Broadband help please

b3ckys

Hi all, I'm hoping that someone will be able to help me here. My father in law lives in a rural location and really wants broadband. Now on all of the sites it says he can get it where he lives and last year he ordered it from Bt. After lots of twoing and froing and lots and lots of phone calls he found out that he apparently can't get bb as he has a dax on his line. Now he was obviously annoyed at this but as Bt told him he couldn't get it, he let it go. Last night I was over there and as we were going down his drive my phone picked up wifi! I asked him about it and he told me that it was the neighbours. Apparently everyone else can get bb, but not him. Now I'm determined to get him bb, there must be a way! Any ideas???? Thanks in advance.

Cycrow

Yes you wont be able to get broadband on a line with DACS. But BT should be able to remove it from the line to allow it to work.

Try speaking to BT and see if they can get the DACS removed

ianders

DACS (Digital Access Carrier System) is basically a split line.

What kind of mobile signal does he receive? Mobile broadband might be the best option. Something like a MiFi device.

b3ckys

Hi, thanks for the replies. Bt have basically said there is nothing they can do. I don't understand why. And the phone signal is virtually none existent.

Cycrow

as ianders said, DACS is basically where they split a line so multiple people can share them. This happens in rural areas where there arn't enough lines for the houses.

BT will usually fix this, but it sounds like there might not be any spare lines for them to do anything. And if everyone else around already has broadband, then there will be no one to move the DACS over too.

You could try and see if OpenReach can do anything about sorting it, but they are really the only ones that would be able to do anything

kwikbreaks

Cycrow wrote: »

You could try and see if OpenReach can do anything about sorting it..

How? Openreach do not deal with the public only ISPs. If several ISPs are saying no it's pretty certain it won't get done and mobile or satellite broadband will be the only options apart from dialup if that is still available.

Actually if the phone is bad then that is a glimmer of hope - I'm pretty sure that BT are still obliged to provide voice telephony and it may be that fixing that will involve removing the DACS. If it really is poor voice complain about that.

b3ckys

The Internet company's reckon he can get Internet, it's Bt that have said that because of the dax he can't get it. The person he says he shares the line with doesn't get Internet, could they swap it over??

b3ckys

And the phone is ok I think. I meant mobile signal is pretty poor.

iniltous

DACS is two 'lines' sharing 1 cable pair, like a modern shared service but both lines can be in use at the same time...if your father in law is on DACS and a broadband order raised and subsequently cancelled, then presumably a neighbour is also on DACS with him..They cannot just remove the DACS because the other 'line' would stop working, broadband doesn't work on DACS lines.
Say a 5 pair cable serves his area, it could be 4 people have ordinary lines with broadband and the 5th cable pair is DACS and provides your relative and one of his neighbours with phone service, that's all 5 cable pairs used up...although Openreach will look to upgrade the cable from a 5 pair to a larger cable, so the DACS can be removed and the line given broadband, it's not at any cost, so if OR have looked at this, decided it wasnt economic to do this upgrade at their own expense, they normally provide a quote to the company that enquired about broadband, to dedacs the line partially at that companies expense, that broadband company would usually then see if the end user is prepared to pay these excess construction charges, if they are not, and it can be several thousand pounds sometimes, they cancel the broadband order
It may seem unfair that others have got broadband without having to pay extra, and the last person to apply has to pay more, but that's the way the system works

Im_just_careful

It comes down to how badly he wants broadband.

If he contacted a small broadband company they may, at least, be prepared to pass through the excess construction charge from Openreach (this may be in the thousands !).

Is there a "self help" broadband offer available ?

Is there anyone nearby (line of sight) with broadband who may be prepared to share their connection via a wireless link ?

Does the council have some of this rural broadband money to sponsor, say, fibre in the area ?

b3ckys

Thanks for the replies everyone. It was Bt who he ordered Internet with and they just kept telling him he could have broadband. It was the actual repair guy they sent out to find out why it wasn't working that said because he had a sacs he couldn't get it. Bt still say he can!! He hasn't tried any other company's because we are not sure where we stand and if he can even get bb. They are upgrading the lines where we live, but as he is in a rural location, we don't know if he will be able to get it. Can't someone put him in a line of his own? Surely if everyone else can get it, he should be at least given some kind of option?