Help! Local BT exchange issues preventing internet access

[JaneB]

Has anybody else met the problem of BT refusing to go onto the ED telephone exchange site while it?s accommodating travellers? Apparently the majority of providers also use this exchange so we are stumped as to how we get internet access in our new home and would be very grateful indeed for suggestions as to which provider will be able to help us. Thanks

Jane

[ruffers]

To my understanding Sky Talk Talk etc would still need access to the exchange to install their equipment so no change there as you say. Virgin if you really want to may be OK but you'd have to go through the whole process.

I'd just accept I have to wait and ask my new neighbour nicely if I can borrow their wifi code, it's one way to get to know the neighbours.. That and set my phone up as a wireless hotspot until the problem is sorted, 4G is pretty quick anyway.

[Tractorlad]

If you're new to the area do yourself a massive favour and AVOID Virgin Media. For years they've fleeced their customers in ED by promising the world and delivering dial-up. Hold out for BT.

[Penguin68]

It should be noted that the BT Exchange is full of very valuable scrap; there is no way that BT will breach that security until the travellers are long gone and the yard made secure and safe for their engineers. That will include removal of the fly-tipping, which looks mainly like builders waste but may include hazardous materials (i.e. asbestos etc.). There will also almost certainly be organic waste as well. This is, of course, very inconvenient and I would hope that BT is moving as quickly as possible to remedy the situation, but they can hardly be blamed for wanting to protect their equipment and the health and safety of their staff. The unions (CWU, Prospect for management grades) anyway would not allow their members to access such an unsafe site, and rightly so.

I would hope and expect that the situation will soon normalise. Although there will then almost certainly be a backlog of work.

[Captain Marvel]

Currently there are four caravans on the site and no people. The tipper trucks arrive every half an hour or so. I think the caravans are now there merely to safeguard the dump. It's a Potemkin traveller site

[Charles Notice]

If this is the case, why cannot the Council, Police etc just let them go in wait to see them dumping and Nick them?

Or would that effect their human rights.

[JaneB]

I am not surprised that travellers are using the site as a dump as it looked totally derelict anyway. It?s my view that BT has failed in its duty to manage the site properly. It also seems to me that there must be a work around solution to the problem so exchange services could be offered via another route?

[JohnL]

JaneB Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I am not surprised that travellers are using the

> site as a dump as it looked totally derelict

> anyway. It?s my view that BT has failed in its

> duty to manage the site properly. It also seems

> to me that there must be a work around solution to

> the problem so exchange services could be offered

> via another route?

You'd expect so - Networks is all about resiliency - if the exchange burnt down the companies can't just stop services until it's rebuilt.

[Ruskin]

Oh dear, when the thread about the site occupation started I feared there would soon be a post about the loss of connection via that exchange - and my fears have been realised.

Honestly? As Tractorlad posted, do yourself a favour and stick to BT as Virgin are wholly unreliable. And who knows, perhaps BT might allow you more 4G allowance while the issue continues to wreck service? Always worth a call.

[Penguin68]

If an exchange burnt down, yes you would lose service until it was replaced. A resilient network is wholly different from a switch site. BT has emergency mobile switches but it is a non trivial engineering problem to switch these in. Network resilience sits behind local switches and last mile access.

[JohnL]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If an exchange burnt down, yes you would lose

> service until it was replaced. A resilient network

> is wholly different from a switch site. BT has

> emergency mobile switches but it is a non trivial

> engineering problem to switch these in. Network

> resilience sits behind local switches and last

> mile access.

LOL - BT side isn't my thing - I've rung them when they're digging holes reminding them of their SLA and had the reply (in a west country accent) - "what do you expect me to do whip them".

[ianr]

JaneB, how is the problem presenting itself? Is it that you've been allocated a startup date but been told that that can no longer be guaranteed?

[JaneB]

No, we haven?t been allocated anything as nobody knows when the exchange will be accessible.

[James Barber]

Virgin Media don't use this exchange so that is an alternative.

Relish Broadband unfortunately don't cover our patch yet.

[Penguin68]

If they did they would also use BT infrastructure.

[xapis85]

Just walked past and looks like they've secured the site (caravans gone, fence locked up) so hopefully won't be long til exchange accessible and problems resolved.

[Penguin68]

It must be remembered that (as far as I understand it, happy to stand corrected) fly-tipping on public land is an arrestable criminal offence, but to combat fly-tipping on private land (a civil offence) you (the landowner) will need to take out an injunction against the fly tippers (difficult if you don't know their names) - easier is to use criminal trespass laws wherever you can. For BT and the Dulwich Estate to take action against the travellers entering their land and fly-tipping on it is non trivial. Which is probably why it has taken so much time, and why the police have been unable to arrest anyone 'in the act'.

[JaneB]

Thank you everybody for your advice; BT phoned us today and it looks as if they have now got access to the site as they want to install the line which is brilliant news.

[Captain Marvel]

The clean up begins