Sky call out £120?!!!

[davetimms]

Hi,

Friends of mine have been having probs with their broadband, they (and I) think it's their router. I've plugged it into the test socket, the wireless all connects but no internet. No light on the front. Sky say it's not the line. But rather than just send them a new one, or even just charge them (£35 or so?) for a new one, they want to charge them £120 to have an engineer come out. That doesn't seem right to me, sounds like they are being screwed over.

What do you think?
Dave

[User05]

It's a statement that is read before booking SFI engineer visits. The charge (£144 one-off charge) only applies if the fault is found on the end-user's equipment. So, if they have confirmed no sync from the test socket, tried another filter, confirm no extensions are in use and no other equipment on the line, then the likelihood of facing a charge is very, very slim.

[davetimms]

Thanks. Do you need a filter if the the router is the only thing plugged in to the test socket?

[User05]

Yes. Is your friend running an extension cable from the test socket?

[davetimms]

I'm afraid I'm only operating off second hand information, the checks I did were a quick favour when the householder wasn't in. They haven't asked and I haven't told them what I checked and therefore I assume (hope) they did their own checks based on Sky's advice before agreeing to this. I've not really been involved at all and I only questioned here since I was appalled when I heard the amount Sky wanted.

It sounds better if they'll only get charged if their equipment is at fault. By equipment I assume you mean the internal wiring and voice equipment, not the router. They have an extension wired into the face plate. The router was originally operating from this extension in another room. In terms of what I did, I brought the router to the main socket location and removed the face plate in order to test the router in the test socket. I can't remember whether I used a filter or not.

Edit: I was under the impression splitters were only useful to protect against other (voice) equipment on the same line.

[User05]

By equipment I assume you mean the internal wiring and voice equipment, not the router.

Correct. If the router is at fault, then Openreach will report back to Sky who will then send one out. You won't be charged for that. Essentially, all your friend needs to ensure:

- Router has been tried at the test socket
- Set-up was as follows: test socket > microfilter > short grey dsl cable > router
- No extension cables or other equipment in use apart from the above
- Another filter has been tried

[davetimms]

Awesome, thanks.

On another note, I've just read the guide on this site, unfortunately it doesn't mention using a splitter, How to test your ADSL in the Master Test Socket
Hopefully a mod will spot and fix that.

[RUNITDIRECT]

Thanks. Do you need a filter if the the router is the only thing plugged in to the test socket?

No, but how will you connect the router to a BT socket as the lead supplied will be RJ11? If you just want to connect a router and no telephones then you need a BT male to RJ11 male lead.

[davetimms]

No, but how will you connect the router to a BT socket as the lead supplied will be RJ11? If you just want to connect a router and no telephones then you need a BT male to RJ11 male lead.

That's a great point, I would have used the splitter in that case. the splitter i used at the test socket is different to the one the router was originally connected to on the extension. But that doesn't mean it wasnt faulty. Since the problem was reproduced on both splitters in both locations, hopefully that risk is reduced.

Thanks all for the help.

[Isitme]

I would have used the splitter in that case. the splitter

I am afraid you are using the wrong term. A splitter is simply a small device which splits the phone line into 2 or more sockets. What you mean is a filter, sometimes referred to as a micro filter, which isolates the voice side of the line from the broadband signal. This normally contains one RJ11 socket and one standard phone socket. As Runit has pointed out, you cannot plug an RJ11 plug into a standard phone socket, so I would think the writer of the Test socket tutorial credited the readers with a bit of sense.