New apartment - pre installed BT lines - still paying installtion fee

asy1mpo · 05-12-2006, 15:12

Been on to BT today to sort out BT line. Its a brand new apartment and they have already put in the wires for digital, TV,..... etc

Was told by the developers that would not need to pay installation fee

BT have said that although the line has been 'pre-installed' there is no actual line to the 'house' and the engineer will come in and link it to the exchange - or whatever he does????

Does this all sound right?

Unfortunately engineer cant come round till 3rd Jan. That means will be end of Jan before I am back on broadband!

Will still have internet of course at work till round 22 Dec and back around 9th and will be at parents for some time over xmas but still!! I can always just pop to my old place which I will be leaving connected to NTL for now.

Ahhhh!!

**Rob** · 05-12-2006, 15:44

I'd whinge at the Developer for misselling you the property if they clearly stated there would be no install fee.

Delta Whiskey · 05-12-2006, 17:15

I guess you are connected from the apartment to the local sub-box but not from there to the exchange. Given the lack of capacity in some BT areas they won't connect the line to the exchange until it's needed.

DW

superbiatch · 05-12-2006, 17:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by asy1mpo

Been on to BT today to sort out BT line. Its a brand new apartment and they have already put in the wires for digital, TV,..... etc

Was told by the developers that would not need to pay installation fee

BT have said that although the line has been 'pre-installed' there is no actual line to the 'house' and the engineer will come in and link it to the exchange - or whatever he does????

Does this all sound right?

Unfortunately engineer cant come round till 3rd Jan. That means will be end of Jan before I am back on broadband!

Will still have internet of course at work till round 22 Dec and back around 9th and will be at parents for some time over xmas but still!! I can always just pop to my old place which I will be leaving connected to NTL for now.

Ahhhh!!

I've got exactly the same problem with my new apartment. Moving in on 2nd January and BT are insisting they 'NEED' to install a new line - even though i've been told that there is already one pre-installed by the developers.

Let me know how you get on please

asy1mpo · 05-12-2006, 17:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by superbiatch

I've got exactly the same problem with my new apartment. Moving in on 2nd January and BT are insisting they 'NEED' to install a new line - even though i've been told that there is already one pre-installed by the developers.

Let me know how you get on please

will do

unfortunately dont know anything about phone lines so if they say I need to pay the Â£125 installation i cant do anything

i hardly use the phone aswell - just need it for broadband

superbiatch · 05-12-2006, 17:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by asy1mpo

will do

unfortunately dont know anything about phone lines so if they say I need to pay the Â£125 installation i cant do anything

i hardly use the phone aswell - just need it for broadband

Me neither, and i only need the line for my broadband as i use my mobile for phone calls.

Good luck in your new place anyway, i stuck to my guns about not moving before xmas, couldn't handle that - you're a brave person

asy1mpo · 05-12-2006, 17:45

i would order your phone line now and arrange a time for engineer to come round - otherwise you will be waiting ages like me

(Be spooky if you were moving into same place!!)

andygrif · 06-12-2006, 10:09

I have a feeling that this is pretty standard. Many contractors actually use BT to install the internal cables around each house, but no connection to the exchange is ever made until you call up BT and ask them...at which point they get another Â£125 for a very brief job.

Something about Dick Turpin wearing a mask springs to mind!

LSainsbury · 07-12-2006, 11:48

This is actually quite common...

We moved into a new house in June 2006 - the builder had installed all the cables for TV and phone.

With regards to the phone - there's a master socket in the hall and extensions in the living room and bedroom.

All BT will be doing is connecting you the the exchange - they won't even come inside the house - and the best bit? They will charge you for doing this - about Â£150.

One other thing - un-screw the faceplate's from each socket - and check the wires are actually connected. Both extensions in our house were connected but the final link to the outside world (master socket) wasn't...

I wired it up myself (thanks Google) - saving another BT call out charge....please don't tell BT!!

asy1mpo · 08-12-2006, 21:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsainsbury

This is actually quite common...

We moved into a new house in June 2006 - the builder had installed all the cables for TV and phone.

With regards to the phone - there's a master socket in the hall and extensions in the living room and bedroom.

All BT will be doing is connecting you the the exchange - they won't even come inside the house - and the best bit? They will charge you for doing this - about Â£150.

One other thing - un-screw the faceplate's from each socket - and check the wires are actually connected. Both extensions in our house were connected but the final link to the outside world (master socket) wasn't...

I wired it up myself (thanks Google) - saving another BT call out charge....please don't tell BT!!

So you opened the telepphone socket and some wires were loose??

LSainsbury · 08-12-2006, 21:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by asy1mpo

So you opened the telephone socket and some wires were loose??

Well - yes - the wires were lose - they were not connected to the NTE (BT tech talk that stands for Network Termination Equipment) socket. They were just hanging in the socket.

Here's a good site that details the socket connections...