Appointments to suit you for your telephone & broadband line repairs. Wireless range-extending/boosting is also available.

Are you having problems with your telephone or broadband service?

Are you fed up with getting the run around by your provider's call centre?

Well, it's time to take a structured look at what steps you can take to resolve any local issues that may be present.

First of all, you will need to do a bit of a site survey, to establish how your physical line is provided into your property.  Generally, this will be in one of two methods. Overground via a telegraph pole or an underground supply cable

By comparing the network summary diagram to your supply setup, you may be able to spot a possible problem yourself, but more importantly, you should be able to establish definitive clarification about your internal wiring. It is very important that you or anybody acting on your behalf has not inadvertently caused any potential technical issues to your wiring or your services supply wiring network.

Most service suppliers will insist that you perform some standard local diagnostic tests. However, to comply with the requested box-ticking call centre operative's scripts, you will need to have an NTE5 master telephone socket fitted. Having a master socket will help significantly in reducing the overall time to achieve a satisfactory fault resolution. The NTE5 master telephone socket is the expected de facto demarcation point for your service and is referenced by most line & internet service providers.

As such the NTE5 is considered to be one of the most important parts of your service when it comes to dealing with a fault, whether it be related to call quality or broadband performance. Providing that you can access the test port of the NTE5 and confirm your service status, you will in most cases be more than 50% of the way to having your full services re-instated.

When plugged into the test port of an NTE5 master telephone socket you should be able to hear clear dial tone, you may also be able to access a test service to get a better idea of the quality of the line. Dial 17070 & listen to the options for a quiet line test.

You must consider a little bit about the local service provider side of the NTE5, even though it is not technically or contractually your responsibility. If you have had any building or alterations to your property, your contractors may have inadvertently affected some service provider side wiring, as such it will be in your best interests to investigate.

Additionally, you may be able to spot some wear & tear in this part of the network, some signs & symptoms may be present such as evidence of water ingress at your local distribution point or junction box. This would generally be a good indicator that there may be corrosion at the interconnections of your service wires.

Typically at point A you will have another distribution point/junction box similar to one of the following. This would depend on the type of property you are in, the method used to bridge the last main network segment, the age of your installation, the type of cable used & whether your termination is internal or external.

Taking a good look at this area of the local wiring gives you a great opportunity to ensure that no inappropriate wiring links are coming away from your local junction before your service enters your NTE5. This is a common wiring issue often caused by unqualified operatives installing additional extension points for phone-related services, any such wiring found by your service provider's representative would be classed as technically incorrect. This would cause an automatic TRC (time-related charge) to you irrespective of who has carried out the work.

It is also worth noting that if your service provider finds a fault on your side of the network a TRC will also be levied. This means you should ensure that there are no defective items of equipment present or incorrectly attached equipment ( computers, routers, switches, hubs, faxes, alarms, dialers, monitors, loud bells, sky boxes or filters). You should also note that most service providers will expect you to take full responsibility for any issues caused by dampness or moisture at your premises.

In the event that all checks have been carried out by both yourself or your independent local telephone & broadband engineer, as well as your service provider and you still experience broadband service-related issues. It may be that you are one of the few customers that are being served by a slightly lower quality local cable, as such you may need to consider a fibre to the local cabinet, satellite, or mobile broadband service.

If you live in or near the Greater Manchester, Bolton & Bury area you can book up for a Burytec site survey/ review service, to address all your telephone, broadband & wireless connection issues.