BT Engineers - Do they know what they are doing?

[RevaxMedia]

We have seen some BT "Engineers" working on our local exchange for the past couple of days and now our internet keeps cutting out perhaps 30-40 times a day which is so very frustrating as I am sure you can imagine, called our suppliers (Talktalk), they did the usual checks such as disconnect our internet and test the line with no faults, they said they would need to send yet another BT engineer out to have a look at our line, anyone know what it could be?

I know they are putting Fiber optic broadband in which will take effect in March 2012 so could it be this? We are about 2 miles away from our exchange and the average speed is about 2.6mb. Did the usual checks, changed filters (increased our speed from 1.6 to 2.6, as sky was eating our line) used main socket etc...

 

[anthonyd]

We had the main BT line into our house go down a while ago during the windy weather over Christmas, took no less than four visits, one time with two vans, for them to sort it out!

 

[RevaxMedia]

Thanks for moving this thread mods, saves me sending a PM

 

[smo]

Do they know what they are doing.....i'd say its a resounding NO, my office is "The OLD telephone exchange" - the key is in the name and its not been the active exchange in the village for over 40 years.

Every engineer BT sends out to the exchange knocks on my door asking if its the right place, clearly it isnt and I have to redirect them to the "new" exchange on the other side of the village (1/2 mile away). If they cant even go to the correct address after 40 years I doubt they know what to do when they get there!!!

 

[Esk247]

Generally no they don't. Either that or they are stringing work out for as long as possible to keep their jobs.

It's the same with most national companies though, the engineers know that if they complete the job too fast they'll be off somewhere else or they won't even have a job if they keep fixing things first time round so its best to scratch their head and then move on, they still get paid even if they don't fix the fault, the next guy comes along and does the same thing.

It's the only explanation i can think of, because they cannot possibly be that daft to keep forgetting to reconnect a cable.

you should see how slow they move as well, my god, sloths can run up a pole faster than this lot. it's like filming a nature programme in slow motion.

 

[mobyme]

BT engineers on the whole are pretty good. What isn't very good is the old copper system which was never intended for broadband or anything like the load it is currently carrying; couple that with literally thousands of incidents of jury rigging to overcome problems and you get some idea of the scale of the difficulty they face trying to carry out what on the face of it ought to be a simple repair. The whole infrastructure is in desperate need of investment.

 

[giffgore]

I've had mostly good experiences. Last time they had to come around in vans and do physical work on our line, they only visited once and the internet was down for a mere hour.

That said, at the moment I'm quite sure my BT Home Hub is screwed even though their customer service people tell me its fine. They told me they did some stuff with the network to fix my connection dropping issues but they've not been fixed at all.

However, I've actually been inside a BT call centre and had a guy show me how their computers work and exactly what they do, and TBH I appreciate that their jobs aren't as easy as you'd think. ISPs have massive networks and detecting where issues are is rarely easy, and though I told them it's the router's fault when I phoned, I know that most customers aren't as tech savvy as me so they're right not to just listen to whatever the customer says.

 

[Paul Norman]

Like all companies, the quality of BT engineers will vary, with many being very good indeed.

But that will not deliver good service. They are working with very old technology in many cases, which is unsuited to the requirements of the modern world.

In addition, the systems, processes, and ethos of BT as a company are such that delivering a successful outcome is just a matter of random good fortune. Their process are apalling. But, as they have an effective monopoly, they are unlikely to find any reason to change.