2015-04-24

The plot thickens

To SFI or not to SFI?

BT plc t/a BT Wholesale have stated that "SFI2 is an Openreach service which is made available to BT Wholesale customers & charged for on a modular basis." and "The SFI2 visit simply checks whether a line is working within the specification of SIN 349." This is, of course, the basis of my various rants on the matter, and that by that definition there is no way to get a broadband fault fixed.

However, BT plc t/a Openreach, who (from the above) actually provide the SFI2 service state that "SFI2 is a chargeable investigation product that attempts to identify and resolve Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Service affecting problems." and it goes on to explain that this service is used when the line "is apparently working within the LLU contractual specification of SIN349".

It goes on to explain the modules available, checking at the exchange, and checking the network, etc. It goes on to list all of the steps done by the engineer in the initial (base) module to identify the cause of the problem, such as checking the modem is connected and shows sync. It does say that the engineer does a pair quality test, and if that fails, he will work on basis of a line fault first, and then go back to trying to resolve any remaining broadband issues.

This is, basically, the way SFI2 engineers used to be defined by BT plc t/a BT Wholesale. So why have BT plc t/a BT Wholesale changed their definition of this service, whilst now claiming it is simply a service provided by BT plc t/a Openreach and offered to us. And why are they trying to charge us for it? It is defined as service they can buy to fix the service they sell us (broadband) and even defined in such a way that it should only by used where the line meets SIN349 already, which means BT plc t/a BT Wholesales charging (when it meets SIN349) would always charge us. It would be a mistake for an SFI2 visit to not be chargeable as it should not have been requested in the first place if the line does not meet SIN349.

One of them, either BT plc t/a BT Wholesale, or BT plc t/a Openreach, must surely be lying to us? And the only possible reason we can think of for doing so is to charge us money, making such a lie in to criminal fraud, in my opinion.

We've asked questions about the apparent difference between the two descriptions of the service, and await answers. However, the previous email on this has been weeks with no reply.

For now, we have to work on BT plc t/a BT Wholesale's statements as to this optional service which we would never want or need, and ask them to actually fix the broadband.

It is worth mentioning that this may impact how we deal with TalkTalk slightly, as they are not making the same claims about what the SFI2 service provides. They are, also, responding to us and asking to discuss how we can work together to come up with something better. Well done Talk Talk.

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