BT line reconnection

[Southwell]

Sorry, this is kinda off topic

We cancelled our line a few months ago and have no decided to switch broadband providers, which requires a BT line. We phoned BT to reconnect and naturally expected a fee to do so, which was £120!!!!!!!!
Has anyone else done this recently and had to pay this much? They wouldn't even have to come to the house as all the lines are still in!!

Cheers

[_sleigh_]

I thought you could "Come back to BT for free"... That what the TV advert used to be.

[DCM]

It all depends on whether you had your BT line 'de-activated' or removed from the house, if your BT line has been dremoved, then you have a reconnection fee which is steep, if the line is still there, and it is BT you are going to, should be free.

[Nick Goodall]

Ian, it's so funny you've started this as i'm having a nightmare with BT & Sky at the moment!

We moved in to the house in Feb 06 and when they'd built it they'd already installed the line with BT sockets etc, but as we had to get a BT line activated we had to pay the £120 installation fee. We then went to Toucan for £25 a month Broadband and phone calls service but now have decided to go to Sky.

We've had to cancel with Toucan and get any Tags removed from the line so that we can start up with BT again and then have our broadband and phoen through Sky......... it's actually been dragging on since May and has been one of the most compliacated and painful experiences i've had when dealing with any company - they all make it so confusing and won't talk to eachother.

Only thing is that BT have not said anything about charging to get set-up with them again so you should definitely check this...... especially if you're going through the motions i have been!

[matdodd]

We had this with BT as well last month when we moved into a house which had talk talk its a total rip off & took the Bt bloke less than 5mins. I wish I was paid £25 a min

[Southwell]

I just phoned them up (it was my girlfriend before) and they said it's free lmao I just set it all up and she can sort out the direct debit, i wonder how many people accept it at £125!?!?

[Southwell]

Originally Posted by Nick Goodall

Ian, it's so funny you've started this as i'm having a nightmare with BT & Sky at the moment!

We moved in to the house in Feb 06 and when they'd built it they'd already installed the line with BT sockets etc, but as we had to get a BT line activated we had to pay the £120 installation fee. We then went to Toucan for £25 a month Broadband and phone calls service but now have decided to go to Sky.

We've had to cancel with Toucan and get any Tags removed from the line so that we can start up with BT again and then have our broadband and phoen through Sky......... it's actually been dragging on since May and has been one of the most compliacated and painful experiences i've had when dealing with any company - they all make it so confusing and won't talk to eachother.

Only thing is that BT have not said anything about charging to get set-up with them again so you should definitely check this...... especially if you're going through the motions i have been!

What a nightmere!

Is it Sky causing the problems or BT being slow as iam just about to go with Sky

[Nick Goodall]

To be honest i'm really unimpressed with both...........

Sky are really helpful and informative when selling it, but have possibly the worst customer service along with BT Think this is the trouble with Phone companies etc, you're just picking the best from a really bad bunch!

[Southwell]

Whats TalkTalk like anyone? or do i have to wait 12 months before switching?

The guy from talk talk was really helpful, apparently all phone companies have won the right to activate lines and such but only BT have the tools!!

[Southwell]

How accurate are broadband line speed tests? Sky says 4mb, and talk talk says, 7.3....

[Southwell]

Well the mrs just phoned BT to sort out the direct debit and their saying it's gonna be £125 again. Time to go off at them now!!

[Elliott Hopkins]

I don't know about TalkTalks's customer services or line speed, but for us switching over was not a problem and the service has been uninterrupted since we joined up.

That's the phone and BB all in package from a couple of months ago.

Elliott.

[craigosh]

Line speed figures are a bit miss leading really.. Loads of factors ivolved, distance to exchange & number of people connected to same point as you are, are the biggest factors. While you may be close to an exchange there may be nearly 100 people connected to the same node as you!!

Really i wouldnt expect more than 6meg at an OFF PEAK time from a 8meg account, and thats only download speed. Upload speeds for sending files/mails etc are maybe gonna be 500k at most.

We have a low contention ratio (25:1) service here in work, and we are just in range of the exchange to get 8meg and it never gets above 6.6meg download and 600k upload.

[Southwell]

Just phoned BT and they gave me it for free, god knows why they keep changing their mind so i paid the direct debits myself.

Iam 1.1 miles from the exchange so i recon i should receive ok ish performance. The whole town is cabled too so a few of them will be on NTL.

[rcracer]

you all want to be thankful you can pick and choose, in hull all we can use is kingston comunications and they are crap, i have there upto 8meg package for £30 a month and thats just for your broadband , my conection is playing at the moment as most others do and are getting just short of 3meg and are waiting for the engineer to call yet again...

[DCM]

Virgin Media, and after the threat of a big stick and leaving their equipment on the doorstep for the rubbish men.... Family pack for TV, free evening and weekend calls and 10 meg broadband, my monthly DD is about £55, oh, that includes V+ (live tv recording). I don't even have a BT line anymore.

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Southwell

How accurate are broadband line speed tests? Sky says 4mb, and talk talk says, 7.3....

And they both buy the same wholesale package from BT and use the same line...

In my experience talk talk is a terrible service, the number of people we get in at work who are having reliability problems with their service is shocking

They're more expensive than average but if you want a really good ADSL ISP you can't go wrong with Zen

[_sleigh_]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

In my experience talk talk is a terrible service, the number of people we get in at work who are having reliability problems with their service is shocking

I'd agree with Rich here.... The only ISP I hear more compaints about at work is Orange..

[Southwell]

Originally Posted by Richard Lowe

And they both buy the same wholesale package from BT and use the same line...

In my experience talk talk is a terrible service, the number of people we get in at work who are having reliability problems with their service is shocking

They're more expensive than average but if you want a really good ADSL ISP you can't go wrong with Zen

Yeh ive heard nothing but good things from Zen although the price is just too much for a 50gb cap NTL do 20mb for that price

I think ill go with Sky, their only £10 for 16mb (which i wont get), if their that shocking i only lose a tenna a month for a year and go with someone else.

[craigosh]

Yep Zen are ace thats who we have our buisness package with. Never had any big issues, good customer service.

Southwell 1.1mile should get you about 6meg easy unless its a really busy day, i'd be surprised if anyone on a domestic account could get 8meg even if they were next door to the exchange, the connection ratios would still bring it down.

If had the option at the mo to go with virgin then i would at the drop of a hat, my folks have it and its bloody great all day long..

if you want to test your broadband use the speed checker at www.thinkbroadband.com pretty accurate from what i can tell.