TURBOTRONICS

i wan a bt land line for my free orange broadband but it looks like they want to charge me £125 just to put a socket on the wall.
i live in a new house and their is a blanking plate on the wall when i have removed the plate their is allready a wire in so why charge me just to put a socket on it.
any ideas on how i can get around the charges as i only want it to get on the new not a phone

StickyMicky

thought about cable?

TURBOTRONICS

yes mate i have but for some strange reason their is no cable line down my road not till 2009 iv checked that first

StickyMicky

i might be well off the mark here, but i think the charge is for bt to enable the line as well?

not just add a box?

it pains me to pay BT for a landline for broadband, when i dont even have a home phone connected

TURBOTRONICS

i know mate i have the same problem ahed of me thats why i wanted to go for cadle

Maccers

The charge is to ebanle the line at the exchange, then start charging you the monthly rental. Even if you were to go with BT Broadband, I think the charge applies as there is no current BT service, even though there is a two pair wire that runs from your home to the local frame on your street.

I dont work for BT, but work with them lots and work in the data/comms industry.

*Yawns*

TURBOTRONICS

you would think that charging you £11 a month would be plenty. you know no matter what you do some one wants to charge you for it im suprised you dont get charged for breathing these days

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

Im just in the process of doing this as well, you can actually pay bt over 4 months for the cost. The house will already have the wires in (just internal wiring terminating at a box somewhere where the bt line would fit), the cost is for BT running wires to the property itself either from the exchange or from one of the green boxes that you see dotted around.

TURBOTRONICS

im thinking of asking nextdoor who have broadband if i pay for half their cost if i can piggyback their network by wifi saves them money and me

logiclee

Yep I've just had to pay £125 as well.

Should soon get my money back.

For NTL I was paying.
£11 Line rental.
£15 for talk unlimited
£18 for 2 meg broadband.

BT
£11 Line rental.
£5 for Sky Talk.
£5 for upto 8meg Sky broadband. (Actually connecting at 6 meg)

I have SkyHD in anyway as the NTL TV package and equipment is crap.

Cheers
Lee

RichardS2005

If the wires are there already why not just put a socket on yourself - its only 2 wires isn't it?

I was speaking to my electrician and apparently it is perfectly acceptable to DIY or just get an electrician in for the 5 min job of fitting a socket. BT charge scandalous prices for any sort of wiring so its best to do yourself or get a much cheaper professional in.

If it needs the wire to go to your house unfortunately you have to pay big bucks to them, but £125 is robbery!

TURBOTRONICS

I would imagine the cable is already in as when I take the cover or blanking plate of the wall where the socket should be there is a wire in their and it seems to run out the house but to where I don’t know I would imagine under my drive

logiclee

On a new build even if the wiring is in the house they charge £125 to test out the cores back to and to connect up to the exchange.
No fiddling about inside the house will get you a phone line.

Cheers
Lee

GC8

My connection fee (even though the house was built 30 years before!) was subsidised by BT, down to about £50, when I signed up for 'BT Together'. This was new at the time, but Im sure that they still offer something similar.


Simon

gotmashed

They did this to us but when the guy turned up he said the charge is for if they have to dig up your road to put one in you wont need to pay it (well we didnt) you have the cables but because they have not been used there not on there system

TURBOTRONICS

i would email them if i could find the right email adress but the web site is hard to find your way around

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Its only 125 quid, its not much considering.
Right, that 125 quid is a bargain, well for some people, its a SET charge, you could live in the middle of nowhere with no phone and it will still cost you 125 quid, that could include 1 mile of cable, telegraph poles, the works, or you could be 3 foot from the box just outside your house, with 3 foot of cable, no poles etc.
The effort that goes in to jumpering the frame, running the wires to the house, pole work (if needed) data for your line, setting up the account etc, its a bargain.

Tony
(ps yes I do work for BT )

suba

yep... brand new house = £125 for a BT line. buy a used house = free connection.

mart360

its not really a bargain...

the cable is allready in, a socket is 3 quid tops, what data for the line??? the line is a carrier. the exchange end is allready there, just need enabling, and thats not difficult. of sh*t i forgot... £100 profit!!!!

ask your self why bt are in such dire straights, cos they wer so far up there monopoly arS8 they refused to see that bt was threatened by the advent of new technology... and still refused to drop charges, and costs.. what happened. they got worked over by the regulator...


Mart

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Ah i see you dont know much about telecommunication systems then....
£125 quid, bargain, and it is, if the cable is there and then its also connected to the pole? and from the pole to the connection box in the street, then back to the Main distribution frame, then it needs to be jumpered to a spare device on the switch, for this to work you need to add data, even after adding data it doesnt mean that your line is enabled, it means that the data for your subscriber number has been added, you then have an account for this number, subscriber categories are added (if you have any additional ones you need), the line is then deblocked and the phone enabled, until this card is deblocked you wont get jack all down to your phone
The line is then connected through to you and presto (across the frame).
There is a little bit more work envoled than just enabling the line at the exchange end.
Also as stated, the connection fee is the same for everyone on a new line, it could include new poles to your house, they cost a bit more than 125 quid to shove in the ground, just because now you dont have that problem doesnt mean in the future that you will.

BT and technology.... BT is a large lumbering animal, unlike alot of the LLU carriers they do things slowly, in this way they also test (they have a large research and developement facility where the likes of opitcal fibre and broadband, sdh, 21cn etc are tested) so if you think they are behind the times, your a bit wrong, its just that to roll something out takes years, not months.

Tony

Simes777

Well said Tony. Give that man a promotion (I work for BT as well).

Simes

mart360

Bollox,

what department did you work for? spoonfed propoganda?

funny how the last 2 new houses we moved into had all the bt cabling allreading inplace, they were out trunking the rest of the estate before we had unpacked... so how does that need cabling and poles??

funny how being the monopoly seems to have escaped your memorys!! i seem to recall even to today, bt still refuse to refund for rogue diallers, even though they, know it happens, (the numbers and the call type).

funny how on there super option 1 billing system i was always paying 40+ everymonth and still saw no benefits yet each statement it never got any better, it always showed a defecit of £80+

yet as soon as i moved to an alternate provider. my bill is now £10 pcm and my calls about £6

wasnt this the company that didnt want to go down the BB route, and made people register there interest before an exchange would be upgraded.. (yet made £192 a minute profits!!!)

Mart

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Research and developement actually, switch maintenance and operations.
Its very simple, new build houses aint connected to the exchange so you pay for it to be so, cant get any more blunt than that, a house that already has had a line fitted to the exchange only needs to be re-attached by jumpering the main distribution frame and a new number (or if on the same exchange as your old number) that one if you wish.

Rogue diallers are banned by BT after investigations are carried out, the fact is that its down to "personal computer security" which BT have no control over, thats the end users problem (though BT now can provide a firewall and anti virus software).

Did you call and check your billing with a help desk or speak to an adviser about which plan was best for you?

Well these companies that do this normally have no infastructure themselves and just rent lines off BT, BT on the other hand have an entire network to maintain, so yes they are normally "slightly" more, but not that much more.

Wasnt this the company that made britain the first totally digital country in the world? or you could also add that wasnt this the company that provided BB to the major cities first?
Problem with rural exchanges is that they didnt have the technology to implement BB over long distances (they do in most cases now) so they were lower priority, rolling out to the masses rather than the few.
As for profits, yes 192 quid a minute, sounds good, isnt really, BT are THE only telecoms company in the world that has a research and developement facility of its size, it DOESNT make money, it needs money from other departments to fund it, and that 192 quid per min also pays the switch maintenance guys, SDH guys etc (basically anyone who runs the rather large network thats involved here, and its big, trust me ) plus bills for buildings where the equipment is kept etc, so it does make money, then again lots of it goes straight back in to keeping that network working and developing new technologies (or testing new ones out like ADSL2+, SDSL or VDSL2 for instance).
No doubt you are more than happy paying 150 quid to have your car serviced? less than 1 hrs work, well it takes more than 1 hours work to get your phone connected from scratch, and your cars service doesnt cover repairs or maintenance, BT's charges do.

Tony

Iain Young

It would be nice if it worked though. My brother (like me) lives in Swindon, and gets his broadband through BT (in fact he's just got a home hub thingy). It works fine during the day, but as soon as it gets to about 6pm, the broadband simply refuses to work (either won't get an ip address or continually drops out every few minutes). Even when it is connected, it's supposed to be 2.5mb and he was only getting a 43kb download from the BT speed tests. It'd almost be quicker to use an old fashioned dial up modem!!

He's been on the phone to BT every day for about 3/4 weeks (since before xmas) to try and get it sorted. Usually the calls consist of an hour to an Indian call center with clueless staff who ask exactly the same basic questions every single time (have you got it plugged in - that sort of thing), and it's not even a freephone number. Last week he had to ring on his mobile because they wanted to test the line, and was on hold for nearly 2 hours. It's still not resolved.

This is not rural. This is in a big town. I hate to think what the service would be like out in the countryside somewhere. If this is a forward thinking efficient company, then he's seen very little evidence of it...

I do know that if NTL were in his street, he'd ditch BT in an instant.

mart360

repairs and maintenance to what?
if i recall BT make a big song and dance about if its your side of the socket, the cost of any repairs are up to you... and if its our side the cost is up to us.... and how much did BT want to change a hardwired socket to a plug...
hmmm what was it...£47+vat.. for 15 mins work!! that makes £220 an hour, thats more than a dealer chargers!!!!

re rogue dialers, it was only when parliamentary questions were asked, that bt changed its tune, its response always has been, you made the calls, you pay, regardless!!!. have you ever had a billing concern? and actually tried to talk to a person?

press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr f*ck................................ ring ring.... thank you for calling....press 1 for..2 for....press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
press 1 press 5 press 7..... your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6 your call is important, thank you for holding... press 2.....press 6
sorry all our lines are engaged.......our normal working hours ar monday to friday 9-5.......

and they wonder why people don't like them!!!


I had some work done back in the eighty's, a phone connection, (the line was already in!!!) and an extension bell... over £200 pounds it cost, £40 of which was the sodding bell.... and they charged rental on that every month!!!
when i changed jobs, and didn't need the extension bell, i asked for it to be removed... they only wanted £40+vat to remove it, i told them to get stuffed!!!! i took it down myself. 4 screws, and took less than 10 mins...
so thats £282 per hour!!! funny how the prices are going up!!!.

even now they cant state a definitive price for calls in there literature..... there's always a hidden or small printed charge tucked away somewhere...when they come clean, then they might find customers actually believe what they say!

Mart

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Iain,
All ISP's suffer that during the hours of 6-9pm, its peak bb useage time, not just bt that have that problem.

Mart,
No matter what I say your just going to ignore it anyway, if you want to see what operators are like in the telecoms sector, those you think are good, just check out ofcom's website, then look at the false advertising that some companies do.
As for hidden charges, no there are no hidden charges, your suppose to read the small print on EVERYTHING you get, and that bell you had in the 80's, well thats because the exchange was mechanical (analogue), you can nowerdays just fit wiring to your house (internally) though would you still say its BT's fault if your family pet ate though the internal wiring? (probably )

Tony

Iain Young

Not true. His next door neighbour has the same BT broadband, and their connection is fine at the same time as his is failing.

It used to be fine until BT upgraded the line from 1mb to 2.5mb. Since then he can't get a connection in the evenings, (the only time he can use it). Are you saying that he should just accept that in the evenings an expensive 2.5mb broadband service should continually disconnect and be slower than a dial up connection?

From what he's been telling me, BT's attitude towards solving the problem has been a best innefectual, and worst downright insulting.

mike1210

have only read this bit but

is his neighbour on 1 meg or MAXdsl? whats his router stats like? a Max product at 2.5 meg would suggest that he is very far from the exchange, it does seem like congestion problem though. Does the line actually drop as in no connection during the day?

ADSL Nation On-Line Shop

one of those may help (and plug into master socket etc) as would ditching the home hub as it's dire

for long unstable lines ive heard that speedtouch routers are great at holding them due to the tools that you can get for them

I would then migrate to IDnet or ZEN, if he plays games online a 1 meg connection may be better as if BT enable interleaving on the line (id imagine they have) the pings will shoot up big time