Here is the deal every house in out street apart from next door to my friends has it's own gray bt box on the outside wall where the cable from the street cab comes it then changes to the cable that then goes in to the house,

But the house on the end has no gray box it shares a gray box with my friend who lives next door whos gray box has two wires one to his and one to his next door,

So what has happend is that the house next door to my friend has lost their telephone service but my friends is ok bt said that in the cable that goes to the street cab there is two pairs of cables in it one goes to my friends and the other for next door and next doors to my friend needs changeing as their pair of cables is damaged and now bt want to dig up my friends new drive way and lay a new cable but his phone is ok is it the law that he must let bt change the cable why can they just lay a new cable to next doors
Last edited by Rd100 : 22-01-2007 at 17:15

I'd have said that BT have no rights. They should dig up the drive of the faulty house, Anyway I would have thought it far cheaper to put in a DACX (if thats how its spelt) which splits a single pair into two seperate lines.

Check with your local CAB would be your best best.

BT should provide a service pipe to the house that is affected. Before they can dig up they need a wayleave from the home owner to say they can do the work. If they come to you asking to sign- refuse!!

When the service was first introduced most houses with a underground feed shared the cable with their neighbours as it was cheaper. In these modern times alot of people have 2 lines or more so your own feed to your property is required.

What ever happens you DO NOT want to be on a Dacs line as this is a digital circuit that carries 2 lines down it, but you cannot get broadband on it and your download speed is 28kbs which is half normal dial up speeds

Well i have been to my friends and checked and it seems that in the gray box it does have two pairs of cables and we could also see that on his next doors house there use to be a bt box and it looks like it has been removed in the past,

Also the cable that goes from my friends house from the box on the wall to the guy next door to him seems to be quite new,

So what you are saying is that BT cannot just come and just change the cable they must get my friend to sign a form,



Last edited by Rd100 : 22-01-2007 at 22:09

If they need to dig up his land then yes he has to sign a wayleave.

what if he does not sign it can bt take him to court about it or would they have no option buy to dig up next doors drive instead

They would lay a new cable directly to the property.

no its his land and they want to supply the cable for the neighbour then they will have to dig up there land!

unless of course the previous owner signed a wayleave that was transferred with property ownership

Something else to consider.
Is it possible the cable was damaged when the new drive was laid?

Its is highly likely there is a wayleave in existance for the property. BT (as the old GPO) has rights of access for overhead cables going back many years, underground ones that were installed when the house was built is normally covered by a wayleave agreement. it should normally be in some sort of conduit so would be easy to pull through.

Is there a pole near to the property?
If son they could just sling one over from there, they do have a right to do that, and even over someone else property too (over certain heights)