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Issue with Telus Cabling in my neighbourhood

ViewRoyalCustomer
Friendly Neighbour

I have had issues with my home phone, internet, Optik TV for the last 2.5 years. Basically, sometimes it works, but usually the line quality is degraded to the point where my home phone cannot make or receive calls, Internet slows down or drops out, and Optik TV drops out.

 

We have had more than 10 Telus technicians come out and check everything - the problem is the neighbourhood cabling leading up to the property. I keep repeating what was found before to the call centre, technicians arriving on site, and via the Telus "Escalate an Issue to Management" link. It is always confirmed by technicians on site that there is nothing further they can do, no spare lines, or they say the issue needs to be referred to "Cable Management", or you will soon have optical fibre available in your area, etc.

 

So nothing works. I keep raising the issue to Telus, tried escalating the issue to Management a couple times, they are very polite and apologetic in their communications, but in the end there is no action, or plan to fix the root cause of the problem (repair or replace cabling in my neighbourhood).

 

So my current plan to get Telus's attention is to walk down the street, tracing the overhead lines to a point a few blocks away (as I am near the end of the phone lines). Find a pole, get a ladder, and cut the main telephone cables with a Sawzall. When the cable falls to the ground, then make a second cut to remove a 3 meter section of cable. The idea is that will then force an outage for around 100 or so customers, and the Telus boys arriving in their little vans will not be able to pretend to fix it with their Lineman's handsets, mobile phones, laptops, and a few hand tools. Once 100 or so customers are affected, this represents closer to $250,000 of annual revenue to Telus, which it would lose if they do not restore services. So they must finally act quickly to replace/ fix the neighbourhood cabling, and my issue will finally be fixed!

 

Anyone else have a better idea?

 

6 REPLIES 6

polecat
All-Star

@ViewRoyalCustomer  Sell your house and move all your money off shore quickly.

xray
Hero
I don't think you'll be any happier with the Internet and phone service in prison.

ViewRoyalCustomer
Friendly Neighbour

I could be more subtle about it. Winter's coming up, and there are a lot of wind storms coming off the ocean (just a couple blocks away), and some of those big Douglas fir trees get blown over and fall on the overhead lines each year (taking lines and poles out all the time).

 

I think I know of a few trees nearby that are ready to come down when the next storm blows through.

The issue you are experiencing could very well just be with the line to your property itself and have nothing to do with the line(s) to rest of the houses in the area. If 100 houses, or even a portion of them, were having phone and connection issues, Telus would have replaced the line long ago if it was the actual source of the problem. Living close to the ocean means if the sea air gets to an exposed piece of line or equipment, it could corrode and cause issues especially if it gets wet. If the repair techs have escalated it to cable repair, I imagine a manager or someone higher up could confirm the repair was requested. I doubt the front line call centre people will be able to since they're likely separate from the group that deals with infrastructure.

 

I would imagine that cable repair or replacement usually needs a specialized installer and equipment. Most regular techs I've had to my place don't have the equipment to run or replace outside lines. If you are in an area away from a major city, depending on availability and proximity of the cable crew, that can take time. Especially if they have to be brought in from another town or city or if a more specialized piece of equipment is needed. In some municipalities if the section of line that needs to be replaced crosses over a roadway, they would need to request and wait for a permit and approval from the town/city before any work can be done and that can be a big source of delays. Where I live they would definitely need city approval first and my city is so slow to approve things.


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It is brand new wire connected from three poles away from my house in August 2018 (I paid a lot of money to have Telus connect the service when the house was built (a new house in an older inner-city suburb of Victoria).

 

Almost all of the technicians have temporarily "disconnected the line to my house" and clipped on their Lineman's handsets directly to the line at that first box on the pole at the front of my property (a lot of static, no dial tone, unable to make or receive calls). I have also seen several of them go to the pole across the street, get up on a ladder, and connect their Lineman's handset there (same problem with the line), and they are now 20 meters away from my property and not connected to it. 

 

I have heard several of them say, this will need to be referred to "Cable Management", but no specifics. The problem is that this has been going in an endless loop for 2.5 years (including submitting "Escalate an issue to Management" a couple times). Nobody from Telus has given me any indication the issue will be fixed, or any indication of a timeframe I might expect for the issue to be fixed. Each time I contact Telus and raise the issue, it is like this is the first time this is happening, and somebody has just marked the previous issues as "resolved" or "fixed", when they are not.

 

 

I did receive a suggestion from a friend, and have raised it as a complaint to the CCTS, to see if they can get a resolution with Telus.

 

The basic premise is that Telus is a Telecom Service provider. I paid to have services connected in 2018, and have been paying monthly for a service that is NOT being delivered by Telus (due to technical issues) for the past 2.5 years. In theory, the regulator should require Telus to provide a resolution to the issue in a timely manner.

 

If it wasn't for the fact that all providers share the same infrastructure, I would just switch providers in a heartbeat. (Basically, just throw that Telus equipment in a pile by the pole at the front of the property (in the rain) and tell Telus to come and get it if they want it.)