Reporting faulty landline

[Asia111]

I have dialled 161 several times since lockdown relaxation to register a fault with our landline. Still got a fault.

I would prefer not to have to drive all the way into Girne to the telephone exchange to get things sorted.
Does anyone have a direct contact no for the telephone engineering manager. I think his name is Mr Ali!

Thanks

[Brinsley]

It is Mr Ali, first floor in Girne. To get anything done with LL problems is to see him in person and tell a yarn of having no mobile phone and need access to doctor and hospital for on going medical problems. I've never seen such quick proactive service to remedy!

[snd1966]

try 8158100

ask for Ali Bey or Mahmut Bey

[waddo]

Good luck! Every month, for 14 months, when I paid my landline bill I took the trip upstairs to Mr Ali and the tech in the frame room to ask when the landline that was hanging down from the pole outside my house was going to be reconnected! A cement truck had pulled it apart and I had tied it to a brick and left it where it could be seen in the front of the house! Six months in and no repair, this due to a) could not find the break, b) a fire in the main cable, c) the system was being updated, d) no fault found, e) lineman busy in Lefcosia! At the eight month point I took down some A4 sized photos of the house, the pole, the broken cable, the brick and one printed set of directions from the frame room to the pole! At the ten month point I asked why the guy across the road from me had a new landline installed on the same pole as mine yet they could not find or fix the break in my landline - this time I received action, a shrug! At the twelve month point I gave Mr Ali a 1 year birthday card for successfully failing to fix my line! At the fourteen month point - I gave up and cancelled my landline!

Tried everything, failed! Good experience and it only cost me 12TL a month times 14 months to learn a useful lesson - you can’t beat City Hall!

[sophie]

Waddo, do you remember the good oldish days ago when headlines on C2D said something along the following CHINESE COMPANY HAVE BEEN GRANTED TENDER TO REPLACE AND RUN THE TRNC LANDLINES. I suspect the Chinese came, took one look at the chaos, and caught the first plane back to Beijing. Either that or the Government took fright when the realised just how efficient the Chinese were going to be and couldn't take the competition. Whatever, it never came to anything.

[katecornwell]

Hi

I ring 8152140 and get through to someone straight away who usually speaks english and I have never had a problem. This is he number my cypriot friends ring!! Just try it before the dreaded trip into Girne and best of luck - have a good weekend. kate

[waddo]

I remember that well,as I was actually teaching the SPCDX telephone system to the RAF at the time I was quite interested to see what they would do - they did nothing! They came, they saw, they bought duty free's and went home - good trip! Current system is under s l o w replacement but they are very, very undermanned and really do work hard at trying to get an extreemly old system to limp along. Biggest problem they have is funding because as almost everyone has a mobile there is nobody really interested in the landlines. Bring back the FAX and see what would happen then - lol. You never know Acacia may just be lucky, there have been a few who have had good fortune. Not moaning about it, just sharing experiance, I do understand their problem but can't see an answer for them. It is nice to visit the frame room, brings back memories - of 1973!!!

[sophie]

When we moved here, we purchased a lump of snake infested land, but people who purchased property that had a landline, were paying an extra premium of 5,000 pounds for the privilege. I wonder if that is still the case? I suspect that direct line of sight for WiFi is more important these days.

[Hair Cut]

Our landline has gone off three times. I go to the side door of the exchange and up the stairs to the manager's office on the left. He will take your details and say the same thing "We will look at it tomorrow".

They never do...

I found the following when you get to the top of the stairs and turn right. This is where the engineers are, go in and ask them.. That has worked.

The other thing I did which made the manager explode was to say " If I pay extra would you come and fix it sooner"

Best of luck, the more you pester the quicker it gets fixed... Just be a pest and they get fed up.