Hi,

My name is Alan and I was recommended to come here by a friend to ask for advice with a small but very troublesome problem.

A few months before Christmas our internet kept dropping out so we phoned the internet company who told us it must be the phone line. So a friend said to check the junction box which is just inside my house by my living room window. Lo and behold, it was corroded inside(It is a BT80A J.box). So not having much money, I bought a new BT80A from a website and tried to install it myself. It worked but my phone line is very noisy and my internet connection is still slow to this day(Only downloading at a max of 25Kbps as opposed to 130Kbps before I changed it, when it was working that is)My connection now never drops but I need more speed for work.

Which brings me to my current problem. My phone company is a company called Primus Telecommunications who I find great. Now we have the money to have a new line installed(after extensive research I found this was going to cost around £125). Primus told us to call BT as they own the line and would be cheaper to go through them. But BT send us back to Primus and said we can only go through them. Primus then said we would be charged £100 an hour for the engineer to come and install a line! and thats only on a weekday!

If theres anyone with a similar experience or even someone who is an engineer could please tell me how long this would take. I'm 99% sure it is just the junction box that needs replacing. I really can't afford to pay more than £125 and have been saving for months to be able to afford this.

Please help!

The wholesale rate for a new phone line is cheaper than the engineering charge to fix a problem such as yours, actual time to do a job is short but BT Openreach will charge your phone supplier a large call out charge.

I would shop around and find the cheapest new line installation cost - shouldn't be more than £110 without a long term contract - could be free if you accept a long contract. Only issue would be a possible extra charge for reconnecting the broadband to your new line.

Even just to replace a junction box? One thing I'm also unclear on is the drop wire outside the house that comes into the junction box. Is that my responsibility or BT's? If they charge me loads I may bring up th fact that I have a telephone support wire secured on my property which isn't in my deeds

Not sure why you think you need a new line. If your current line is faulty, then up to the demarcation point, ie the BT master socket, it's the responsisbility of your landline provider to get landline problems repaired and your ISP to get broadband problems repaired.

If the problem is with your internal wiring, for which you are responsible, if you're not confident to fix it yourself, look for a local electrician or similar to do the job.

If the BT80A is joining the drop wire to the internal wiring, this will be a BT Openreach responsibility, and you should not touch it. You cant deal with Openreach direct, that's something your telephone line provider need to sort out for you. Your telephone service provider should talk you through diagnosing if the problems lies on the Openreach side or your side of the wiring.

Alan, welcom to the forum.

As mentioned Openreach would be responsible for all the wiring upto and including your main connection.
You will need to identify the type of main socket you have.
Type 1. (linbox)
The socket looks like it is in 2 halves, with a groove between each part, the shuttered socket is in the bottom half, if you have this type you will need to undo the 2 small screws in the bottom half and gently unplug this half.
If you now look inside the part left on the wall there will be another socket just in on the right hand side, this is the test socket. You will need to beg, steal or borrow another known working phone and plug directly into this socket without a ADSL filter.
If you get the noise to there it is the responsibility of your line provider to sort out, they will contact BT Openreach who will repair it free (unless wiring is damaged within the confinds of your property).
It maybe a good idea to contact your supplier whilst plugged into the test socket, and tell them so whilst explaining the problem.

Type 2. (Master socket)
This type has the shuttered socket directly in the centre. The only check you can do here is to ensure you unplug all phones and equipment(sky and BB) from all sockets in the house and then try a working phone direct into the 1st socket on the system, once again then ring Primus.

You may find Primus are unwilling to take on board your problem as they will get a bill from Openreach for their attendance, just threaten to leave.

As already mentioned you dont need a 'new' line so no point looking at the charge for installing one, if your existing line has a fault you need to report it, but you need to do that via your telephony provider (whoever you pay line rental to)....but you need to be aware that if you have a problem that is considered to be on your own wiring/sockets/equipment then should be BT Openreach come out for that ,you will be charged indirectly via your provider Primus, if thats who you pay line rental to, ..thats why a lot of service providers wont progress faults (if the line tests ok) because they have to pay for an unneccesary visit and get the money back from the end user, this fee is about the same as getting a new line installed, (£100+)but if the fault is on the network its fixed free of charge.
Generally wiring upto the master socket is BTO's responsibility, but damage not considered to be fair wear and tear on the 'network' side of the master socket if on your property can also be charged ,
If you get a visit from a BTO engineer I wouldnt mention that you changed the BT80 yourself as you shouldnt touch anything on BTO side of the master socket.
If your line is noisy, then thats probably the 'fault' you need to report to your telephony provider, if you look at your phone book on the first few pages is a guide on how to prove a fault is 'to line' rather than on your own kit.

Here is some info on the master socket check your connection by plugging in your router to the master socket with the face removed -this will show if your internal wiring is faulty or in need of closer inspection:
http://www.beforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8152
Who supplies your ADSL?
this site will tell you what is available in your area;
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php