Demon vs BT which is worse?

After 2 weeks without an Internet connection at home an online rant seems to be my only option for letting off steam.

[ Nov 29 2006, 12:05 ]

It started with a dead line

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that my domestic Internet connection wasn't working and after check my modem/router I found that my phone line was completely dead.

I called BT's fault management system which, after the usual maze of options, told me that there was a fault and that it was scheduled to be looked at in a couple of days.

A couple of days later and my line was working again, in the sense that there was a dialing tone, but the Internet connection was not. The ADSL light was lifeless and so the phone calls to Demon began.

Of course it must be my equipment

As no changes were made to anything at my end of the line I doubted whether the fault was to do with my settings or due to a problem with my hardware. However, Demon's support line seemed to be convinced that I was doing something wrong.

Luckily for me the set-up in my office if pretty much identical to what I have at home so have been able to check the micro-filter, the modem/router itself and even the cabling, which I was asked to to on Thursday the 16th and again on Friday the 17th.

That 'syncing' feeling

By the end of the weekend, having confirmed that both sets of routers, filters, wires etc work fine with my Demon/BT connection down the road in my office but both fail to connect on my domestic line, the fault was thrown back to BT and miraculously a day or two later the ADSL light flickered back to life.

I had a connection agaiin, of sorts. I could see details of upstream and downstream speeds but, hang on, no IP addresses or DNS. Authentication was failing.

Definitely my fault this time, right?

Everything was tested again over the next couple of days but to no effect until, finally, someone checked the settings for my account with BT who, according to Demon, seemed to have reset my connection authentication details in their system using information from my office account by mistake.

Settings were reset and passwords changed. Using BT's test settings I could connect perfectly but using my Demon details all I got, and still get, is "LCP Down CHAP authentication failed". Of course, as I'm now rapidly becoming an expert in this field, I can explain that the "CHAP authentication failed" means that my username and/password were not confirmed, (CHAP stands for Challenge-handshake authentication protocol, in case you were wondering). The "LCP down" bit suggests that something upstream from my modem/router is rejecting it as bogus. (And that's "Link Control Protocol" by the way).

I'm guessing, but I can't help feeling that as everything stems from an initial dead phone line the problem is with BT's system somewhere and suspect that my details are still wrongly entered - phone number, user name or password. But of course I can't check anything with them as I have to go through my ISP, Demon.

So what now?

Demon informed me that BT wanted to visit last Friday, November 24. However, BT didn't show up. On Saturday morning I was told by Demon that BT would be there in the afternoon. Er, nope. Every day since Sunday I have been told that in fact BT want to call me to arrange a time. Fine with me. Anytime is fine with me - now would be good!

It's 1.30p.m and BT have called to arrange a visit tomorrow afternoon.

So, who's to blame?

I don't suppose it helps anyone to point the finger, but whereas I used to recommend Demon to friends and clients, mainly because their technical support was excellent, I now feel I should advise anyone considering signing up with Demon to take my tale as a warning.

Even if the fault proves to be wholly with BT it has been Demon who have been responsible for managing this case, and over the past 2 weeks I have not once had a phone call from Demon to let me know if anything was happening which I think, (at the risk of sounding like a pompous old man), is a disgrace.

I don't expect special treatment, but once a problem like this has gone on for over a week is it too much to expect someone at the supplier end to take responsibility for sorting things out?

And as for BT... the idea that a communications business needs 5 days to make a phone call to arrange an appointment is just staggering.

If only I could get cable!