openreach data issue impeding attempts to get internet connection

Essar

I've been trying to get an internet connection at my address for a while now. My place has an old BT and a more recent openreach master socket 5c, so it seems to be wired up. Unfortunately, openreach lists multiple names for the address I live in and there is a mismatch with the Royal Mail database which has only the official address.

If I put in the official name, with say Plusnet, then they say that an engineer needs to come to install a socket, and that it will cost £50. If I put in one of the unofficial names, then it seems to register that there is a line running to the property. I tried to use one of these alternate addresses with Shell Energy but it fell through because of the mismatch with the Royal Mail database.

I've tried to get in touch with openreach to rectify this data issue and at least make it clear whether I do need an engineer or not, but they are hard to get in touch with as a member of the public and I'm waiting for a reply. Additionally, I tried to discuss this issue with Plusnet to see if an ISP could help resolve this and the guy I got was very surprisingly rude and aggressive and started making some nonsensical analogy about gas an electricity bills (maybe he thought I was complaining about line rental, but it's anyone's guess), so I definitely will never use them again. I could bite the bullet and just pay for an engineer visit anyway with some other ISP, but I'd rather not if they're just going to come and tell me I already have a line.

Does anyone know how to get such an data integrity issue resolved? Does anyone know whether it could really be that an engineer call out is needed even if I can see a fairly recent socket right in front of me?

JJ_Egan

Dial tone at the socket ??

Open Reach are not a public facing company .

The better customer support ISPs are A&A  and Zen .

Essar

Asked my wife to borrow a phone from her office, so should find out if there's a dial tone this evening. I was thinking of going with Zen; we need a reliable connection since my wife will be doing remote teaching so it might be worth the extra cost.Thanks for the extra recommendation.

JJ_Egan

Be aware than a home connection may not cover business use .

iniltous

You need to be a customer of a Telecom company , then that company can get  Openreach to check the address record and if necessary, amended it to match the Royal Mail/Post Office record...this is called an Openreach Database Integrity check  ( called an ORDI ) , but you cannot contact OR yourself to do it , it needs to be by your ISP/Telco, it’s less of an issue for new starts or provides , more of an issue if you want to switch providers.
If you don’t want to ‘pay’ for a ‘new line’ , because there are already sockets , it doesn’t always follow that there is a line anyway, all a socket indicates is that service was once there , that socket may no longer have a routing all the way back to the exchange, in which case the line cannot be brought back into service without an engineer allocated ( even if they don’t visit the house ) 
As already stated you could  check to see if the socket has dialtone, if it has you could possibly get that line started rather than provided
Many providers don’t charge for an install anyway if you take a bundle of services , but if a company charges £50 and is £2 a month cheaper than someone else who doesn’t charge £50 , then the difference is minimal.