EE BrightBox loss of internet when City Fibre installed nearby

[eemh]

Thank you  @XRaySpeX  for your related post.  I am technical support for my elderly blind mother-in-law living in bungalow just around the corner.  She only uses the internet for radio via Alexa.  Last week her internet stopped working.  Unplugging the BrightBox for a minute and replugging had no effect, nor did doing the same to Alexa.  Her landline is working as usual. 

City Fibre have been at work in the village and she recently had a paper through her door, and an email, that it was now all ready for her to change over to one of their providers.  Her internet disconnected at the same time.  I rang City Fibre to ask if this was just a coincidence but they haven't got back to me.  I am disappointed if it has caused her problem as I had logged her as Vulnerable with EE after she went blind some years ago.

I did some research and today I logged into her Brightbox from my phone and looked at all the screens of information.  It all seemed to be working ok except for Internet - not connected.  I tapped on Connect, and it told me to wait a minute, but after several minutes nothing had changed.

I noticed there is a drop-down box about broadband - either ADSL or Fibre.  Should I try changing this from ADSL to Fibre and see what happens?  I didn't want to break anything or cut her off completely!

Thank you

Matthew

Edit: the internet light on the front is flashing.  I read that this means there is a message for me inside, but there wasn't.

[eemh]

should have taken a photo, I will look tomorrow, as far as I recall the light on the far left is on, next the internet light is flashing white, the next light is off, further along one of the wifi lights is on - I suppose connecting to Alexa - if we ask Alexa anything she says sorry no connection

[XRaySpeX]

Ah, you have the Brightbox 1. It's not as versatile as the Brightbox 2 I described. It couldn't run CF's Full Fibre anyway as it has no Ethernet WAN port.

Forget the colours I asked about. These are either OFF, ON (Green) or flashing. The 2nd from L is the Broadband light & slow flashing indicates it's failed to connect to BB. Incidentally the 4th light (WiFi) indicates it is broadcasting WiFi  regardless of whether any devices are connected to it. 

[eemh]

yes she has had it quite a long time and is on the basic contract

thanks to @Peter_W the problem has been escalated and EE are going to investigate

[eemh]

HI Peter, when you are back on Monday please could you read my update and advise.  Thank you so much.

[JimM11]

@eemh Your running into all the brick walls that EE have now, the Vulnerable status was being reviewed over a year ago, set it all up with my sister's MS status, and just never ever managed to get over the first hurdle after all the hoops that were to be jumped through and the sugar is still the same, so gave up and pulling the connection as soon as the contract runs out, and that will be EVERYTHING as sister has Full Fibre Internet, Mobile and (5G backup which is the biggest joker in that pack), @Christopher_G was way helpful in getting it the best it could be, but it has fallen way short in every respect! Even so the call to EE CS the agent as good as told me to P off so that is going to happen as soon as!

Hope you get it all sorted asap!🤞

DO the text as GUIDE to 66033 if your phone can send the text, someone should call you back and start it all off with NOT my account so don't be throwing Sugar at the window!

[Lesley_W]

Hi @eemh 

Thanks for popping back with an update and I'm disappointed that it hasn't been sorted.

I've sent you a private message to try and help.

Lesley

[eemh]

UPDATE!   False alarm, so I have deleted my lunchtime post! 

It had appeared that Mum's landline had stopped working this morning, and I was trying to get some help.  It had been working Friday evening.   I tried to contact EE but was struggling as the AI system is set up for problems on the line you are calling from (my mobile in this case).

I went round this afternoon and saw what other people had not noticed, that the phone plug was out of its socket.  Mum being blind could not see that.  Once I plugged it back in and was sure it had clicked, all was well.  Possibly the morning carer had trodden on the end of the extension lead when opening the blinds this morning, but it's never happened before.  I have tucked the plug closer to the bottom of her chair now.

Moral - always check stuff yourself!

[eemh]

Still waiting for the new router.  I logged into the EE account and followed tracking information to Royal Mail which said that they had not received it from EE yet.  EE had emailed to say that it was sent on Friday via Royal Mail 24 so it should have been received on Saturday.  Heard nothing and still waiting.

[Peter_W]

Hi again @eemh!

Fingers crossed this should just have been held up slightly over the weekend, but if you'd like an exact estimate on when the delivery is due from, I'd recommend giving our team a call. 

They can help you check the exact details of the order and give a better estimate of when this is going to come.

Peter

[eemh · Accepted solution]

Hi @Lesley_W  and @Peter_W 

We finally got it solved yesterday evening, so I think this is the post that should be marked as Solution.

My previous experiences of calling the EE helpline had been of long waits, so I had been trying to solve the problem myself after we returned from holiday to find Mum's internet broken.  Hence my post here.

I had rung up City Fibre and had an email from them several days later saying there had been a 'cable strike' and to contact EE.

I rang EE on Friday 28/11 and spoke to a gentleman who ran tests and ordered a new router to replace her 'antique' EE BrightBox and booked an engineer who attended later on Friday.  He told Mum that the cable strike could have broken her EE Brightbox which he unplugged.  The gentleman I spoke to that morning had already ordered a new router.

The new router was dispatched on Friday by Royal Mail Track 24, and arrived on Tuesday.  I plugged it in and after it had set itself up there was still no internet and it told me to ring EE helpline.

A very helpful lady (I will commend her to you by name in a PM) organised some long and complex tests and discovered:

• there may have been a 'card failure' at the exchange
• and there was a software failure somewhere

So she got BT Openworld onto it and called me back in the evening, when they said it had been fixed, so I went over to Mum's and the aqua internet light was on.  I got her ancient tablet (pre-blindness) connected and then Alexa so she has radio again.  She also has been compensated for lost connection time.  Thank you to all involved.