Very unhappy. On verge of cancelling all my services

[Mike RB]

I'm hoping someone from NTL can help me. Around 2 weeks ago, I have been having intermittent broadband connection. This happens all evening almost every other day. At the same time, the LED on the Cable TV box flashes.

I have done a little investigation and found that the upstrem is not locked. If I remove the splitter and connect the modem directly to the wall, it works ok. I also have another splitter and this produces the same results. This leads me to think the problem is signal levels outside the property.

Yesterday, 18th December, I had my fiancees dad wait in for an engineer. I have been told he said it is not an internal problem and he has changed the port I am on and that should be the end of the problems.

I returned home to a flashing ready light on the modem and a flashing light on the cable TV box. It is still flashing now, so I have no broadband and no on demand service.

I called NTL last night and was told I would have to be in for another engineer and if I wasn't, they'd charge me £10. I'm outraged. Can I charge them for waiting in and them not fixing the fault?

So, I have to wait until Friday to possibly get a working broadband service and all the while I am paying full price for it.

I really don't have too much confidence in them fixing it either. If they don't, I really can't have an unreliable service and will be forced to cancel and change providers.

I have TV Drive booked for Jan, but I can't have it installed if I can't get these faults fixed.

Is there anyone that can help at all?

[SOSAGES]

well i fail to see how anyone can help - u have an engineer booked - take the day off work and make sure he fixes it, its how the system works and what the rest of the world has to do
if ur that unhappy cancel plenty of choice of services to get if ur not happy with ntl.

[Mike RB]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

well i fail to see how anyone can help - u have an engineer booked - take the day off work and make sure he fixes it, its how the system works and what the rest of the world has to do
if ur that unhappy cancel plenty of choice of services to get if ur not happy with ntl.

Thanks for your help.

The point is, I have had someone wait in ALREADY. It's not my fault they have failed to fix the problem. It's not right I should keep waiting in when they seem unable to fix the problem.

The problem is confirmed as an outside problem, yet they insist I have to wait in.

I was hoping an employee might be be able to see if an engineer can check signal etc from outside to save someone waiting in again. I wouldn't mind if I knew they would fix it this time, but I'm not sure they will fix it!!

[Nedkelly]

Hi sorry to hear about your problem it sound like a reverse path problem .it could be on the drop cable to your houde or in the house .If it a problem in the street then other people should be affected .Most service techs dnt have a meter to test the reverse but if the box i take it you have a samsung box ? and the modem go off to gether it is a signal problem .The tech should of got networks involved to test the reverse in the street and at your house .Hope i have shread a bit of light to your problem

[Mike RB]

Originally Posted by Nedkelly

Hi sorry to hear about your problem it sound like a reverse path problem .it could be on the drop cable to your houde or in the house .If it a problem in the street then other people should be affected .Most service techs dnt have a meter to test the reverse but if the box i take it you have a samsung box ? and the modem go off to gether it is a signal problem .The tech should of got networks involved to test the reverse in the street and at your house .Hope i have shread a bit of light to your problem

Thanks for your reply. You sound like you know what you're doing.

I used to work at the NTL service desk many years ago, so know a little and have done some fault finding. Like you say, it seems to be a reverse path problem. I do have a Samsung box. It works ok, but the on demand doesn't work as I assume this is because the return path has a problem. Also, the broadband is lost totally. If I log in to the modem, it does have a downstream lock but not upstream.

As the fault sounds a little more complicated that what a normal tech would deal with, I can see this becoming ongoing. I'm more annoyed as for a year, the service has been rock solid.

[chrisjones]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

well i fail to see how anyone can help - u have an engineer booked - take the day off work and make sure he fixes it, its how the system works and what the rest of the world has to do
if ur that unhappy cancel plenty of choice of services to get if ur not happy with ntl.

Nice welcome you gave the fella there - keep it up!

[sollp]

As usual another poor installation, the return path, by going on what you described has to much attenuation,(and possibly there is another reason) you have probably got splitters coming off splitters. This is the problem when services are installed at different times. instead of reconfiguring the installation, by this i mean the wiring, extra splitters are put in when they could in most cases be left out of the install.

Also the installer will not have checked levels when doing this and adjusted them accordingly. This inconjunction with a possible fault in the network combines for a poor service.

[Mike RB]

Originally Posted by sollp

As usual another poor installation, the return path, by going on what you described has to much attenuation,(and possibly there is another reason) you have probably got splitters coming off splitters. This is the problem when services are installed at different times. instead of reconfiguring the installation, by this i mean the wiring, extra splitters are put in when they could in most cases be left out of the install.

Also the installer will not have checked levels when doing this and adjusted them accordingly. This inconjunction with a possible fault in the network combines for a poor service.

Do you mean splitters off splitters in the street? I guess I have to have one as I have a cable modem and cable TV.

I guess I will have to wait and see what happens on friday. Does it mean anything to anyone that if I remove the splitter inside the house, the problem disapears?

I'd like to 'help' the engineer as much as possible as ideally I'd like to keep the cable services as they are very good, but will not keep them if they are going to now be unreliable.

[sollp]

Originally Posted by Mike RB

Do you mean splitters off splitters in the street? I guess I have to have one as I have a cable modem and cable TV.

I guess I will have to wait and see what happens on friday. Does it mean anything to anyone that if I remove the splitter inside the house, the problem disapears?

I'd like to 'help' the engineer as much as possible as ideally I'd like to keep the cable services as they are very good, but will not keep them if they are going to now be unreliable.

Well it wouldn't surprise me if they have put splitters in the cabinet,(they do this when the tap banks are full or the one they want is full so a customer is taken off the tap port and will be put on a splitter with the new install they are doing, if you work as a service Tech or Networks you'll know what i mean).

Trouble is the service Tech will not have any test equipment to check the return path, only the diagnostic screens on the STB or modem. Unfortunately these are unreliable when on a Pace STB especially. But, well that is what NTL thought would be better than buying the correct test equipment for the Service Tech's. So you'll find it's a case of trial and error to get it to work.

When you take out the splitter it lowers the attenuation on the return path by 3.5dB, this sounds just enough to bring your modem back into the window of where it will work,(but only just).