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I happened to be with some neighbors a couple of days ago while a BT engineer was there installing a new line. We ended up having a long chat about how things were now compared to when I left BT some years back, and eventually we got around to the subject of all the umpteen different telephone and internet service providers now competing for business and the problems of local-loop unbundling.

Two things he mentioned which he had experienced recently show the caliber of people being employed by some of these Johnny-come-lately shoestring outfits.

First was the place he had been called to for supposed outside line trouble. Apparently the "fully trained" engineer that the ISP had sent out to the customer to install all the DSL equipment had insisted that he could get no DSL signal and that it was obviously an outside BT line fault. So in came BT OpenReach to investigate, whereupon he said he found a DSL signal just fine at the demarc. Further investigation revealed that this "expert" engineer the ISP had sent had installed a DSL filter ahead of the modem/router. As he put it, they seem to drag anyone in off the streets, give them a ten-minute talk on connecting the stuff, and then send them out as "experts."

Second case, a customer who was LLU with one of the alternate providers and having line problems. Having gone through the usual stuff with the service rep. and finding no dialtone at the demarc, the customer had been told "Before we send anyone out, could you just climb the pole that your line goes to and check if your cable is connected properly."

As the BT guy said, because these places have to pay BT OpenReach to send somebody out, they'll do everything they can to avoid having to do so.

It's bad enough if somebody messed around at a pole DP and caused problems on other lines, but I know dozens of people who are completely incapable of distinguishing phone lines from power lines. I can just see some unsuspecting person getting out a ladder and going right up the pole until he grabs hold of 415V power at the top.

As I've said before, telecoms has become a real three-ring circus here in recent years.

Just makes you want to gobsmack them all!

Paul,when the customer fries himself, BT OpenReach will no longer be needed! And no one will be able to order a disconnect until they realize who the provider is. "I smell the money" John C. (Not Garand)

And even when they do, they might have trouble. That's another area which is causing a lot of concern.

OfCom (the official telecoms regulator) has made it a condition of service that a company must provide an MAC (Migration Authorization Code) when asked for one by a customer who wants to move service to somebody else. Some companies are still refusing to issue one upon request though, or are dragging their heels over the issue. Without an MAC, the new company cannot take over the existing line, so the customer is faced with either having a second line installed (£125 or so = U.S. $250) or canceling the existing service and ordering from scratch, which is likely to result in a couple of weeks with no service (and a reconnection fee as well, even if less than the fee for a new line).

Sounds like some of the problems we had here when CLECs first went into business. When CLECs were first proposed, the first thing that popped into my head was, 'Who is going to maintain the cable infrastructure'. My knee-jerk answer was the local political entity! HOW SCARY IS THAT!!!!!!!!!! Potable water supply and sewage disposal supported by the local political entity was a nightmare when it first became generally publicy owned. In some areas the service is still not too great. John C. (Not Garand)

The cable companies here, which are pretty much only in the larger towns and cities, maintain their own networks. For POTS though, all the lines are still owned by BT and maintained by BT OpenReach, a new division which was only created a year or two ago. OpenReach is supposed to provide line installs and maintenance on an equal basis to all independent phone companies on the same terms as to BT itself.

It causes a lot of confusion to those who don't understand the way it works. They'll order phone service from the Acme Telephone Co. or whoever, and not understand what's going on when the engineer who turns up to install the line is in a BT OpenReach van. The guy I spoke with a couple of days ago said that even after trying explain the situation he's had people refuse him entry to install the line, because "We didn't order service from BT." :shrug:

As for letting our local government run essential services, that would definitely be scary. North Norfolk District Council seems to be filled with a combination of arrogant would-be dictators who have let a little power go to their head and complete idiots.

Politicians world-wide fit your description. The ones that don't fit the mold quit at the end of their 1st term out of disgust. Unless they are forced out prematurely. (You know, skeletons in the closet, innocent mistakes, and just plain set-ups.) It's beyond me why anyone would want to be President of the U.S. Thankless task, $$$$$$$$$$ to get elected, and the pay isn't worth it! Either super-patriot(Seldom), or ego-maniac (Usually). The only ones that are hard to label are presidents that got the job because the president couldn't do it anymore. They are usually picked for pc reasons, having little or nothing to do with their possible qualifications. John C. (Not Garand)