BT refuses internet connection

bowood_2

Prior to moving to my present address I checked with BT's online 'broadband checker' that broadband was available, it was. I then viewed the house and subsequently moved in.

I ordered a phone/broadband deal from BT. The installation date was 7th March 2011, the day came and went. After contacting BT's call centre (in India ) an engineer arrived on the 9th. The phone was checked and the engineer went off to the local exchange, said everything would be up and running in 30 minutes. Several hours later the phone was working, but no BB. After numerous calls to India, another engineer arrived (several days later) and promptly disapeared to the local exchange. Still no BB!

Finally, on 31st March an Irish guy phoned to say "bad news, you cant have BB". It seems that of the 8 houses in our hamlet only 4 can have BB as the lines are 'split'. Since BT have no plans to upgrade the system thats it, full stop!

As a cancer patient I depend heavily on the internet (banking, prescriptions etc and generaly keeping in touch). At present I'm using a '3' dongle which may work sometimes, but mostly not.

I was under the impression that BT were obliged to supply a connection where required? Apparently not, but their BB checker still says BB is available at my address.

Right up to the time I was advised that BB was not available, BT's call centre were still giving me times of connection!

Thanks BT

Mark_In_Hampshire

BT's obligation is to supply a line capable of making phone calls and dial up internet access at 28.8kbps

What you appear to have is something called a DACS line.

This is used to split a single phone line up to 6 (IIRC) lines for voice.

However none of those lines can then have broadband on them.

Doing that requires a brand new line to the exchange which bypasses the DACS box.

BT have decided that the cost of doing that is more than they're prepared to pay, so you can't have it.

The other factor is that if you're a long way from the exchange, the speed might be so poor as to be practically unusable and that may have been a factor in the decision to reject.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Just to add:

Your solutions would appear to be:

- Try different 3G networks. You can check www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk to see where the various operators' cells are as well as the coverage maps on their sites. We actually use Three 3G as our primary internet connection and it runs at 3Mbps here which is faster than ADSL anyway here.

- Get your own back If more than one of you wants broadband, and you all get on, set up your own wireless network in your hamlet attached to one of the lines that can have ADSL, so you can all use it, and chip in to the cost of the shared connection - will work if the houses are close enough. Some wireless routers have a longer reach than others, Netgear used to do a long reach one. Otherwise, a more sophisticated wireless link would be needed to join them up (unless the houses back onto one another and someone is prepared to have an ethernet cable buried under their back garden)

bowood_2

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

What you appear to have is something called a DACS line.

The 1st and 2nd engineer never found the DACS box..... the 3rd one did.

This is used to split a single phone line up to 6 (IIRC) lines for voice.
However none of those lines can then have broadband on them.

I appreciate what you are saying, however 4 houses have broadband, maybe they're not on a DACS box?

The other factor is that if you're a long way from the exchange, the speed might be so poor as to be practically unusable and that may have been a factor in the decision to reject.

Just over a mile from the exchange in the village.

Thanks for the info, looking at moving house, might be a bit drastic but its the only solution. I can do without tv, radio, pubs..... but not my broadband!

Voyager2002

Any chance of a cable connection?

patman99

One option is to tell BT that you wear a hearing aid and get a lot of interference on the line when making calls. They will then make a direct line connection from your house to the exchange.

Liked the idea about creating your own local WiFi broadband.
There are grants for such projects if you hunt around. You will of course be better-off with an external ariel connected to a Wireless range extender, then hang your wireless router off that.

Mark_In_Hampshire

bowood wrote: »

The 1st and 2nd engineer never found the DACS box..... the 3rd one did.

Have seen this before. If you do an availability check for your number, you should get a message that mentions a "line sharing device" which needs removing. Guess BT didn't even know they had DACS boxes there when you ordered, but it ought to be updated now they do know.

bowood wrote: »

I appreciate what you are saying, however 4 houses have broadband, maybe they're not on a DACS box?

Correct. 4 lines are what are called "straight through" lines, I think. They can have ADSL. The other 4 could be one single line. So 5 lines for 8 connections. Only the first four can have ADSL and the other four cannot.

bowood wrote: »

Thanks for the info, looking at moving house, might be a bit drastic but its the only solution. I can do without tv, radio, pubs..... but not my broadband!

Been there, done that. There's only one failsafe virtually guaranteed option when moving home to be sure you can get a decent broadband connection:

1. Decide where you want to live
2. Put the postcode in to the Virgin Media website
3. If it says "You're in a fibre optic area" then ring them to confirm and move there. If it says "You're not in a fibre optic area but you can still get our great 20 meg broadband down your phone line" or whatever, then go back to step 1.

Unfortunately that resticts you to living somewhere urban in about 48% of the country. How many lines have this "DACS issue" nobody knows, but the problem with your area is that there aren't a multitude of lines taking different paths which can be swapped round as would be possible in an urban area. Hence the cost and the refusal.

You could wait until someone moves out, then time your broadband order correctly... if their line is ceased, and you apply for broadband, what they should do is swap the lines round so that house now becomes the DACS line and you can have the broadband.

The 3G option may well be worth investigating - you might get a decent signal on one network. Have you tried the coverage checker on the Three website?

kwikbreaks

Living in a cabled area doesn't guarantee that VM will provide you with a service. I've seen numerous reports where it has even got as far as the installers turning up but then declining to do the install for one reason or another - eg the length of the drive. Sometimes one side of a street has had the ducting installed but the other hasn't and VM don't always have accurate records of that.

bowood_2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Any chance of a cable connection?

Nearest cable is 40+ miles away (could be further?), I could always ask just to get a reaction :j

Mark_In_Hampshire

There's one other possible option, which is a wireless internet provider. There aren't many. There is one I know of which covers some of Surrey and Hampshire, one in the Chelmsford area of Essex and one in the Kent area. I think...

bowood_2

Mark, I know where you're coming from but reception around here is not good. Very few phones work, though 3 is just about workable (on a 3 dongle now). I am in west Dorset, internet is still a mystery to most in this part of the country