• PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    8 days ago

    When I did tech support for a UK telecoms firm, that was the easy way to fuck off an awkward customer with any kind of connectivity problem - stability, speed, whatever. Generally, people’s routers were connected to the same NTE as the landline.

    “So what we’re going to do, is replace the ADSL filter, see if it’s a gubbed filter, it’s a nice cheap and easy fix. Can you remove the filter from the wall socket please?”

    click

    Beautiful.

          • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            8 days ago

            Every day’s a school day.

            In fairness, it’s nothing short of sheer voodoo what they managed to do with the simple copper loop. As usual though, it was the rural communities that felt the pinch (and the gains) more than most though.

        • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 days ago

          The chances of it being the filter were stupidly low, and I don’t think I ever had a case of the filter being at fault - but it was one of those potential issues that would make a customer look stupid (and £120 lighter) if BT tipped up and declared it a customer equipment fault.

          In newer homes (at the time), there were NTE faceplates that had a filter built it, with individual ports for telephone and for data telephony cables. They didn’t last long though. Maybe they were stupidly expensive in comparison, maybe BT could see the fibre future and stopped producing them.