BT Connection Charges (merged threads)

DonnyDave

I'm with others on this. In this case BT is quite right to charge such a fee.

Why is it that you can afford a new house with all the 'fees' that attracts, but view payment for a telephone line too much?

lucky33

I have recently moved into a new property that has a BT box etc but when I called to tell them I was moving and ask to be connected up they said I was looking at about 135.00 even though the box ans everything was there, does anyone have any ideas on how to get around this please? there is no NTL and my mobile has little signal and can't change it.

lycrawearer

No way around it (sorry).

As it's a new property then the 1st occupant will pay the connection charge *always* .. yeah it's unfair but BT have to recoup their charge of pre-wiring the property, cabling in the street.

In actual fact, the true cost of installing a BT line is in excess of £400

If it was simply a reconnection then that would be different.

Cheers

Lycrawearer

lucky33

thanks, but is it no madness that the have had to pay for it to be wired etc, yet will never get the money back eventually via my line rental etc because its so expensive?

hammy_the_hammer

i think it's something people should factor into the equation when they pay on average £185 000 for a house. people could recoup the outlay when selling the house on by offering the house for say £275 135

Heinz

lucky33 wrote:

thanks, but is it no madness that the have had to pay for it to be wired etc, yet will never get the money back eventually via my line rental etc because its so expensive?

And just how much of the solicitors' or estate agents fees will you 'get back'?

Telephone_expert

other companies can do it for chaeper.ive heard of some companies doing it for 109.99 + vat and they give cheaper line rent.

hammy_the_hammer

Telephone_expert wrote:

other companies can do it for chaeper.ive heard of some companies doing it for 109.99 + vat and they give cheaper line rent.

name names

utilitybroker

Telephone_expert wrote:

other companies can do it for chaeper.ive heard of some companies doing it for 109.99 + vat and they give cheaper line rent.

We are talking here about a new build. Name another company that will provide service to a new build apart from BT or Cable.

bbb_uk

lucky33 wrote:

thanks, but is it no madness that the have had to pay for it to be wired etc, yet will never get the money back eventually via my line rental etc because its so expensive?

Remember that in the longterm, keeping BT as your linerental provider will mean you have a many, many other companies you can use just for your calls - some do special offers for which you need to be a BT customer for. A recent example was unlimited anytime geographical calls for £3.49 a month for 12months. You can't grumble at the wider choice available when using BT.

Compare all that to having NTL/Telewest. You have a lower connection fee but you still pay the £11 monthly linerental then you have to pay for caller display and then pay extortionate call charges for a minimum of 12months.

Over the longrun, it is cheaper to just pay the BT connection fee and then have lower call charges than initially having a lower connection fee with NTL/Telewest but then subject to much higher call charges.

NTL/Telewest do their connection fee at a loss to them but are able to recoup this because you are then stuck with them for calls, etc for the life of the minimum term contract because NTL/Telwest DON'T allow access to many of the other teleco's out there except for the few that use 0800 freephone numbers but then even then NTL/Telewest could easily start charging for calls to these specific 0800 numbers if they wanted.

On the contrary, BT have to allow access to other providers for your calls even during the minimum term contract and due to this BT charge a higher connection charge because there is a good chance that BT can't recoup some of the loss they make for the new installation.

In summary, thinking ahead then over a year or more then it would work out cheaper to have BT and pay their connection fee compared to having NTL/Telewest.

Don't get me wrong, I also think the fee is expensive but you have to look at in the wider context and in the long-term as well.