BT

[mr_telecom_man]

hi all
my name is Daniel.
this is my first post to the forum and I would like to say a Big Hello to everyone.

the reason i joined the forum is mainly because of BT. I remember my mom in the 1970's getting her first yellow dial telephone from BT and I think i became facinated with telecommunications from that day forth.

My telecoms experience ranges far and wide, however today I would like some feedback on an issue I have and I can chat about other telecomes issues later.

I have a BT business line (got my own first business line in 1989). BT disconnected the current line claiming non-payment but I paid the bill. however when I lift the handset, I get a dialtone. when I dial 0, i get a recorded message saying, "the number you have dialled has not been recognised, please try again".

I also have BT Total Broadband and 1 VOIP line. As soon as these bills arrived on the mat, i paid them in cash at the Post Office. I have had BTTB since December and I was able to withhold numbers and dial uk calls and international, however in late December or early January, when I dial a uk number on my VOIP line, i get a recorded message saying "sorry, the number you dialled has not been recognised, please try again". yet when i use first-number or planet-numbers or dial 0800 or 0845 numbers there is no problem in connecting. I phoned BTopenreach about my landline and they fixed it about 3 separate times and then they after a few weeks, i kept getting the fault so 152 said it was a billing issue, although i had paid the bill. I did speak to a lady at btbb and she said because of new rules, BTBB and BT are not allowed to exchange data about customers about accounts as new rules came in sometime ago for broadband customers. my gf lives abroad and I used to pay something like 82p per minute and yet now i can call her for 2p per minute - this 82p is scandalous. i remember the newspaper headlines and shop plackards in the 90's - "bt earns x amout of pounds per minute! scandalous! Don't you think telecommunications companies were capatalising our us consumers in the 80's and 90's? by ripping money from out pockets? why did they do this? I understand infractrature is expensive yet i read today that in 3 cities in the uk, h20 have laid fibre-optic cables in the sewers for 100mbps bb but this is not new as japan and france have been doing it for some years. is BT's future at and end? i would hope so because I lost my 100k house, car and good business a few years ago because BT ripped me off!! i feel angry about this and I will never forget it until I am in my coffin and then God will Judge BT for their actions. Getting back to the point, i have been using first-number and planet-numbers to gain access to uk numbers for my business whilst BT resolve this issue. 1 question i have is why is the line only temporarily suspended with BB whereas with PSTN lines, temporary suspension would mean only incoming calls or 0800 outgoing only. is this the circuitry of BB? i have many experiences of BT to share over the past 20 years but this is my current problem.
look forward to your posts
my responses are better than my initial dissitation
Daniel

[Goldlady]

Hi and welcome. I have issues with BT myself, and having been self employed for the past 15 years I have had several. At the moment I am trying to get some compensation out of them for taking 7 weeks to move our business phone lines about 1/4 of a mile.

Link to my thread

Help with LBA to BT

Cheers and welcome to CAG

Goldlady

[JOSH_IOU]

A company called economy calls are much better

Line rental is £7.99

[dx100uk]

'sorry, the number you dialled has not been recognised, please try again' message is typically generate when tones are not recognised by the electronic exchange.
this is usually a fault with the active twisted pair either having poor insulation, the 30volt linedrive being low, the twisted pair being swopped or the handset being faulty.
9/10 its insulation fault, broken wire, water ingress or cable damage.

just my 2p

dx100uk

[robin9342]

Originally Posted by dx100uk

'sorry, the number you dialled has not been recognised, please try again' message is typically generate when tones are not recognised by the electronic exchange.
this is usually a fault with the active twisted pair either having poor insulation, the 30volt linedrive being low, the twisted pair being swopped or the handset being faulty.
9/10 its insulation fault, broken wire, water ingress or cable damage.

just my 2p

dx100uk

This is also the message you get when you have restricted service due to a bill not being paid. As the OP has said, exchange line and BB are treated separately. It is perfectly possible to continue to use VOIP when the exchange line has restricted service. Although, of course, not if the bill remains unpaid and the exchange line moves to full disconnection.

Actually, the line voltage is nominally 50v dc and ringing voltage can be up to 90v ac.

[chickaroo]

i get that horrible messahge as well from last nit paid my bill this morning now they say i have paid too late my phone will be disconnected and i will have to appy for a new one Y??????????????????

what a scam ivwe paid my bill late admittedly but it was for 40.00 im sure disconnection fees will be more im so annoyed

[JOSH_IOU]

Report this to the OTELO with a sense of urgency
Telecommunications ombudsman

Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman - Home

[robin9342]

I think that the message is very misleading because it is the same message as if you had mis-dialled a number. It used to be the case that if your service was restricted and you tried to dial a number, you would automatically be connected to BTs credit department which was much better because you managed to speak to a person in the right section of BT.

These days when you try and contact BT you can spend literally hours on hold, then get through to either an Indian call centre who are not properly trained, or the wrong department altogether, then you have to start again.

BT blame it all on OFCOM for forcing the introduction of a new computer system, which would be plausible, except the problems have been going on for at least a year now.

[JOSH_IOU]

ofcom are the regulator's

If you report problems to the ombudsman they've a duty to help.
If you have a valid complaint.

[mr_telecom_man]

Hi All
Thanks for all your posts.
I'll keep you posted.
Mr_Telecom_Man

[Son of Shoestring]

Originally Posted by JOSH_IOU

ofcom are the regulator's

If you report problems to the ombudsman they've a duty to help.
If you have a valid complaint.

Ofcom do not have a duty to help. They always decline to help individuals and are about as much use as a wet chocolate matchbox.

Otelo can be contacted by phone and they will tell you the steps you need to take with BT before they will become involved. They will only become involved after these steps are followed to the letter. It is a fairly long drawn out business too.

The fact is that regulators are, by the terms of their creation, balanced in favour of the telecom industry and not the individual.