Ha ha .... it can seem like a crazy mess. At the minute, Exchange Engineers belong to BT Openreach, however thay are to move to BT Operate in the very near future.
Openreach engineer skilling is rather more frustrating.
Frames: The most very basic of the skill-sets. The job entails 'Running jumper wire' between pre-determined points on the Main Distribution Frame (MDF). An incredibly easy job to learn.
CAL/OMI (Customer Apparatus & Line .... One Man Installer): They sort of work from the DP to the premises. If there's a faulty E/D side, they will do a change of pair, rather than 'Fault to fix' ..... ie-find the actual cause.
UG (Underground): As it says on the tin ....... these guys only work on UG plant. Far more complicated than the CAL/OMI skill.
Hot-site engineer: Accredited to work in and around HV plant, ie- Electricity Generating Stations, Wind farms etc. The safety aspect is severe, whereby the Local Earth (At the premises) and the Remote Earth (At the Exchange) could have a potential difference of a few thousand volts.
Multi-skilled engineer: Has the minmum of Frame, CAL/OMI and UG skills.
Broadband engineer: Not a stand-alone skill. The original protocol was that only Multi-skilled engineers would be asked to become Broadband trained. However, there are as many CAL/OMI engineers trained up as well.
** My main gripe is that as an engineer with all the above skills, I still get the same remuneration as a 'Frames only' engineer 
Absolute madness ** There are other skills that don't get a mention as they are not customer facing, such as the Second Stage Repair (SSR) lads, who tend to do the bigger cable change-overs. Then there's the 'Pressure' engineers, who are responsible for maintaining the E-side network is correctly pressurised. There's also the Cable Gangs, Survey Officers and Planners.
At the top of the food chain (IMO) are the Precision Test Officers (PTO's). These guys are who we call in when we are stumped. Doesn't happen often, but it's good to know they are there if needed. Mainly utilised on REIN jobs that can't be remedied locally.
They main issue we tend to find is that the task we recieve has been sent to the wrong engineer, or has been built incorrectly. By that, I mean the remote test result which is carried out every time an EU reports a fault, could show a 'Dis' at lets say, 94% of the entire cable length. this obviously means the fault is at the far-end near to the EU's premises. Now, if not actioned properly, this can sometimes go to a Frames Engineer who has to then 'Further' the task etc etc.
The same test result could see the job being built for a CAL/OMI engineer, and the EU's premises could be a UG estate. Again resulting in the engineer having to 'Further' his task.
The key is to give as much information as possible and hope and prey the ISP's front-desk is manned by someone with an ounce of common-sense. Having said that, they have systems that 'suggest' where the fault should be sent and which skill should be applied to it.
The most common reason for 'Furthers' is the EU reporting a noisy line which remotely tests OK, and a CAL/OMI engineer being despatched. Upon arrival the EU states its actually the Broadband that is suffering, not the phone. This results in a TRC (Time Related Charge) being raised, the engineer
has to complete his task due to it being raised as a telephony fault, and the EU has to start the merry-go-round that is raising a Broadband fault.
It's a far from ideal situation, and I have every sympathy for the EU's. Believe me when I say they are sometimes very irate by the time I end up knocking on their door. Only had one who started to turn violent though.
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Topic: 12 days after 80/20 install - help please - possible line fault (Read 54153 times)