Dacs??

BritishBulldog

Hi all, my partners Grandmother has finally decided to enter the internet age, and has recieved a letter saying that she has a DACS line in her house, and that they (Plusnet) will try to remove it from wherever it is. She is worried that it will cost her extra. My limited research seems to suggest it is upto BT to bear the cost and will cost her nothing, but ive never heard of this issue previously so can anyone confirm or deny this please?

Browntoa

Dacs was used where there was not enough copper pairs to the exchange

Will need spare pairs for it to be removed

Browntoa

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/consumer/advice/faqs/btfaq5.htm

Nilrem

DACS was a method to let two phone numbers use the line intended for one.
It's been a while since I last heard of someone having to have one removed, but from memory BT will normally try and remove it (at their own expense) if it's possible and not too costly these days.

In the past it used to be problematic at times as BT's USO was for a voice line (and something like 14k data for a fax) which DACS coped with, so people ended up using all sorts of tricks to get rid of them, from asking for an IDSN connection (which DACS didn't support), to getting a new line fitted specifically for the BB.

I suspect these days with the advent of fibre to the cabinet and improved connections to the exchanges etc (not to mention companies being able to use a single phone line for fax/phone and internet at the same time) there probably isn't the same premium on the physical wiring that required them to be fitted, and there is an established process for dealing with the situation (which I don't think there was for a while).

But yeah, in short it shouldn't cost her anything, as it's down to the ISP/BT to sort out.

DonnyDave

The picture on the right shows of this page shows a DACS (the rectangular box; you can just make out "DACS" on its cover). If she lives in a street with poles and drop wires, it will probably be attached to one of the poles.

alexthekidd

It won't cost her anything. Plusnet will work with Openreach and Wholesale to get the Dacs removed. Its not a simple process and can take a couple of months in some cases for the work to be carried out but the ISP will set her expectation for that.