BT Total Broadband... experiences?

here's the deal- i have BT line rental, BT broadband, Primus for long distance.  adds up to £35 or so month (that includes about 3 hours to canada & 2 hours to the US a month)

we have a wireless router from BT, but we've never gotten it to work properly.  something's up with the wireless setting on our new dell (well it's 15 months old, not that new).

secondly- the phone line we have stinks.  it crackly & we've tried different phones to no avail.  it's so bad sometimes we can't hear at all.  so we end up using skype or our mobiles.

looking into a new broadband service & long distance phone provider... has anyone used BT total broadband?  it looks like for £13.99/month (first 6 months) (£22 after that) (18 month contract) (averaged out cost of £19/month) (then add the line rental charge of £10= £30 total cost) (plus £50/special phone) i'll get a wireless router, that has a telephone attached.  when i sign up, we'll be given another phone line which people can call just like a standard phone (right?).  we also get internet.  there's pretty decent canada/us minute rates- 1.25p/min + 3p connection charge.

is this going to be too much hassle?  will the phone ring like normal?  anyone have this?  do you love it/hate it?

First things first....... 

the phone line we have stinks.  it crackly & we've tried different phones to no avail.  it's so bad sometimes we can't hear at all. 

It sounds as though there is a fault on the wiring, and you really need to get that fixed before you try to do anything.  You used different phones and it's still bad, so that eliminates the phones, but there are some other things you can try.  Make sure that all other telephone equipment (other extension phones, answering machines, fax machines, modems etc.) are disconnected and see if the noise is still there.  If so, then there must be a fault in either your own internal wiring or on the outside line.

Do you have extensions connected around the house?   If yes, then you need to isolate them so you can narrow down the location of the fault.   Assuming that you have the newer-style master jack (the one with a small pull-out panel at the bottom), this acts as the demarcation point between BT's line and your own internal wiring.   You can loosen the two small screws, then pull that lower section out to disconnect all of your own extension wiring from the line.  Then just plug a phone directly into the jack that you'll see inside and try again.  If the line is then clear, the fault lies with your own internal wiring;  if it's still bad (double check with another phone), then it's time to call BT to report a line fault.

we have 4 phone points in our house.  how do we locate the master one? 

we have 4 phone points in our house.  how do we locate the master one? 

Does one of your jacks have a separate lower panel, like this?



It may also have a BT logo stamped on the upper section if it was actually installed by BT originally.

we have two phone lines coming into the house.  one we do not use.  it has the dual panel like you picture below.

the other line has 3 jacks.  none of them have a two panel.  they're just a square. 

It sounds like you don't have the BT filter plugged in, it would have come in the BT box w/ the modem. It sounds like my phone when I forgot to plug in the filter after doing some rearranging.  I couldn't hear a thing! You plug that into the wall jack.  It looks like this (sorry about the fuzzy photo) -

thanks for the suggestion but we have filters in every socket... the one attached to the sky, the one attached to phone, even the empty one.  i then tried disconnecting everything and just plugging the plain old phone into the wall... still fuzzy.

it "seems" to be worse after a big rain storm, but that may just be my imigation...

Well that sucks!!  so much for my easy fuzzy phone solution.  I don't have any experience w/ total broadband- we thought about getting it but I make so few long distance calls-maybe once a week- that it doesn't make sense for us to get it.  Keep us posted on the fuzzy phoneline and total broadband.

we have two phone lines coming into the house.  one we do not use.  it has the dual panel like you picture below.

the other line has 3 jacks.  none of them have a two panel.  they're just a square. 

O.K., it sounds as though the line you are actually using was installed before BT adopted the NTE5 jack (the box pictured above).  Either that or the wiring has been changed by someone since it was installed.  The only way to isolate the extensions would be to open up the main jack and start disconnecting wires, which you probably don't want to do!

However......

it "seems" to be worse after a big rain storm

You're quite probably not imagining it.  When a junction box leaks and lets damp in, it's very common for the problem to become more acute after heavy rain. 

Given these symptoms, the chances are that the fault is with BT's outside line plant, in which case it should be repaired free of charge.   The reason I was trying to isolate your extension wiring is that if you call BT repair and the fault turns out to be on your own internal wiring, then they'll hit you with a substantial callout fee. 

I can't guarantee that the fault is with BT, of course, but from your description it's the most likely cause.

thanks for such a through explanation... it's what i was afraid of...

i'm gone for the next 2-3 weeks for work so i'll call BT when i get back.  i'll probably have to take a day off work, eh?  great. 

any idea how much they'll charge for the callout fee if the fault is with my end?

any idea how much they'll charge for the callout fee if the fault is with my end?

Could easily be upwards of £100, depending upon how much work is involved in fixing the problem. 

However, if the extension wiring was installed by BT pre-NTE5 and the problem (however unlikely) does turn out to be on that internal wiring, then you might get it repaired free or at a discounted rate.  It will depend upon how the wiring came to be fitted and whether BT is still accepting responsibility for it.    If any inside work is done, the engineer might also convert the existing master jack to the NTE5, thus transferring responsibility for the internal extension to you in the future.

BT call out charge is a standard £124


Vicky

I just went off in search of the current fees, as I hadn't checked them for some time.  It seems that BT has recently increased the rates considerably.

Straight from the horse's mouth, BT.  Callout charge plus hourly rate:   

This will typically cost between £116.33 to £163.33 inc. VAT for a one-off visit charge and £99.88 to £258.50 (hour/part hour) inc. VAT labour charge depending on time of day, the lowest charges are for work in normal working hours.

Meggles,  I'll send you a PM with instructions on how to perform an automated line test.  It won't show up every possible fault, but it's worth a try to see if the test result comes back with anything which would support an outside fault.

you're a star!