Atrocious signup/presales process

[sej7278]

Has anyone else noticed just how bad the signup process is for BT Business ADSL and phoneline?

I ordered online Bundle3 with 15ukp unlimited phonecalls plus fixed IP etc; comes to 60ukp/month.

When I phoned to chase the order I was told it had disappeared into the ether and should re-order over the phone, which I did.

I then got two order Emails - apparently the online one had gone through, but took days instead of hours as it should have.

So I phoned to cancel that one, was told I'd have to cancel phoneline separately to ADSL, which I did.

I then discovered that my over-the-phone order had been screwed up - the sales guy had not put fixed IP down (despite his repeatedly mentioning it during the call and me checking twice with him about the total cost). Apparently nothing can be done about that until installation day in 2 weeks time, fat lot of use that is when I want to configure DNS to propagate in advance.

So now I'm worried that the rest of the order has been screwed up (order tracking page is not much help) or it will get to installation day and I'll find out somebody has cancelled both orders and I'll have no phone or ADSL or router delivered, but probably will have been charged twice anyway.

I've also noticed that despite paying twice the consumer price for business broadband, there's not even a support number that works on the weekend.

Does anyone have any hints'n'tips for getting things sorted at BT, or does everyone get this treatment?

[sej7278]

Anyone got any ideas?

Its getting close to installation day and I've still not had any solid confirmation everything is on schedule and the online check thing is a joke - it doesn't actually list the details of the orders.

Anyone know how long it takes for BT to get static IP working after installation - and reverse DNS setup - I expect they set the TTL to something absurdly high so it takes days to propagate after all the loops have been jumped through and paperwork filed in triplicate.

[chrisbtlbnewcas]

Give the Broadband Enhanced Order Management Team a call on 0845 602 4452 (Option 1) - they should be able to tell you the current state of play with your order.

The static IP addresses will be available immediately. If you have opted for the free BT 2Wire2700 Wi-Fi router, it will only allow you to configure the static IP addresses on your LAN side. There's plenty of posts about this in the broadband forum.

[sej7278]

i haven't had a choice of router, nobody has asked me, i'm just getting sent one free.

i want static ip on the wan interface to portforward requests to the natted lan, i assume any router can manage that simple task - or do you mean i can't configure that wan ip (obviously as its ripe-allocated to bt)?

no hang on, i've looked through the forums and it looks like you can't configure the LAN side ip addresses if you have a static WAN address?! that can't be right surely, who makes this router - huawei or something?

i might ditch whatever BT give me and use my Netgear DG834Gv3, or I assume you can setup the 2700 as just a dumb ADSL modem and pass off firewall/NAT etc to something competant like a WRT54GL running OpenWRT?

i'm really beginning to regret going with bt instead of o2 now; if this is the kind of tripe they give business users what do they give consumers?!

i've been told that as BT screwed up my order and didn't include static IP that i have to phone them after its installed and it could take 3 days.

i'll give that number a try in the morning thanks.

[chrisbtlbnewcas]

If you tell the Order Management Desk you weren't given an option of router, they may be able to offer you the alternative provided it is part of the package you subscribed to. It's the Voyager (model number escapes me) router and the reports I've read in the broadband forums suggest it will allow you to allocate static IPs to your WAN.

One of my resellers was trying to use the 2Wire do exactly what you are trying to do but we found that the 2Wire wouldn't allow us to allocate any IP addresses to the WAN. Problem was fixed by swapping the 2Wire out with a Netgear. With its Wi-Fi capabilities, the 2Wire is an excellent bit of kit for a SOHO but if you are planning to do anything more intensive than setting up your own email server, you're better off plumping for the wired Voyager or buying / re-using your own kit

[sej7278]

are you sure you're not getting WAN and LAN terminology muddled up - i can't see any case where you would be able to configure your internet (WAN) ip, unless you mean if you've got multiple static ip's?

[chrisbtlbnewcas]

yes - you're right.....long day.  The 2Wire was blocking every attempt to sign the addresses that were supplied in the 5 static IP pack.

This is the post which eventually lead us to the conclusion that it was a problem with the 2Wire router and not how BT manage their multiple static ip address packs.

http://btb.lithium.com/btb/board/message?board.id=Broadband&thread.id=1367

[sej7278]

right ok, i think you're talking about configuring five static WAN ips and telling the router which ip maps to which pc LAN side.

i'm talking about one static WAN ip say 83.10.2.3 portforwarding to multiple LAN ip's e.g. https goes to 192.168.0.2 and ssh goes to 192.168.0.3.

i'm sure you must be able to do that on a 2700, otherwise its a glorified switch, not actually a router.

[sej7278]

the latest update on this farce is that i've received a huge 143+222ukp bill for two months usage!

well i say "usage", i've not been in the country and the router didn't arrive before i left, so its never been plugged in, so i can't even confirm that adsl has been turned on!

bt screwed up the phone plan order too - they haven't added the unlimited calling plan to my account it seems (despite billing me for it) so that contributes to the huge phonebill.

and of course i've only just been able to get online billing activated, well i say activated, i've got to wait 5 days for some reason, and they'll send some "security" rubbish to my house, which i won't be at for another month or so.

so now thats:

1. duplicating my accounts;

2. fogetting to add fixed ip to my adsl;

3. forgetting to add unlimited calls to my phone;

4. activating my phoneline late (forgetting to send someone around);

5. forgetting to setup my direct debit;

6. sending the router to the wrong address;

7. forgetting to turn on the adsl signal at the dslam.

so i expect i'll spend a fortune tomorrow ringing 0845 numbers from abroad trying to get someone to actually setup the account as i want it, only for them to screw it up even more

wow even this forum software is buggy, as is myoffice, can bt get anything right?

well they won't be getting their bills paid that's for sure.

[sej7278]

i've got the phone problem sorted - for some reason the sales team took 3 weeks to turn on my unlimited calling plan and didn't bother to setup the direct debit that they took my details for.

i got my calls refunded and direct debit setup by calling billing on 0800 032 8751

now i've just got to see if the adsl has been turned on, and somehow configure the router without the "please insert cd" rubbish, apparently 192.168.1.254 is the default ip, with the password maybe being blank or the router's serial number (username?)