BT Phone Line Installation for Caravan?
kosmos5457
Posts: 1,287 Forum Member
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I was due to have my first engineer visit and install of a phone line in a caravan on Monday 28th. I was told that because of cabling going under the ground that the engineer would be required to contact a bt line surveyor so that he could visit and see how much cable is required and that he would then drop the cable down for the bt engineer to connect up with the caravan.
The BT engineer that came out told me that the surveyor would contact me either Tuesday (today) or Wednesday. He also said that the surveyor would contact the caravan site owner as he said he will be digging a trench and burying the cable. I've not had contact yet from the surveyor or BT yet so not going to be too concerned for a bit just yet.
I'm now wondering how long this process takes of getting a surveyor to come out and then re-arranging the actual installation or whether the work would all be completed on the same day.
BT have already sent me the broadband equipment and that account couldn't even be setup properly as there is no phone line yet. I don't really want the hassle of sending equipment back.
I understand that these installations are not the usual but I'd appreciate it if anyone has any ideas?
I hope people understand why I'm asking on here. Main reason is because staff at BT don't seem to have a clue what is going on and when they transfer me to a call centre outside of the UK, it does concern me whether I will be able to understand the person I am speaking too.
Thanks in advance.
The BT engineer that came out told me that the surveyor would contact me either Tuesday (today) or Wednesday. He also said that the surveyor would contact the caravan site owner as he said he will be digging a trench and burying the cable. I've not had contact yet from the surveyor or BT yet so not going to be too concerned for a bit just yet.
I'm now wondering how long this process takes of getting a surveyor to come out and then re-arranging the actual installation or whether the work would all be completed on the same day.
BT have already sent me the broadband equipment and that account couldn't even be setup properly as there is no phone line yet. I don't really want the hassle of sending equipment back.
I understand that these installations are not the usual but I'd appreciate it if anyone has any ideas?
I hope people understand why I'm asking on here. Main reason is because staff at BT don't seem to have a clue what is going on and when they transfer me to a call centre outside of the UK, it does concern me whether I will be able to understand the person I am speaking too.
Thanks in advance.
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I had a similar issue, when I was between houses.
BT were really ace actually, they didn't dig the place up, they put a telegraph pole next to the caravan and ran the wire to that from the street!
I phoned them today asking for an update on what is happening. The woman told me that the systems were down :mad:. I'm just thinking, how many times have I heard that line be used when I've phoned them? LOL.
The woman took my number and said they would call back in less than 24 hours. I don't expect them to phone me but I will just have to wait for now.
He put me on hold while he spoken to Openreach to get this information. I guess it is now a case of waiting till Tuesday to see the everything goes through ok.
I had phoned them twice to check that they would come on the Tuesday (today). I've written a letter of complaint to BT now and will have to wait and see what happens with that.
Was told when I phoned them today that I should phone back in 24hrs to see why the phone line wasn't installed. Not happy anyway
Some years ago, a BT mini-exchange was put on the site but under the ground and it seems the number of lines that it could take is restricted to 10 phone lines.
So now I'm unsure of what will happen. It comes down to whatever BT decide, then what the caravan site owner then decides on whether BT are allowed to do anything to allow new lines on his land.
10 phone lines from 38 caravans is not a bad takeup I think. Not sure whether they need to get another cable from the exchange into this mini-exchange on the site or whether the equipment already in the mini-exchange needs upgrading.
Whatever happens, I should know more on the 19th Feb.
What I do know though is that one caravan on the site used to have a phone line when a previous owner was there but that was also while there was an older caravan sited in this particular plot so that line could well be freed up.
I wonder whether it is possible to disconnect this line at the mini-exchange side and run a new line into another caravan?
Anyway, there is a new update, something that happens on a weekly basis with BT now. Shame I cannot subscribe to weekly text updates, it would save me a lot of hassle phoning them only to be told pretty much nothing (an update). They cannot even tell me what the update is.
I phoned the number this evening, a number that was given to me by someone that I could understand. When I phoned, I didn't get to speak to the person that had phoned me originally but had spoken to someone that knew of the person dealing with my order. The woman I spoken to tonight said that it could be either 20th Feb, 21st or even the 25th. Yes, the 21st and 25th are Feb, or are they? I don't know to be quite honest. At least I spoken to someone I could understand tonight. I should be pleased but I'm not.
Having read what people say about BT on here and other forums, it seems that in general that if you don't already have a phone service or want phone service from BT, then don't bother. I can see why people might say that. It will be a month tomorrow that the order was placed.
Another thing, when I phoned, it said on the system I had ordered two phone lines. What would I want with two of them if they cannot even install just the one?
the mini exchange is actually a DP (distribution point) the chances are that one of our contractors or an engineer was tasked with the job of providing a pair to this d.p unfortunately it was most likely full(i.e 10 working lines on it). in this situation we have to send the job back to the planners to come up with a solution. 1 of 3. 1. the new line is DACS'd with an existing non-b/band worker. (most common as it is the most cheapest. however if you've req's b/band or interest in then the planners need to find 2 non- b/band lines to group together to free up a pair for yours. 2. the cable to the DP is boosted to 20Pr (providing that there is available capacity to the nearest junction box). this will have to be costed in and if it's on private land permissions have to be sought etc. etc.etc. 3. the job is not feasable under our costing agreements with ofcom, and the job will be costed up and you will be presented with the oppotunity to pay the difference if you still wish for service.
it is very common in caravan parks to have very limited service and when somebody moves off their provision is almost instantly snapped up for elsewhere on the site.
Are there no other options? Can another cable from one of the poles be put down a cable duct to the distribution point to allow for another line without seeming to need to pair two lines together like you suggest, which would then not allow for broadband on the line.
What about another distribution point? How much do those actually cost? I'm guessing its a huge amount of money.
To be honest, the main reason I've ordered a line is for the broadband.
I've heard that the first £3400 is covered by Openreach or whoever actually pays for work to be done when the premises is served and that when it's non-served, the cost is to be paid by the customer, is that right?
The caravan site does have an address, so wouldn't that make it a served premises?
The choices you mentioned to me don't sound too great if I'm honest. I don't think there are many people with broadband on the site however. Don't BT need to ask the person paying line rental about changes to their phone line first?
the planners will look at the network prints for that area, and if it is possible to serve from another DP they will cost that in. as with any business they will always go for the cheapest option. i think it's about that much that we do cover for the cost, but can't quote me on that. they usually only put new DP's in when they have been contacted by the site owner with regards to an expansion of the site, or on new build estates(these are put in and done by the builders during the first phases of construction.) 9 times out of 10 the planners will go for the dacs solution as it is the cheapest(only req's 1 engineering visit). we don't have to inform people that that their line has been moved onto a dacs as it is still performing the task of providing a pstn service. in-line with the 21CN dacs are being declared as a thing of the past, however as budget restrictions limit the planners abilitys they are still being provided. these will lift with time and hopefully dacs will be no more.
if it is just for b/band use, then an option is to have a chat with the neighbours and maybe create a wireless network across the site allowing everyone to share the connection and splitting the cost. i have seen it happening on my travels. then perhaps if you req phone service aswell then going down the ip phone route would then be an option.
How likely would it be that I get charged at all? Is it likely that Openreach will not supply me with a phone line? Or is it something that will happen one way or another?
I did mention about a line I thought was no longer in use. I was just told that the survey officer would be aware of that already.
If two people on the site does not have broadband on their lines, they will most likely put them on to DAC's and give me a single line suitable for broadband? That would mean that they would not be able to put me on DAC's if ever they wanted to? Unless I didn't have broadband?
What I'm also trying to ask is, in future with BT, would any issues arise where if I wanted a particular service that it wouldn't be possible due to some possible differences with the line I've ordered?
as the way things are now, technically your not our customer so we don't charge you. if any extra costs were req'd this would be passed onto your CP (comms provider) to see if they are prepared to go ahead. once you have b/band on a line it's impossible to get a dacs on to it(they use very similar technology on the line and thus arn't compatible with each other). all line orders are done the same now so, whatever you wanted to do with it would be possible, as long as the copper pair is capable of supporting it. i.e you couldn't get a SDSL service on a 6KM line. the only problems you could have in the future is changing between different providers and trying to obtain mac codes etc. many discussions about this in the b/band forum.
I phoned first thing this morning and was told that it would cost me £649.19 plus the standard fee of £124.99 for the installation. I asked for a break down of what the charges were for. I was told for 10m of cable, the trench for the cable and some junction box to connect up behind the caravan next door. Then I said about the site owner because he told me that he would do the trench. The BT guy told me that it might reduce the cost but I've no idea of how much.
The site owner said that he's never heard anything like it, someone having to pay that amount for a phone line. I agree with him, it's extortionate. The second BT person I spoken to today said that she's reckons its about £350 for the survey alone. A fee that I will have to pay ONLY if I decide to have the work done.
I'm hoping that openreachpeep could give me a more detailed break down of how much it costs for this cable and for the junction box and even for the trench, though I might be getting a trench done for free.
However, £350 would be about 5 hours work for a skilled engineer. That's perhaps reasonable for the time to travel out to you, do the survey, and then determine the correct solution.
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayCategory.do?categoryId=CON-NEW-LINE-R1
"...To order a new line, select 'order now' for the standard price plan you would like. The installation cost for a new BT line is £124.99*.
blah blah blah
* If there's a working BT line in the property connection should be free of charge, but if the line needs to be reconnected to BT or a new line is required, a connection charge of £124.99 will apply. Minimum term of 12 months applies."
I got home on Monday and phoned BT after hearing nothing from them. Was given the name of the Openreach survey officer wanting to talk to me and the woman I spoken to also told me that there was a note for them to check progress on the situation the following day.
That is the latest news at the moment.
I insisted that my site owner would want to dig the trench. This prompted the BT Customer Services Representative to contact Openreach to find out more. I was put on hold while she done this.
When she got back to me a few minutes later, the Openreach planners said that if I wanted to do part of the work or get the site owner to do it then another survey would be required costing £350 on top of the existing excess charges and excluding VAT of course. I told them that there would be absolutely no chance of me agreeing to that. I told her that I've got no problem with BT doing the work themselves and that it was my site owner initially saying he would dig the trench.
I asked the BT CS Rep to phone my site owner to inform him of what is meant to be happening and to get his permission. She rang back within 5 minutes to say that he doesn't have a problem with me having a phone line installed.
Anyway, it works like this:
Excess Charges = £649.19
Std Installation = £124.99
Broadband = £68.97
Line Rental = £31.50
Total Amount = £874.65
Another annoying thing is that I've now been told that the number that was given out to me will change.
www.sand-le-mere.co.uk
99% of the site is caravans with just a few chalets
We took it on mid 2006 and wanted BB Internet , we contacted BT who came out and surveyed the area.
I spoke to the guy doing the survey , he pointed out a BT small manhole cover in front of next doors chalet. He explained they would dig a trench and lay a cable from the manhole to our chalet .
He rang a few days later to confirm it would cost £125 in total , we agreed to go ahead
A week later the cable was laid , and just few days after that the line was installed from the grey junction box on the side of our chalet to internally and fit a main BT box internally .
Once we had the phone number we booked BB via AOL
It took around 3 weeks from enquiry to going live with a phone line and a further 10 days saw us live on BB
The total price charged by bt was £125 which was added to our first bill , we then set up a DD to pay a monthly amount for the install and phone bill usage
Were we lucky ?
We use Aol wireless router and next doors use our BB connection by way of the network key
I'm going to phone BT in the morning to see if I can get more information on what will happen. I will insist they speak to someone at Openreach for that information because BT themselves do not know.
I've had BT Broadband up and running 4 days after ordering with my connection at home. Not sure it will be the same now though. I've received my Home Hub for the caravan and been sent an activation email for a phone number that is no longer allocated to me and no connection exists just yet. The email was sent on 26th March but email said it was activated on 28th Jan. I've been told that I will not be billed for this.
I phoned BT first thing this morning, the guy I spoken to just told me that there were no new notes from Openreach but that he would contact them to see what would be happening on Wednesday so about half an hour later he phoned me back.
I was told that nothing would be happening on Wednesday from what he gathered from Openreach. Openreach are now blaming the contractors that are contracted to dig the trench.
I've since complained to Otelo and Ofcom and seems there is nothing that they can do. I did complain by letter to BT and nothing happened with that either.
I asked the guy who is dealing with my complaint whether he could complain on my behalf to someone at BT and he just told me that he doesn't deal with complaints.
I asked for him to complain because I'm tired of complaining to BT and not achieving anything. They have also changed my number for a third time now too. That gives some idea how long this process is all taking. I just hope that the next number I get given is better than the new one I got today!
The best thing of all is, they are now taking £32 a month out of my account for a service I'm not being provided with.
Its got me wondering just how deep the dug down ?
Have you thought about 3G? Depending on where you are speeds are getting faster.
thats called moleploughing and it should be about 6inchs.
To the poster that mentioned 3G. It is unavailable in my area, not sure it ever will be. I think better technology will be in existence before they could upgrade to 3G here. Anyway, I will have to make do with O2 GPRS Web Bolt-On and typing on an O2 XDA Orbit for now.
BT did suggest that another distribution point might be required. Would anyone have any idea how long things could take if this is the case? Can one DP be connected to another? Or is a seperate line required comung all the way from the exchange? There are so many questions that I feel need answering that only Openreach can really answer but there rules in place so that only phone providers can speak to them.