info@socialtelecoms.org.uk
Customer support & Troubleshooting
Social Telecoms is committed to proving it's customers with first class, first line support.
Our customers have access to 24/7 support to answering queries at any time of day or night. Please see below for details of how and who to contact.
Corporate Customer Services
Social Telecoms
Customer Service
You can get in contact with us regarding any service we've provided to you - mobile phones, fixed line, SIP, data, community WiFi or KiOSK terminals
T: 01743 730100 (from 8am)
T: 01743 730121 (from 6pm)
From abroad: +44 1743 730100
support@socialtelecoms.org.uk
Opening Hours
Customer Service8am - 6pm (Mon - Fri)
Closed (Sat & Sun)
Line faults
24 hours a day
Seven days a week
Network Status Checker Click here to chat!
EE
Corporate Customer Services
If you need to get in touch about your EE account, please call Social Telecoms on the numbers provided. Alternatively, call EE using the following numbers.
From an EE mobile: 158
All other phones: 07953 100 158
From abroad: +44 7953 100 158
Opening Hours
Customer Service
8am - 9pm (Mon - Fri)
8am - 8pm (Sat & Sun)
Lost or Stolen
24 hours a day
Seven days a week
Network Status Checker
O2
Business Customer Services
If you need to get in touch about your O2 account, please call Social Telecoms on the numbers provided. Alternatively, call O2 using the following numbers.
From an O2 mobile: 8002
All other phones: 0800 028 0202
From abroad: +44 844 809 0200
Opening Hours
Customer Service
8am - 8pm (Mon - Fri)
9am - 5pm (Sat & Sun)
10am - 4pm (Bank holidays)
Lost or Stolen
24 hours a day
Seven days a week
Network Status Checker
Billing & reporting
Social Telecoms
WebaBILLity
WebaBILLity Pro is an online telecoms billing management portal that provides our customers with access to their billing information via the web.
It allows you to view bills, run reports, set up alerts and manage users.
Permissions can be set so that different personnel, departments and sites within a client company can be granted different levels of access.
Launch WebaBILLity
EE
Billing Manager
Effortless insight into your business mobile use
Online Billing Manager is a secure online analysis tool that offers a clear overview of your business mobile account. It provides everything from top-level summaries right through to individual usage records, so you can:
See monthly activity at a glance, based on your last bill,
Make better business decisions based on greater insight and accurate data,
Monitor costs with complete tracking,
Record usage costs by department, cost centre or project team.
Visit EE Billing Manager
O2
"My O2 Business"
My O2 Business is the easy way to view and manage all your accounts, all in one place. You can review and print your bills, request changes to your account, swap sims and much more.
See monthly activity at a glance, based on your last bill,
Make better business decisions based on greater insight and accurate data,
Monitor costs with complete tracking,
Record usage costs by department, cost centre or project team.
Visit "My O2 Business"
LINE FAULTS
If you’re having difficulty making or receiving calls, there may be a problem with your telephone line, your equipment or within the Telephone Exchange.
If you can make calls okay but cannot receive them, try calling your number from another telephone or a mobile to see what the result is.
If you can receive calls okay but cannot make them, lift up your Telephone receiver and check whether you have a dial tone, if you do but you still cannot dial out is this happening to every number that you dial, if it is then try dialling 1280 followed by the number you are calling to see if the call connects, if it does then the issue is within the Network.If you still cannot make an outgoing call after inserting 1280 then you need to carry out the following basic checks :-
- That your Telephone cable hasn’t accidentally disconnected from the socket or has been damaged.
- That the volume hasn’t been turned down on your Telephone.
- If the Telephone has a base unit that requires mains power, is it plugged in and working.
- If your Socket is an Extension Socket, you need to locate the Master Socket, it is usually located where the Telephone Line comes into the premises, if there is a Telephone already connected try making a call from that Telephone, this will localise the fault to your Extension Telephone or Socket if the call connects.
If you’re still having problems, move onto the next section below.
Unplug all equipment plugged into your Master Socket. These can include :-
- Telephones, Fax Machines, Card Payment Terminals
- Your broadband router, micro filters for your broadband connection
- Extension leads, adaptors/double adaptors
You also need to remove the lower half of your Master Socket Faceplate (that your Telephone cord plugs into), remove the two screws and pull it away from the Main Box, this will remove any internal cabling that may be connected to the Master Socket. Plug your Telephone cable directly into the socket that the Faceplate was plugged into, this connects you directly with the incoming line. Try making a call, if you still cannot dial out and connect a call, if this has fixed the issue, then replace the Faceplate, plug each piece of equipment back in one by one, checking the phone line each time to see if a fault occurs. If this reveals one of your pieces of equipment to be causing the problem, please contact the manufacturer of the faulty equipment.
If this has not resolved the issue and you still believe you have a faulty line then chat with our customer support team; either online (see bottom right of this page, or call them on 01743 730121)
Feel free to contact us, but you may want to carry out these checks first. Please check your phone line by lifting your telephone receiver to your ear and check whether you have a dial tone.
If there is no dial tone or the line is noisy then this may indicate a problem with the line, follow the STEP #1 (above) - "I have a fault on my line, what do I do?" If the line appears to be fine then try the below before contacting us.
- Unplug the router from the mains, leaving a minimum of 30 seconds before plugging it back in & restarting your PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone or any other device you are connecting
- Change the broadband micro filter
- Swap the ADSL cable and/or Ethernet cable if used
- Disconnect anything else attached to the telephone line such as card and fax machines
- Your Router must be connected to the BT Master socket with no extension lead. Broadband is unreliable on extension sockets. If your master socket is not in a convenient location we can get Openreach to move this for you.
This could potentially resolve the issue before you call us, however, if you are still experiencing problems then please contact us.
The most likely cause for this is actually internal contention or equipment issues. Before contacting please remove all devices from the router and connect a single device using an Ethernet cable and restart the router. If you run a speed test now at speedtest.btwholesale.com this should give you a more accurate reflection of the speed to your router. We cannot control issues with throughput to your individual devices.
This depends on your care level, the nature of your fault, your premises location and also Openreach engineers’ schedule. If you want more details or you would like to upgrade your care level speak to our customer support team on 01743 730100.
Openreach Care Levels and response times are as follows:
| Level | Engineering working times | Description / SLAs |
| 1 Basic Lines Only | Mon – Fri (Excl Bank Hols) 08:00-18:00 |
Clear by 23.59 day after next, For example, report Tuesday, clear Thursday |
| 2 | Mon – Sat (Excl Bank Hols) 08:00-18:00 |
Clear by 23.59 next day, example, report Tuesday, clear Wednesday |
| 3 | Mon -Sun (Inc Bank Hols) 07:00-21:00 Mon – Fri 08:00-18:00 Sat – Sun |
Report 13.00, clear by 23.59 same day. Report after 13.00 clear by 12.59 next day, seven days a week, including Public and Bank Holiday. |
| 4 | Mon – Sun (Inc Bank Hols) 24/7 365 days a year |
Clear within 6 hours |
Not a problem, we are available to receive and log your fault 24/7, 365 days a year, you can call our customer support team on 01743 730121
Leased lines
Slow speeds can be frustrating for a customer. Our main aim is to ensure that we can see evidence of the speeds achieved and to understand if there are any patterns to the poor performance. Please can you complete any tests using the following tool located within our network: http://speedtest.interdsl.co.uk/.
Please record at least 3 tests and submit the results to us in the following format:
- TEST 1 DATE & TIME:
TEST 1 SPEED RESULT (download / upload): - TEST 2 DATE & TIME:
TEST 2 SPEED RESULT (download / upload): - TEST 3 DATE & TIME:
TEST 3 SPEED RESULT (download / upload):
In order for us to understand a packet loss situation it’s imperative that this can be demonstrated to us in the form of an MTR test. We have a comprehensive document explaining how to run these tests and understanding the results.
We request that any MTR tests are run in both directions. For example, you would run an MTR from the leased line end-point to another IP address for at least 5 minutes. Complete the same test, this time from the destination IP to one of the leased line IP addresses. Save all results in plain text format for submission to us. This will help confirm the path traffic is taking and should highlight the source of any losses.
Should a bi-directional test not be possible, then please complete an MTR test to a suitable destination (eg bbc.co.uk) and supply the results. These in themselves may provide us with the clues we need to understand the fault
Disaster has struck and your leased line isn’t functioning. Before reaching for the phone there are a few checks we would like you to complete:
- Have you made sure that power is supplied to the NTE (the BT or Virgin supplied equipment) and to the router (if supplied by us this will be a dark blue Cisco box)?
- If power is showing to both boxes (ie lights are lit on them), please can you power them off, wait 30 seconds, and power them back on. Wait for up to 5 minutes for them to settle and connect.
Should the fault still exist please contact our support desk (or for out of hours assistance our emergency numbers) clearly stating the problem, the steps you have completed, and your postcode or circuit reference number. We will try and communicate with your circuit, and if we fail to do so then we will have no choice but to escalate this to our suppliers for further diagnostics.
The support SLA clock starts at this point.
When you raise a leased line fault with us, this is the information we expect from you. If you can have this ready it will make the process quicker.
- What is the postcode of the site?
- What is your account username? We will send confirmation emails to the support email address on this account.
- Please supply at least one or more on-site name and number.
- Can 24/7 access be granted to the site? If not, please confirm the hours of operation.
- Please confirm if the NTU and router have been rebooted.
- Unless you are raising this as a complete outage, would you prefer tests to be carried out at a specific time?
How do I connect?
Speak to your scheme manager, warden, or other housing association representative. If you're still stuck, contact us on 01743 730100 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm); just tell us where you are and we'll tell you the name of the network you need.
Using a Windows 8 PC or laptop
Connect to the our Community WiFi by swiping in from the right edge of the screen, tapping Settings (or if you’re using a mouse, pointing to the bottom-right corner of the screen, moving the mouse pointer up, then clicking Settings), then tapping or clicking the network icon 
or 
.
Tap or click on the your WiFi network's name, then tap or click Connect. Open your browser and it'll take you to our sign-in page.
Using a Windows 7 PC or Laptop
(If you’re using a laptop with a wifi receiver button, make sure it’s switched on.)
- Go to Control Panel and click Switch to Classic View.
- Click on Network Connections.
- Choose your WiFi network and click Connect.
- A warning box will pop up. Click Connect Anyway.
- Open your browser. It’ll take you to the our sign-in page.
On your Android phone or tablet go to Menu > Settings > Wireless and network.
Tap WiFi settings and tick the wifi check box. Your phone will search for wifi networks.
Tap your WiFi network's name to connect to it.
Our sign-in page will appear.
On your iPad, iPhone or iPod go to Settings > Wi-Fi > On.
Under Choose a network tap your network's name. (A tick will pop up on the left.)
Our sign-in page will apppear (you may need to wait a few seconds).
Please see the guide: "My device does not have a browser; how do I connect to Community WiFi?" (below)
Please see the guide: "My device does not have a browser; how do I connect to Community WiFi?" (below)
INTERNET SECURITY
The potential for the internet to be a valuable and fun resource for entertainment, making friends and learning is huge. But if you use the internet, you could be at risk of illegal activity or abuse – be it bullying, fraud or something more serious. Unlike seeing someone face to face, on the net, people aren’t always what they first seem.
In the same way you learn about safety when you leave the house, it is important to learn how to stay safe online. These are skills that will stay with you for life.
Some Golden Rules
- Don’t give out personal information such as your address or phone number.
- Don’t open emails or attachments from people you don’t know.
- Don’t become on-line ‘friends’ with people you don’t know.
- Never arrange to meet someone in person who you’ve met on-line.
- If anything you see or read on-line worries you, tell someone about it.
Identity Theft
The more information you make available on-line, the greater the risk of identity theft. It can be very tempting to post information about yourself on social networking sites, but you should never do it.
Personal information includes your:
- Email address
- Phone number
- Postal address
- Any banking information
The consequences of fraud can be huge, so you should be aware of the very serious risks. If someone steals your identity they can:
- Steal a lot of money
- Commit crimes that could put you in danger
- Commit crimes that you could get into trouble for
- Use anti virus protection and a firewall.
- Update your operating system regularly.
- Increase your browser security settings.
- Avoid questionable Web sites.
- Only download software from sites you trust.
- Practice safe email protocol.
- Don’t open messages from unknown senders.
- Immediately delete messages you suspect to be spam.
- Avoid free software and file-sharing applications.
- Get anti-spyware software protection.
- Just say “No!” to free software.
- Increase your browser security settings.
- Update your security patches regularly.
- Avoid questionable Web sites.
- Be suspicious of email and IM.
- Use public or multiple-user computers with extreme caution.
- Use a firewall.
- Use anti-virus protection.
- Use a good anti-spyware product, not a free one.
Technical
No, our wireless network does not allow users to see any other computers or devices on the Community WiFi network.
This sort of inter-device connectivity does not use the internet, but instead piggybacks upon our wireless access points to connect the devices to each other. Unfortunately we can only supply internet access and cannot allow devices to communicate with each other in this way. As anyone connecting to that access point would see each others devices, thus becoming a large security risk. Therefore a wireless printer will not work on our Community WiFi service.
However, if you have had your own wireless access point installed, then we may be able to configure it to give you your own network.
No. We are an open network and do not block any ports. However, we do not allow peer2peer protocol (torrents).
By default, devices need to be able to present the sign-in page so that you can type in the password or pay for Internet access. As the sign-in page is a webpage, some devices which don't have web-browsers (example: Internet Explorer) cannot display the sign-in page and become stuck - displaying "Connected but no Internet connection" instead.
Social Telecoms can manually enable access for these devices on your behalf by typing the MAC address of your device into the system. Please contact us with your MAC address (you can find guides for how to do this below) either by email, online chat, or via telephone (01743 730100).
Please see the guide: "My device does not have a browser; how do I connect to Community WiFi?" (Above)
Please see the guide: "My device does not have a browser; how do I connect to Community WiFi?" (Above)
We see Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer & Safari are the most popular browsers today as such all these browsers have been tried and tested to work on the Community WiFi network.
How to find your MAC address
Games Consoles & TV Sticks
To find the MAC address for your Fire TV Stick go to; Settings > System > About
To locate the MAC address of your Nintendo Wii, please follow these steps:
1. From the Wii Channel menu, select “Wii Settings” (the round button on the bottom-left of the screen with “Wii” on it).
2. Select “Internet,” then “Console Settings.”
3. The MAC address of the Wii console is displayed on the first line.
Just turn the box over and you will see the (Wireless) wifi mac address underneath.
To locate the MAC Address on a Roku Digital Video Player, follow one of these steps:
1. On the back on your player— There will be a set of six 2-digit pairs separated by colons, e.g. 00:0D:0A:1H:3G:5C. One set is for the Ethernet connector and for the other for the wireless connector.
Or
2. Alternatively, from the Roku home screen, select settings -> player info. The addresses will be listed on-screen.
To locate the MAC Address of your PS3, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to System Settings.
2. Navigate to System Information.
3. The MAC Address is listed in System Information.
To locate the MAC Address of your PS4, please follow these steps:
1. Select Menu.
2. Navigate to Settings.
3. Navigate to Network.
4. Select View Connection Status.
5. Mac Address is listed as Wifi Address or MAC Lan.
1. The 360 has been updated with the “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) dashboard. This is easily identifiable by the presence of avatars, the “Video Marketplace” with Netflix, and all-together different interface then previously.
2.The 360 has not been updated to the NXE and still runs the old 360 dashboard.
To locate the MAC Address of your Microsoft Xbox 360 (pre-NXE), please follow these steps:
1. Go right to reach the System “blade” of the Dashboard.
2. Select Network Settings.
3. Select Edit Settings.
4. Under Basic Settings check to make sure IP Settings is on Automatic.
5. Go right to get to the Additional Settings Tab.
6. Go down to select Advanced Settings.
7. Toward the bottom of the screen you should see the Wired MAC & Wifi MAC.
To locate the MAC Address of your Microsoft Xbox 360 (post-NXE), please follow these steps:
1. Scroll Down (if necessary) to “My Xbox”.
2. Go all the way to the right and select System Settings.
3. On the new screen, select Network Settings.
4. Select Configure Network.
5. Under Basic Settings, check to make sure IP Settings is on Automatic.
6. Go right to select the Additional Settings Tab.
7. Go down and select the second item Advanced Settings.
8. Toward the bottom of the screen you should see Wired MAC & WiFi MAC.
To locate the MAC address of your Xbox One console when you are at initial set-up please follow these steps:
1. Attempt to connect to the Wifinity PayG network.
2. The connection will fail.
3. The MAC address will be located on this page where it says the connection has failed.
To locate the MAC address of your Xbox One console which has already passed the initial set-up, please follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Settings page.
2. Select Network.
3. Select Advanced Settings.
4. MAC address will be listed next to MAC on the right hand side of the screen.
How to find your MAC address
Smart TVs
To obtain the MAC address for your Hitachi Smart TV follow these steps:
1. Go to Network settings
2. Advanced
3. MAC address should be displayed at the bottom
- From the Setup menu, select Connection Setting and press Enter.
- Select Wireless and press Enter.
- Select Yes and press Enter. The new connection settings have been set.
- Select an access point or wireless router from the list, and press Enter.
- Select the IP mode Dynamic. Select Dynamic to allocate an IP address automatically. To see connection status, select Test and Enter.
- Select OK, and press Enter to apply settings.
- The player will prompt you to test the network connection. Select OK and Enter to complete.
To find the MAC address of your Panasonic Viera TV go to
1. MENU and then
2. NETWORK then
3. Network status
MAC addresses are made up of six two-digit hexadecimal numbers, separated by colons. For example, an Wireless card may have a MAC address of 00:12:34:56:AB:CD.
To find the MAC address of your Samsung Smart TV go to:
1. Select Network Settings.
2. Choose Network Status.
3. The MAC address is the first thing in the list.
MAC addresses are made up of six two-digit hexadecimal numbers, separated by colons. For example, an Wireless card may have a MAC address of 00:12:34:56:AB:CD.
- Press the Home button.
- Scroll to Settings, then press Enter.
- Scroll to Network Setup, then press Enter.
- From the menu, select Wireless Setup, then press Enter.
- Click on Network Setup - Status and the MAC Address should be on the screen.