BT Connection Charges (merged threads)

satellitebadger

If you have a white connection box it would suggest that the line to the property already exists. I know that if the property is brand new it is BT's standard practice to try and recoup the original installation cost from the first person to take service from the line. But if the white box has been there I while I don't see why you're being asked to cough up £100.

An alternative might be cable if you're in a cabled area. This involves installation of a second white box (you can't use the BT one), but you are likely to pay much less for installation.

When I was shopping around for alternatives to BT line rental, I'm sure I found at least one provider that said they could do line activations from scratch as well as taking over an existing service. I think it was either

Post Office HomePhone (0800 092 0500)

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump1?catId=19300215&mediaId=19300217

or

MadAsAFish Talk (0844 395 0830)

http://www.madasafish.com/talk/

Please let us know how you get on.

utilitybroker

If the two properties are new builds or ones that have not had BT service before
theirs a sticky here on this subject: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=211879

djkarl

our house are the white BT boxes but there is no actual over head line in to the house, so there is no way around it

it's frustrating but nothing can be done about it, you can pay the fee over a year

sparrowlung

I'm thinking of installing BT as on cable in the area. How quickly after the installation does the installation fee have to be paid?. Is it immediately, at the end of the first quarter or at a later date?.

hurrah

sparrowlung wrote: »

I'm thinking of installing BT as on cable in the area. How quickly after the installation does the installation fee have to be paid?. Is it immediately, at the end of the first quarter or at a later date?.

You pay it straight away,but you can in fact pay it in four instalments.;)

DonnyDave

sparrowlung wrote: »

I'm thinking of installing BT as on cable in the area. How quickly after the installation does the installation fee have to be paid?. Is it immediately, at the end of the first quarter or at a later date?.

The relevant page on the BT Price List is here.

Spread Connection - Residential Customers

Residential customers who apply for a new exchange line can choose to make a payment in advance of service of £23.39 (exc VAT) / £27.49 (inc VAT). This cost includes a facility fee of £10.60 (exc VAT) / £12.46 (inc VAT), followed by four further payments of £23.39 (exc VAT) / £27.49 (inc VAT) which will be added to their first four quarterly bills. Spread connection is not available to BT Pay&Call customers.

aquarian3

Thank you for your replies, I'll look at the links you have given and then I can let my brother & my neighbour know their options.

As for the houses - the one my brothers in would be a new build flat, my neighbours house was built the same time as mine as they're over 11 yrs old.

We're not in a cable area although my neighbour does have Sky - he had to pay them a bit extra as he doesn't have a phone line for them to use, I was surprised that he got Sky TV without a BT phone line!

OK - just called the Post Office link and the chap said they would need an active BT line and would need to have been customers of BT for at least 3 months, so a catch 22 there!

I'll see what Madasafish have to say!

Lisa
-X-

gt94sss2

gdallas wrote: »

Well, im almost physically sick! BT engineer just arrived to connect us. Was in our house for 2 minutes. Then said “that’s you connected” £125 for 2 mins work! He even said, “I wish all my jobs were as easy as that” is it worth calling BT to ask for a discount seeing as he never really done much?!!

BT won't give you a discount - apart from the fact that they are not allowed too.. - it will have cost BT a lot more than £125 to connect your line.

All you will have seen is the final bit of the process, not the rest (including exchange work and paying for the wiring to/from the exchange while your new build was being built)

Regards
Sunil

Heinz

gdallas wrote: »

But the builder installed the wiring! so i still fail to see how they can justify £125

If the wiring didn't go anywhere else, that'd be a strong argument. I don't think the builder installed the wiring or equipment outwith your property though.

As explained near the start of this thread, it still has to be done.

aquarian3

In response to a question I asked for my brothers flat and a neighbours property - both wanting phones but not wanting to pay BT's charges, Satellitebadger replied and mentioned some companies that I could try.

I am just reporting back that Madasafish have replied to my query and they can indeed connect both properties for free - so long as there used to be a phone line active in the properties. I will copy and paste their email below for anyone else interested - I wasn't going to come back to this thread but I remembered that Satellitebadger asked me to update on any findings, here's what madasafish had to say:

Thanks again for your help Sat'Badger :T

Lisa
-X-

=========

Thank you for contacting Madasafish and for your interest in our packages.

As a new customer you do not need to have an existing BT account/ phone line. We can get you connected to a phone service with one of our Madasafish Talk packages. We can reconnect you and issue you a new telephone number for free if you have a BT phone socket on your wall and your property previously had a working BT line. However, a new line installation may be required if your property previously did not have a BT socket and a working BT line. A new line installation is subject to survey and will cost you £115. We will contact you before processing your order should such a charge be applicable. In some cases, such as with brand new properties, a BT socket exists but no line has actually been installed. This will require a new connection. An engineer visit is usually required for a new line installation and we can schedule this on your behalf.

We offer 2 Talk packages, namely Madasafish Talk Anytime and Madasafish Talk Free.

Talk Anytime - £5.99 a month
Line Rental- £9.99 a month

- Ideal if you make calls during the day
- Includes unlimited calls to UK landlines (numbers starting in 01 and 02) at any time
- Free calls to other Madasafish Talk users at any time
- Inclusive calls up to an hour to UK landlines (numbers starting in 01 and 02) and other Talk users are completely free. Redial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges
- International calls start at just 2.5p a minute and fantastic rates on calls to mobiles
- 5% off calls made to five numbers of your choice including international and mobile numbers with Favourite Five
- Highly recommended if you want to save money on day, evening and weekend calls

Talk Free – Free with line rental
Line Rental- £9.99 a month

- Includes unlimited free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines (numbers starting in 01 and 02)
- Free calls to all other Madasafish Talk users at any time
- Inclusive calls up to an hour to UK landlines (numbers starting in 01 and 02) and to other Talk users are completely free. Redial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges
- Great rates to UK landlines during the day
- International calls start at just 2.5p a minute and fantastic rates on calls to mobiles
- 5% off calls made to five numbers of your choice including international and mobile numbers with Favourite Five
- Upgrade to Talk Anytime for just £5.99 a month and get free calls at any time of the day

Madasafish Talk service offers a host of talk features included in your plan at no extra cost which can be selected during sign up. Optional Calling Features can be added or amended at any time from My Account to make the most of this service. With Madasafish Talk you receive per second billing and there is no call set up fee. BT and TalkTalk now round up every call to the nearest minute and add a call set up fee costing you more.

To sign up please visit https://www.madasafish.com/talk and click on the sign up link followed by 'I do not have a BT phone line/number' on the sign up page.

Should you have further queries, please do not hesitate to email back or call us on 0844 395 0830 (4p/min at any time of day, excludes mobile).

Our opening hours are 9am to 6pm, 7 days a week, except bank holidays.

Kind Regards
Nidhi
Madasafish

satellitebadger wrote: »

If you have a white connection box it would suggest that the line to the property already exists. I know that if the property is brand new it is BT's standard practice to try and recoup the original installation cost from the first person to take service from the line. But if the white box has been there I while I don't see why you're being asked to cough up £100.

An alternative might be cable if you're in a cabled area. This involves installation of a second white box (you can't use the BT one), but you are likely to pay much less for installation.

When I was shopping around for alternatives to BT line rental, I'm sure I found at least one provider that said they could do line activations from scratch as well as taking over an existing service. I think it was either

Post Office HomePhone (0800 092 0500)

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump1?catId=19300215&mediaId=19300217

or

MadAsAFish Talk (0844 395 0830)

http://www.madasafish.com/talk/

Please let us know how you get on.