easybell informiert: Wenn die Telekom zweimal klingelt

Who hasn't experienced this, or at least heard of it: you've taken an extra day off work to open the door to the eagerly awaited telecom technician so that the Internet can finally be activated, and then this happens: he doesn't show up. Then the anger is first of all big! In order to avoid this and even bigger ones, we are devoting ourselves today to the topic of "technician appointments". Because there is always a need for clarification, as our easybell expert and the person responsible for our DSL support area, Stefan Riemann, knows.

In order to understand why a Deutsche Telekomtechnician has to come by your house in the first place, it's important to know how DSL circuits work. "As a provider, easybell works with various carriers, i.e. network operators ," Stefan explains. "Each carrier has its own service network. However, the local loop (ULL) or 'last mile' of any line always belongs to Telekom, no matter who is the provider and who is the carrier ." The only exceptions are cable network operators and some local providers. So in the case of a DSL switch, a telecom technician must always either come to your home to make the switch , or the switch can be made by the exchange . No one needs to be at home for this remote switching. However, it is ultimately Telekom that decides which variant is carried out.

But are there really that many failed technician appointments? The Federal Network Agency , at least, does not have any precise figures on this. From our day-to-day business, we can talk about about nine out of 100 cancelled technician appointments.

One report on the subject even refers to Deutsche Telekom as the "gatekeeper of the Internet. Stefan can only smile about this: "Let's put it this way: this bouncer also has to let his competitors' guests into the club, whether he likes their shoes or not. The fact that he often flexes his muscles in the process doesn't prevent us from getting in line."

Many customers rightly complain that the technician appointment is always on a weekday and necessarily in the morning. "In fact, Telekom carries out circuits all day - but not at the customer's premises. Here, the fixed time window is always 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.," says Stefan. "For reasons of efficiency , the technician first drives to several customers in the morning, then drives to the exchange and from there switches through the connections that have already been prepared by the customer. Remote switching is also usually carried out by 6 p.m. - primarily in the afternoon."

Telekom's technicians always strive to do their job smoothly. But they, too, are just people with full order lists and little time, which means there is little to no room for individual sensitivities. Therefore, it is not possible

• that the technician will visit you again on the same day, should you not have been there,
• to come outside the switching time window scheduled for the customer, or
• to pick up the key from a neighbor because you cannot be there.

"We have to refuse all these 'special requests' to our customers on a daily basis for what we think are understandable reasons," Stefan explains, acknowledging, "I know it's sometimes difficult to take up to five hours in the morning in the middle of the week to wait for a technician. However, it is unavoidable - so we should make the best of it together and do our best to prevent the technician from having to come a second time for avoidable reasons."

"There are several reasons for this, which unfortunately Telekom also does not usually tell us," says Stefan. "It's possible that the technician didn 't find the address or the bell plate. Or he took longer with a previous customer, which means he can't manage one or more of the following customers. Unfortunately, in these cases, the only thing that helps is a new appointment. "Even though customers keep asking for this, and even we sometimes wish we did, we don't have the technician's contact details or cell phone number, nor can we order him back to the customer," Stefan explains, "placing orders for circuits, often to subcontractors, is entirely in Telekom's hands."

You can avoid the technician appointment if your telephone connection is already active . In this case, we are able to take over the connection and it does not have to be activated by Deutsche Telekom first.

In the case of a line takeover , we can switch to your existing line after the old provider has switched off the line. In this case, Deutsche Telekom still knows the line route from the main distribution frame to your apartment and can therefore make a remote connection .

1. There must be sufficient lead time - the absolute minimum here is four weeks, the rule is more like six.
2. The address must also remain the same: a connection takeover cannot be combined with a move.
3. The owners of the old and new lines must be identical .
4. At least one telephone number must be transferred.

But even with new connections, e.g. if you have just moved into a new apartment, you can avoid the technician appointment by telling us your previous tenant or the last connection owner with name and local telephone number . We will pass this on to Telekom , which may still have the correct line route stored and can thus initiate a remote connection . Of course, this also depends on how long the line has been deactivated .

We will let you know in advance by e-mail whether a connection can be made without a technical appointment . You do not have to be at home on the day of the connection. You can read more about what happens on the day of the connection without a technician appointment here.

If you move out yourself, you can save your next tenant the trouble of having to reconnect to a DSL line. With easybell, you can conveniently hand over a contract to a new tenant free of charge. The new tenant also saves one-time costs and can use the DSL connection from the first day of moving in.

However, if a technician appointment cannot be avoided, the following small but effective tips can help:

1. Preparation is everything: The mailbox and doorbell must be labeled with at least the last name of the connection owner.
2. There must also be access to the house distributor (APL). This is usually located in the basement.
3. The TAE socket (telephone socket) should be unobstructed and easily accessible.
4. Electricity or a router, on the other hand, are not required: the technician has his own test modem with him, which runs on batteries.

Important note: Please note that it can take up to 24 hours after switching until your connection reaches full bandwidth.

Feel free to take a look at our easybell help center. Here you will find detailed answers to the most frequently asked questions about DSL connections and technician appointments, such as:

• When is a circuit possible without a technician appointment?
• What do I have to do on the day of the technician appointment?
• What should I do if I cannot be on site on the notified technician appointment?

as well as many other questions on the subject. Of course, our support team is available for you at support@easybell.de as well as by phone at 030 - 80 95 1030 - so that your technician does not have to come a second time!

Technician appointment cancelled, although the customer was on site! We are not the only ones to receive this unpleasant message from easybell. According to a recently published Vodafone study , every third technician appointment for DSL connections fails. We did not want to accept this circumstance any longer and filed a complaint against Deutsche Telekom. Unfortunately without success...Read more about the reasons for the ruling and the consequences here.

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