New FTTP installation - phone cut-off and missing ringback tone

[sheriffbuck]

New installation down in Verwood, Dorset. OpenReach installed FTTP ready for Vodafone to activate BB and Digital Voice service 2 week ago today.

BB appears to be working fine. Ping test consistent 10ms with no obvious connection drops.

Digital Voice is a bit of a mess. Line "appears" to be working in that calls come in and can be made, but suffers two issues:

1. No ring-back tone is heard from callers calling the LL number. They dial the number, but they get silence rather than "ring ring". House phones ring fine, but often caller hangs up because they assume there is a problem because they don't get the ringing tone on their handset.
2. All outgoing calls get cut off after 29 minutes and 28 seconds duration. A tone is heard on the LL at the point of cut-off, then silence. Router shows call in progress. Receiving handset is disconnected.

Been passed around the houses for over a week with Tier 1 support who really didn't know what to do. I kept getting fobbed off by being told it's an OpenReach installation issue, or my router needed to be reset/upgraded/reflashed/turned upside down to pour out the problems....

I suspect it's an issue with Vodafone's SIP gateway service which has nothing to do with OpenReach, but I'm no expert here.

Finally got engagement from Tier 2 on Friday with a ticket number and a direct line. Ran some tests for them on Sunday, so sitting in wait for a response.

I wanted to get this posted in case others were having a similar issue and nothing was showing up in Internet searches.

I was told by one call handler that the problem had been reported by other users.

[Jayach]

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@jozxyqk76 wrote:

I've had several meaningless interactions with the social media team, who leave me waiting for ages before parroting the "there will be an update" line. I've given them my personal details and 2 digits from my pin so many times I'm sure they could impersonate me to my bank.

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My experience of the social media team exactly, I'd never attempt to use them again.

[Mark]

I can understand it may be a little frustrating having to keep providing your details @jozxyqk76, but we take your security very seriously and only ask these details so we can be sure we're speaking to the account holder. I've taken a look at your conversation with us via DM and can see our team are looking into this for you, we'll continue to investigate the matter until we provide you with a suitable resolution. If you need anything else in the meantime, don't hesitate to get in touch.

[jozxyqk76]

Well, the landline appears to be functioning ok, which is pleasing - even if it's taken a ridiculous amount of time.

Still getting texts and Twitter DMs every few days saying that there'll be an update in X days (just had one today saying the next one will be 14 September).

I've also been billed for the various test calls I made to the tech team mobile & contacts. Needless to say, I'll be off as soon as this contract expires.

[Spiralgalaxy5]

New Vodafone FTTH (from the end of August) and - you've guessed it - an Internet search for "30 minute call cut off" has led me to this thread. Logically it is very unlikely to be Openreach causing the problem - I've not noticed any dropouts or odd behaviour with any other internet traffic. I suspect that Vodafone may have contracted the VOIP telephony service to another provider that has a 30 minute cap and they are unable or unwilling to sort out the problem - I'm speculating here but I would not be surprised if nothing changes until Vodafone change to another provider or supply the service themselves (which they should be doing anyway IMO). Another possibility is the supplied Modem / Router firmware has some issue but I would think that this would have been dealt with by now via online update... As time goes by I have started to think of Vodafone as a brand name / shop window rather than a service provider, which is sad. Those that have spent a lot of time getting nowhere (with Vodafone) could inform OFCOM - they do take this kind of thing seriously.

[Gemma]

@jozxyqk76 - when you next talk to us through the Social Media conversation, please mention the charges you've incurred for calling the Tech team and we'll get these credited (if you mention I've advised you of this here). 

@Spiralgalaxy5 - If you're facing the call issue where it's cutting off, please can you contact my team through Social Media. We can then get this raised on your account and investigated further. 

[Spiralgalaxy5]

Hi Gemma, Thanks for responding to my post. I checked the link you provided but I don't have a Twitter or Facebook account.

[Spiralgalaxy5]

Fault reported to Vodafone (by telephone to customer support) so they have another number to play with. I was told that it was a BT issue, to which I responded (that) I am a customer of Vodafone not BT. I was told the problem was being looked into. My call logs show cut-off occurs at 29m28s.

[hillyhill]

This is exactly the problem we have with our landline. And then we lost ability to make outgoing calls. This has finally resolved (after several months) , but on the phone today - first time in weeks - and once again it cut out at 29 mins and 28 seconds. We’ve tried talking to Vodafone and they sent a box which did nothing. Phone seems to have resolved itself but not with the cutting off calls which is incredibly annoying when talking to your 94 year old father!  Did you get this resolved?

[Mark]

I can understand how frustrating this would be @hillyhill. Let's take a look into this and see if we can get everything straightened out for you. As we'll need access to your account to complete a full investigation, please contact us via our social channels.

[Spiralgalaxy5]

Hi Hillyhill,

Nope - I had another go which resulted in ONE ringback from support - which I bungled due to being at work and then accidentally erasing the message from answerphone - but the message was only to call them back anyway...!

Since then no communication from Vodafone support (I have a reference number for reporting the fault) and only one phone call has gone over the 30 minutes (with a few clicks and noises) but otherwise I'm still being cut off by the service provider - that's VODAFONE - consistently after just under 30 minutes.

I'm loosing confidence in Vodafone as a company and brand, I wouldn't recommend them to others now. I don't suppose the others are any better(?) because I think we are all being played for fools in the modern world.  I think that they are not honouring their service commitment as per contract (there's nothing about a 30 minute guillotine) or universal service provision (regulated by OFCOM for privatised telephone "landlines" providers).  I don't use social media and fail to see why I should be the one to resort to pursuing support via third party social media (Twitter and Facebook - why does a telecoms provider need to use this stuff?). Frankly it's a load of time-wasting cr*p that I'm fed every time that I try to get this resolved and I've better ways to spend my life - and my money. Whether things improve or not will likely be coincidental rather than as a result of my efforts to seek help from Vodafone.

You just "know" that this will all be down to a sub-contracted provider (to Vodafone) - we are almost certainly not dealing with the service provider when we communicate with Vodafone support. Vodafone probably purchased a service to interface to the old telephone network and got a cheap deal which has unfortunately resulted in a 30 minute cut-off. "Support" is probably similarly sub-contracted. Just like we can't get out of a Vodafone contract without penalty they are probably similarly stuck with fobbing us off unless (if we're lucky) someone has made a note to get this dealt with at the next round of contract work. I'm not holding my breath.