UK Telecoms Engineers Incur the Wrath of Broadband Users

Nov. 4, 2013 - PRLog -- Consumer broadband and phone engineers, most of which are dispatched by BT's Openreach division or Virgin Media, often receive a lot of flak for failing to fix problems, causing new difficulties or missing appointments. Now a new survey of 1,534 Internet users in the United Kingdom by ISPreview.co.uk has attempted to shed a little more light on the situation.

The research found that the majority of people (89%) have at some point in time needed to call out an engineer to resolve one of their Internet or phone problems. Furthermore 72% of respondents have had to request an engineer three times or more in the past 3 years to fix a fault. But sadly 76% were unhappy with the outcome of such visits.

How long after the request did you have to wait for the last engineer visit (pick closest)?
5 Working Days - 81.6%
I never had an engineer - 10.9%
10 Working Days - 4.1%
15 Working Days+ - 3.3%

Thankfully most people didn't have to wait long for an engineer to visit with 81.6% saying that they waited around 5 working days for one to arrive. In the grander scheme of things this isn't too bad, especially with the national operator (BT Openreach) being distracted by the roll-out of superfast broadband (FTTC/P) services.

"The performance of telecoms engineers clearly leaves much to be desired and that’s when they do eventually turn up," said ISPreview.co.uk's Founder, Mark Jackson. "On the other hand telecoms networks are notoriously complicated and often difficult to diagnose. Problems like this can then be exasperated by criminal theft of cable and extreme weather, such as flooding or heavy snow, which frequently forces engineers to delay other work as they refocus upon core repairs."

"It's our belief that telecoms operators, Ofcom (regulator) and ISPs must all share some responsibility for improving the current system. Better communication with end-users, greater flexibility for booking appointments, improved consumer engagement over compensation for mistakes or delays and stiffer quality standards would go a long way to lifting satisfaction. At the same time it should be said that home broadband services will always play second fiddle to the more expensive business lines and their strong service level agreements," concluded Mark Jackson.

Ofcom are currently said to be reviewing Openreach's quality of service and this process is due to conclude during early 2014.