Awaiting TPG support to fix NBN fault

[CaptainAli]

Good day,
24 days have passed since opening an account with TPG. I am still awaiting connection.

I have communicated with TPG via telephone, email and live chat to some limited success.

Initially I was informed my home was NBN ready (confirmed at NBN Co. website) and the TPG modem was sent to my home.

Unfortunately no NBN box was sent at the same time and had to be ordered which extended the wait time for connection.

Once the NBN box arrived, the ‘Case Manager’ and I connected everything up via telephone instructions. It was confirmed the NBN was not available through the RJ11 phone connections and attendance from a NBN technician had to be booked.

It was a two week wait for the earliest NBN Technician booking.

The NBN technicians attended my residence on 24th March 2020 just after 5pm and connected the NBN box to the home.

After testing the connection and attempting several troubleshooting solutions, the technicians advised that the “Fiberoptic Power Box” is faulty and the port (No.3) on this box that links to my home is not working although the home is NBN connected. Furthermore, a second port (No.1) to another home on the same power box is also not working.

The technicians wrote and sent their report to NBN Co. and advised contacting TPG to gain assistance in getting a repair technician to replace the faulty “Fiberoptic Power Box” as soon as possible.

Following their advice I attempted calling TPG and after a 30-min wait spoke with a representative from tech support who informed me I needed to be put through to a ‘Case Manager’ and subsequently transferred the call.

A further 1 hour on hold (total 1-hour 33-min) and I decided to hang up and try the direct number provided to me by the representative. I was on hold for a further 1-hour 03-min) with no answer.

I decided to attempt the ‘Tech Support Live Chat’ and after only 15-min was prioritised through to a case manager by the name of ‘Arnold’ (aka: Kristine). She was clearly pre-occupied with multiple clients. I sent through the above information to bring her up to speed. Eventually she tended to my messages and simply stated that “After checking, the area had a ‘Potential MSD’ (Mass Service Disruption) and the problem couldn’t be fixed until after it passed”.

Potential is defined as having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future. This then means the MSD may occur and therefore the “Problem” cannot be fixed indefinitely. This is not a logical process nor is it helpful in resolving the existing fault as described in my messages.

I messaged Kristine that I would check from my end to see if there was an outage. I accessed both the NBN Co. website and TPG outages website page and there was no indication at all of outages or ‘Potential MSD’. This took me approximately 2-3 minutes. When I went back to the chat, Kristine had disconnected me. No explanation or standard farewell.

I reopened the Tech Support Live Chat and entered the queue at position 138.
After 1-hour and 57-min I was at position 69 in the queue. I could see this was going to take well on a 4-hour waiting period to “Chat” with a tech and hence decided to send this email.

It has been 24 days since opening my account with TPG and we would appreciate if TPG could contact NBN.Co to get a technician to repair the above issue as soon as possible. This would reduce further excessive wait time for connection, beyond the “10 business days” expectation.

Please advise at your earliest convenience.

**Everything stated about wait and hold times is verifiable with recorded screenshots**

Thank you and best regards:
Ali

[CaptainAli]

Update:
Got through on a phone call to service Center number (Only 22-min wait this time) around 12:45pm. The TPG representative was aware of the issue as noted on my account and referred me to the ‘Case Manager’.

I quickly explained the 8-hour ordeal in attempting communication from yesterday (25th March) and asked for the case manager to give me a call-back. Which as of 22:00 this evening hasn’t occurred. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a positive outcome to this issue.

This is day 24 awaiting connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 25 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

TPG has advised by email that this issue is due to an “External Network Shortfall” after communication with NBN.Co, and that, depending on the nature of the issue it may take ‘a few weeks’ before repairs can be made.

The term “External Network Shortfall” is a cover-all term to blanket a multitude of faults causing failure of connection. A small amount of research on other people who have been given this reason (across multiple ISPs’) for failure of connection has shown the expected connection time ranges from 2-weeks to 1.5 years.

Considering the nature of my particular situation and that according to the NBN.Co Techs that attended my residence, the replacement of the power box would take 30-min to 2-hours at most. Furthermore, the Techs were convincingly certain this repair would occur the next day or by the end of the week.

So, like many others experiencing their own personal “External Network Shortfall”, I continue awaiting any update from the TPG Case Manager and occasionally observing those little blue flicking lights on the NBN box and the green lights on the TPG modem for signs of connection.

Tomorrow is the weekend, but let’s see if any information of a positive resolution will come.

This is day 25 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 26 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

It seems the specific fault for my connection hasn’t been observed (no one read my email) after re-reading the generic email from TPG advising of the ‘External Network Shortfall’.

It seems this way because the TPG response email, which I am grateful to have received, was speculating the fault was most probably due to the Line In Conduit (LIC) which would require an investigation by a Tech team followed by what may be 2-3 days, weeks or longer to repair. This clearly isn’t the case as reported from the attending NBN Co. Techs for initial installation.

Ive responded to the TPG email clearly identifying the fault so their team can liaise with NBN Co. and perhaps expedite the repair. I’ve even attached an image of the NBN Co. particular Part that requires replacement (please see photo 1).

Furthermore I explored the idea of having a private network Tech come to make the repair at my own expense but was informed they cannot access NBN Co. property (the pit) and only provide internal network repairs.

Lastly, although this is perhaps karma on my part, I received a letter in yesterday’s mail (please lease see photo 2) from NBN Co. stating my residence was ready for ‘Fast NBN Broadband’. A little salt in the wound there.

Tomorrow is another day, let’s hope for something positive.

This is day 26 awaiting connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 27 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today, but hey, it’s a Sunday.

Still awaiting the call-back (from 4-days ago) or any communication for that matter with the assigned Case Manager.

It is understandable the delay in communication due to the remote VPN connection of TPG staff working from home.

In addition TPG staff are enduring the worldwide Pandemic along with the rest of us and their personal home situations (perhaps a family member hospitalised with this Monster - Covid19) are unknown to the TPG community.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring positive progress to resolving this connection issue.

This is day 27 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 28 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

What we, as the TPG community, don’t see, is the incredible amount of extra hours been worked by the TPG staff and NBN Co. teams.

Network connection has become as important as water and electricity to most modern homes and as such there is an expectation for immediate satisfaction of connectivity.

The TPG staff and NBN Co. teams have been tirelessly working toward providing this expectation far beyond what’s required from them, and all they have asked from their customers in return, is patience.

If you know of someone working in customer service call centres or more specifically from either of these organisations, spare the time to speak with them about what they are enduring during this world wide crisis.

The amount of abuse, inferred threats, self-entitled attitudes and dis-respect they deal with each day is unacceptable. Yet, they humbly apologise for any inconvenience and do everything in their limited control to address our needs.

I think of how I would treat them if they were in my home trying to help me with the same issue. I would be a respectful, calm and kind host, making them comfortable and working together to solve the situation.

I’m confident the greater TPG community are good people and although frustrated with connectivity issues can take the time to think of how they would treat the TPG staff if they were in their homes when communicating with them.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a positive outcome.

This is day 28 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 29 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

There is an upside to awaiting connection, however, it takes the right mindset to see the opportunities.

Firstly, I’ve taken some time to research and answer my questions about how the NBN is constructed and provides connectivity to millions of households. It’s provided a better understanding and allowed for me to make an estimated time of repair (ETR). I’m averaging about 2-3 weeks for my specific situation (time will tell).

Secondly, without daily network connectivity, our family has had more time communicating and reconnecting with each other through long conversations, discussing wide ranging topics and working together on projects and enjoying the old board games.

Lastly, and guiltily, I’ve had some more time to D.I.Y. some much needed painting and home repairs, which is cost saving and skill building.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a positive outcome.

This is day 29 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 31 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

A long wait for connection can be one of the most frustrating and challenging ordeals. Essentially the, often sudden, disconnection from an internet network puts you in an unfamiliar situation.

This is especially hard hitting for generations who have only known a social and work life of network connectivity. It also highlights the dependency you may have developed that can be as hard hitting as any addiction.

Like any withdrawal, people tend to act out unreasonably as a matter of processing the need to be reconnected. This then is where people look to blame rather than taking time to look at the larger picture.

We often easily only focus on our personal situation, without considering how many others are waiting (even longer than ourselves) for connectivity in more complex situations.

It’s also where we lose focus on the overwhelming task the TPG and NBN staff are working toward to process and organise a solution or repair for each of our individual needs.

The demand for connectivity and daily internet usage has risen to unprecedented levels during this world wide Pandemic. However, our expectations for ‘immediate resolution’ to our connectivity issues hasn’t scaled accordingly.

In fact, it has increased, causing more stress and pressure on the currently understaffed TPG and NBN Service teams working remotely from their homes.

Spare a thought for the bigger picture.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring a positive outcome.

This is day 31 without connection.

[rhosmaryn]

Wow..I’m honestly shocked how long you had to wait (and still is waiting) for this NBN service. I admire your patience however this is outrageous. I can’t believe that there aren’t even any forum supports that has addressed your issue. Maybe try @ them? I’m not sure of their usernames but I’m sure it is listed somewhere under ‘top contributors’. I hope you won’t have to wait any longer for this service to be connected, good luck with getting internet and please stay safe during the pandemic.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 33 without connection)
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

@rhosmaryn - Thank you for your reply, recommendation and supportive comments.

I have attempted another email communication with TPG tech support staff and customer service staff, however, like the many other posts in this forum, haven’t received any communication from TPG representatives.

A significant rising trend in TPG customer complaints is growing rapidly. The majority of them are due to the lack of communication from TPG staff which is leaving customers in a state of limbo as to what and when actions will be taken to address the multitude of connection issues.

Consideration has to be taken for the current environment TPG staff are working under as I’ve highlighted in previous posts. This doesn’t relieve TPG from complying with legislated industry standards, but, TPG is most likely prioritising each case in turn with minimal available staff and resources due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The TPG community need to be assured that each customers connection issue is been assessed, prioritised and monitored for progress. Each customer will be informed when a significant action toward addressing the connection issue is going to take place (i.e: NBN technicians are booked for attendance).

Hang in there and have a little patience.

This is day 33 without connection.