I'll also add that I recently had an electrical supply problem, did I contact my supplier? No I went straight to UK Power Networks and spoke to them, and they sorted out the problem. Now I can't do that with Openreach can I becuase they hide behind CP's.
But unfortunately the problem is that the average consumer should not in reality be allowed to control anything more complicated that a TV.
ISP's are in effect acting as a triage system so that only the real faults (hopefully!) are passed on to BTOR.
Can you imagine it if the general public were allowed to contact BTOR - your genuine problem would be submerged in all the rubbish.
There was one like this on TBB. Internet would not work and poster was ranting about how they could not contact plusnet late a night to complain about the line failure.
Somewhat later they admitted the "fault" was actually someone in the house having swapped round some cables during cleaning and then despite being asked had they changed anything said no.
Had they actually been able to get hold of Plusnet that would have been more time(money) wasted investigating a problem that was not a problem.
I'd agree with @Chrysalis analysis of the situation of why BTOR patch up defective cabling, plus the sheer cost of doing a replacement is far higher than many forumites think. It would take a lot years of £17pm line rentals to pay for a cable replacement.
Having 3 payments, one to the infrastructure provider, and one each to your data and voice provider is one I have advocated for years on forums. The snag is that BTOR would need to set up a full customer billing and call/faults interfacing systems at yes yet more cost to the consumer.