BT phone cable theft

[Dr De Soto]

I've had no landline since early yesterday evening. According to BT, this is due to theft of some cable around here. I know of one other neighbour affected. I've been told that they can't guarantee a return to full service until next Monday, but they will divert your calls to another number if you ask them.

[Penguin68]

Already reported here

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1366345

and may be similar to the incident reported here

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1364740

Theft of (copper) cable is a real issue when scrap values are so high, and dealers still offer a 'no questions asked' response to those selling scrap to them (despite the fact they are meant to keep records)

[The Face]

Just heard from our broadband provider, that they've been advised by Open Reach that service will not be resumed until 4th August. There's a small chance it'll be fixed before, but 4th is the most likely date...

[intexasatthe moment]

I'm sorry to be incredibly dense but could our landlines be affected by the fault but our broadband - BT infinity - be unaffected ?

[Dr De Soto]

Hi InTexas - I don't know how it works, but my phone lines are dead yet my broadband (BT infinity) has been working fine throughout. Presumably the broadband cables weren't nicked...even though broadband uses the same socket as the phone...as I say, all a mystery to me.

[The Face]

Our phone and broadband are both through Sky, who I guess use BT cabling, but not BT Infinity cabling....?

[Penguin68]

could our landlines be affected by the fault but our broadband - BT infinity - be unaffected

BT Infinity is supplied (if memory serves) via 'fibre to the cabinet' - that is, only the final local loop (from the last main flexibility point to your house) is delivered over the old copper twisted pair. For such a short run copper can carry a great deal of information. Other fibre options are fibre to the curb and fibre to the premise - this latter generally only a business option. I am not sure, but I believe voice services are still carried over copper - so if the cable cut/ stolen sits on the exchange side of the cabinet (most likely since that's where the thick cables are) then it is possible that your fibre connexion will still be intact, but the copper cable carrying voice will be lost. Hence you will still have internet/ broadband but not the 'phone' (i.e. voice) services. Depending on where the optical fibre is run (it normally shares duct with the copper cable) it may, or may not, be disrupted when the copper cable is stolen. Where the duct is accidently damaged by other works this can take out both copper and fibre of course. I do not believe (happy to be corrected) that those with BT Infity also get packetised voice services, thus putting all traffic over the optical fibre.

If you have the BT SmartTalk ap on your mobile you may still be able to make outgoing 'voice' calls at your PSTN tariff from home, using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) - but you will not be able to receive calls over your landline until the cable is restored. You will also be able to make calls using something like Skype from any piece of kit running that (desktop, laptop, mobile, pad etc.)

[intexasatthe moment]

Thanks all ,especially Penguin for the detail in his/her post .

I'm taking that as a yes .

[Toldyouso]

I too have no phone but my broadband is fine. When I contacted BT yesterday they said it must be a fault inside my home and would send an engineer as there were no issues with the network locally (despite their website fault reporting page telling me there were issues). Are the other posters still without phone service?