We are quite pleased to have been in a position to test BT's fault reporting for the new gigabit links for the ADSL2+ trial.
Fibre faults are very rare indeed. We have never had a fibre fault on our existing BT Central lines. As such it is not often you get to test the fault repair process in moderately safe conditions such as a trial.
One of the resillient links developed a fault. We were able to route all triallist traffic to the other link. With a complete failure this would have beeen automatic. With a "packet loss" fault as this was we were able to do this manually and now know how to do this seamlessly. We have also set up detailed monitoing of the fibre links on our monitoring systems so that we are immediately aware of any fault like this in the future, even very low level packet loss. The fault was then reported to BT.
The experience was interesting. We found we did not have all of the right contact details in the right place which delayed matters. We have been able to properly document procedures.
BT on the other hand had a lot of learning to do. They also had issues with records which meant that on two separate occasions they broke the working link and disconnected all of the trialists. Thankfully this is what a trial is for.
BT have finally confirmed there was a fault and have replaced the faulty card. The triallists are now back on the resilient configuration.
We are reviewing the whole experience with BT to ensure both sides are better prepared for a fault in future.
This is exactly what trials are for! |