Setback!

BT Engineer arrives this morning. Apparently the job was logged as a fault and not as an Infinity Install. As such he was unable to do anything as he would have needed the routing tables which is job specific and not outlined on his job sheet.

He called it into operations who was to reissue the job for another engineer - most likely later in the day.

So - still no Infinity. The saga continues.

I decided to call BT today to see if all was on track for the cabinet to be upgraded on Friday.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the cabinet that was the cause of the issue has apparently already been upgraded - and all that I needed to do was organise an Engineer to visit to finish the installation.

The customer service person I was dealing with organised for an Engineer to visit this Friday, 5th of August. Result!

I will let you all know how things progress.

So - another quick update as C-day (connection day) approaches (yet again). I was contacted by the BT Care Team about two weeks ago and the person (Ciaran again I think) and they were going to check if they could get BT OpenReach to move the date forward for the upgrade to the cabinet. As I hadn't heard back, I am assuming that this hasn't been the case.

Come Friday (5th August) I will once again try to get Infinity installed. My money is on another inexplicable delay and that I will need to continue my stay at the .22Mb (and unusable) connection I currently have with BT.

Maybe I will be wrong... that would be a nice surprise.

So - the SAGA continues.

I call BT this morning as I was requested to by the BT Care Support (who was quite helpful at the time). I was told emphatically that the cabinet was to be upgraded on the 15th of July and that I should call on the 16th of July to organise an Engineer to visit my home to install the final part of the Infinity service.

I called today to be told that it will now not be available till August 5 - and I should call back then. Again BT aren't able to deliver to a deadline they set.

I request to be put through to the BT Care team and they are to check with the BT Wholesale Team to see if they can prioritise the upgrade of teh cabinet to be earlier. They were to call back by 17:00 in the afternoon. No phonecall this end so far.

Thought I would post an update as to how I have got on since the last posting.

Received a call from BT Care (Keiran) who looked took the time to look into everything, fix what he could there and then, and update me with further information.

BTInfinity - Assured me that an OpenReach engineer would definitely be looking at the cabinet on the 15th July to upgrade it. I was told that I will be able to ring up on the 15th to order BTInfinity.

Told me that once I have registered for BTInfinity - it shouldn't take longer than 10 - 14 days for an engineer to come around and finish the home side of the install.

The issue I had with the broadband cable was finally resolved. Keiran organised a BT Home Hub 2 Welcome Pack to be delivered - which arrived about 5 days later. (I have since then received a BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack (Engineers Install) as well. So all in all I have 2 x Home Hub 3 Routers, 1 x Home Hub 2 Routers and 1 x BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack. Out of this, I have managed to get enough elements together to connect the hub to the wall socket to access the internet.

Reassured that the speed indicated on the line was 29-30 Mbs once Infinity is installed.

The BTOpenzone/BTFon access details were sorted then and there (thank you) and was tested that night and appears to be working.

Called BT today to sign up for the Infinity as requested and was originally told that I already had it. After explaining that I didn't and why I was told that it appears that the system reads that the cabinet hasn't been upgraded as yet, but was unable to find any further information. BT was to call me back later in the day but I wouldn't be available so I will check tomorrow. Hopefully the cabinet will be upgraded as I have been told at least 4 times and I will finally get my beloved BTInfinity.

Thanks for looking into it David. I have responded to the link you have provided.

Since my last post:

I have yet to receive the BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack which will include my broadband cable on which I am waiting.

I have received an email from BT confirming my Broadband package will start on 05 July though it does state that my Broadband is BT Infinity Option 2 - which I am guessing, yet again, it is in error.

It also states that my speed is estimated between 0.3 - 2Mb which is in line with BT Total Broadband service and not the Infinity as stated in the email.

Hi

I have just seen your post and would like to look into this for you to see what is happening and clarify things once and for all as to what services are available and if they aren’t available when they will be. If send your details over via http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950

Regards David

This is going to be a very very long post. Mainly because it is a very very very long story.

I live on the Isle of Dogs. Notorious for the slow ADSL speeds for years due to the distance to the Poplar exchange and the lack of ADSL2+ ports available. Apparently the wait time is 1.5 years if you are lucky.

I am a film maker and as such I have the occasional need to transfer large files via the internet. To do so - I need relatively speedy internet connection and being hampered with a very slow broadband via Sky for the last 6 months I jumped on the chance to change to the new BTInfinity.

May 21 - I sign up for the BTInfinity Option 2 (Broadband and Phoneline)
May 21 - I receive an email order confirmation stating that I need to provide a MAC code. I retrieve the code on the next day or so from Sky and forward it to BT.
May 25 - I receive a "Thanks for Choosing BT" email stating:
I will keep my old phone number (0207...) a number that I am actually quite fond of and would like to keep. So I am happy.
Infinity welcome pack and router will arrive on 09 June
The phoneline will start on the 13 June
BT Infinity Engineer will arrive on 13 June between 08:00-13:00 to connect me to my wonderfully speed fibre-optic broadband.
May 29 - Receive email stating I need to set up online billing.

And now the fun begins.

May 27 - Receive call from BT stating that my Phone line will be installed on June 13. Unfortunately the engineer has to do something at the cabinet first before they can install the Infinity at my home and that can only happen on June 13. They will do the work at the cabinet, then call me to organise a time to come and complete the work at my home. Not the best - but least we are moving in the right direction.

June 3 - Morning -

I call BT

I can't remember the reason why but in communication with them, they state that my Infinity order was cancelled. After a lot of prompting I am told that actually there was a misunderstanding - I will need to be the one to call BT after the 14th to organise an engineer to come to my place. I was under the impression that BT was going to call me after they had done the work at the cabinet - but if I have to call them, that's fine. I was sure I was told the opposite but glad we cleared that up.

June 3 - Evening - Receive a call from BT (Janet/Janice) stating that they saw that I had called in the morning and there was some confusion as to what was going on. Janet politely spelled it out the process very clearly. Firstly - my phone line will be connected on the 13 June. An engineer will be working on the cabinet on the 13th of June and will then contact me to organise a time to come to my place to complete the home side of the installation. Great! This is what I thought I was told the first time. At least we have that clear now.

June 9 - BT Infinity Welcome Pack and Router arrives. - yay.

June 13 - My wife delivers a healthy baby boy into the world. - yay again. Phone line is also working - triple yay!

June 14 - I haven't received a call from the BT Engineer so I call BT to organise the Engineer. I am told that the engineer has had a look at the cabinet, and the cabinet did not have the equipment there that should have been and actually needs an overhaul to get it ready for Infinity. This won't happen until July 15th. They are therefore unable to provide Infinity service until the 15th of July.

I find it incredulous that BT doesn't know what equipment they have in the area, and are will to sign people up for a service they are not able to provide.

While is dutifully wait for BT to get its act together and upgrade the equipment to make it Infinity ready - BT are willing to sign me up for the BT Total Broadband. It will take 5 business days to transfer across from Sky - estimated speeds between 1-3 Mb/s. Wonderful! I currently receive a consistent .32 Mb/s download speed (.34 Mb/s upload) from Sky so this should be a slight improvement - and a stop gap while I wait for Infinity. I request that they sign me up for BT Total Broadband - I will then switch over to Infinity on July 15 - but I need to organise this myself on the 15th.

June 16 - try to finally set up my Online Billing. I contact BT as my new ....@btinternet.com login does not work. Strangely enough - my old login (which I had about 4 years ago) does. The helpful HelpDesk let me know that they have fixed the issue - I should be able to log in using my old password into my new profile..

I log in. Only to find that my 0207.. number is replaced with an 0203... number supplied by BT -

I call BT.

I am told that with my order I cannot keep the 0207... number and that it should not work. I assure them that it does indeed work. They try calling the 0203... number. It is dead. They call me on 0207... lo and behold it works. As I stated. They are confused. It shouldn't work and I is being listed as being in use with another person. Strange this is the case as I have had that number for at least 6 months - and BT themselves said I would be able to keep this number when transferring across to them. I definitely do not want to lose the number if at all possible. The operator at the other end is befuddled. They decide to log it as a crossed line fault and tell me that an engineer will look at it within 48 hours. There is a possibility that I can request to keep the number after they sort out the cross line issue.

Its over 48 hours as I haven't heard anything.

I call BT

Indian call centre this time. Operator is as befuddled as the previous operators. They state that the 0203... it is most likely an error in my profile. What I need to do is to delete my profile, and establish another profile and to put in the number that I wan't on the profile. Now I am perplexed. Honestly, if that is how it works I would love to have 020 7777 7777- but I am pretty sure that ain't going to happen. Double guessing that this may not actually be the case - I hang up.

I call BT.

This time another BT help centre operator. Told that I can indeed keep my beloved 0207.. number. It will be updated by my next bill. I ask if the 0203... 0207 number debacle would have caused the Infinity not being installed. I get told that I am not in an area serviced by Infinity. I state that I should be as I have been sent the Infinity welcome pack, and I have two friends - who live within 2 streets of me that have Infinity. After asking for my postcode I am asked if Canary Wharf is in Greater London? I hang up -

I call BT.

This next operator tells me that, yes I am in the area for Infinity - but it won't be rolled out until July 15. At least he knows his geography and understands that Canary Wharf is somewhere in the vicinity of London. Also he was stated that the little number switcharoo issue that I had would not have been responsible for why I did not receive Infinity when first promised.

June 20 - In preparation for the switch across to BT Total Broadband - I relook at the welcome letter that they had sent me - I notice to my delight that I should have access to 2 million BTOpenzone hotspots. I check my wifi signal and find that there is one - tenous at best - BTOpenZone network that I can connect to. I try to log onto BTOpenzone with my login that was given on May 25. Hmmm - no luck.

I call BT

I get passed from department to department until I arrive to someone who states that until my Infinity goes active - I won't be able to access the BTOpenZone hotspots. This is far from ideal considering that I should have had Infinity already. Relenting he gives me a Login Code and Password. The network unfortunately disappears before I can test the login and password. I will try later.

June 21 - Expecting BT Total Broadband to go active today. I receive no word. My broadband service to Sky goes dead. I call BT. I retell my plight to date. As a lead into explaining my situation I mentioned that I was to have received Infinity and yes, I was told - yet again that Infinity is not available in my area - yet after checking postcode miraculously Infinity IS in the area - and will be rolled out on July 15. Yes - I understand that - the question is how do I go about hooking into the Total Broadband I was told I would have by this point.

"Sorry sir, we do not have any record of that being ordered". I go ballistic.

After calming down the operator steps me through the fact that I should check if I do indeed have BT Total Broadband. I open up the router box and install the router. But being an Infinity Welcome box I do not have the required microfilters or broadband cable (the one that runs from the wall to the router). Using the ones I received from Sky I find out that Total Broadband is indeed working.

Result!

Testing the speed - I find that I receive 0.21Mb/s. Close to 1/2 the speed of Sky and about 1/5 the speed that I was promised numerous times on the phone (1-3 Mb/s)

I call BT.

I am told that the speed takes at least 14 days to become consistent (maybe longer) and that my speed should increase over this time. I also mentioned that as I only received the BT Infinity Pack, it wasn't set up for the BT Total Broadband, and therefore I need microfilters and a broadband cable as I will probably have to return the ones I have back to Sky. I am told that the only way they could send out microfilters and cables is to send me a router (the BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack) as there was no way to send microfilters or cables out separately.

I wait two days and I have a delivery. It is a BT Home Hub 3 package. I eagerly open it to find a BT Router and a power pack and....nothing else. Least I have a back up router... There is another smaller package received that day as well. I open it - 2 microfilters... sent separately. Go figure. I thought that there was no way to send these separately. 1/2 a result as I still do not have a broadband cable.

I call BT.

I go through the rigmarole again and am told that they are very sorry for the mix ups. They will send out another BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack so I can have a broadband cable. I am hoping that this will come tomorrow.

May 27 - This morning.

I get a phone call from BT sales team. They notice that I have a phone package with BT and was wondering if I would like to upgrade my broadband to their new fibre optic service "Infinity".

I am flabbergasted. I tell the sales rep that I was told that INFINITY won't be rolled out till the 15th of July - and I wouldn't be able to sign up for it until then. But hey, if I can order in early - YES! I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE INFINITY - PLEASE SIGN ME UP!. He checks his system. "I am sorry sir, but Infinity is not available in your area. We are unable to take your order until the 15th of July. Can I call you back on the 16th?"

WHY CALL ME AND OFFER ME INFINITY THEN STATE THAT YOU CAN'T SIGN ME UP BECAUSE IT IS NOT BEING OFFERED UNTIL THE 15th OF JULY?????

So - I await the arrival of the BT Total Broadband Welcome Pack tomorrow in the hope that it may contain a broadband cable.

I await the arrival of the 15th of July in the hope that I will indeed be able to sign up for the Infinity Option 2 package that I was told I was able to get over a month ago.

Oh - checked BTOPENZONE last night when I had access to a reliable hotspot. The username and password was not recognised.

- I will call BT