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Easiest method to upgrade to fibre please

clive05
Member
Hi newbie here but longest bt customer.
Question directed at Mod Daniel S as he seems to know his stuff and get things done.
I have bt business phone line and broadband.
For that i pay £180 per quarter.
I get average speed on adsl2 of 15 mbps but down to 3mbps when i run more than one computer.
I use supplied bt router.
I want to upgrade to fibre optic.
My postcode is bn31aj.
I recently found out my whole street has fibre active up and running etc,except for my address and 3 to 4 other neighbours.
I did some research and found im connected to cabinet p75 up the road bout 40 meters away which is not fibre enabled,therefore when i type in my postcode on bt website i have no option to upgrade as it only sees me linked to non fibre cabinet p75.
There is another cabinet called p114,a bit nearer at the end of my street,which is fibre enabled and connected to all my neighbours addresses.
What is the easiest way to connect to fttc cabinet p114?
I tried calling bt sales to cancel my line and get another line but she said theres no guarantee i would have new line connected to closer fttp cabinet.
I must keep my same phone number,my business relies on it for past 40 years.my phone number is also connected to bt redcare so i dont want that disrupted.
Maybe i have to order another secondary phone line so that one can be connected to cabinet p114?
But i cant afford any additional overheads we are only small business.
I read on a forum that an openreach engineer can goto my exchange (less than half mile away) and change my line from old cabinet 75 to new and nearer cabinet 114.
I find it unfair that because im a business address i cannot be offered a phone and broadband package and have to run each separately which costs too much,and im not getting the service im paying for and bt have told me they are increasing their prices soon.
Any help appreciated thanks clive.
7 REPLIES 7

RyanJames
BT Employee
BT Employee

Hi Clive

 

Hope you are well.

 

Very sorry to hear you are having these issues. This certainly is a tricky one - you were advised correctly, a new line could go to the other cabinet but there is no guarantee - because of that I understand it leaves you at a bit of an impass. Sales would probably still be the best people to speak to about this one - but I will have a word with a few colleagues for you to see if there are any other options with regards to this!

 

All the best,

 

Ryan

clive05
Member

ok many thanks.I spoke to a BT engineer in my area on Friday,and although i cannot switch to a different cabinet,he said it might be possible to run a new line from the external distribution box outside my neighbour next door but ones at number 17,but do i get an engineer out first to assess the situation? and is that chargable?

I also need to keep my old bt number as my business has relied on it for the past 40 years,and also BT Redcare is on that line,so can i port my old number and Redcare onto this new line,within or after my broadband and phone line contract runs out? and then cancel my old phone line and adsl2 broadband contract? as i don't want to be paying for 2 phone lines,especially at Bt business rates.

In an ideal world i would have one fibre broadband only line (not sure if you need to fit an analogue new phone line to have a broadband only line seems a bit of a contradiction) running both my phone line and my fibre broadband with Bt Redcare linked to it too.

thanks again,Clive.

 

RyanJames
BT Employee
BT Employee

Hi again Clive

 

I had a word with one of the technical helpdesk coaches for you. This is certainly a tricky one. What they suggested is to get the ball rolling you could contact the helpdesk and request an engineer to go out to prove that the speed would be better at a different cabinet. From that, based on the severity of the difference there MAY be a way of getting that changed over, but I have been advised it is not a quick or simple process - or indeed one that is guaranteed. Keeping the number may add complications - but I think your best bet is to conatct the tech helpdesk on 0800 800 154 and speak to them further about this, and ideally something can be done in regads to this.

 

Regards

Ryan

clive05
Member

ok thanks for advice.i got an engineer coming tomorrow to have a look.

I thought it would be just a case of connecting a new line to next doors external distribution box and running cable into mine,then porting my old number and redcare eventually onto new line,and if there is no room left in the distribution box,then just fit a new box with more connections.

i had similar problem 20 years ago upgrading from dial up to isdn2,and by the time they got round to upgrading it,(2 years) broadband had been invented,and they just put my phone line,broadband & Redcare on one line,however i've never since been able to get a BT Business phone & broadband package,and am currently paying for both on 2 separate accounts,looks like with another phone line i'll now have 3 accounts,and higher monthly bills,when just wanted one line and everything on it as a package deal,

regards clive.

clive05
Member

Hi well ive had engineer out,he said yes i can change from external distribution point 5281 (outside on my wall) to external distribution point 128 (the box connected to the nearer Fibre cabinet P114),but its not something they could do on the spot,then said get a survey officer to come along and see if its possible. (it clearly is possible,he even opened the DP box and as i guessed he showed me there were several spare pairs,doing nothing,& ready to connect to).

I tried that via openreach but they cant book a survery officer,i have to do it through my BT isp.

So back i go ringing BT isp,but BT isp sales people dont like me talking directly to Openreach,and will not just book me a survey officer without ordering another new phone line.

If i order a new phone line,they say it more than likely will not be connected to DP 128,it will probably be connected to my current DP 5281,but that is pointless.

I want a new line from DP 128 to access Fibre from the nearer cabinet.(and eventually my same number,fibre broadband and Redcare on that new line).

Its not rocket science.

I might just get a ladder and connect a piece of phone cable myself,would take me 10 mins,cost me the price of a piece of cable,and no endless days stuck in BT's bureaucratic loop hole.

I'm paying £60 a month for separate broadband and phone line.

I should be paying alot less and be put on a package deal.

The rest of my street are connected to this Fibre cabinet and paying alot less for the privilage.

I have shares in Bt and have been with them over 40 years.

Loyalty counts for nothing.

I'm now writing to the C.E.O, as everyone else is just passing my request around avoiding an easy solution,

which is...

1;Climb up a ladder,

2;open box,

3;shove in new piece of cable,

4;run cable to my front door (8 meters away),

5;plug into a BT Fibre router,

6;plug my BT HuB 5 router into that via a little WAN cable 50p ebay.

7;speed test...check to see if it goes from measley 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps (as i know it will,i dont have to use the term 'probably' in a professional conversation).

8; Job complete,total time to do job about 1 hour from up down ladder and running wire and rigging up.

 

Time taken so far to get nowhere on the phones 5 days 23 hours and counting.

 

I would just switch providers but im too afraid that BT will cease my 40 year old phone number my business relies on,and i'll never get it back,and as soon as they line test (which they did the other day on my old line when i told them not to,because there is no need to line test my old line with the ADSL2 broadband on it,as that works,but is too slow,and because it sets of my alarm connected to Redcare,i came back to the shop in the afternoon and the alarm had been sounding for the last hour my neighbours told me).

So in summary; BT are providing about 1/3 of the service im paying for (slow broadband and a phone line for an extortionate £60 a month),so im now only going to pay them a third of their bill,£20 pounds a month,and lets see what happens.

Bobby
Super User

Hey clive05,

 

If you want to move to another provider, you won't lose your phone number. Your new provider will be responsible for putting in a request to move the number across and deal with the cease order. Note that if you're still within contract, early termination charges may apply so you would be best taking a look at this first. Before an engineer can be booked a line must be tested which is why it would have been necessary to do that before arranging that visit. 

 

By not paying the bill in full, your services will be restricted (phone line and broadband will no longer work) and after a period of no payment, they will be ceased completely. This will be reflected against your credit so I definitely wouldn't do this. If you believe you have been missold, you're best contacting the customer options team on 0800 800 152.

 

Thanks, Bobby

clive05
Member

I dont need to move to a new provider,as all the cabinets around here are run by BT,so any other provider just has to try and jump onto their cabinet,been there,tried that.

I cant risk ceasing my phone line to then hopefully get a new line with old phone number,because once they cease this line,i've heard to many horror stories whereby customers cannot retrieve their old landline numbers.

I've already had BT do line tests,which was pointless because the line works,but i am trying to connect to the other DP which is connected to the new Fibre cabinet at the end of my road,simple as that.

BT have already done a line test,which i told them not to,because line is connected to Redcare and when they test it,it sets of my alarm,they did this twice now,first time i was out,and the police arrived,as alarm had been going off all afternoon,thanks very much.

Ive had an engineer stand next to me in the road,we checked inside the other DP box,and guess what,yes there are more than one pair of line sockets to connect to.He also checked that that DP box was connected to new fibre cabinet at end of road,answer yes it is.

I've written to BT C.E.O which has moved me up the pile a bit,but still the salesperson says i need to contact open reach to order a 'line-re-routing',then they just update their records,then i ring back BT ISP and they can set up a fibre and phone line package.I ve been back to my BT isp,they cant order an openreach engineer,i have to order it,but openreach wont speak to retail customers.

So i've contacted openreach again by email,and they say 'please confirm phone number before we can do research into getting fibre on that line' (i know i can't,thats not what im trying to do),oh dear,that really is going backwards to square one 😞

So now i've forwarded all the emails from the last 2 weeks i've been having with my BT isp to BT openreach to get them up to speed (pardon the pun) with this case.

So as i keep saying all i need is an engineer to shove in new line (2 wires) into fibre enabled DP box next door,stick master socket on other end of phone wire in my property,stick fibre router on end of that,everyone update their records (to show my line is coming off other DP box) and sell me new BT fibre & phone package,hopefull alot cheaper than the current £60 per month i pay for woeful speeds.

i reckon its about 1 hours physical work,but i'm currently being held up by all this phone call and email bureaucracy.

If i get bad credit rating,then i'll just blame BT as it's their fault.