BT Phone Connection

Wolverine77

I have been in contact with BT trying to get the phone line connected in my house. I need to get the phone cable across the road as BT previously advised.

When I contacted them yesterday I was advised that BT will charge a min of £122.99 until a survey is carried out and BT arrange for the cable to be brought across road. The person from BT could not estimate a cost for this but I had to pay the min charge now then any additional charges I will have to pay before the works take place.

I said that I would arrange to get the cable under the road but they had advised that if there was a problem with the cable then they would charge more for the fixing of that!!!

Anyone any advice or comments?

warmhands.coldheart

Assuming this is in referance to your post a few weeks back... I'm affraid you may be in a pickle here... get BT to do it at their price or get it cheaper and run the rsik of paying to have it done twice essentially if the pther company do it wrong.... Have you tried KPL as suggested in previous thread? they may not do it if they are the prefered contractors for BT..

(Maybe you should have built your house on the other side of the road, would have saved all this hassle:rotfl: )

nadnad

thats baloney! BT had to run the phone cable across the road to our house and we just paid the standard £122 (well actually we got it refunded cos they took sooooo long). This was about 8 months ago. I was under the impression that they only ever charged the same rate for everyone. double check this with them.

arkonite_babe

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deklan99

nadnad wrote: »

thats baloney! BT had to run the phone cable across the road to our house and we just paid the standard £122 (well actually we got it refunded cos they took sooooo long). This was about 8 months ago. I was under the impression that they only ever charged the same rate for everyone. double check this with them.

BT's USO as follows - Where installation of a new line costs £3400 or less, BT sets a standard charge. Where installation will cost over £3400, BT requires the customer to pay the excess costs (plus its standard connection charge).

Kind of puts the "all they do is flick a switch" argument into perpective. If it costs BT £3400 you still only pay the going rate £122. Would take decades for BT to recoup their loss.

nadnad

deklan99 wrote: »

BT's USO as follows - Where installation of a new line costs £3400 or less, BT sets a standard charge. Where installation will cost over £3400, BT requires the customer to pay the excess costs (plus its standard connection charge).

Kind of puts the "all they do is flick a switch" argument into perpective. If it costs BT £3400 you still only pay the going rate £122. Would take decades for BT to recoup their loss.

yeah but they're a monopoly when it comes to phone lines (where i live anyway) so i guess they probably have a duty to be very reasonable with their costs. For my house they had to erect a new pole and bring the wire across a road (well a lane really where i live) the nearest house wasn't too far away, they then connected that with the wires the contractor brought from the house to the edge of our property.

But they made such a mess of the whole thing - i was told it would be done within 3 weeks, 3 MONTHS later they were lying to me on the phone every week and the customer service was a shambles, I documented every (bad) conversation i had with them sent them and email and got the entire installation refunded with a very big apology.

topherxp

nadnad wrote: »

yeah but they're a monopoly when it comes to phone lines (where i live anyway) so i guess they probably have a duty to be very reasonable with their costs. For my house they had to erect a new pole and bring the wire across a road (well a lane really where i live) the nearest house wasn't too far away, they then connected that with the wires the contractor brought from the house to the edge of our property.

But they made such a mess of the whole thing - i was told it would be done within 3 weeks, 3 MONTHS later they were lying to me on the phone every week and the customer service was a shambles, I documented every (bad) conversation i had with them sent them and email and got the entire installation refunded with a very big apology.

BT are no longer a monopoly and any telecoms company can get a line connected, regardless where you live, all they have to do is place the order with Openreach to get the work done.

Most providers don't bother offering the service as they don't make as much money and they have no obligation to provide phone lines, unlike providers like BT, Kingston etc

nadnad

topherxp wrote: »

BT are no longer a monopoly and any telecoms company can get a line connected, regardless where you live, all they have to do is place the order with Openreach to get the work done.

Most providers don't bother offering the service as they don't make as much money and they have no obligation to provide phone lines, unlike providers like BT, Kingston etc

even in northern ireland? cause i dont know of any other providers here?

topherxp

nadnad wrote: »

even in northern ireland? cause i dont know of any other providers here?

Direct Save Telecom, Primus, Yourcalls.net, first:telecom, OneBill Telecom all offer line rental in Northern Ireland.

Northern Irelan is not different to the rest of the UK in regards to the telecoms services that can be offered by telecoms providers. Ofcom have made a number steps over the past few years to ensure that the market is opened up.

BT Retail, who provider services to customers are a separate company from Openreach who maintain the network, and BT Wholesale, they just happened to part of the bigger BT Group. Ofcom brought in rules, whereby the three companies aren't allowed to have access to each others information, so BT Retail can't use being part of the BT Group to gain an advantage over the other competitors.

In your case, I would recommend using one of the comparison websites to find which providers are operating in your area.

nadnad

topherxp wrote: »

Direct Save Telecom, Primus, Yourcalls.net, first:telecom, OneBill Telecom all offer line rental in Northern Ireland..

no sorry didnt mean line rental - i meant do any other phone companies actually provide the physical connection - ie the poles and wires required, because i didnt think there was.

and where i am you have to have a BT line to get internet access

Heinz

nadnad wrote: »

and where i am you have to have a BT line to get internet access

If you have a BT landline, you can have the choice of any ADSL broadband provider, just like the rest of the UK.

This has nothing to do with LLU.