Trying to setup phone line for broadband!

Smarky

I'm trying to set up a phone line for broadband. Don't currently have a land line!

I've just called the post office to set up with them and they have told me I have to pay a £110 connection charge!? I understand this is to install a new line!

My issue being that there was an active phone line of the previous occupant only three days before calling them! and there is still a dial tone (although can't make any calls!). Why do I need an engineer to come set it up? And i was told that the property was not connected to the exchange!?

Tried to ring BT but was on hold forever, too expensive to make so many calls from my PAYG mobile which i only use for free texts!

Any advice? I live in an area where can't get cable and can't get a lot of other peoples phone packages as the main line provider (I.e Tiscali!, free sky broadband, Talk talk's cheap packages etc)

Browntoa

thought you could dial 0800 800150 from soft dial tone ??

If the premises has had telephone service from BT in the recent past, and the wiring and socket is undamaged and the line still has dialling tone, a connection charge may not be payable. Where there is no suitable BT telephone line available in the property a connection charge of £122.33(Inc VAT) may apply. This fee covers engineering work in the exchange or customer's property in order to connect the line. BT will advise of a connection charge at the time the order is placed however this will be confirmed after checks have been carried out against the details of your property, to ascertain the condition of the wiring and sockets.

mummytomoo&roo

I recently switched from cable to sky for my tv, phone and broadband, i had a bt box that was here when i moved into the house but it wasnt activated, (when i had called bt previously to get it activated i was told i would be charged £180!!!!) sky have activated the box for no charge as part of the package, so it may be worth you having a look at the sky website to check out whether the offer is still on............ hope this helps.

iniltous

BT have never charged as much as £180 for a new line
As already mentioned if you have a 'soft' dialtone (stopped line dialtone) then you can get the line started, but you probably need to know which Telco the previous occupant of the address had line rental from.
Dial 17070 or 147017070 this should report the line number then from your 'soft dialtone' dial 150 or 0800800150 ( if its a BT soft dialtone and its BT you want to use) and ask for the stopped line to be restarted in your name
This should only cost whatever the line takeover fee is ( no idea what if any charge there is for this, if you agree to a BT minimum term contract its probably free or almost free)...
Call and ask them, all calls to BT are 0800 numbers and therefore free from landlines

Stuart_W

If 17070 works and gives you a number for the line, then it is very likely that no work needs to done on the line and all that is required is a line restart.

The Phone Co-Op charge £5+VAT for this.
You can just take line rental (£10.67 pcm) and then any other broadband supplier that works "with a BT line" will work, or you can take a combined package, but you may find a cheaper deal elsewhere. The LLU-options are not available in conjunction with a line restart, but you are only committed to line rental for 3 months with the Phone Co-Op, then you could switch,

The Phone Co-Op are extremely helpful on the phone. Give them a call tomorrow morning and see if they can help.

Their complete price list: http://www.thephone.coop/documents/linerental/residential_line_rental_price_list.pdf

Website: https://www.thephone.coop

stiffnuts

Stuart_W wrote: »

If 17070 works and gives you a number for the line, then it is very likely that no work needs to done on the line and all that is required is a line restart.

The Phone Co-Op charge £5+VAT for this.
You can just take line rental (£10.67 pcm) and then any other broadband supplier that works "with a BT line" will work, or you can take a combined package, but you may find a cheaper deal elsewhere. The LLU-options are not available in conjunction with a line restart, but you are only committed to line rental for 3 months with the Phone Co-Op, then you could switch,

The Phone Co-Op are extremely helpful on the phone. Give them a call tomorrow morning and see if they can help.

Their complete price list: http://www.thephone.coop/documents/linerental/residential_line_rental_price_list.pdf

Website: www.thephone.coop

The phone co-op are a disgrace if my previous dealings with them are anything to go by.

mummytomoo&roo

iniltous wrote: »

BT have never charged as much as £180 for a new line
As already mentioned if you have a 'soft' dialtone (stopped line dialtone) then you can get the line started, but you probably need to know which Telco the previous occupant of the address had line rental from.
Dial 17070 or 147017070 this should report the line number then from your 'soft dialtone' dial 150 or 0800800150 ( if its a BT soft dialtone and its BT you want to use) and ask for the stopped line to be restarted in your name
This should only cost whatever the line takeover fee is ( no idea what if any charge there is for this, if you agree to a BT minimum term contract its probably free or almost free)...
Call and ask them, all calls to BT are 0800 numbers and therefore free from landlines

when BT telephoned me to arrange for an engineer to come and reconnect the box - (which was already installed), they mentioned there would be a charge for this and quoted £180....... which is why i did not go ahead.

cheekyweegit

mummytomoo&roo wrote: »

when BT telephoned me to arrange for an engineer to come and reconnect the box - (which was already installed), they mentioned there would be a charge for this and quoted £180....... which is why i did not go ahead.

The normal connection charge where the engineer is called and has to do work at the exchange and / or the house for a socket is £122.33 subject to survey.. This could be why you were charged more as you were perhaps further away from the exchange for routing the cables, or for what ever reason extra work is required.

The engineer should've explained to you just what you were getting for your money and why there was a difference in the cost of connection.

It's never guaranteed the £122.33 charge, but if there is one, most people are charged this.

As for the charge on a stopped line, if it's an ordinary BT line i.e. not a cable line, then there will be no charge for it to be taken over if you have the soft dial tone.

iniltous

mummytomoo&roo wrote: »

when BT telephoned me to arrange for an engineer to come and reconnect the box - (which was already installed), they mentioned there would be a charge for this and quoted £180....... which is why i did not go ahead.

The BT advisor was talking b*llocks or you mis-heard
The £180 charge can be quoted on a fault report, not a provide, this is when the fault is located on the end users own wiring/equipment , not the openreach line, and is broken down into a 'call out' charge about £100 (for the unrequired visit) and a time related charge ( minimum 1 hour ) £80 if you want the engineer to rectify the fault on the customer owned wiring...added together comes to about £180, but the TRC part may not be charged depends what the fault inside the property turns out to be , they wouldnt charge it for just unplugging a faulty phone for example, but would issue a TRC for running in a new extension socket.....but the abortive visit part would still be charged.
If the line exists and all you ask for is a takeover they probably quoted the 'customer aware of potential charge' stuff incase someone asks for a 'takeover' , the line doesnt work and when the engineer comes out finds the only problem is, as in my example, the customer has a faulty phone plugged in, the customer could , in a situation like that, have sorted the problem out themselves by trying another phone.
If on a takeover the line doesnt work due to a fault on the openreach line then its repaired for nothing.
You could always ask for a new install and not a takeover in which case the fee is about £120 or less if you agree to a 'calls' contract.
BT have to charge the same for a simple install as one that may be vastly more complicated and expensive to BT...the exception to this is if the true cost to bt (openreach) of the install is in excess of £3000 and even then the customer only pays the amount over £3000, so say an install costs BT £2995 customer gets charged £120...install costs £3500, customer pays £500, install costs £10000 customer pays £7000, the customer is told the charge before hand and then its up to them to agree or say no thanks, so if you think £120 is a rip off would you think the same if you were getting £3000 worth of work for a £120 charge ??
The only people who would ever face these 'excess charges' as they are called are people who line in very remote locations and they would
have to pay excess charges to the water, electric or gas supplier if they wanted those utilitys too.

billsavings

If you take a 18 month contract BT have a £29.99 connection offer.