Street Cabinet

[cerifamily]

The door of the street cabinet OX26 4TP (the corner of Keble rd-Churchill rd in Bicester) is open ...AGAIN !! (God knows how many times I ' ve told ntl about this ...) WELD the damn thing !!

[Halcyon]

Annoying isnt it.
Luckily they fix them quite quickly in our area.
Stupid kids pulling the covers off.

[injuneer]

A lot of the cabinets are left open/not secured properly by the installers (3rd party contractors usually, trying to reach ridiculous install quotas). There is much frustration amongst ntl network techs (those that are left anyway!!) that the problem isn't being taken seriously by management. No quality control anymore, the QA teams were made redundant!! A nice, dry secure cabinet = happy (ish) customers.

Originally Posted by injuneer

A lot of the cabinets are left open/not secured properly by the installers (3rd party contractors usually, trying to reach ridiculous install quotas). There is much frustration amongst ntl network techs (those that are left anyway!!) that the problem isn't being taken seriously by management. No quality control anymore, the QA teams were made redundant!! A nice, dry secure cabinet = happy (ish) customers.

About a month ago I reported our local green cabinet was unlocked: lady at CS stated someone would come to lock it. The next day someone attached bown sticky tape to it to keep it closed, it's still the same today, no one has bothered to come and lock it.

[Halcyon]

It has become a standard thing for me to put back the door on our cabinet. I then phone them up and they come and repair it quite fast.
So good response.

[goldoni]

I have now given up notifying NTL of open sub boxes as nothing is done. On the last visit of an engineer I said about the open box just around the corner, he said †œyouâà ƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€à …¾Ã‚¢re lucky in some parts of Stevenage they donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t have doors to lock, the kids keep nicking them.ââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚ÂÂÂ�

Originally Posted by goldoni

I have now given up notifying NTL of open sub boxes as nothing is done. On the last visit of an engineer I said about the open box just around the corner, he said †œyouâà ƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€à …¾Ã‚¢re lucky in some parts of Stevenage they donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t have doors to lock, the kids keep nicking them.ââ‚ƚ¬Ã‚ÂÂÂ�

What? They steal the doors, what on earth do they do with them melt them down and make them into saucepans? Fascinating!

[Halcyon]

I think aliens collect them to mend their spaceships.

[EBO48]

60% of the cabs in my area area are unlocked mainly as the've been broken open so peeps can recon themselves and ntl have no money to fix and audit the cabs, which can cause noise etc

[Acropolis]

Originally Posted by injuneer

A lot of the cabinets are left open/not secured properly by the installers (3rd party contractors usually, trying to reach ridiculous install quotas). There is much frustration amongst ntl network techs (those that are left anyway!!) that the problem isn't being taken seriously by management. No quality control anymore, the QA teams were made redundant!! A nice, dry secure cabinet = happy (ish) customers.

Right a couple of points here, granted a lot of the cabs may well be left open by contractors, but i think you may well find the reason for this been nothing to do with install quota, i for one never had a problem with the quota we were given, if anything there was not enough work around, the problem is that a lot of the cabs have to be broken into by the installers/contractors as they are not provided with enough cab keys for the number of installers that they have. Perfect example i went down to Stevnage for a while on service, saw the NTL service manager for that area (employed directly) was given a route of work, but when i asked for cab keys and alike the response was, "Got a screw driver aint ya?" Getting a little sick of all NTL's install problems been blamed on contractors.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Acropolis

Right a couple of points here, granted a lot of the cabs may well be left open by contractors, but i think you may well find the reason for this been nothing to do with install quota, i for one never had a problem with the quota we were given, if anything there was not enough work around, the problem is that a lot of the cabs have to be broken into by the installers/contractors as they are not provided with enough cab keys for the number of installers that they have. Perfect example i went down to Stevnage for a while on service, saw the NTL service manager for that area (employed directly) was given a route of work, but when i asked for cab keys and alike the response was, "Got a screw driver aint ya?" Getting a little sick of all NTL's install problems been blamed on contractors.

I can only go what I was told by the network techs, maybe it's a bigger problem in London, the ex Videotron cabs are a disgrace, I wouldn't let my dog pee up them. Ntl just don't want to spend on providing engineers with sufficient or correct equipment to do the job properly.

[nfs6600]

At the end of the day we should not be blaming the contractors, installs and service techs. It all comes down to if it is reported in the correct manner. If for instance I receive a call from CMC or FMR I will imediatley log and and get someone out the resolve the issue asap. An open cab takes priority over one fault call as open cabs can eventually lead to more faults, which is obviously not what we want now do we.

Many a time we have been given information on open cabs which simply isn't enough to get a tech out. We've had some instances where they tell us what town its in and no other information has been gathered. The blame does not lie with the techs, it lies with the people who are meant to get it communicated to the relevent department so that they can get it to the a tech.

Paul

[injuneer]

Of course there is the problem that some of these cabs are in the most lawless areas where it's dangerous even to venture alone for fear of a kicking !! I know of a few techs who have been threatened whilst attending faults at cabinets, one only wanted to lock the doors !! He was told by a gang of scallys to pack up his tools and leave if he wanted to escape a beating. 'nuff said

[Acropolis]

a little of subject i know but here is a funny one for ya, well not funny actually but....

there is a DSA is Leicester, on the corner of 2 streets and along side the wall of someones house. For some reason, no one is quite sure why, the chap who lives in this house has a grief against NTL and this DSA. A few years ago, a tech was working in the DSA and the chap from the house came out and booted the tech in the back, he fell into the DSA and broke his wrist in the ducting at the bottom, the bloke then carried on attacking this tech, the only thing the tech had to defend himself with was his krone tool, so not to put too finer a point on it, he swung this krone tool in the general direction of the bloke and ended up stabbing him in the back of the head with it. Not to sure what happened legal wise after that but the story continues.

This bloke has carried on vandalising this DSA for years now, and there is now a padlock on the DSA, and everytime a tech needs to get into the DSA, the bolt croppers have to be get from the local NTL office, the padlock cut off, the work done and a new padlock put on the DSA, and normally within 24 hours of someone been to the DSA and a new padlock put on it has been painted over with hammerite or some such substance again a new lock is required.

I have been out to this DSA a few times to cut the damn padlock off, and wouldnt let a tech go to it on their own.

Some of the details maybe slightly wrong with the story but that is how it was told to me.

Crazy aint it.

[Halcyon]

Well the one in my area is still intact.
Just before Christmas we not only had the green box open, but a manhole cover lifted up. So it filled up with leaves and rain. GREAT !!!
Luckily NTL fixed that when I let them know about it.
If I could, I'd stick cameras to catch the idiots who do this.
They can ruin a whole streets net connections by tampering with those boxes.