Is privatisation all it's cracked up to be?

Graham_Devon

Generali wrote: »

Hmm. A return to a 18 month wait for a telephone line and you have to rent your phone off the Post Office? No thanks.

As apposed to a 6month + wait?

This is common place, especially with new builds. An article for reference here: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/apr/20/bt-failure-connect

The rentnig your phone from the post office seems rather a mute point. That was to do with technology, and that's moved on.

wotsthat

shortchanged wrote: »

I suppose.

How much does the government subsidise the private rail companies these days?

Why don't you do some research for a change and find out?

Worth pointing out that government could just stop or reduce passenger subsidies. Nationalisation is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and, of course, wouldn't mean an end to passenger subsidies in itself.

CLAPTON

Graham_Devon wrote: »

As apposed to a 6month + wait?

This is common place, especially with new builds. An article for reference here: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/apr/20/bt-failure-connect

The rentnig your phone from the post office seems rather a mute point. That was to do with technology, and that's moved on.

an interesting point


the last few times I moved house (some time ago) one got reconnected the day you moved into the new house : no problem


I know several people who have moved recently (and not to new builds either) who have had to wait more than a month for an existing line to be made active.

Generali

CLAPTON wrote: »

an interesting point


the last few times I moved house (some time ago) one got reconnected the day you moved into the new house : no problem


I know several people who have moved recently (and not to new builds either) who have had to wait more than a month for an existing line to be made active.

Mostly wrong or disingenuous as usual.

Occasionally people may have to wait 6 months. 18 months was the norm. !!!!!! does technology have to do with renting a phone? A ludicrous idea.

CLAPTON

Generali wrote: »

Mostly wrong or disingenuous as usual.

Occasionally people may have to wait 6 months. 18 months was the norm. !!!!!! does technology have to do with renting a phone? A ludicrous idea.

We are talking about land lines and not renting a 'phone'.


To my personal knowledge it can easily take a months (I know of 3 months) to simply 'transfer ' an existing active line in a house to the new occupant.




PS even in the old days 18 months was never the normal although in 'black' designated areas that could be true.

purch

Generali wrote: »

!!!!!! does technology have to do with renting a phone? A ludicrous idea.

I thought being forced to rent a phone off the G.P.O. was all to do with bourgeois private property being the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, based on class antagonisms, and on the exploitation of the many by the few.

....or words to that effect :eek:

purch

Is privatisation all it's cracked up to be?

No, not always.

Sometimes it can be, but often it has not achieved it's purpose.

wotsthat

What BT say..

If a brand new line needs to be installed then it usually takes up to 15 working days from the time that your order. It could take longer depending on the availability but this is very rare.

If we find you've already got a working line in your property, you could have your line up and running within a couple of days.

CBA to dig around in their KPI reporting so unless they're lying that seems more than reasonable.

I've bought three new houses and BT turned up within a day or two of moving in. I'm sure there's anecdotal evidence of people waiting for longer than the average too.

The stuff of dreams pre-privatisation and costs peanuts too.

Generali

Even where privatised companies have been less than brilliant, the Nationalised equivalent was dreadful.

British Rail was a national joke, British Gas was a byword for bad service, electric companies were slow and inefficient.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

What BT say..

That's a direct result of recent Ofcom action in July 2014 which was bought on due to the long waits.

Many caveats to it though.