Talktalk problems

Hi,
I signed up to talktalk on 31 July this year on the talk 2 plan. They eventually sent through my wireless modem after claiming it had been lost in the post. I connected it as advised, but nothing happened. It was only at this point that I bought a phone and plugged it in to the socket and discovered I have no dial tone. I have only ever intended on using the phone line for internet so never tested the line before. Anyway, talktalk are now telling me that there is no fault at the exchange, but refuse to send an engineer out to me to investigate. Needless to say i'm a bit annoyed, especially as I've already been charged line rental for this non existant line. Has anyone had similar problems? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Toby

[paul]

Hi Toby

Are you in a talktalk LLU area If you don't know i can find out if you post your postcode?

How old is the house you are in, and how long have you been there? I have known cases where everything is fine at the exchange but that a previous occupant for reasons known only to themselves have snipped the wires where they come into the house. Have you checked that the wires into the property look ok?

Also I presume you have tried to get a dial tone in all sockets in the house, again i've seen cases where people have used old telephone extension cables that are so dodgy that they cause broadband to be inoperable.

Hope i'm not teaching grandma to suck eggs, but if we can exclude all these possibilities we can get closer to how to sort the problem out

ta
Paul

Hi Paul,
My postcode is HP19 7HX. Its a brand new flat. Think that may be part of the problem. I've tried all the line tests that talktalk suggest ie plugging phones into the different sockets one at a time etc. Is there a chance that the line was never connected properly in the first place? I paid £125 to BT for a connection fee but then immediately moved to talktalk so don't know for sure that it even worked when BT connected it. Cheers

[paul]

Yep, from your postcode it's clear that you are in an LLU area.

It's been a while since I had a phone line installed, did they send an engineer to your actual flat or was the line basically in at the flat end and BT just enabled it at the exchange when you paid them?

If an engineer came out then it would be pretty much 100% that they would have tested the line in your actual house.

If it was all done remotely then i'd be betting that everything at the exchange was fine when BT did the work and then TalkTalk got it fine at the exchange when you switched to them (especially if they have double checked it).

I'm still suspicious that the problem is in your building rather than the other end. As the house is new i presume you have a warranty with the builders? I'd be giving them a call and getting them (or whoever they subcontracted the phone wiring to) to come and check the wiring under the terms of the warranty.

I wouldn't want to suggest you go fiddling about with your phone wiring if you aren't qualified.

Of course it all still could be TalkTalks fault, but there are still plenty of reasons why it might not be their fault. Could you give us more details of excatly what TalkTalk have done or said they have done in trying to resolve the fault?

Aarrghh. Still going round in circles on this. I got in touch with Bellway who built my flat. They say that the lines were installed and tested when the flat was built.

Talktalk CONTINUE to close my call as they test the line from the exchange and say there is no fault. They don't tell me this - they just close the call. Therefore when I call back and ask for an update on my fault, I get told "there is no fault sir".

If I hear this once more I may go mad!

I have requested that an engineer comes out to test the line in person but nothing as yet.

I still am not convinced that its not a fault with the line in the flat. Could I get an independent engineer to come out and test it for me?

As always, any help much appreciated. Am really getting to the end of my tether with this

Thanks,
Toby

[Admin]

I think you should contact Belway again and say that the telecoms provider has tested the line at the exchange a number of times and that you still have no service and that under the terms of your warranty you require and engineer to come and check the connection that they installed in the property.

Yup, just done that. Bellway passed me on to the maintenance agents, who said that if there was a problem with the wiring then every flat would be affected (this is not the case as i've checked with the neighbours). They also said that it is Talktalk's responsibility to send an engineer out to test my line as they are the ones who are providing the service.

Pillar to post anyone?

How would it work if I tell talktalk to go jump, and re-sign with BT? I guess i'd have to pay another £125 connection fee?

[Admin]

I'd say that you are being given the slight runaround here, as if your phone socket had a loose wire in the back it could cause all these problems but would not cut the phones to all your neighbours.. so you should be within your rights to ask for it to be checked, i think they are fobbing you off.

You could get an engineer of your own out, but then that is going to cost you I guess. We can't recommend that you open it up yourself and have a look as you'd probably invalidate warranties and potentially cause yourself harm, but some people would try this.

Would going back to BT cost you £125, well yes strictly, but it is always worth asking for a discount

Already spoken to BT who said they will definitely charge me £125 again. To be honest i'm considering just taking the hit and paying it just so I can get online. Its becoming a real inconvenience.

I must admit I did have a quick peek behind the phone socket, but not being a telecomms engineer it didn't mean a lot, however there certainly were no obvious loose wires or broken connections.

Think I will continue hounding talktalk the rest of this week, and then consider going back to BT. Am just worried that now talktalk have control of my phone line they won't release it.

I've cancelled my direct debit so at least i'm not paying line rental in this period.

Thanks for your advice

Thats the trouble with any 3rd party line providers or isps. If your broadband goes faulty the isp will say its bt line fault , bt will say it is your isp. you are piggy in the middle . Stick to the same isp as your line provider