£1500 to install a BT Line???

[wazbiker]

Hi everyone.
I happened upon this site by mistake but maybe some kind person on here can help me out. I need to get a phone installed in a holiday home at Evesham. It's my friend's place but I spend a lot of time there so I need the phone so my family can get hold of me and to plug the computer in for internet access. Nothing fancy, don't need broadband - just a bog-standard phone line. Ordered it from BT and they quoted £125. Then today they've told me it's gonna cost another £1500 cos there's never been a phone there before. Well, the holiday home is about 30 yards from a house where there's a phone so I queried the price - and was told that's the price based on the quote they got from Openreach to dig a trench and lay the cable - take it or leave it! Now I can't possibly afford 1500 quid so does anyone have any suggestions? I did a search on Cable & Wireless cos they're supposed to be a competitor of Openreach but didn't come up with anything. There's no cable supply anywhere near so Telewest etc. are not an option. Do Sky/Virgin/TalkTalk etc need a BT Line? Satellite phone?? I'm totally lost - don't even understand how phone lines work - just know I've gotta get the phone on somehow and I don't even know where to start. Can anyone help please?
Cheers Lin

[SnoopZ]

At that price a mobile phone sounds like the best option.

[TraxData]

Unfortunetly that sounds about right.

You may be able to nag them and get someone higher up to go 50/50 on the charge.

[SMHarman]

Is there a 3G phone network there on any of the providers? You could probably do phone and data access on that for less.
Can you ask OpenReach for a site inspection?

[PeteTheMusicGuy]

Three and T Mobile do a modem thingy you can buy for a laptop that will give you internet but I think you only get so much then they charge you after that

yup 1500 does sound right for the work I'm not sure if they will do 50/50 I guess it would not hurt to ask them

[punky]

I think if you get a premium data card option from 3, I think they allow Skype, so you can use that.

[Lord Nikon]

Orange with raccoon 35 - unlimited calls to landlines, 700 minutes to mobiles per month, 100 free texts per month, and if you get a windows mobile handset like the HTC Touch, Touch Dual or Tytn II then you have a 3g data connection, fiver a month extra and you get the unlimited evenings and weekends data plan addon, total cost around 40 / month.

And when they say unlimited landline calls they mean it, I had almost 10,000 minutes in one month and a 40 pound bill...

[SOSAGES]

got to the house that has the line.
Get them to order a new line to be installed.
Run ur own cable / use a wireless link.

[MovedGoalPosts]

You can't rely on a neighbour, even if they might be willing. What if they move, or fall out with you. Where would you be then. To ensure service from a neighbouring property you'd have to get an easement (legal right) set up. By the time you've paid the lawyers for all that, you might as well pay the BT £1500 fee.

Don't BT have some sort of legal obligation that they must connect a phone line if it's required. But I don't know if that places any controls on cost. You might need to hide that it is a holiday home, and make out it is a proper residence. Maybe a browse of somewhere like OFCOM?

All the other phone suppliers, talk talk, Sky etc, simply take over the BT phone line so it's that which needs to be installed regardless of who you eventually want to use. But it's because BT no longer have control over whether you migrate their phone line to somebody else, that they need to charge proper costs for installation since they may never recoup those costs elsewhere.

A mobile phone solution would seem the more cost effective, if that cost does have to be paid. After all, if you aren't there all the time, it would take a while to rack up that amount of charges?

[xspeedyx]

wow thats alot of money poor you

[SMHarman]

Don't BT have some sort of legal obligation that they must connect a phone line if it's required. But I don't know if that places any controls on cost. You might need to hide that it is a holiday home, and make out it is a proper residence. Maybe a browse of somewhere like OFCOM?
http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/Regulatoryinformation/RegulationsintheUK/RegulationintheUK.htm
Additional obligations are imposed on providers designated as providers of universal service. BT has been designated as the provider of universal service in the UK, excluding the Hull area. The Universal Service Obligation (USO) conditions imposed on BT address issues such as the provision of access to the telephone network, schemes for consumers with special social needs and public call box services. Additional obligations are also imposed on individual providers that have been designated as having Significant Market Power (SMP) in an identified market following a review of that market. BT has been designated with SMP in a number of markets
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/uso/main/
Provision of a connection capable of functional internet access
1.10 BT and Kingston are required to provide a connection upon reasonable request and at uniform prices, irrespective of geographical location. This requirement is particularly valuable to customers in remote rural areas whom the market might otherwise not serve. Where installation of a new line costs £3400 or less, BT sets a standard charge. Where installation will cost over £3400, BT requires the customer to pay the excess costs (plus its standard connection charge). Ofcom consider the use of a ‘threshold’ to be a sensible approach; Ofcom is seeking further data to help it decide the level of that threshold. In addition, Ofcom intends to publish guidance on the issues to be taken into account in considering whether a request is reasonable.

1.11 The obligation on BT and Kingston to provide a connection upon reasonable request encompasses the provision of a narrowband connection capable of ‘functional internet access’ (FIA). Guidelines on FIA were issued in 2003 which said that users should be able to expect connection speeds of at least 28.8 kbit/s. It also set out measures that universal service providers should take in response to complaints about data speeds. The Guidelines have been beneficial and no significant changes are proposed at this time. In particular, it is considered that the benchmark minimum speed should remain at 28.8 kbit/s for the time being.

So be aware what functional internet access really means. A 28.8kbit/s modem connection.