Two Providers - one physical line

James_N

I have a developing problem between BT and Sky for broadband provision. To keep it simple initially I hope someone can assist me with one question:

is it possible to have two lines running over one physical connection? BT confirm there is just one working line, but two providers are charging two customers separately for service.

Thanks for any help anyone can give, especially welcome technical or insider information.

iniltous

There is something called DACS that enables OR to have 2 lines over 1 physical copper pair, but I don't think that's what you are asking, but if it is, DACS is OK for telephony, it's not like old 'shared service' both 'lines' can make and receive calls independent of each other, but you cannot have broadband on DACS lines
You should only pay one line rental if you only have 1 line, you could pay two providers though, one from line rental and one for Broaband (called SMPF, shared Metalic path facility ) but the bigger company's like Sky and TT don't use SMPF anymore, they use LLU/MPF, smaller ISP's still use SMPF
What can happen though, is end user has service from company 'A' and they want to change provider, by not using the correct migration procedure, or incompetence on the new providers part, they end up ordering a new line, not a migration, the OR engineer that turns up (or OR contractor) asks do you want 2 lines, the end user says no, because they think they are getting a migration , so the physical 'line' is taken to give service from company 'B',disconnecting service from company A in the process, but because this is not the correct procedure, company A are unaware, and continue to send out bills,
if company A tested their line it would test 'disconnected' because the physical copper line was 'pinched' by the installer for company B, the easiest thing to do is check who is providing telephony, call '150' and see which company answers, or dial 17070, if the automatic voice says something like 'hi I'm Zoe' it's a Sky line, then call the other company and cancel the service from them, if the company you want to use is not the company connected to the 'line' cancel service with the company you don't want, and report a fault with the company you do want

James_N

The situation I have is:

I pay BT for phone and Sky for BB

The tenants (who must be said are idiots) failed to see the connected router - or disconnected it. They contacted Sky, who turned up with a router and plugged it in. They have been paying Sky for a phone and BB bundle. Sky made no checks on the line they used, or used any questions - turn-up, plug in and charge.

Bt confirm there is ONE active physical line and another virtual line.
The working line belongs to BT retail, and has carrier pre-select for BT. It's the line I pay for. The second virtual line is not operative, according to BT checks. BT say that they have no record of take-over or second line application.

Physically checking the property - only the one original line.

Sky are now stonewalling any further discussion: they are "right" and the only recourse is to Ofcom.

iniltous

If you pay BT for line rental and Sky for broadband, it's SMPF and is now a legacy product (Sky won't let new customers have this), but it exists for long standing customers who have never taken Sky line rental, but they do try to get people to switch, that way they get the line rental money as well as the broadband money, in fact I bet they call their line share customers and ask would you like to change to Sky for line rental, so perhaps Sky called your tenant rather than them calling Sky.
I would get your tenant or you, to dial 17070 from the phone line , if it's Sky LLU it says 'hi I'm Zoe' , if it's BT it says something like 'this line is defined as (phone number) BT line test facility's , dial 1 for ***, the virtual line stuff BT said is nonsense
I suspect the line will be Sky LLU , and you are in effect paying for a BT line that is now disconnected in the exchange,and possibly also Sky SMPF broadband while your tenant is paying Sky for line & broadband, but if you went back to BT for phone service you may not be able to get Sky back as SMPF broadband only (coz they don't sell that anymore and they may have ceased the line share broadband) you would probably have to get BT broadband or broadband from a smaller provider that still use SMPF ,
If you did get everthing back as it was, your tenant may end up paying Sky for line & b/b but it becomes disconnected in the exchange, or them paying ETC's to end their contract ,

Another thing you could try us logging onto your BT account, on there (somewhere) is the ability to test your line, if you run a line test and it comes back as faulty, and says the fault is at or near the exchange, you know what's happened, if the BT line tests ok, then the Sky line was never provided and Sky are double billing, them for line &broadband and you for broadband only, I'm guessing that if you had Sky broadband you had a Sky router, if the tenant ordered service from a Sky they got a newer Sky router, it's possible that the Sky router could sync up to SMPF to LLU , so the phone line is the best way to tell who the line is physically connected to

James_N

Does this help at all with identifying the fault:

Fault number
VOL013-123849641034

Fault diagnostic run
It looks like the problem is in or near to your home, and we'll need to contact you before sending an engineer. We will be in touch with you on the details you have provided us with.