Getting a landline reinstated. Do I have to pay BT line charges?

pmshrink

I need to get broadband in a house that has not had a landline for years. I can’t understand if I have to pay BT landline charges as well as reconnection charges??

Browntoa

If it's been ceased for years then that reconnection charge is fair. All the pairs between you and the exchange will have been reused over the years and need connection again

Farway

There will be a landline rental charge even if your supplier is not BT. They rent the line from Open reach and will pass this cost onto you in one form or another

iniltous

If you have decided on a company for ‘broadband’ then they should show a price that includes line rental ( probably between £20-£30 if it’s ‘fibre to the cabinet and depending on if it’s the 40/50/80Mb variant), you don’t pay another fee to ‘BT’, as already stated it’s Openreach anyway, and your chosen provider pays around  £7 ‘line rental’ to Openreach for providing the ‘local loop’

saraleemorgan

I am trying to get my vulnerable elderly father ‘connected’ to the rest of the family during this lockdown.  There is a BT line in his apartment but it hasn’t been used for many years.  I can’t get through to BT on the phone (ironic!) to see if the line is still active or not, or if they will reactivate it free of charge.  He doesn’t want to pay a monthly line rental to BT as he doesn’t use the phone but I think I have persuaded him to get Vodafone broadband installed.  Unfortunately their engineer can’t come until June, but if the phone line was  reactivated by BT they could just send the router in the post and I could set it up for him. Any tips anyone???

Browntoa

It's going to be a new line despite the existing socket. Openreach are not doing work unless he's registered as vulnerable .

Look at a Mobile home WiFi as a temporary solution to get him online 

unforeseen

If BT reactivate the line then that will start a contract with a minimum length

JJ_Egan

As parent has not been registered as vulnerable etc a cheap mobile would be a quick and easy answer .

Then once virus restrictions over register as vulnerable .

mwarby

saraleemorgan said:

I am trying to get my vulnerable elderly father ‘connected’ to the rest of the family during this lockdown.  There is a BT line in his apartment but it hasn’t been used for many years.  I can’t get through to BT on the phone (ironic!) to see if the line is still active or not, or if they will reactivate it free of charge.  He doesn’t want to pay a monthly line rental to BT as he doesn’t use the phone but I think I have persuaded him to get Vodafone broadband installed.  Unfortunately their engineer can’t come until June, but if the phone line was  reactivated by BT they could just send the router in the post and I could set it up for him. Any tips anyone???

Vodafone or BT(by which I mean BT retail) should have equal access to Openreach's(yes I know Openreach are part of BT, but they arerun very seperatlh from BT retail)  systems to be able to tell them if the line is able to be remotely activated or not, activating it with BT then trying to get Vodafone broadband is a recipe for disaster(he'll be tied into a BT contract, Vodafone will port across and he'll get a big early termination charge from BT).

However if the line hasnt been used for years its very possible that activating the line may not be enough, a fault could easily have developed unnoticed, which could either stop the line from working or cause degraded speeds. In normal course of events that's fine, they would just send an engineer to fix, but obviously that's not something easily done just now

Kevin_Blackstone

Open-reach will charge for athe line to be connected again whether this be just for phone or for broadband use. Open-reach are only installing to certain customers at the moment and in either situation the engineer will need to test the line. Even if you get BT to agree to get open-reach to come out sooner than June for just a phone line a min contact would probably apply. Is down to each provider as to whether the re connection will be passed onto the customer or not as well. you could contact a smaller provider such as zen  internet 01706 902573 or Uno broadband 0333 773 7700 who both have UK based staff who I'm sure could offer you some advice and botth get good feedback on websites. Or wait till June and get mobile internet as others have suggested. ( I have inculded phone numbers sorry if this is against the rules)