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The Oddest Fault I've Ever Heard
Mar 25, 2003
A customer called about a very odd fault.
She was with Telewest, but was coming back to us. The
engineer had attended the premesis that day to reconnect
her.
The customer has three telephones, one in the living room,
one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom.
After the engineer left, the customer tested her lines.
Dialing 150 from the living room gets "Welcome to <company
name omited>....", but dialing 150 on the other phones
gets "Welcome to Telewest....".
The customer has only one telephone number. Only the living
room phone (ours) rings when she is called, and the customer
answers it, but if someone else calls her when she's on
the phone, the kitchen phone rings and a second and completely
seperate conversation can be held.
Presumably if a third person calls, her bedroom phone
will then ring.
Funny, but not in the humorous way
May 21, 2003
A customer called to say he was trying to call a number
but it kept coming up as engaged. I asked for his own phone
number in order to run a line check, but the name and address
he gave me did not match the one the phone was registered
to. This is a security requirement.
I looked at my turret (the phone base unit, our headsets
are plugged into it) and noticed he was calling from that
number.
Yup, you guessed it. He was trying to call his own number
and getting the engaged tone.
You'd be amazed at the number of people who don't know
their own phone number.
Red Care? Of Course I Do!
May 31, 2003
There is a special kind of house burglar alarm called Red
Care. It works by sending regular signals down the line
so that the control centre knows the line has not been cut
by burglars.
Most complex burglar alarms can send signals to the police
if they go off, but this needs a seperate line to run. It's
normally set to ICB (Incoming Calls Barred), so no-one
can call the line to jam the alarm's signal. Red Care
is different because it can use the same line you make calls
on. Saves money and hassle.
The rest of it works the same as any other alarm.
However burglars soon realised that simply cutting the
main telephone cable disabled the alarm quite well.
Customers whose Red Care alarm line is dead get
very panicky. It's understandable, their alarm won't arm
if the line is dead. But they expect us to perform miracles,
elbow grannies aside and break speed limits to repair the
line.
Some of them even think that the statistical risk of being
burgled increases when the alarm is faulty.
We try to get them back on ASAP, but when it comes down
to it, if they are on a standard residential line and will
have to wait their turn like everyone else.
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