Frames engineer - no broadband/phone for 10 days

[#1]

I have had no Plusnet broadband or phone for 10 days now and was told last Thursday that Openreach need to assign a frames engineer to my fault because the location of the fault is the exchange. What does a frames engineer do and does anyone have any idea how long it can take for a frames engineer to attend to and fix the problem? I was promised there would be an update today but Openreach has not provided any update. I wondered if this was because there is a shortage of frames engineers or if it was because they have no urgent need to fix my fault.

[#2]

"What does a frames engineer do"

The external copper cables that go to the street cabinets first enter the exchange in the underground cable chamber where they are usually pressurized to repel water ingress. The cables then run to the Main Distribution Frame, (MDF), where they terminate. On the other side of the MDF is the exchange equipment, to which the external cables are connected with jumper wires.

This frame, and the jumper wires, are the responsibility of a Frames Engineer.

The MDF is a flexibility point. For example, if your line developed a fault which required a new cable pair between the exchange and cabinet then it is here, (and in the cabinet), that the change would be made. Also, if you were to move house within the same exchange area but on a different cabinet, this is where your line's jumper wire would be swung across to a new cable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_distribution_frame

**Caveat: it is almost 40 years since I last worked in a telephone exchange, so it might be a bit different now!