I can hear a dial tone- do I still need to have an engineer come to connect me??

gracelet88

I am receiving conflicting information from various phone companies as to whether my phone is connected to the exchange. I’d appreciate some advice.

There has in the past been a BT line in the property (I just moved in). At the moment, when I plug a phone into the socket, there is a dial tone. When I dial any number though, it says that the number is not recognised.

I agreed a deal with plusnet today and they say that my flat is not connected to the exchange. Hence, I will be charged £50 for an engineer to come out. Previously though, when I made my first enquiries, they said that I am connected.
Also, I had initially placed (but now cancelled due to a better deal) an order with the post office and they seemed to be saying that they could connect my phone without sending anyone out to visit (and with no exorbitant cost).
So am I connected to the exchange or not? Does the fact that I can hear a dial tone mean something? Does an engineer need to come out?
I would really appreciate any help you guys can offer. If I don’t need an engineer, I need to claw some money back from Plusnet! Thanks in advance.

Quentin

It depends whether you have a stopped or a disconnected line. A stopped line can be switched on at the exchange and is usually done FOC or for a very small fee (depending on the company you use).

Have you tried 17070 to see if you have a number? If you get a number read back, then you should be able to get it switched on at the exchange.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Our line has a dial tone despite not havng been used in two years. Dialling any number results in "the number you have dialled has not been recognised" and neither 150 nor 17070 work.

I recently looked into getting the landline resurrected as a backup to 3G - it would probably never be used, maybe once a year, and I was looking for the absolute cheapest option (which is not going to be the best quality). The line is useless for broadband anyway as it's 2.7km long and can't manage more than 1.7Mbps.

When I put the details into the Plusnet, AAISP and Virgin Media sites, some want a connection fee and some don't, the cheapest option turned out to be Plusnet at circa £250 per year for phone and broadband (both minimum packages) and Virgin were second at about £350 for the year, which is what I might go with simply because Plusnet are a BT Group company, so personally I'd spend another £100 just to avoid that. That said, Plusnet do not have as diabolical a reputation as BT Retail.

However before taking the above figures and making a decision based solely on them, go to a few providers websites and choose what you want and "go to checkout" as it were. Before you put personal details in and confirm the order, you can check out what you get for your money and back out at that point if you like without obligation.

gracelet88

Quentin wrote: »

It depends whether you have a stopped or a disconnected line. A stopped line can be switched on at the exchange and is usually done FOC or for a very small fee (depending on the company you use).

Have you tried 17070 to see if you have a number? If you get a number read back, then you should be able to get it switched on at the exchange.

do you know how to establish if I have a stopped line or a disconnected line?

Post office checked my house and said they could connect remotely.

plus net checked my house and said I need an engineer....

is there possibly a problem on the exchange system because i had initially signed up with the post office and then cancelled?

laurax_2

I had the same problem when I moved into this property. There was a dialing tone but whatever number I called after I got half way through it said that the number is not recognised! BT had to turn the phone line which took about 2 weeks through sky, but was turned on remotley no engineer needed

Buzby

Prices quoted for connection/re-connection are MAXIMUMS. Most have a policy og quoting this, in preference for saying it is 'free', expecially when Openreach indicate a connected line, but on activation say it wasn't and there's a visit charge.

IF you have dialtone, then make sure you state this, and keep a note of when and who you disclosed this to. If there's no visit and the line springs to life, you are in a good position to challenge.