new house, new phone line help

[strapping young lad]

we are moving house on the 31st and as the house is vacant and been so for a while the bt line has been cut off..

since my priorities are based on what i want, im up for getting broadband up and running :)

could i pre-book bt to get a line hooked up to the house or do i have to move in first? also how long does it take for bt to activate a line and give me a telephone number?

[generation-x]

hi m8
we moved not so long ago bt wudnt do anything till we had moved in the bt line had not been in use for about 10yrs so they had to go to the local echange to check the line then set it up for broadband we only moved about 6 miles from last house so we were able to keep our old number. so had no issues with that part
gettin the bt broadband bits was not so easy that took over a month to come (we got the new wireless box thing from off tv) once up and runnin not had any probs at all

simon

[Evilgoat]

Moved about a month ago. BT insisted on a deposit, sent them a cheque. Install day turned up and engineer didnt. Over 8 hours on a mobile on hold and never did get it sorted. Almost 2 months later still heard owt.

Phoned Virgin day after install was due and they were here 2 days later and we are all up and ready to go.

With my other recent brushes with BT I would never reccomend anyone use them anymore. NTL used to be last resort but even they are better now.

It took almost 4 months to get the lines at our new office right and they get screwed up/cutt off on a monthly basis. It actually took the threat of legal action to get them sorted.

BT will book the apointment ahead but will charge ahead too, you'll be asked for a £25-£50 cheque especially if they cant work out what state the line is in.

[JumboBeef]

When we moved here two years ago, it took BT five months to get Broadband working here, and we later received more than £400 compensation from them for all the mistakes and delays.

[Biodiesel-Bev]

We had probs with BT too, switched phone line and t'internet broadband to Talktalk.  
Found them pretty good, even when we've had technical probs you can actually get through to someone on the helpline and they do seem to know what they're talking about.  
The engineer even phoned us back (to avoid premium call rate) and spent 25 mins talking us through sorting a prob.  Was very impressed with that service.

[strapping young lad]

hmm

pity there isnt a virginmedia cable in the road...

there has been a bt line in the house until march when it was disconnected as the previous owners moved down south.. (tewkesbury.. bet they're gutted now!)

so at least the fact there is an actual wire to the house is in our favour..

[Evilgoat]

hmm

pity there isnt a virginmedia cable in the road...

there has been a bt line in the house until march when it was disconnected as the previous owners moved down south.. (tewkesbury.. bet they're gutted now!)

so at least the fact there is an actual wire to the house is in our favour..

You should be OK *if* you can get through to them. Our problem is it had been cut off years ago and had single pair copper cable comming in which they wanted to replace.

[pilgrim]

i've been waiting a month for bt to come and fit a line to my new house (newbuild). they keep promising to call back but never do. average call length is over an hour because you get passed from one department to another. really pee'ed off with them, but no alternatives.

made a complaint and was told that the problem is that they no longer have the monopoly - good job!

and to think they are charging me £125 for all this!!

[thermidorthelobster]

When we moved in 4 years ago, I prebooked both the BT line and the Zen ADSL connection.  The BT line was working on the day we moved in, the ADSL about 2 days later.

[strapping young lad]

did you pre-book knowing or NOT knowing the new telephone line
or did you state you wanted a live line on the specific date and they gave you the number?

[thermidorthelobster]

I stated I was moving in on a given date, and they allocated me a new number, as I was moving to a different area code.  I've never moved within the same area code so I'm not sure if you can do that if you want to keep your number.

[strapping young lad]

nope present number is a business number and is staying put

will need a new number in new house