The other morning I had a call from a multisite customer that we hooked NBN up for last week. They were trying to get a new PC working but couldn’t connect to the Internet on it. They could hotspot and connect that phone to the WiFi but no Internet either wired or wireless through the NBN connection.
None of my techs were available to go and have a look so I asked them to describe lights on various bits of equipment. From what they were describing the DSL was not synchronised (Fibre To The Curb) and it seems that somebody had been fiddling with the wiring because when they crawled under the desk it wasn’t plugged into the socket that it was when I was there commissioning.
Once they had plugged it into the right socket they got sync but it wasn’t stable. Possibly a line fault so that has been reported to the retailer. They could survive on a hotspot as they only access a cloud-based booking system.
The following morning I had a call to say that their PSTN line had now stopped working. That kind of points to something failing in the cable but when I asked what happens when you dial the number they said “we get a recording about the number being disconnected”. I was expecting them to say it rings out (open circuit somewhere) or it was permanently busy (short circuit somewhere). Overall their accounts are in a chaotic state with multiple bills from multiple carriers for services they don’t use and this site had recently changed hands so the new owner wasn’t receiving the bill so it was cut off for non-payment. We are working through the sites and consolidating services onto a single provider for Internet and SIP trunk going into their Avaya phone system. It is just this site and one other that are a bit messy in the transition phase.
Update: a couple of days later I was driving past the site so thought I would call in and see what was going on. I found the NBN plugged into the ADSL filter of the phone line and the old ADSL modem nowhere to be found. I managed to find the socket that had NBN on it (choice of 3) and got that back working again. I had originally left the ADSL modem connected for their Wi-Fi EFTPOS machine as that required a password to change the settings and this password was not known at the time. I think somebody had decided to remove all the clutter and just unplugged everything without knowing what they were doing – the fiddle factor.
If you have multiple accounts and you are not sure what the lines are for or even if they are required, let us perform a physical site audit. Other companies may promise massive savings just by looking at your bill and guessing what services to disconnect but this is dangerous and can wreak havoc in your business if the function of that line is not known. EFTPOS lines and security lines may not generate call charges but what happens if they are cut off?
Contact us for assistance.
