fault - this came as a surprise to him.

 

I told him that I'd actually already given three dates for when an engineer could visit - this came as a surprise to him.

 

I told him that following a discussion with Zac and Thomas, it was agreed it would more appropriate to assign a broadband engineer rather than a telephone engineer - this came as a surprise to him.

 

Other than when Zac tried to call me at 5pm, that was the last notes they had on the system of anything that was said. Not one single iota of information shared for several hours worth of conversation was marked down, despite repeated assurances of 'I'll just make a note of that'.

 

Not only the above, it transpired my issue was never even assigned to the Tech 2 Broadband team. It was continuously escalated to the no dial tone team despite repeated calls every other day to and from Vodafone regarding my faulty internet (and believe me, the 'phone line is working but the internet is not' issue was repeated constantly and always appeared to be the topic at hand.)

 

Just too add a few more flies in the ointment, the records containing my router details at Vodafones end had not been updated correctly . We were hopeful this might solve the issue once rectified but unfortunately this never happened.

 

So my current conclusion: I've been talking to the wrong team, who tried to assign the wrong type of engineer, who did not take any notes despite telling me otherwise. I'm now left waiting longer than ever before to see the correct type of Engineer. I have to rely on a team of people that admit making no notes of my issue, who don't even know that my internet is even the problem, to communicate with said Engineer.

 

My first thoughts are what sort of deals are on USwitch at the moment. Virgin and TalkTalk are both making cheaper offerings and if my options are either another month of no internet with zero customer service or a new provider, I know which one I'll choose.

 

I wasted several hours on Monday evening discussing my problem for absolutely nothing. I'm going to see if anyone on Facebook or Twitter have had to deal with this kind of incompetence before and I'll be making this as well known as I can.

Just to follow up on my earlier post, I'd like this particular entry to get more visibility to highlight the issues I've experienced. Sorry for the wall of text but if you have a working phone line but no internet, this worth reading as a precaution:

Updating again to keep everyone posted:

Currently, my opinion of Vodafone is to not waste your time with their home phone and broadband. They've made numerous, admitted failings and I'll be making sure this gets some visibility online as no one deserves this level of farce.

I've just received a call from Brendan at Tech Two 'No Dial Tone' to arrange an engineer.

He was looking to arrange an appointment for a telephone line engineer to help resolve my problem with my phone line. I told him there is no issue with my telephone line and that I have a dial tone and everything is working fine - this came as a surprise to him

I told him I spoke to three different people last night regarding my internet fault - this came as a surprise to him.

I told him that I'd actually already given three dates for when an engineer could visit - this came as a surprise to him.

I told him that following a discussion with Zac and Thomas, it was agreed it would more appropriate to assign a broadband engineer rather than a telephone engineer - this came as a surprise to him.

Other than when Zac tried to call me at 5pm, that was the last notes they had on the system of anything that was said. Not one single iota of information shared for several hours worth of conversation was marked down, despite repeated assurances of 'I'll just make a note of that'.

Not only the above, it transpired my issue was never even assigned to the Tech 2 Broadband team. It was continuously escalated to the no dial tone team despite repeated calls every other day to and from Vodafone regarding my faulty internet (and believe me, the 'phone line is working but the internet is not' issue was repeated constantly and always appeared to be the topic at hand.)

Just too add a few more flies in the ointment, the records containing my router details at Vodafones end had not been updated correctly . We were hopeful this might solve the issue once rectified but unfortunately this never happened.

So my current conclusion: I've been talking to the wrong team, who tried to assign the wrong type of engineer, who did not take any notes despite telling me otherwise. I'm now left waiting longer than ever before to see the correct type of Engineer. I have to rely on a team of people that admit making no notes of my issue, who don't even know that my internet is even the problem, to communicate with said Engineer.

My first thoughts are what sort of deals are on USwitch at the moment. Virgin and TalkTalk are both making cheaper offerings and if my options are either another month of no internet with zero customer service or a new provider, I know which one I'll choose.

I wasted several hours on Monday evening discussing my problem for absolutely nothing. I'm going to see if anyone on Facebook or Twitter have had to deal with this kind of incompetence before and I'll be making this as well known as I can.

Alex
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

@paulverine Did you manage to get in touch using the instructions in the private message I've previously sent to you.  

 

paulverine
3: Seeker
3: Seeker
I did. The person said they updated my address details and that was the extent of their assistance. No mention of the total lack of customer service / internet connection since 3rd March.

But my address details are updated, so at least there's that...