OT: Report a fault on someone elses phone line

[Andrew May]

How does one report a fault on a phone line that is not one's own? In
the (long) past one would phone BT and tell them and they would do
whatever tests they needed to do.

Now, it seems, that faults must be reported to the service provider who
do not actually own the line and will pass the report on to Openreach.

But, given a phone number how do you know who the service provider is?
Obvious answer is to ask the person who's line it is but that can be a
little tricky if their line is down.

Andrew

[Chris Forecast]

Could the fault be due to this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36844712

Chris Forecast

[Roland Perry]

In message <nmnjrk$596$1...@dont-email.me>, at 11:30:23 on Wed, 20 Jul
2016, Andrew May <andrew...@hotmail.com> remarked:

>How does one report a fault on a phone line that is not one's own? In
>the (long) past one would phone BT and tell them and they would do
>whatever tests they needed to do.
>
>Now, it seems, that faults must be reported to the service provider who
>do not actually own the line and will pass the report on to Openreach.
>
>But, given a phone number how do you know who the service provider is?

You might get lucky looking up OFCOM number ranges, but with number
portability that's less and less reliable.
--
Roland Perry

[Andrew May]

On 20/07/2016 11:59, Chris Forecast wrote:
> Could the fault be due to this?
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36844712
>

The fault has been present since yesterday evening at least so probably
unrelated unless it took BT a long time to announce that they had a problem.

[tony sayer]

In article <nmnjrk$596$1...@dont-email.me>, Andrew May
<andrew...@hotmail.com> scribeth thus

>How does one report a fault on a phone line that is not one's own? In
>the (long) past one would phone BT and tell them and they would do
>whatever tests they needed to do.
>
>Now, it seems, that faults must be reported to the service provider who
>do not actually own the line and will pass the report on to Openreach.
>

Yes correct..

>But, given a phone number how do you know who the service provider is?
>Obvious answer is to ask the person who's line it is but that can be a
>little tricky if their line is down.

No other means of communication with them then?.

If it were me I'd try to ask openreach I bet they'd know..
>
>Andrew

--
Tony Sayer

[Andrew May]

On 20/07/2016 12:28, tony sayer wrote:
> In article <nmnjrk$596$1...@dont-email.me>, Andrew May
> <andrew...@hotmail.com> scribeth thus
>

>> But, given a phone number how do you know who the service provider is?
>> Obvious answer is to ask the person who's line it is but that can be a
>> little tricky if their line is down.
>
> No other means of communication with them then?.
>
> If it were me I'd try to ask openreach I bet they'd know..
>>

Tried that - the bits you can talk to don't have the information. Even
then they won't deal directly with the public. To even speak to someone
I had to pretend I was complaining about their equipment causing damage.

[Andrew May]

Would originally have been a BT number.

[Keith Willshaw]

You will find utility companies are extremely reluctant to discuss
details about a service with someone who is not the account holder, the
reasons for which should be obvious.

If you know the postal address one work round I found was to ring BT
Sales and tell them you are looking at renting the place and ask if
there is an active line there. They can test the line from their end
very quickly.

Keith

[Katy Edgcombe]

On 20/07/2016 14:18, Keith Willshaw wrote:

>
> You will find utility companies are extremely reluctant to discuss
> details about a service with someone who is not the account holder, the
> reasons for which should be obvious.
>

Indeed; I was not allowed to tell our phone provider that our phone was
not working, because my husband's name is on the account (though I'd
been paying the bills for 20 years or so). I was not seeking any
information, merely providing it (with the addendum that the neighbours
were down too so nothing would be gained by getting me to unscrew the
faceplate).

They wouldn't have it. Of course, we all know that the world is full of
mischievous people ringing phone providers to supply false reports that
somebody else's phone is not working...............

Funnily enough, when I later got him to the phone, he only had to say
who he was to be allowed to report the fault; no security checks. I
should of course have used my best baritone and asserted that I was him
in the first place.

Katy

[The Natural Philosopher]

You could have blamed in on your parents for christening you 'Tarquin'
and making you wear short trousers.


> Katy
>


--
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Vaclav Klaus

[Alan]

Using email/portal/chat routes are great for bypassing that "security"
check (assuming you have internet at the time)

--
Alan

Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

[smyth...@gmail.com]

Wld like 2 report a fault with 02837531599 it rings in but when they lift it u can't hear anyone on the other side