Wiring & Maintenance Fee?

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Ragnor

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#34336 21-May-2009 14:11

I was wondering about the wiring and maintenance fee on POTS landlines.

1: What does it cover and what doesn't it cover?

My understanding is that it covers fault resolution for house wiring from the demarc and onwards inside. Is this correct?

Does this mean it doesn't cover exchange > phone line > demarc fault resolution, which you would still get for free even if you don't pay wiring and maitenance..

Is this a correct interpretation?

2: Did you know it's optional, do you pay it?

I've considered cancelling the extra fee a few times in the past but I either didn't bother or wasn't sure about my understanding of what it covers.

I was just comparing pricing for phone and internet pricing for a few ISP's for my usage and noticed some providers hide the cost in tiny text and I figured it was time to open the debate again and improve my knowledge too.

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#216671 21-May-2009 14:16

I am not sure where it does and does not start, but my unterstanding is the same as yours.
I never have, and never will pay for it.

richms

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#216694 21-May-2009 15:27

Has very limited cover for the wiring - doesnt mean that any damaged cables will be replaced with the like - eg when the underground cable between the shed and the house was damaged they just went nahh to fixing it, and when an inwall cable was faulty they wanted to replace it with one along the skirting and up over a doorframe at a mates flat.

Also it doesnt cover a DSL splitter as a mate found who was overseas for 18 months and found the DSL filter had become corroded and just bypassed while he was gone and the parents had a fault on the phoneline - they wanted another $149 to replace it despite the place having had wiring maintanance the whole way thru.

Richard rich.ms

sbiddle

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#216697 21-May-2009 15:29

It only covers your internal wiring.

As to whether you pay it it depends on how important you see it being. It's nothing but a form of insurance and the chances of faults developing are much like a lottery.

If you have good wiring in your house chances are you may never need it. On the other hand if you need to call out a technician, electrician or cabling guy to do work it could easily cost you $100 upwards to get somebody out.

Poor domestic wiring is probably to blame for 75% of people's ADSL issues and over time issues such as moisture ingress into jackpoints can cause issues. I'd personally go as far as saying that anybody who wants good ADSL2+ speeds should opt for a professionall install complete with master splitter (plug in filters are hit and miss with ADSL2+) and once this is done any cabling faults that could affect your ADSL such as moisture in a jackpoint are probably unlikely to affect normal PSTN calls.

Behodar

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#216700 21-May-2009 15:31

I paid it for a couple of months after I moved into my place. Once I was sure that everything was in order, I cancelled it.

NickiB

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#216891 22-May-2009 09:35

If you have good wiring in your house chances are you may never need it. On the other hand if you need to call out a technician, electrician or cabling guy to do work it could easily cost you $100 upwards to get somebody out.

What's the W+M charge? About $3 a month? (I don't pay it either) Over 5 years, for eg, that would be about $160 (rough maths), 10 years $300+ and so on. And maybe once or twice in your lifetime, if you're unfortunate, you have to have someone check your wiring? Better off paying if/when it happens. In 10 years of dealing with phone connections myself I've never needed to call anyone out. And we're talking probably a dozen houses/phonelines over that time.

nOOb alert

qraider

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#216904 22-May-2009 10:14

As a counterpoint, we've had 5+ techs out to fix faults in the internal wiring due to faulty connectors. Phone (& DSL) were going down every time it rained :/

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alvstar2001

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#216931 22-May-2009 11:57

wire main, covers any fault within your internal wiring including jackpoints provided its set up at telecoms expectectations.. however if customer willfully damaged the jp, it'll be at your cost, etc.

alvstar2001

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bazzer

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#445110 3-Mar-2011 11:29

I'm interested in how often people get charged for callouts in the instance that a line fault is internal/external.

I pay the maintenance fee, but I'd be happy not to and instead pay for a tech if/when I need it. My concern is that I wouldn't know if the fault is internal or external. I could do all the possible checks in my house (isolation tests etc) but eventually someone (Chorus?) will have to get sent out to test the line. If they find there's nothing wrong with the external wiring, do I get charged the call out fee right then or is it only in cases where I haven't done the obvious things on my end?

If it's the former, it's probably worth paying the fee in my opinion as otherwise I'll be paying twice effectively. Once for the Chorus call out and once when I get someone in to fix my line. Or, I could get someone in first but then I'd have to pay them anyway, even if the fault is external. Makes it seem like the fee provides reasonable peace of mind...

Ragnor

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#445115 3-Mar-2011 11:35

If you are relatively tech savvy and have a DIY chops it's not too hard figure out whether one of your jack points is bunga.

Jacks don't really seem to randomly develop problems very often, aside from water damage or a cut wire.

It seems to be a real grey area what it actually covers.

I decided it was not worth paying because:
- Internal network and phone cabling isn't rocket science.
- Telecom/Chorus cover the exchange/cabinet and the phone line to the ETP/demarc without paying for W&M

bazzer

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#445122 3-Mar-2011 11:49

Ragnor: If you are relatively tech savvy and have a DIY chops it's not too hard figure out whether one of your jack points is bunga.

Jacks don't really seem to randomly develop problems very often, aside from water damage or a cut wire.

It seems to be a real grey area what it actually covers.

I decided it was not worth paying because:
- Internal network and phone cabling isn't rocket science.
- Telecom/Chorus cover the exchange/cabinet and the phone line to the ETP/demarc without paying for W&M

So you'd go around and check all your wiring before calling for a line test etc? For $36 a year, maybe it's not worth it. If I knew there was a way I could isolate all my internal wiring and test it first, I would do that but I think I'll just pay the fee.

cyril7

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#445147 3-Mar-2011 13:01

My take, at $36 a year forget it, if you home has poor or just older cabling that is not really upto good DSL transit then you need a cabling overhaul anyway, and as others have said Telecom wont fit a central splitter within the Wire maint fee.

Personally to spend a couple of hundred now, get your phone wiring checked so the onging risk of internal fault is mitigated, and a central filter installed for optimum DSL performance then dump the wiring maint fee sounds far more sensible.

Cyril

alvstar2001

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#445164 3-Mar-2011 13:53

Hope this helps abit from telecom's perspective

please read below:

Telecom maintain and fix the network right up to the customers External Test Point (ETP or up to the Master jackpoint) with no charge to the customer (unless the network is willfully damaged i.e. customer cuts their own service lead or cable). For inside the home we provide an optional standard wiring maintenance service, which covers the cost of fixing most faults in the telephone sockets and wiring inside the premise, which are covered by the service.In disaster cases such as fire(for eg),the Mwire contract does NOT apply even though they may be paying Mwire.The customers house insurance will cover the cost of repair

If a fault has been PROVED to the premise wiring BY THE SERVICE PERSON and the customer has NO Wiring Maintenance contract with Telecom OR the customer falls under the 30 day stand down for wiring maintenance the Service Person will offer the customer a quote to fix the jackpoint and/or internal wiring (Time - per 15 minutes plus materials) which will also INCLUDE the diagnostic fee. If the customer declines the Service Person and chooses to look elsewhere for a jackpoint or internal wiring fix (electrician) the customer will STILL be required to pay the diagnostic fee.
If the Customer calls in and KNOWS their jackpoint is faulty and have proved it beyond reasonable doubt and requires a Service Person to attend and:
o They ARE NOT paying wiring maintenance, they will be charged a VISIT FEE plus time & Materials NOT the Diagnostic fee (therefore the charge to the customer is the visit fee plus the cost per 15 minutes for Time plus any Materials used).
o They ARE paying wiring maintenance, the internal jackpoints and wiring is covered, unless the Service Person deems the customer has damaged the jackpoint themselves.
• If the Customer has damaged the Jackpoint themselves this is not covered by wiring maintenance and there may be a charges i.e. Visit fee, and a time charge.
• If the Customer has an 'external' jackpoint i.e. a jackpoint that is an out-building e.g. a shed/garage, telecom do NOT cover the 'external' Line between the buildings but DOES cover the internal wiring and jackpoint same as above scenarios:
- Jackpoint and wiring in the external premises (shed etc.) IS covered.
- External cabling ‘between’ the main premise and the external premise is NOT covered

• If the Customer has a hardwired jackpoint (where they can not unplug the telephone because it is wired into the wall) the following will occur:
o If the fault is proved to the hardwired jackpoint or the telephone and the customer has the wiring maintenance contract the technician will replace the faulty jackpoint with the newer version.
o The customer will need to provide their own telephone to use in the new jackpoint.
o When the customer wants their old hardwired jackpoint replaced and upgraded to the more common version when it is not faulty, this will be a chargable service through 123.
• If the Customer has an RJ45 jackpoint with an adaptor they will not be covered by the wiring maintenance contract. The customer will either need to get out their own electrician, or pay for the jackpoint to be fixed if it is proved to be faulty.

• If the Customer has a PABX and are paying MWIRE – Telecom cover the internal wiring from the local Cable Terminal (CT) to the initial Master Jackpoint. We do NOT cover the frame and the internal building cabling up to the local Cable Terminal as this is the responsibility of the building owner.

alvstar2001

graemeh

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#445172 3-Mar-2011 14:16

alvstar2001: • If the Customer has an RJ45 jackpoint with an adaptor they will not be covered by the wiring maintenance contract. The customer will either need to get out their own electrician, or pay for the jackpoint to be fixed if it is proved to be faulty.

So if the customer has modern wiring then they will have to pay for it to be fixed.

That seems a bit unreasonable or have I missed something? The Chorus tech is obviously quite capable of fixing it as there seems to be the option to pay so why don't they?

alvstar2001

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#445184 3-Mar-2011 14:59

The standard service covers telephone sockets and wiring which meet and are installed to our specifications. For example:

-They must have a Telepermit
-They must be installed in compliance with our codes of practice and must not be mixed with non-complying telephone sockets and wiring or with the electrical wiring, sockets and switches in your home
-Older style 3-wire sockets must not be mixed with modern 2-wire sockets and sockets not supplied by us must be designed to accept our standard 6-way telephone plug.
-The jackpoint must not be an RJ45 jackpoint with an adaptor
-RJ45 jackpoints and adaptors are not promoted by 123 and are not installed by Telecom technicians but are suitable to be connected to the Telecom network by an electrician

hope this helps

alvstar2001

graemeh

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#445191 3-Mar-2011 15:24

alvstar2001: The standard service covers telephone sockets and wiring which meet and are installed to our specifications. For example:

-They must have a Telepermit
-They must be installed in compliance with our codes of practice and must not be mixed with non-complying telephone sockets and wiring or with the electrical wiring, sockets and switches in your home
-Older style 3-wire sockets must not be mixed with modern 2-wire sockets and sockets not supplied by us must be designed to accept our standard 6-way telephone plug.
-The jackpoint must not be an RJ45 jackpoint with an adaptor
-RJ45 jackpoints and adaptors are not promoted by 123 and are not installed by Telecom technicians but are suitable to be connected to the Telecom network by an electrician

hope this helps

Not really. If people look at the Telecom www.telepermit.co.nz site they will find a link to http://www.tcf.org.nz/premwiring which replaces the PTC 106 standard previously promoted by Telecom for premises wiring (including houses).

Telecom state on this site: Telecom specification PTC106 has been withdrawn and replaced by a new wiring code of practice written and maintained by the Telecommunications Carriers' Forum.
The new document is: TCF Premises Wiring Code of Practice : February 2010.
It can be downloaded from the TCF site

Since Telecom (and others) have adopted this standard it is possible to have RJ45 jackpoints connected in accordance with Telecom's specifications.

I can't see any reason why wiring maintenance should not cover these installations.

It is only a matter of time before Telecom ends up in a dispute with a customer with a new house with wiring maintenance and where Telecom is trying to use the "but it's not a BT jackpoint" line.

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