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Sky Digiboxes kill BT broadband exchanges - urban myth or true?

by Bob Crabtree on 5 October 2006, 13:12

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So weird it must be true?


Fairies


Some stories are so utterly ridiculous that you couldn't make them up. And we're hoping for the sake of our editorial credibility that the tale we're about to relate is one of them.


It all starts with a broadband connection going down - or so we're told by a contact who's been 100 per cent reliable over many years.

The disconnected user (a 100 per cent reliable contact of our contact) complains to his internet service provider. Which one, as you'll come to realise, isn't relevant.

"We'll look into", he's told.

Yes, we know, that in itself appears too helpful to be believable but we're cutting a long story short.

We're missing out the boring stuff about repeat phone calls, being put on hold for ages and having to say the same thing over and over to a succession of know-nothings without swearing (and how hard is that to believe or do?)

After a few days, there's still no news (see, we're definitely back on track now in the realms of the possible), so the disconnected one hassles the ISP again.

"Still looking into it, sorry". (Okay, we made up the "sorry" bit)

More days pass and nothing of use is heard from the ISP (still on track, note).

But, then a stroke of good fortune. The disconnected one happens to be at a local school when he overhears a conversation going on between a group of mums - disgruntled mums. Yes, you guessed it. They're disgruntled mums, cos they're all disconnected mums.

Seemingly, a whole lot of homes in the area have lost their broadband connections even though, it turns out, they're not all with the same ISP. Between them, they're using a bunch of different firms.  

Weird? In a way, but there is one common factor - in addition to the lack of help that their ISPs provided - all their phone lines go through the same BT exchange. So, they conclude, as would you, that there must be a fault in the exchange.

And - as would you, too - they begin, independently, to hassle BT.

BT engineers start appearing on doorsteps. They offer to check this that and the other.

Then the one who's calling on our contact's contact lets slip that what he's doing is a waste of time because the fault is at the exchange and BT knows precisely what it is.

But, he says, BT won't put it right until it can track down the cause. And, although the cause is known, its location isn't!

Pardon?

According to the engineer, the problem will only re-occur unless the cause is tracked down - and that's a needle-in-hackstack type operation. What's needed is to hunt down - wait for it, wait for it - one particular model of Sky Digibox being used by someone on the same exchange as the disconnected ones!

WHAT??

Yes, really, that's what we were told.

It seems - and we are trying to check this with BT and Sky (though we really wouldn't expect either to admit such a problem exists) - that there is one particular model of Digibox that, when it's being (or been) updated by Sky over the phone sends back down the line a reply signal that, er, well, kills the broadband kit in BT's exchange.

Far fetched? Not half as far fetched as the method - we're told - by which which BT goes about tracking down this rogue Digibox.

This is when the story becomes seriously ridiculous, thus proving (we're hoping) that it must be true.

What some poor sod has to do - we're told - is crawl the streets listening to Radio 5!

WHAT??

Yup, apparently the rogue Digibox not only sends killer messages down the line but also has another endearing little foible - it gives off radio interference on the same wavelength as Radio 5!

So, the afore-mentioned street-crawler has to listen out for the time when Radio 5 reception goes all wonky (bit of a bast if the Digibox is in a block of flats, mind) and then respectfully knock on the relevant door and ask for admittance so as to double-check that he's found the right place.

A request is then politely but firmly made that the Digibox be disconnected from the phone line for important technical reasons - here things started to go a bit grey in the telling of the story - and an arrangement be made to get the box swapped out for a different model.

Urban myth or true?

Right now, we wouldn't like to say for sure. But we can tell you that our contact is good and, if he says his is, too, then he will be.

Naturally, we are trying to check with BT and Sky to see if they'll confirm or deny anything and we will also be talking this evening (or tomorrow) with our contact's contact - so watch out for an updater tomorrow.

Could this tale really be true? Share your thoughts with us in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.



HEXUS Forums :: 51 Comments

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Er… so what model/brand is the box? Is it some kind of national secret or something?!?!
dangel
Er… so what model/brand is the box? Is it some kind of national secret or something?!?!

If I knew it, then that info would be included in the story - but I'm still trying to check out the truth of the whole thing, as well as details such as this.

Of course, there's one way of checking if your Sky Digibox is one of the models in question - bring near it a portable radio receiving Radio 5.
Radio what's that?

:)
Bizzare, keep us updated Bob.

The reasons not get Sky just keep on growing!
overgeard a guy in Maplin the other day (seem to be spending too much tim in there recently) saying his Sky box makes his ADSL cut out, but killing the exchange is a new one :)