Connection and disconnection

brianposter

I have a phone in a rural area which is used for about six months a year and is consequently connected and disconnected regularly.

Thirty years ago this was no problem - one simply rang and the engineer came along and connected or disconnected at his convenience.
In more modern times it has appeared that connection and disconnection has been done remotely, simply by typing something into a computer.

However when I have expressed an interest in changing to another supplier whilst the line is disconnected the spectre of "sending an engineer" has reappeared.

What exactly does happen in a rural exchange when a line is connected or disconnected ?

mattyprice4004

The same thing as in any other exchange - if no physical work is needed (as is the case a lot these days) they simply remotely turn your line off.

When you move provider to an LLU provider (or to non-LLU from LLU) an engineer will need to physically move the connection from one set of equipment to another for you.

macman

And the cost will be the same regardless of whether an engineer visit is required or not.

brianposter

However if they tell me that an engineer is required when this is untrue, surely I have a simple legal case to recover the connection charge.

macman

No, because the charge is the same for a reconnection or connection regardless of whether an engineer visit is required. The engineer can normally reconnect at the exchange or street cab. They will only visit the property if there is an issue at that end-which is why they ask for access to be made available on the day. It's impossible for them to know in advance if that visit is necessary or not.

Buzby

You can only ever transfer a working line. Other firms may not be as laid back as BT and any non-working period will result in the line (and number) being returned to its original owner (BT).

brianposter

macman wrote: »

No, because the charge is the same for a reconnection or connection regardless of whether an engineer visit is required. The engineer can normally reconnect at the exchange or street cab. They will only visit the property if there is an issue at that end-which is why they ask for access to be made available on the day. It's impossible for them to know in advance if that visit is necessary or not.

That is the interesting point. I have been specifically told that the charge is for a visit by an engineer but I get the impression that what actually happens is that Openreach charge a fee for reconnection even if an engineer is not required.
Obviously misrepresenting the charge would be deceitful.

It is clearly possible to find out whether an engineers visit is necessary and it would be very foolish not to do so - you do not send an engineer a hundred miles or more just to waste his time.

brianposter

Buzby wrote: »

You can only ever transfer a working line. Other firms may not be as laid back as BT and any non-working period will result in the line (and number) being returned to its original owner (BT).

Why ?

In my case , as far as I know, there is no practical problem.

Myser

Are you having an Infinity service installed?

brianposter

Myser wrote: »

Are you having an Infinity service installed?

No. I would not have expected Infinity to be available.

iniltous

If you ask a provider to cease your service the line plant from the exchange to your property is available to be used for other provision or repair work in the area, so if a neighbours line developed a fault, part of your 'old' connection could be used to repair that line, leaving your property without a complete connection back to the exchange... in that situation it wouldn't be possible to just switch the line back on, it would need some engineering involvement to restore service,
It has become the case that requests for service, lines that only need to be started or lines that have to be provided from scratch are dealt with the in the same way.
An intact line could be brought into service without a visit, the end user will probably get a text stating ' we dont need to call', in other cases even though a socket exists in the property significant work may be required to provide a working line, the assumption is if there no dailtone at the socket a 'new' line is required, even if the only work is in the exchange
The charge for the 'provide' in lots of cases is absorbed or reduced by the service provider in return for a longer than usual minimum term or by taking a bundle of services,
The exception to this is where a working line is taken over by a new provider, so is never in a ceased state, in that case the new provider should only charge a takeover fee, but with so many providers too chose from even if the socket has dial tone, when you call a provider, they may not locate any record of that line, especially if the line is LLU'd and offer a 'new' line at whatever cost they charge for a provide instead of a takeover