Need to find out if the phoneline in rented flat is connected?

Mother_soontobe_Teacher

Hiya.


My son is moving into a house on Friday. The landlord has been pretty sketchy and does not know if the phone line has been disconnected or not. My son needs the internet as soon as possible due to work, so I am wondering is there anything he can do to test it?


If it is not connected, can you please advise us what the next step would be?


He would like to ultimately go with EE and there broadband deal.


Many thanks.

kwikbreaks

He'll need to take out a phone contract in his own name anyway as well as the broadband. If it isn't connected then they'll get it connected - may be a fee depending on provider and will certainly be a minimum term of at least 12 months and probably 18.

Mother_soontobe_Teacher

kwikbreaks wrote: »

He'll need to take out a phone contract in his own name anyway as well as the broadband. If it isn't connected then they'll get it connected - may be a fee depending on provider and will certainly be a minimum term of at least 12 months and probably 18.

Thank you for this. Does he need to let them know or could he just sign up online now and they would look into it? (he wants to do the ee latest deal one which runs out on 31st Aug).

kwikbreaks

No harm in trying. I'm guessing you have no idea what the phone number is even if it is still connected so you may need to talk to somebody. Watch out for charges if it's a new line - many providers do it free.

macman

Plug in a handset and test for a dialtone.

kwikbreaks

I'm guessing no access until he moves in otherwise why post here if it's that simple?

brewerdave

Could be an issue if the previous renters haven't yet cancelled their phone line, or its still in the notice period so the line hasn't been released.

macman

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I'm guessing no access until he moves in otherwise why post here if it's that simple?

Indeed, but without access until Friday, and a clueless LL, there isn't really any alternative. Friday is only 3 days away.
And it can be a bad idea to commit to a new contract in a property you haven't yet begun the tenancy of.

kwikbreaks

There's also the fun and games suggested by brewerdave. If there is still some active ADSL service on it that wasn't cancelled it can take a while to get the old tag removed.

Things really should be a lot easier. I'm betting they would be if it weren't for the BT local loop monopoly and the mishmash of rules dreamed up by Ofcom. Even with all those regulations in place we still get threads about termination charges when people move to TalkTalk. At least I haven't seen any "I've been slammed by TalkTalk" threads recently.

Pincher

The concept of an exchange visit just to connect/disconnect you seems so last century. Switches should be mostly configured by software anyway. Barring some far flung exchanges, they should be able to just disable it in a menu.


Even 20 years ago, the engineers were operating oil refineries from a nice air-conditioned office in Houston, Texas, with the actual plant somewhere out there in the sticks. The oil turns up by pipe line, and the products go to a depot by pipe line.


I assume there were some security guards. When it's 30 degrees, these guys had the windows down in their pick-up trucks! And not even sweating! They would freeze to death in England.

Roland_Sausage

Pincher wrote: »

The concept of an exchange visit just to connect/disconnect you seems so last century. Switches should be mostly configured by software anyway. Barring some far flung exchanges, they should be able to just disable it in a menu.


Even 20 years ago, the engineers were operating oil refineries from a nice air-conditioned office in Houston, Texas, with the actual plant somewhere out there in the sticks. The oil turns up by pipe line, and the products go to a depot by pipe line.


I assume there were some security guards. When it's 30 degrees, these guys had the windows down in their pick-up trucks! And not even sweating! They would freeze to death in England.

You make it sound so easy. If only you knew the reality of what the inside of a telephone exchange was like....

By and large, it can be configured remotely. The equipment that is, i.e the kit that the dial tone comes from and connects calls, etc. They can remotely assign any equipment port with any phone number.

And this is all very well as long as there is a copper pair (i.e a line) connected to this equipment port, and it going to the desired location.

But things become disconnected. Equipment ports are re-used, line cards go faulty, broadband ports are re-used, copper pairs are re-used, go faulty, etc.

And then there is LLU where the copper pair has to be moved to separate equipment altogether.

The longer a line is out of service, the higher the chance of it being disconnected somewhere.

Provided the line has a dial tone, it should mean it can be easily reactivated, probably without an engineer visit.