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Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

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Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Sancia on Sun Jul 25, 2010 9:55 pm

Hi,

The question sounds silly... but I really have no idea.

I am moving to a new house, which the landlord has just left for a few weeks. There is a valid phone line inside however I believe the phone service has ended.

So here comes the problem:
1. As the phone service has ended, if I want to start a phone and broadband service based on "BT landline", do I have to pay BT the connection fee (as high as £120) ?

2. Now I am with virgin, also its line rental in my current house. I still have 2-month time left with this contract. Theoretically, I can move the service with me into the new house at no cost. When my Virgin contract ends and I want to start a BT line rental (as I am planning to get O2... for the mobile user discount), would I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Thanks so much!
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Fawksie on Sun Jul 25, 2010 10:22 pm

The only way you can avoid paying the reconnection fee is if the line is still active - i.e. there's dial tone when you lift the phone. You can ask BT for various deals when you ring up to get reconnected, they'll reduce substantially or waive the connection charge if you agree to an 18 month contract for example. There are also other companies such as the Post Office whose installation charges are slightly less than BT's, and whose lines will still allow you to get O2 LLU broadband. You'd be best to have a look on Google to see who's currently cheapest, but off the top of my head I know that the Post Office has a 1 month minimum term (with a small cancellation charge if cancelled within 3 months) which would be useful if you simply want to get a line installed and then move as soon as possible to O2's all-in-one line rental and broadband package.
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Sancia on Tue Jul 27, 2010 4:21 pm

Thanks very much.
I was a bit confused. However I've got a rough idea on what to do next.X. :roll:
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Gubbins on Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:07 pm

Note that the connection fee will be a lot lower if you have a BT phone socket (as opposed to NTL, etc.) in your property. This is because they then only have to reconnect you at the exchange, rather than install a new socket.
...then again, that is only my opinion.
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Fawksie on Wed Jul 28, 2010 7:53 pm

No, it won't. The connection fee is fixed (discounts excluded), and is charged every time a line is installed or an existing line is reactivated. If there exists a BT socket in the premises but it's disconnected at the exchange, ~£120 is still charged.
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby sgsg on Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:49 pm

Fawksie wrote:No, it won't. The connection fee is fixed (discounts excluded), and is charged every time a line is installed or an existing line is reactivated. If there exists a BT socket in the premises but it's disconnected at the exchange, ~£120 is still charged.


That's wrong. I have had several lines reconnected, and have never had to pay a reconnection fee, as in all cases they line was still there into my property, and it only needed to be "switched-on" at the exchange.

Indeed, this is from the BT website (note the "most people"):

# If you need to pay connection charge, you'll see it in your basket (most people don't have to pay it).
# Connection charge is £127.99 for line/calls only, £50 for a broadband & calls package or £0 for a TV, broadband & calls package.
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Fawksie on Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:27 am

When I say "disconnected at the exchange" I mean electrically disconnected. Since re-use of pairs is required more and more often these days, the run back to the exchange could be broken at the top of the pole, the distribution point, a street cabinet, or at the main distribution frame in the exchange. Previously it was the norm to leave lines permanently connected because deliberately disconnecting them was a pointless cost, but now engineers routinely have to re-use wiring dedicated to deactivated lines.

BT Price List wrote:Takeover applies when a Customer occupies a premises and a line used by a previous Customer is already in place at the premises, has a Dial Tone, (or soft dial tone) , and where no changes to internal or external wiring are required.

Residential take-over of service where no changes to internal or external wiring are required: £0.00

If any physical wiring work is required to reactivate (takeover) a line, the fee should be charged. It is likely that this was not the case for your lines, or that someone waived the fees for you.

But sure what do I know, I just work for them. :roll:
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby jequirity on Fri Jul 30, 2010 4:13 pm

If you're lucky enough to live in a cable area and you need to reconnect the line which costs ~£120 from BT, look at Virgin's deals. They'll connect you for ~£30 with fibre optic cable. If you don't live in a cable area you'll have to grin and bear it and stump up that £128 like i had to do recently :(
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Re: Do I need to pay BT the connection fee?

Postby Guest on Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:55 am

If the house has an HMO licence then it must provide a working telephone line, in which case any costs for connection should be borne by the landlord. Obviously you would then have to pay for the maintenance of the line during your tenancy.
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