New home, old fashioned broadband...

artyboy

Just bought a flat for one of my kids. On a private road, no fibre broadband so relying on plugging in to the old BT phone box.

Have ordered Sky, got the router, plugged in... no internet. Now this might sound like a really dumb question, but we have no landline here... do we need to be seperately paying BT for a supply contract to that phone socket?

Ayr_Rage

Sky should be supplying the connection and that will be via the Openreach network.

You only pay one company and Sky should sort out the service, no need to call anyone else.

If it is just ADSL then you will need a phone line, if it is FTTC then you may be able to get that without a phone service but that old copper line still needs connecting to the fibre cabinet.

EXACTLY what service have you ordered from Sky and what speeds are they guaranteeing?

artyboy

It was Sky Superfast (up to 67mb) and is also referred to as Broadband and Talk, although I never opted for a call package.

It was actually initiated as a NOW Broadband order as it was slightly cheaper than going to Sky directly...

Have spoken to Sky support and apparently I need a splitter, that wasn't included with the router, so that's now on the way. It's a single socket BT box, but they said that if I took the cover off, there would be a second socket there that might give me some internet connection if I plugged into that one. So giving that a go now...

iniltous

No engineer visit is usually required if a previously working socket exists but obviously this type of ‘start’ of a previously’stopped’ line doesn’t work….somethings to check , is there more that one socket , it could be another socket  exists somewhere else within the flat that does have Skys service on it , the other common problem ( with flats and non standard addresses ) is the address can be mismatched by the person ordering or the provider selecting the individual flat within the MDU , so it’s worth checking the address you ordered for is identical to the address held on the Royal Mail database , otherwise the service may have been ‘switched on’ in a neighbouring flat with a similar address …ultimately you will need to call Sky and report the service as not working if you have had confirmation from Sky that the service should now be live , some providers even caveat the message, saying something like ‘the service is now live , if it isn’t call this number ******** to arrange an engineer visit 

Ayr_Rage

artyboy said:

It was Sky Superfast (up to 67mb) and is also referred to as Broadband and Talk, although I never opted for a call package.

It was actually initiated as a NOW Broadband order as it was slightly cheaper than going to Sky directly...

Have spoken to Sky support and apparently I need a splitter, that wasn't included with the router, so that's now on the way. It's a single socket BT box, but they said that if I took the cover off, there would be a second socket there that might give me some internet connection if I plugged into that one. So giving that a go now...

You have FTTC so you will need the splitter, using the test socket will not work.

Sky/Now should have notified you of your phone number and if you plug in a handset hopefully have a dialling tone and the phone will ring when called, if not there is a problem with the line.

Once you get the splitter the internet cable goes into one side and the handset in the other.

You will need the splitter if you don't have a filtered faceplate with two outlets.

All calls will be chargeable so do check the tariff if you need to use it.

Edit : Struck through all the text which is now out of date IF Sky use VoIP on their FTTC service as @iniltous has indicated below.

iniltous

The DSL cable from a VDSL router won’t fit in a standard socket or test socket , so it’s unclear how the OP could ‘plug it in ‘ if they didn’t get a filter supplied with the Sky router , unless the socket already has separate VDSL and phone sockets in which case the router will connect to the ‘modern’ filtered socket and a separate filter isn’t required …Sky supply their telephone service via the router so the phone plugs into the router not the wall mounted socket and obviously if the router isn’t connected , no telephone service 

QrizB

Slightly surprised that the flat doesn't have SOGEA in this day and age? No microfilter needed with SOGEA, IIRC.

artyboy

Well I hope you'll excuse my technical incompetence with all things to do with old phone lines... but here's what I've done:

1) plugged the router directly into the one BT socket that is accessible from the covered box
2) as above, but I did it via an old ADSL splitter that had been left behind at the house
3) plugged the router directly into the 'secret' extra socket (which was the same longer plug version as the main socket)
4) as above but via the same old ADSL splitter

None of these worked - all just gave me the green lights for power and WiFi, but no light for Internet. Let's see if we have more success when their own little gadget turns up...

artyboy

QrizB said:

Slightly surprised that the flat doesn't have SOGEA in this day and age? No microfilter needed with SOGEA, IIRC.

Flat is 23 years old and I don't think anything much has been done to it since it was built

QrizB

artyboy said:

QrizB said:

Slightly surprised that the flat doesn't have SOGEA in this day and age? No microfilter needed with SOGEA, IIRC.

Flat is 23 years old and I don't think anything much has been done to it since it was built

SOGEA is done at the street cabinet end, then comes down your copper pair just like POTS used to. We've got it here in our sleepy rural backwater.

It does sound rather like the line isn't active. Do you have a olde-worlde plug-in phone handset in the flat? Do you get a dial tone?

iniltous

artyboy said:

Well I hope you'll excuse my technical incompetence with all things to do with old phone lines... but here's what I've done:

1) plugged the router directly into the one BT socket that is accessible from the covered box
2) as above, but I did it via an old ADSL splitter that had been left behind at the house
3) plugged the router directly into the 'secret' extra socket (which was the same longer plug version as the main socket)
4) as above but via the same old ADSL splitter

None of these worked - all just gave me the green lights for power and WiFi, but no light for Internet. Let's see if we have more success when their own little gadget turns up...

The gadget they are sending will be the same as the one you found left behind in the flat , if this is the socket  and it doesn’t work you need Sky to get Openreach to visit