Oftel lobbied over poor broadband SLAs
Broadband users are lobbying Oftel over the lack of service level agreements (SLAs) covering fault management with BT.
Carol Friend, managing director of Pielle Consulting, told vnunet.com that she had written to Oftel after losing her broadband access for a third time.
"We are complaining over the fact that there are no SLAs over fault management with BT for customers or wholesale customers," she said.
Friend said it was the third time her company had been without broadband access. "It is mission-critical for our business," she said. "We have been without access for up to nine hours at a time."
She added that she did not blame service provider Powernet. "They are doing the best they can, but they are in the hands of BT."
Iain Ogilvie, marketing manager for broadband access provider Nildram, said: "There are no concrete SLAs with BT, but they are working on it."
Ian Buckley, marketing manager for internet provider Zen Internet, said: "There are problems with early-life failures. What is missing is total care, which most BT services come under with a four-hour response time."
He said the problem was being compounded as more people signed up for broadband access.
"It"s a pure numbers thing," he said. "More can be done, but customers are having to grin and bear it."