Awaiting TPG support to fix NBN fault

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 35 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

It’s the beginning of a new week and hopes are high that we will be receiving some positive communication that action has been taken toward getting connected.

Each day is another opportunity to learn about living without connection to the network. It can be very liberating; particularly with the increase in free time.

Introspectively, you realise how much time you may have been wasting on trivial apps, social media and intrusive advertising. Furthermore, your hands are freed from your mobile phone, Pad or mouse and you catch yourself habitually reaching for these devices.

This is day 35 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 37 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today.

Yesterday afternoon I received an SMS from TPG NBN stating they were trying to reach me with an update on my connection. A link was provided which directed me to the ‘Live Chat’ webpage.

I missed out getting to chat with TPG staff yesterday evening, however, I was successful in opening a chat with ‘Arnold’ approximately 5-min from my first attempt this morning.

Arnold took a few minutes to ‘look into it’ and informed me the case was been handled by a case manager whom he requested to make a call-back before days end.

I’ve already been through this cycle twice with zero contact from the Case Manager. Unfortunately today yielded the same result - zero contact.

Tomorrow I will again contact TPG through ‘live chat’ and explain what has occurred in the hope they can prioritise the Case Manager to follow up on my case and complete a call-back.

I’ve been awaiting several call-backs as initiated by TPG staff since the 24th of March (15 days). I’ve attempted calling the Case Manager contact number provided but this just leads to been on hold for hours.

The good news is at least some form of communication has come forward this week with the inference of progress, and, I got through on the live chat within 5-min.

This is day 37 without connection.

[Foff]

Sounds like a good novel. You should send it to Mr Teoh the CEO of TPG and get his appraisal. Their company is like pushing s..t up a hill.

[Foff]

I’ve been waiting for 10 days to get a plan upgraded. That’s a difficult process apparently. Appears the Company has some MAJOR dramas they are not letting on. If you haven’t already paid your upfront fees, I be contacting another provider, you are obviously getting no satisfaction. Although your very patient, see how you are after another month cheers

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 39 without connection):
It’s Good Friday - Easter Weekend, however there’s no positive outcome to report today.

@Foff - Thanks for the somewhat cynical feedback. I’m confident anyone having direct contact with the TPG CEO would be highly prioritised for exceptional connection and high volume data flow, such are the perks of the inner circle ⭕️.

I have been researching alternatives, however, the connectivity issue is with NBN Co. in my situation. As such, TPG is the go-between and can only await NBN Co. to take action in repairing the fault.

It would be easy enough to throw the ‘blame ball’ back and forth between TPG and NBN Co. each claiming the other is to blame for the delay and thereby forcing more time to assign technicians to make the repair.

However, in recent news, NBN Co. have been self promoting their ability to handle the unprecedented increase (a reported 40% above normal) in data flow to vindicate themselves against the negative publicity over the last several years.

Unfortunately, they neglect to report the almost 10% of connected homes (approximately 600,000) with faults whom are stuck in the limbo of ‘External Network Shortfall’. What’s more, the amount of extra data usage is causing NBN Co. to put lowest priority on fault repair for connected homes as a form of managing this increase.

Just today, I watched a report from ‘A Current Affair’ on a gentleman in Melbourne who waited 69 days for a simple damaged line repair to restore his connection. After the program was aired, NBN Co. apologised for the ‘Unacceptable’ delay and the gentleman’s home was connected within the next 2 days.

Perhaps with all this NBN Co. self promoting, a credible reporter could expose the multitude of ISP customers awaiting repair to their connected homes.

I’m sure this would, somewhat suddenly, mobilise NBN Co. to take action as they don’t want to be seen as a villain to 10% of homes during this Covid-19 Pandemic.

This is day 39 without connection.

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 41 without connection):
Unfortunately there is no positive outcome to report today. However, it is Easter Sunday.

I did receive a reply email on 9th April 2020 from TPG customer service addressing the email I sent on 24th March 2020 (only 16 days for a response) in which I explained the situation after the initial NBN Co. technician attendance.

TPG staff informed me a follow-up request to the NBN Servicing Provision Team had been made and to expect a call-back within 24-hours.

Unfortunately I didn’t receive a call-back and instead received an SMS stating the TPG NBN Servicing Team is still waiting for NBN Co. to advise when the ‘Network Shortfall’ has been resolved.

This has brought us full circle with zero progress and no expected time of repair (ETR). Truthfully this is a situation that TPG can not control and puts them wholly reliant on NBN Co. to action the repair.

June is the cut-off for NBN Co. to meet their contractual obligations to the Australian government and achieve the required number of ‘Connected Properties’.

The ‘Connected Properties’ number does not decrease for homes that have ‘Network Shortfall’ status.

In other words, every home that is connected, without working connectivity due to a network shortfall, is still counted toward the contractual required number.

NBN Co. is committing almost all resources toward meeting the deadline for this required number and until that priority is met, very little resource will be utilised to repair the outstanding and ever-growing Network Shortfall properties.

Fortunately, I did receive communication from TPG in at least an attempt to address the situation. It is our hope TPG can most certainly influence NBN Co. to make priority connection repair for customers with extraordinary waiting periods.

This would have to have been considered in the TPG business strategy when contracting with NBN Co.

Hopefully we will have a positive outcome in the next week.

This is day 41 without connection.

[JayeshP9]

Welcome to TPG Community,

You can private message to me your customer ID, username, service address or mobile number so i can check status here.

regards

JayeshP9

[CaptainAli]

Update (Day 43 without connection):
Fortunately I have had some progress and verbal contact (A call-back!) from TPG, however, there hasn’t been any positive outcome.

@JayeshP9 - Thank you for your welcome and kind offer. I have indeed sent a private message to you with my case I.D (CID). I hope that you will be able to influence NBN Co. to action and get us connected.

I am grateful for the call-back from a TPG representative, although not the case manager. In our conversation I explained the situation as informed by the NBN Co. Technicians (Please see above).

It was explained to me that NBN Co. have claimed an existing health and safety issue on site is now why they cannot make the repair.

This is curious as the NBN Co. technicians who attended on the 24th March 2020 accessed the street side pit and after troubleshooting identified the fault as a ‘port’ connector. The power box was also identified so perhaps that is what the health and safety concern is about.

Even so, surely NBN Co. must have many qualified technicians or electricians to assess and repair the hardware with all due regard for appropriate safety controls.

It is uncannily strange how the initial fault as identified by NBN Co. Techs was hardware and required a simple replacement part. It was, after a week, later identified as an ‘External Network Shortfall’. Finally, after an additional 2 weeks wait, it has been changed to a Health and Safety issue.

What’s stranger still is all these excuses have been identified without any further on site attendance or assessment from NBN Co. technicians. For most people this would appear to be avoiding the responsibility to make the repair.

Hopefully, TPG can progress our case further up the hierarchy until action is prioritised and the actual repair is made. On the positive side, this saga is becoming a small novella which will hopefully assist others going through similar experiences.

This is day 43 without connection.

[JayeshP9]

Hi CaptainAli,

Now I have checked with nbn and after troubleshooting with configuration of router, your service is up and running, authenticated from our end as well. Sorry for delaying activation of your service due to this pandemic because nbn was delaying installtion due to certain reason.

Have a great day!

regards

JayeshP9.

[CaptainAli · Accepted solution]

Update (Day 46):
We have Connection!

As with all things, we’ve come to the end of our saga. We are grateful for all the efforts behind the scenes by both TPG and NBN staff. More importantly, we are grateful to be back on the network, and sadly back to our online lives.

The NBN Technician who attended 17th April 2020 was clearly more experienced and qualified than those who attended before. I stayed with him as we went to the pit and asked questions while discovering the fault.

The true fault was not a ‘port connector’ or a ‘power box’ or even a health and safety issue. It was poorly connected wire ends by under qualified technicians. This was easily fixed within 10 minutes and those 4 blue lights lit up in the NCD.

After a little troubleshooting with the TPG modem we had connection. I would like to thank JayeshP9 (Moderator) for their invaluable help in completing the connection and getting us back online.

This is day 46... and we have connection.