How does residential phone line rental work?

darksquid - you can ALWAYS haggle with phone/broadband companies.  Don't take the first thing they offer you & don't accept ridiculous reconnection charges.  Tell them that if they want your business, they'll connect it for free.

Also - what was wrong with Virgin?  Their CABLE service does NOT require a BT line nor BT line rental.  If they want you to get a BT line, then you will be getting BROADBAND, which is not the same thing as cable.  Cable is a good way to avoid paying line rental.  Call them again and ask if they can install cable in your flat.  If they absolutely can't, then you've got no choice but to get your BT line re-connected.

This is very helpful, Aless, thanks. However, it was my impression from speaking to them that cable isn't available at the new flat (although it's literally right around the corner from our current place), which is why they require a BT line.

I will do my best to haggle now - I didn't know that was possible.

I'd just go knock on the door and ask them...couldn't hurt.

I had thought about that, but I would rather not - the negotiations with the seller have become a little bit.... strained, so I don't feel this would be appropriate. This is why the estate agent is being a bit cagey about approaching them about something so trivial, I think. 

We had Telewest in our old flat and we knew we were moving to a house that had an existing BT line (the Estate Agent told us).

Anyway, about 3 weeks before the move, I phoned Telewest to tell them that we were moving out on x date and could they disconnect from that date...no problem right?  Wrong...they disconnected us the very next day.  When I phoned to complain they told us that they could reconnect us but that it would take a minimum of 14 days...

Just something to be aware of!

(oh, and it took 7 weeks all in for the BT line to be connected...the big problem seemed to be that the previous owners took the phone number with them).

When we moved into our flat, BT told us four times that it would cost £122 to reconnect.  After speaking to the landlady and being told that there was a working line there up until a month after we moved in, I called BT back, they changed their tune, and said it would be up to the engineer, as he has to see if it needed to be reconnected to the box.  He came round three days later, confirmed that it didn't, and we had our line on that afternoon, for no fee.


Vicky

This is very helpful, Aless, thanks. However, it was my impression from speaking to them that cable isn't available at the new flat (although it's literally right around the corner from our current place), which is why they require a BT line.

It's possible they just meant that it isn't CURRENTLY installed.  If the new place is just around the corner, then odds are good that they can simply install cable in the new place, too.  Call again and ask - and definitely try and haggle getting it done for free because then they can retain what they know is a good customer!  If they can't install cable (which is possible, especially in more rural areas or streets not yet wired), then you'll have to get a typical phone line connected.

Either way, the current flat either has cable already OR a BT line.  Those are the only 2 landline phone possibilities that the current tenant can have right now, so someone's fibbing!

Anyway, about 3 weeks before the move, I phoned Telewest to tell them that we were moving out on x date and could they disconnect from that date...no problem right?  Wrong...they disconnected us the very next day.  When I phoned to complain they told us that they could reconnect us but that it would take a minimum of 14 days...

Sky did the same thing to us when we moved.  I don't think it helps to let them (any of them) know what you're doing ahead of time.  In fact it just seems to make it worse.

Carl

And don't forget all the problems i had with Tiscali when i moved to Glasgow... i had no internet for over 3 weeks, and constant problems communicating with them.  Although they finally agreed to waive all fees and let me cancel, weeks later i am STILL getting letters from them saying 'we are ready to install your Tiscali TV!'...  i never ordered TV... it was simply a move of the broadband account from one address to another. 

Also - what was wrong with Virgin?  Their CABLE service does NOT require a BT line nor BT line rental.  If they want you to get a BT line, then you will be getting BROADBAND, which is not the same thing as cable.

Broadband simply means "high speed (faster than dialup) internet". There are 4 main ways of getting it.

- Cable

- ADSL (via a phone line)

- Wireless

- Satellite

Yeah, I'm loathe to go with tiscali because of a number of friends - including yourself - have had problems with them. Anyways, I just got off the phone with them, and they said I need to have a physical BT box installed to get their services.

I've also spoken to Virgin again, and they reiterated that cable cannot be installed in the new flat... even though it's right round the corner from us, it is in an area that can't be serviced for some reason. So they, too, require a BT line if we want to use them.

Putting together everything I've been told here and by the customer service people from all the companies I've called, I think I finally understand. The guy from the Post Office told me last night that a third party supplier may have disconnected the BT line when service was cancelled. There is most likely still a physical BT box in the flat, but it may or may not have been physically disconnected from the exchange.

For BT, this offers them a good opportunity to make a few bob off a new customer, so they insist on charging £122 for an engineer to come out - whether or not it needs to be physically reconnected. Greedy buzzards. As this sounds suspiciously like what Vicky went through, I think I will do the same as she did, and insist we won't pay unless the line does indeed need to be physically reconnected.

Now, I've got an appointment for BT to come out four days after we move to sort out the phone line (which will involve one of us taking the morning off work, thanksverymuch). If we go with a third party to supply our broadband, will this definitely entail ANOTHER engineer visit, even if we don't require a new modem? Tiscali said they would need to send an engineer and that we would get our internet 7 - 10 days after their visit!! No thanks! If this is indeed the case, I might be tempted just to go with BT so they can get it sorted all in one visit. I begrudge having to deal with them at all at this point, but that might be the easiest option.

Anyways, Teuchter/carl... I filled out the online form on Virgin's website to tell them what date to cut off our services. A customer service agent phoned back to confirm, saying he just wanted to check they got it right so we weren't cut off prematurely. I wonder if this has been a big problem in the past?

****7 WEEKS**** to get a BT line sorted?! Honestly, they are on my sh*tlist right now - that's outrageous.

Right, I think that's me finished with phonecalls to phone companies tonight. What a crock!  

If we go with a third party to supply our broadband, will this definitely entail ANOTHER engineer visit, even if we don't require a new modem?

We haven't needed a second engineer to come out from Sky.  If you have a working BT line and a working modem, I don't know why you'd need one, but maybe Tiscali engineers do something special like sing to you or bring you a Nando's.   

****7 WEEKS**** to get a BT line sorted?! Honestly, they are on my sh*tlist right now - that's outrageous.

Right, I think that's me finished with phonecalls to phone companies tonight. What a crock!  

RANT ON.  I know this is off topic, and I know we're not supposed to be making sweeping generalizations about the UK based on a few isolated incidents, but based on the number of posts I've seen on here and elsewhere, and conversations I've had with friends and coworkers, I think I can safely say that the major providers of broadband in the UK are all sh*t.

It generally takes a BT line to get broadband, but any time you move to a new apartment or house, the BT line doesn't work or isn't owned by BT, so you have to pay to get an engineer out, and then argue with BT about whether or not you actually needed to pay for an engineer.  Once you've spent 5 days waiting for BT to get the phone sorted out, you then spend another 7 to 10 days waiting for someone somewhere to flip a switch and turn your broadband on.

If you move from one house to another, they cut off your broadband as soon as you tell them you're moving, and then don't turn it on at your new house until you call them after waiting the 7 to 10 days for it to come on.  When you call to ask what's going on, they've never heard of you, and you have to start the whole process again as though you were a new customer, and all of this after speaking with the specialists in the home moving section.

I thought cable/internet providers in the US were bad, but they are light years ahead of their UK peers with regard to basic competence.

In case anyone feels the need to come to the defense of the UK broadband industry, I'm happy to entertain any "My Broadband Provider is Excellent" themed stories.  RANT OFF

Carl

Hang on...are BT now saying that they will charge £122 just for the engineer to come out, even if nothing needs doing?  That can't be right!


Vicky

Dirty rotten scoundrels!!!

Hang on...are BT now saying that they will charge £122 just for the engineer to come out, even if nothing needs doing?  That can't be right!


Vicky

No, sorry... this is what they told me the other night when I arranged the appointment, and before I realised that they might very well be yanking my chain. Armed with what I know now, I am going to ring them back tomorrow and tell them that I suspect there is indeed a BT line in the flat, but if they insist, to go ahead and send the engineer - if nothing needs to be physically reconnected, I'm not going to pay them their £122.

carl - amen, brother.

But how are you going to know if the engineer isn't just pretending to "connect wires". Personally, I don't know that I'd be savvy enough to suss it out, even watching over his shoulder. Unless, I had Paul_1966 watching along side me! 

Sales guys work on commission.  Engineers don't.  I wouldn't worry about them, I would be amazed if any engineers tried to con customers in that way.  As I said, mine was completely honest about the minimum work required.


Vicky