Hi

We want to come back to BT so we can get sky broadband

We was told it would cost £124.99 because the line has been disconnected for some time and is old.

Woooh.... When i said it's a fairly new line because the house is only 10 years old, they said 'Have I got a dialling tone on my old socket' .Is this a normal thing to leave the dialling tone when you disconnect I asked ( I think not)...


If I had a brand new line would installed, this would be for some to dig up the garden lay new cables fit new sockets all for the same price £124.99

Any suggestions would be welcome

Do you have a dial tone when you plug a phone in? If so dial 17070 and you should hear the number of the line. The number could have been in use with any Communications Provider (CP). If the line was not BT the £124.99 would charge would apply.

when someone leaves a property and were with BT. the line at the property is put into a stopped state. this means that dial tone still exists at the socket but you can't make or receive calls on it. when for some reason part of the route of the line from the exchange to the DP(pole) has been used to provide service elsewhere he line is completly ceased. this is probs what has happened in your case. in which case you are advised of posible charges for installation as they have no way of testing the line before installation as it no longer exists on records. if you have a NTE (master socket and the cable is complete and in good condition back to the pole or sometimes a greybox on the outside, then when the engineer comes he will just need to tone you a new pair back to the exchange. we put this in our wiring report that service existed so BT should waive the charges for installation. though sometimes they still charge and it takes a couple of phonecalls to get the money back.

when we had our BT line disconnected (to switch to cable) it still had a dialtone for a few years after.

but now its completely dead. does this mean we would have to pay the 125 quid charge, if we wanted to go back to BT?

So why is it, that if you choose to switch AWAY from BT to another provider, you just ask that other provider and they do everything, at no cost, because they want your business.

Then when you try and switch BACK to BT, they want to charge you £125, even if the line is working and it just needs changing over again at the exchange.

Looks like they DON'T want your business.

Incidently, a friend of mine is in this predicament. The line still has a dial tone and can still receive calls, but not make them.

You only have to pay the £125 for a provision - i.e. a line connection where an engineer has to physically connect the line. If there is a dial tone, the charge should not apply, however, if there is not it will normally incur the charge.
This is a charge levvied by Openreach on your provider and your provider (BT Retail, Tiscali etc) will decide who pays.

well i dont think im going to be able to get out of the 124.99 fee....
....the line was completely dead, so I unscrewed the phone socket just out of curiosity and discover its been completely disconnected! (probaby when someone was re-decorating)

I think we'll be sticking with virgin media!

If I had to pay £125 I would INSIST they lay in a new line, just to get my moneys worth

im not sure where our lines come from. they are underneath the road and all the manholes are for cable so i dont see how they couldve used my line for somebody else.

but id def. need an engineer tho, cause the socket isnt even connected!

Then it is just a shame you can't insist on anything then isn't it.

it does seem unfair that you'd pay the same to get a new line installed in a field in the middle of nowhere - which could involve running miles of cable, and the same to reconnect which could just be joining 1 wire up in a junction box somewhere.

We are just moving into a property which has a BT line, the phone has a dial tone, but cannot make calls. After 2 phone calls to BT and thanks to the post above we have managed to get the line 'reactivated' for free!

Every BT employee we spoke to informed us that our only option was to pay the full £124.99 even after explaining about the dial tone. When we gave the address they all insisted that the line had been completely disconnected according to their system.

The 3rd person we spoke to last night looked into it a little more and told us to do a test on the line to try to find out what number was assigned to it. Fortunately we know the previous owner so we got the phone number off them instead. Once we gave the old phone number of the line suddenly BT found all the details that they couldn't find when we gave them just the address! Once they had the phone number of the line they confirmed that it was still connected at the exchange and that there would be no installation fee.

So, it's definately worth making sure you have a dial tone on the phone and if you can, find out what the phone number was.... it could save you a lot of money.

Thank you to all the members whom have posted on this topic.

quickest way to get the phone number of a stopped line(i.e dial tone but can't make calls) is to dial 17070.

That's due to them not passing on the thousands of pounds it might have cost.

I'm sure there would be some unhappy people if they had to pay the true cost, don't suppose they'd like a bill for several thousand pounds.

BT have extended their offer of £30 install. Though if you can get it free the better.

Hey Katia Polletin, do you have a link for this £30 install offer? the only one i can find expires 30th september. I'd love to take a Bt landline, Im desperate to leave Virgin media !!!

Welcome to the DS forums thenuns.

Try this - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...1#post14879231

I see Heinz has posted the link to the extended offer!

Thanks both !!! I'll give them a call tomorrow morning before work and see what I can do, I'll keep you posted

Some guy tried to sell me sky broadband and telly the other day in the supermarket. he said that this is a standard fee that BT are charging but if you ask Sky will refund it against your next bill once you join them.

I was told the £125 as well, that just made me more determined never to give them my money again.

Dont forget the £124/99 will also attract vat at 17.5 so
its near £150. Bt never mention plus vodka & tonic.

Its like a bt call out, £189. plus vat is £223, watch them

CP

No, the £124.99 is after VAT has been added (just as BT's current offer* is £29.99 after VAT has been added).

* However, 'normal' sales personnel aren't allowed to offer that, only COT (Customer Options Team) personnel can. Try calling COT direct on 0800 800 800.

Does 17070 only return the number on a closed line? I tried it and could only get a quiet test.

i tried it about 6 months ago to go back to bt. when we moved into this house in 1994 it cost me i think £125 to get the bt line connected, which was a lot of money then. cable was not down our street at the time. in the end i kept with vm got a good deal on v+ and not looked back.