Previous Tenant had broadband

alanrowell

But I can't get it as they haven't cancelled the contract & I have no idea where they are.

Any ideas on how I can get broadband?

mhendo

Who's the BT bill payer? If its in the previous tenant's name, then simply getting BT to change the account name over to your's will remove any ADSL service on the line.

If you don't want the number currently there, then just phone BT say you're the new resident and want a new account and phone number (they can disable the existing number, and issue you new one on the same line).

Either way, this should remove any existing ADSL markers on the line, allowing you to order with any ADSL provider.

alanrowell

I am & it doesn't, seems as if one side of BT doesn't talk to the otherside of BT these days

mhendo

alanrowell wrote:

I am & it doesn't, seems as if one side of BT doesn't talk to the otherside of BT these days

Sorry, but I understood the "I am" in being the BT bill payer - what aspect does the "it doesn't" refer to? You've lost me!

Changing the name on any BT account, should ultimately remove any ADSL service - this has been proven many times (often unintensionally, say changing from mother's name to son's name etc etc). I know a few people that got stuck with ADSL markers on their line (no ADSL service, but Wanadoo were clueless and left the markers on the line still, which prevented new ADSL orders from any other provider) - I got them to change the bill name over to their partner's, and hey presto within 3 working days the flags were gone, updated through all relevent systems and a new ADSL order was then possible with another provider.

alanrowell

Well, it don't.

1) Contacted BT, they said it is automatically removed after about 2 weeks
2) 2 weeks later, contacted BT who, this time said you should have contacted OFCOM and it's nothing to do with BT.
3) Contacted OFCOM who gave me a reference number and a contact number at BT Wholesale
4) Contacted BT Wholesale (took an HOUR of waiting) where after taking the OFCOM reference number they have arranged to remove the offending service.

So by the end of the month I should have Broadband as it takes a week to remove the link and only then can I sign up for a Broadband service.

KatieF

We had a very similar problem moving into a student house, Tiscali (who we wanted broadband with) said they couldnt remove it as it wasn't their marker on the line (Later turned out that it was) and various customer service advisers told us things which others then told us didn't exist or couldnt be done! BT kept telling us to ring Tiscali and vice versa.

In the end we rang OFCOM, they contacted BT Wholesale and the marker got taken off the line after about a fortnight (Later than they said it would be) and Tiscali then got (re)connected about another fortnight after that.

So all in all, the companies themselves seem to have difficulty doing anything, anyone in this situation I would advise contacting OFCOM if your initial calls to telephone/broadband companies don't get you anywhere - don't spend £8!! on customer service calls like we did...