How to report a connection problem so it gets fixed sooner

Report first, observe afterwards

Raise the ticket when the fault starts. Do not wait several days to build a pattern first: the ticket is what the downtime credit is calculated from, and the record is easier to reconstruct when it begins at the right time. Anything you notice over the following days goes onto the same ticket.

Four checks worth two minutes

These are not there to keep you off the phone. Whatever the result, the answers narrow the fault, and they are what the engineer needs.

• Fibre-box lights. The PON and LOS lights are on the fibre box (the ONT), not on the Wi-Fi router. Read the power light first, then PON, then LOS. On most units a red or flashing LOS points to a break outside your home. Labels differ between models, so tell us the colour and which light rather than interpreting it yourself. If your Wi-Fi comes out of the same box the fibre enters, you have a combined unit and both sets of lights are on it.
• A wired test. Laptop straight into the router with a cable, then a speed test. A correct wired result makes a Wi-Fi problem more likely, though it does not rule everything else out.
• One device alone. Turn the rest off for two minutes. If a single device is fast, something in the house may be using the connection heavily.
• A proper power cycle, in order. Switch both off at the socket. Switch the fibre box on first, wait two minutes for it to register, then the router. Booting the router first is the commonest reason a connection does not come back. Not a restart from an app.

What to include

Send these together in one message. It is often the difference between one visit and several.

• Your registered mobile number and the service address
• What is happening: no connection, slow, or dropping in and out
• When it started, and whether it is constant or at particular times
• The fibre-box light colours right now — and the router's, if they differ
• A wired speed test result if you have one, with a screenshot
• Anything that changed recently: a power cut, building work, a new device, furniture moved

Describe the pattern, not just the symptom

"Slow internet" covers a dozen different faults. "Fine all day, unusable from about 8:30 to 11 for the last four evenings" points at a much narrower set. If you have that detail, send it. If you do not have it yet, report anyway and send it when you do.

Keep the ticket reference

Every report gets one. Use it for every follow-up rather than starting a fresh conversation. The reference is what carries the history, what drives escalation, and what the downtime credit is worked out from.

If it is not resolved

Ask for escalation on the same ticket rather than reporting it again. The route is set out in the grievance policy.

The two most useful things you can send are when it started and what the lights are doing. Most of the rest the engineer can establish on site.