Incoming phone line

330d

Thanks. But my main concern at the moment is there was no dial tone and 17070 didn't work in either socket.

I am in the middle of a house renovation and don't want to be in a position when it's finished the phone line doesn't work.

Who can I get to check my line? Openreach?

330d

Also when doing a broadband check on most providers, they are only offering basic broadband around 10mb speed.

But if I put in my neighbors address, they can get fibre broadband of 60mb speed. Looks like a fault on my line.

neilmcl

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

neilmcl

What the previous owner seems to have done is rather than getting the original master socket changed for an NTE5c and faceplate they've simply added one underneath and used that.

Heedtheadvice

Writing as an engineer and keeping it simple....

Firstly stop tampering. You have enough info to tell you neither is connected in a working state. That could be due to a fault or that they are currently disconnected ("jumper" in the exchange) by Openreach - the wholesale arm of BT that owns the equipment and the comms equipment/service.

I take it that you have a contract with a phone/broadband supplier i.e. the comms retailer that you contract with such as BT retail (and it's sister companies EE, Plusnet) or one that uses Openreaches equipment/service such as Talktalk etc. Virgin and other very small location suppliers can be independant of Openreach, but the latter are rare, and the sockets are clearly market BT.

If you have an exising contract for that property you should know the number. Contact them to get the fault fixed and you can then take it from there. When the engineer visits treat him nice and he may well fit a new socket and remove the one you do not want.

If you currently do not have a contract for the property then you need to get one as you deal with a retailer, not a wholesaler.

Assuming there is already a line to the property (as per your pictures indicates) that has not been disconnected on it's way to the exchange (in the rest of the building, garden or removed altogether etc. ) then you need to select a supplier and get a contract. That will resolve the problem maybe with no connection cost. It could be as simple as that.

Your contracted supplier will contact Openreach to get the line reinstated and tested and you will have that opportunity to get your connection upgraded if possible/desired from copper to fibre.

As you do not know the number and you often have to put the number into a web form to get a contract quote you may have to phone your supplier of choice to start a new service as they often quote based upon existing phone number that they can look up on databases for things like broadband speed.

I am assuming here you would have broadband too as it is often the cheapest option.

Failing that, if you do not want a service to start yet just unscrew from the wall backplate, but do not disturb connections, decorate around and then sort it all out later. You can get the existing points working or if only one required cover where the socket was with a blank faceplate.

It beggers belief (well not really!) how the builder confirmed they were working!!

cx6

330d said:

Thanks. But my main concern at the moment is there was no dial tone and 17070 didn't work in either socket.

I am in the middle of a house renovation and don't want to be in a position when it's finished the phone line doesn't work.

Who can I get to check my line? Openreach?

You cannot as a consumer deal with Openreach. When you decide who to go with (eg BT, Talktalk, Plusnet, whoever) then they are the ones who you ask to come round and sort it out.

If it were me I would remove both boxes and just leave the cable (keep the boxes). This will allow you to decorate nicely etc. When you order your new service with your new supplier they will need to make a visit and install a new box.

There is no dial tome because you have no service yet.

jamesd

330d said:

Thanks. But my main concern at the moment is there was no dial tone and 17070 didn't work in either socket.

I am in the middle of a house renovation and don't want to be in a position when it's finished the phone line doesn't work.

Who can I get to check my line? Openreach?

Ask your phone company to fix your line. If no company yet, sign up with one.

When I did this a few months ago the wall plate was updated to the latest and you might well get the extra bit removed as well. I didn't have to pay a new connection charge because there was already a line present.

neilmcl

As others have said your service is disconnected and the only way to get it back in is by taking a contract with a service provider and getting them to provide your phone/broadband. It will be worth speaking to them and explaining that your need a new master socket as the one you have is quite old and possibly damaged, they may charge you £65 but someone should come out and remove both sockets and replace it with a shiny new NTE5c and MK4 faceplate.

I'm not suggesting you do so but you can get the above socket and faceplate yourself but you wont be able to go far as the line is still inactive.

330d

neilmcl said:

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

Thank you for the link. These are my results. Can i get fast broadband packages of around 60mb?

330d

Thank you everyone for the replies. So currently I am not with a provider but planning on joining Shell Broadband tomorrow.

They have done a test and said an engineer needs to come out to connect me. Also they have said I can only get speeds of 10mb. But there is a chance there is an issue with the line and hopefully the engineer can fix and unlock higher speeds.

If that is the case, I will pay the extra and get this package. On the other hand if they cant, I will cancel as I am within the 14 day cooling off period.

One final thing, the Shell broadband put a few of my neighbours address is to see what speed they can get. Strangely about half of them can get faster speeds (60mb) and the remaining half are like myself of only 10mb.