It seems that BT can't find The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square because there is no street address number.
No, I am serious here. We even have the recording from the message the BT Engineer left for our customer on this.
To add to the fun, this was for a fault visit, i.e. where BT are visiting the place they installed a phone line previously. It is not a case where we tell them where to go for a new install, and so we could not have made a mistake, it is a matter of them going where they put the phone line in order to fix it!
Looking at the picture from their web site, I'd say the place is hard to miss!
Sadly, in this case, it means a re-appointment for our customer, which is an extra delay. Sorry about that, and thanks for letting us share this.
The Gallery is visible from the very marker from which London is measured. It is inconceivable that anyone could miss it. BT obviously need a geography lesson.
ReplyDeleteI've had open reach arrive on site without knowing who they are visiting or even the correct address. All they quoted was Andrews and Arnold. Completely useless.
ReplyDeleteI have never read about this anywhere before, until now. Yet I HAVE experienced a similar problem personally, in my current location of Phoenix, Arizona in the U.S.A.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I do not run an ISP. Second, I do not presume to compare the significance of the National Gallery to anything in Arizona! However, as a matter of context relating to telecom and GIS, there are similarities. Keep in mind that we have very adequate infrastructure; this is not a rural locale.
Situation: The State of Arizona's Department of Health Services is a six story building that has a physical footprint of at least 25,000 square feet. It is located about 50 yards from the State capitol building, and bordered on two sides by major thoroughfares. It has an official street address that has been constant for nearly a decade. Yet repair people, taxi dispatch services using any and all sorts of GIS, etc. say that it does not exist on their maps, nor can dispatchers locate it unless they are already familiar with the location. Instead the dispatches are sent to a nearby bar (that is a pub but with no food), as that can be found on GIS or similar, then told to drive one block south to arrive at the Dept. of Health Services building.
How is this possible? Why isn't the situation remediated? Perhaps the National Gallery does have an address, but it is not entered correctly in whatever GIS or geodata systems in use by BT? That sounds absurd. My situation, in Arizona, is equally absurd!
Any ideas? I find it unlikely that these are two isolated cases, though I can't identify any others, nor am I certain that both locations suffer from the same root cause, whatever it may be.
P.S. I enjoy your blog very much, especially all the IPv6 related entries. Thank you!
It makes you wonder how they'd find this place, to quote their web site:
ReplyDeleteAdastral Park is located near Ipswich, Suffolk on the east coast of England, approximately 90 miles from London and 65 miles from Cambridge.
Adastral Park
Martlesham Heath
Ipswich
IP5 3RE
It is, of course, BT's research & development centre! :-)
Cheers,
Howard