Alarm light is solid red on openreach box

[Stevie64]

Alarm light is solid red on openreach box still, I reported this a month ago and sky replied with a text that the problem as been resolved but it has not, it is still showing red alarm light on openreach box and feel am not getting what I am paying for.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Stevie64 wrote:

it is still showing red alarm light on openreach box and feel am not getting what I am paying for.

If FTTP broadband is working then it's not an ONT 'alarm light', and you are getting the internet service your subscription covers.  A red 'LOS' (Loss Of Signal) LED would mean no internet connection and should be booked with the ISP for investigation by Openreach.

There's an early model of Openreach ONT which was installed with a separate Battery Backup Unit (BBU) and the BBU displays a red 'fault' light at lower right when the batteries (which are just four domestic rechargeable AAs) are no longer capable of holding charge: there may be an external enclosure which makes the ONT and BBU appear to be all one unit, as in the images below.  This ONT model ceased distribution around six years ago, so all original BBU batteries are now pretty weary and increasingly likely to generate a fault indication.

The BBU is obsolete technology, and a user can choose to disconnect it and run power directly to the ONT if they wish, or replace the rechargeable batteries, although these don't actually protect broadband supply in the absence of a mains connection because  there's no battery power output to the ISP router and without that there's no internet (or VOIP voice calls) during a power cut.

Neither Openreach or the ISP will carry out such work because despite the 'fault' label on the unit it's not actually considered to be one as the ONT itself keeps working on pass-through mains power: there was never a viable support model for battery replacement, which was frankly both a significant mistake and a major reason for the BBU concept to be abandoned.

 

 

[jamesn123]

@Stevie64 

What makes you feel like you are not getting what you have paid for? Is your service not working?

[TimmyBGood]

There's a video here on replacing the batteries to remove the fault light: the unit takes four rechargeable AA Ni-MH (minimum 2000mAh)

https://youtu.be/YVMQqOvIZX8 

Note however that an analogue phone handset will not make or receive calls when plugged into an ONT: the YouTube poster appears to have misunderstood that point as this is a telecoms deployment method which never happened, and consequently later model ONTs do not have any phone port(s)

The alternative solution is to simply remove the mains power supply from the BBU and plug it directly into the ONT.  The BBU can then be left to discharge (at which point all its LEDs will extinguish) or removed and recycled.