Setting up broadband at a new address (issue)

James J · 25 Jan 2013 at 12:58

...with a twist! I've moving to an apartment in barnsley on monday and was told that I should wait til then before sorting out an internet connection to it. Each of the apartments has a telephone line to it, yet I don't know the number for the line going to my apartment, so each of the broadband providers is insisting I need a telephone line fitting and that the earliest date for an engineer to call round is the 14th february in the afternoon, when I'll be at work. I can't wait 3 weeks for an internet connection, so want to know that if the line is working when I get in, can I ring a provider and get them to activate it on the same day if I use my own router or is there actually some sort of hardware that needs to be installed on the line itself?

If the later, can I get a self employed telephone engineer to sort that out for me and simply ring up sky, plusnet, talk talk etc and just ask them to activate it that way?

Never done this before and annoyed that the lead time for an engineer is so damn long.

KIA · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:06

No. You'll have to get BT to activate it before you can place an order for broadband. This will mean you'll have to pay line rental as well as the monthly broadband cost.

James J · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:09

KIA said:
No. You'll have to get BT to activate it before you can place an order for broadband. This will mean you'll have to pay line rental as well as the monthly broadband cost.

Yeah I'm expecting to pay line rental and have budgeted for it also. So can I get third party telephone engineer to activate the line for me to shave time off that 3 weeks wait or do I need to take and afternoon off work and live for nearly 3 weeks without an internet connection?

I even thought about going to something like a dongle or 4g etc, yet the download limits are pathetic and my photography would destroy a download limit in no time.

GhostlyPea · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:29

Unfortunatly you'll need to do the latter. if the line isn't live then your Internet (DSL) is not going anywhere. A 3rd party person will be no good as the work will either need to be done at a green cab or the local exchange

- GP

James J · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:33

So damn annoying. If I've got a dial tone when I move in (as someone has lived there over a year and moved out today) and I can get the number by ringing 17070, will that potentially help eliminate the need for an engineer to call round?

James J · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:42

Infact, just got this from my letting agent who works in the apartment building:

We do have phone lines in every apartment and all are ready to accept sky,
BT, Virgin for internet broadband and telephone. The company you choose may
well charge you a set up fee, but all are enabled ready to be activated.
Other apartments have had these installed with no problems.

Does that mean I should be able to sort it out without an engineer?

bremen1874 · 25 Jan 2013 at 13:46

Presumably the previous tenant will have cancelled the line?

If the line exists you won't need a site visit unless you're getting FTTC. All the work will be at the exchange or your local cabinets.

James J · 25 Jan 2013 at 14:00

bremen1874 said:
Presumably the previous tenant will have cancelled the line?

If the line exists you won't need a site visit unless you're getting FTTC. All the work will be at the exchange or your local cabinets.

FTTC? Thats something I'm not sure about. This is the only thing I'm having issues with in terms of moving as all other bills have been simple to set up. Due to the nature of my job, I can't just take half a day off to wait for an engineer, which creates the issue in the first place. Due to my photography, the internet connection I have at the moment takes a pure beating, so unlimited packages are all that I consider tbh. I'd have gone for a dongle if the max download limits wasn't a paltry 15gb -.-

bremen1874 · 25 Jan 2013 at 14:14

I just had FTTC put onto one of my phone lines. I'm fairly sure there was an option to choose an early evening appointment.

If the line is still effectively active the work required may just be limited to someone updating a computer system. I guess it'll depend to some extent if you'll be using the same provider as the previous tenant.