BT Fibre Optics

[JohnC6]

In September BT will connect us to the new fast broadband ..fibre optics which they are rolling out nationwide. We'll stop using the landline then. People have been warned to beware of fake BT engineers gaining access to homes.

The scammers don't miss a trick do they. It's not new, of course but they are taking advantage of BT's rollout.This morning, my wife answered a call on her mobile from a lady who said she was from Open Reach..the infrastructure/maintainance arm of BT. The caller wanted her to sign us up to Virgin Media fast broadband and we'd save £60 a month. She had our address, my wife's Email address and date of birth. My guess is that having this information makes people think it's a genuine call. which,of course, is the idea. My wife said she'd speak to me about it. As soon as she told me that the lady said she worked for Open Reach I knew it was scam as Open Reach is a wholly-owned infrastructure/maintenance subsidiary of BT and Virgin Media is a competitor with a completely different system and Open Reach is not involved in cold-calling. Also, the saving of £60 a month rang alarm bells. My guess is she'll call again. The regional code was for Bodmin...01208 63704 ..but she could be calling from anywhere so if she calls and I answer I'll ask her where she's calling from and point out that she's a scammer as Open Reach don't contact people other than to arrange a visit. The advice is to hang up but I like to string them along. Remain polite,of course. I'll report it to Report Fraud..used to be called Action Fraud. It helps them build up an overall picture of particular scams and,I assume, at some point alert the public..

 

[LCPete]

We were with BT on copper cable , quite expensive it was too and dreadfully slow
Virgin media were installing optical cables in our area so we went with them
Ended up paying less for a much faster connection
Bt as it happens are now also installing optical cables but wouldn't go back to them now

 

[gman]

We were with BT on copper cable , quite expensive it was too and dreadfully slow
Virgin media were installing optical cables in our area so we went with them
Ended up paying less for a much faster connection
Bt as it happens are now also installing optical cables but wouldn't go back to them now

I've been with Virgin in the past, great speeds at the time compared to the competition, which was often non-existent, but I found them very unreliable. When they oversubscribed our area and prioritised new customers over current and loyal ones, we were told there would be up to 18 months of distruptions where we would be lucky to get an hour of internet per day. That's a serious "wtf". I've got a business contract setup with them and it's night and day compared to the domestic. Very reliable.

As for BT, they burnt all their bridges with me after repeated failed promises of full fibre, various lies, breaches of contract (commercial) useless customer service on every level etc. I couldn't stand the crap copper line any longer, so looked at Cityfibre. 900Mbps up and down for £35 per month, so went with them. I almost always get these speeds, almost zero downtime and the price has never changed in years. Best decision I made and I'll never go back to BT.

 

[tijuana taxi]

I had this call from "Openreach" last Friday.
Wanted me to confirm my name and address which to my surprise they had
Declined that request and asked what they wished to discuss, but they wouldn't answer directly.
In the end they became very strange and said you can hang up if you like, so i did.
Very odd indeed.

 

[JohnC6]

I had this call from "Openreach" last Friday.
Wanted me to confirm my name and address which to my surprise they had
Declined that request and asked what they wished to discuss, but they wouldn't answer directly.
In the end they became very strange and said you can hang up if you like, so i did.
Very odd indeed.

A good while ago, I got a call from my building society trying to sell me one or a couple of their products.
He asked if was me (by name) speaking. Yes. Then said who he was and asked if he could talk to me about whatever it was he was trying to sell so I said ok go ahead. He said he needed to take me through security "can you confirm your address and date of birth/" I refused to do that and told him that our phone number,which,obviously, they have was ex-directory and that he called me and I answered. He said he couldn't continue so that was that. I called the customer help line and was told that it was a genuine call but that I did the right thing and wished more people would be as vigilant which seems a bit strange to me that they would embark on a marketing drive when they think that not giving details when asked is the right thing to do. I

 

[JohnMcL7]

As for BT, they burnt all their bridges with me after repeated failed promises of full fibre, various lies, breaches of contract (commercial) useless customer service on every level etc. I couldn't stand the crap copper line any longer, so looked at Cityfibre. 900Mbps up and down for £35 per month, so went with them. I almost always get these speeds, almost zero downtime and the price has never changed in years. Best decision I made and I'll never go back to BT.

I had to laugh at this because I was reading a discussion on another forum that was being quite critical of altnets and how they'd always stick with BT plus recommended people to stay with BT ISPs while highlighting some issues with altnets.

I was in a very similar position to you on an FTTC line that was rated at 66Mb/s but when they installed it the line ran exactly at 40/10 even though I'd paid for the 80/20 package. BT claimed the slower 40 speed was all they could get from the line but the fact it was dead on 40/10 showed they'd set something up wrong. After many hours of calls and different departments they acknowledged they'd made a mistake somewhere but didn't know how to fix it, I was fed up so asked them just to change me to the 40/10 package and leave it at that. They couldn't do that either so they came up with some ridiculous solution where I had the 80/20 package but with a discount to take it down to the 40/10 package.

It got worse though when the speed dropped way down to 14/10 where it would sync at 40/10 but then every night it would drop 2Mb/s before reaching 14/10 and stay there. Many more calls to BT and relays to Openreach (since you can't speak to them yourself) they came up with the hilariously stupid solution of regrading the line to 14/10 then stopped any further investigation to the speed issue because they were now providing the guaranteed speed.

When Cityfibre installed FTTP on our street I ordered when I could and been with them five years now, chose a 500/500 connection for less than BT and was just fantastic that no syncing up the speed, no nightly disconnects just worked at 500/500 out of the box. Had one night's downtime with an ISP issue and one day's downtime due a Cityfibre fault that affected the street but that's been it.

BT have been installing FTTP recently although some time before they were finished a lady came to the door saying they were part of the Openreach deployment and they were checking in because people had been reporting wireless network performance issues. This puzzled me because that has absolutely nothing to do with Openreach network performance and I grew more suspicious when she was pushing me on who I was with, I told her I was with Cityfibre and wouldn't be changing to BT again then told her to get lost when being polite was getting me nowhere. I looked it up and found she was unsurprisingly nothing to do with Openreach but instead worked for a company that sells BT internet products, what annoyed me is not just that she lied about everything but people frequently misunderstand that wireless performance within a house is completely separate to the internet line performance so I could easily see people being conned to change from a Cityfibre connection back to a slower, inferior BT FTTC connection.

We're in a no cold calling area so I reported her and the company to Trading Standards but was surprised to get a reply that they were authorised to go to homes in this area. I explained that the person was highly deceptive (which seems how this company operates) and could con people into signing up for inferior and more expensive packages which was pretty much exactly what the no cold caller zone was set up to protect residents from. The final reply recommended I raise a complaint with BT which is a bit of a joke because this company is likely doing exactly what they were told.

 

[gman]

I had to laugh at this because I was reading a discussion on another forum that was being quite critical of altnets and how they'd always stick with BT plus recommended people to stay with BT ISPs while highlighting some issues with altnets.

I was in a very similar position to you on an FTTC line that was rated at 66Mb/s but when they installed it the line ran exactly at 40/10 even though I'd paid for the 80/20 package. BT claimed the slower 40 speed was all they could get from the line but the fact it was dead on 40/10 showed they'd set something up wrong. After many hours of calls and different departments they acknowledged they'd made a mistake somewhere but didn't know how to fix it, I was fed up so asked them just to change me to the 40/10 package and leave it at that. They couldn't do that either so they came up with some ridiculous solution where I had the 80/20 package but with a discount to take it down to the 40/10 package.

It got worse though when the speed dropped way down to 14/10 where it would sync at 40/10 but then every night it would drop 2Mb/s before reaching 14/10 and stay there. Many more calls to BT and relays to Openreach (since you can't speak to them yourself) they came up with the hilariously stupid solution of regrading the line to 14/10 then stopped any further investigation to the speed issue because they were now providing the guaranteed speed.

When Cityfibre installed FTTP on our street I ordered when I could and been with them five years now, chose a 500/500 connection for less than BT and was just fantastic that no syncing up the speed, no nightly disconnects just worked at 500/500 out of the box. Had one night's downtime with an ISP issue and one day's downtime due a Cityfibre fault that affected the street but that's been it.

BT have been installing FTTP recently although some time before they were finished a lady came to the door saying they were part of the Openreach deployment and they were checking in because people had been reporting wireless network performance issues. This puzzled me because that has absolutely nothing to do with Openreach network performance and I grew more suspicious when she was pushing me on who I was with, I told her I was with Cityfibre and wouldn't be changing to BT again then told her to get lost when being polite was getting me nowhere. I looked it up and found she was unsurprisingly nothing to do with Openreach but instead worked for a company that sells BT internet products, what annoyed me is not just that she lied about everything but people frequently misunderstand that wireless performance within a house is completely separate to the internet line performance so I could easily see people being conned to change from a Cityfibre connection back to a slower, inferior BT FTTC connection.

We're in a no cold calling area so I reported her and the company to Trading Standards but was surprised to get a reply that they were authorised to go to homes in this area. I explained that the person was highly deceptive (which seems how this company operates) and could con people into signing up for inferior and more expensive packages which was pretty much exactly what the no cold caller zone was set up to protect residents from. The final reply recommended I raise a complaint with BT which is a bit of a joke because this company is likely doing exactly what they were told.

That all sounds about right. I won't bore you with the deals, but I even had to deal with clear breach of contract with them regarding a BTnet leased line. It was a bizarre experience where they would completely disregard what was written in B&W in their contract with me and that would in their eyes be legally ok. A terrible way to conduct themselves. They kept sending bills for monthly usage, even though I'd never even been able to connect so I never paid them. Then came the threat letters etc, but they eventually gave up. My guess is they try and use their size to intimidate and bully people. Thank God I didn't set up a DD with them, imagine trying to get it refunded!

 

[JohnC6]

I had this call from "Openreach" last Friday.
Wanted me to confirm my name and address which to my surprise they had
Declined that request and asked what they wished to discuss, but they wouldn't answer directly.
In the end they became very strange and said you can hang up if you like, so i did.
Very odd indeed.

Re. my original post...The call my wife answered was not a scam. It was using deceipt and lies to get us to change supplier. I've found out that when anyone signs up to fast broadband..ie..an update.. the reference number can be seen by third parties and acted upon. My wife has told me a few more details re the call. The person who called said her name was Amber Greenwood..from Openreach..and said that she would be the one to contact over the next two years..the term of the contract with Virgin Media and gave a reference number. My wife thought she was talking to Openreach and told the caller that she had spoken to her colleague last week re disconnecting the landline phones we have and was told it would be done when the engineer came to set up the fast broadband. The caller said Virgin Media would do that and it would save £20 a month but BT charged us £11 a month..rental.

Yesterday, a Virgin Media salesperson called at our house and my wife answered the door. He said that he understood that we were thinking of changing suppliers and was she the person who would decide on that. My wife told him he weren't going to change over and he left. She told me and I dashed out to catch him to ask how he knew about that call from Amber Greenwood. I don't believe that name either.. but he'd just driven off.

I've reported it to BT and the Citizens Advice Bureau who will pass it on to Trading Standards. All contact with TS have to go through CAB. It seems that Virgin Media are somehow getting peoples' details and getting to the customers before the BT upgrades to the super-fast internet. The lady told my Wife that Virgin Media's speed was 500.. whatever. It's not likely to be an employee of Virgin Media but a third party who they sub-contract cold calls to.

By the way. We got a call this morning which I answered and the caller,with a hint of US in his voice.. said.."Im calling from "UK ...and a name I couldn't understand because he said it so quickly ..deliberately imo. I said "UK What ? " He said the name again..it sounded like "terrorist"...lol .Obviously wasn't so I said.."No..I can't understand that last word" at which he hung up. I've just put the number into "Who called me?' (0115 731 8201)and it's Core Telecom. It seems that they 'hire out' numbers then the cold callers say they are Core Telecom. Another call this morning..(both were to my wife's mobile).This one was.. 131 218 1026. Same.. Core Telecom. One of the contributors to the reports said the person on the other end said they were from....Openreach. Re Core Telecom...https://coretelecom.co.uk/

It looks to me, as I suggested in my original post, that companies are finding out who BT are about to upgrade their super-fast internet to and try to steal the customer. Maybe scams are involved, too. I wonder when the next call will come ?

 

[Box Brownie]

Re. my original post...The call my wife answered was not a scam. It was using deceipt and lies to get us to change supplier. I've found out that when anyone signs up to fast broadband..ie..an update.. the reference number can be seen by third parties and acted upon. My wife has told me a few more details re the call. The person who called said her name was Amber Greenwood..from Openreach..and said that she would be the one to contact over the next two years..the term of the contract with Virgin Media and gave a reference number. My wife thought she was talking to Openreach and told the caller that she had spoken to her colleague last week re disconnecting the landline phones we have and was told it would be done when the engineer came to set up the fast broadband. The caller said Virgin Media would do that and it would save £20 a month but BT charged us £11 a month..rental.

Yesterday, a Virgin Media salesperson called at our house and my wife answered the door. He said that he understood that we were thinking of changing suppliers and was she the person who would decide on that. My wife told him he weren't going to change over and he left. She told me and I dashed out to catch him to ask how he knew about that call from Amber Greenwood. I don't believe that name either.. but he'd just driven off.

I've reported it to BT and the Citizens Advice Bureau who will pass it on to Trading Standards. All contact with TS have to go through CAB. It seems that Virgin Media are somehow getting peoples' details and getting to the customers before the BT upgrades to the super-fast internet. The lady told my Wife that Virgin Media's speed was 500.. whatever. It's not likely to be an employee of Virgin Media but a third party who they sub-contract cold calls to.

By the way. We got a call this morning which I answered and the caller,with a hint of US in his voice.. said.."Im calling from "UK ...and a name I couldn't understand because he said it so quickly ..deliberately imo. I said "UK What ? " He said the name again..it sounded like "terrorist"...lol .Obviously wasn't so I said.."No..I can't understand that last word" at which he hung up. I've just put the number into "Who called me?' (0115 731 8201)and it's Core Telecom. It seems that they 'hire out' numbers then the cold callers say they are Core Telecom. Another call this morning..(both were to my wife's mobile).This one was.. 131 218 1026. Same.. Core Telecom. One of the contributors to the reports said the person on the other end said they were from....Openreach. Re Core Telecom...https://coretelecom.co.uk/

It looks to me, as I suggested in my original post, that companies are finding out who BT are about to upgrade their super-fast internet to and try to steal the customer. Maybe scams are involved, too. I wonder when the next call will come ?

In broad terms the behaviour you describe used be an initial step in what was called "slamming".

Thankfully I don't recall getting our phone slammed but we did have it happen with both our electricity & gas suppliers.

Yes, we had and still have them separate but when the slamming happened there was no clear indication of how it happened but IIRC it took about 8 weeks to get both reversed. I think the first we knew of something wrong was when we got a bill from an unknown to us utility supplier and I think followed by a 'sorry you are leaving us' letters.

Thinking back it was perhaps somewhen between 2010 and 2015

 

[JohnC6]

In broad terms the behaviour you describe used be an initial step in what was called "slamming".

Thankfully I don't recall getting our phone slammed but we did have it happen with both our electricity & gas suppliers.

Yes, we had and still have them separate but when the slamming happened there was no clear indication of how it happened but IIRC it took about 8 weeks to get both reversed. I think the first we knew of something wrong was when we got a bill from an unknown to us utility supplier and I think followed by a 'sorry you are leaving us' letters.

Thinking back it was perhaps somewhen between 2010 and 2015

I'v never heard of 'slamming'. I forgot to mention that my wife asked the caller to send the details in an Email and she said she was unable to do that. Can you imagine getting up every morning and going into work to weave a web of lies and deception on the unsuspecting customers of rival companies.

When I spoke to the BT man to inform BT he checked our account and said it was still with BT which took me aback because I didn't think they could transfer a customer's account without a signed contract. We also questioined why my wife had three similar calls in one week when she seldom had any. She gets a 'suspect scam' warning on her phone with some calls .I assume that's the norm these days. When you say it's an initial step I assume that after the Virgin Media salesman arrived and was told we weren't switching I assume that's the end of it. After what you've said I'm surprised he just accepted a 'no thank you' and left.

 

[Box Brownie]

Slamming AFAIK started in the phone industry....

How to protect yourself from ‘slamming’

Ofcom has today fined two telecoms firms - Guaranteed Telecom and Met Technologies - a combined total of £35,000 after they took over the home phone services of more than a hundred people without their permission – a practice known as ‘slamming’.

www.ofcom.org.uk

But has affected, as it did us, the wider utilities, and is international.......

Slamming: What to Look for and How to Protect Yourself - The Energy Coop

Click here to read

theenergy.coop

 

[leaky5]

We had a recent deluge of ‘EE” door knockers, trying to convince us our BT was slow and we needed to change to them.

Unlucky for them we have a large WhatsApp group on our estate and they soon gave up.