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Right, just a few days ago I was in another group and said that BTs
residential line installation charge of approx Ł125 was, in my view,
reasonable, especially compared to what else you can get for that amount -
for me, thats not even two tankfulls (is that even a word? :o)) of petrol.
Therell always be people who disagree but for this thread, thats not what
I want.

The reason for this posting is that a friend of ours is just about to move
into a new-build property and has, of course, been told shell have to pay
Ł125 for the line installation - fair enough. But, shes also been told that
if it takes longer than two hours to complete the installation, shell then
have to pay Ł90 per hour (or part hour) for everything over and above that.

That, surely, cannot be right, can it?

Cheers,

John

John wrote:

If its been ordered as a business line or via business sales, fraid
it is, but that is only on site time, not any time spent sorting out
the local network..

kraftee wrote:

No, just an ordinary common-or-garden private residential line ordered
through res sales - and hopefully my colleagues whove been cabling the new
estate havent dropped any goolies regarding the local network (new estate
of about 250 houses).

Openreach (or whoever it is that is responsible for external work) seem
to be passing on a lot of charges nowadays. Im working on a job at the
moment which involved the provision of two analogue lines to a business
on an industrial estate just outside a town centre. They are trying to
pass on Ł1800 of additional charges for the installation as it requires
the provision of a new 20-pair cable and duct work to get the second of
the two lines installed.

Im particularly unimpressed with this given that: 1. its taken almost
a month and a half to reach this conclusion since installing the first
of the two lines and 2. they havent offered any alternatives which
could have included providing ISDN2 or using DACS on the first line
(they arent being used for broadband or anything that would be
incompatible with DACS) to get two lines without needing the additional
cabling work.

It seems strange that this is apparently perfectly reasonable and yet
they will still pass on standard installation charges to connect up a
new phone line, even when a linebox and line already exists at a site.
Based on the additional charges logic, Id expect such installations
to be free because they require no installation work whatsoever.

I warn most people that we arrange lines for, that the standard lead
times and installation costs really mustnt be taken for granted any
more. The subject to survey disclaimer is very frequently used as a
get-out clause in my experience. Its frustrating to say the least, to
see that a business can make all the necessary arrangements to move from
one location to another with all their other building services,
furniture, IT and personnel, and yet BT/Openreach engineers can turn up
having had an order in hand for six weeks, state that the planning that
was supposed to have been done by some uncommunicative department wasnt
done, and because of this, they cant deliver the promised service for
another few days. But it happens... time after time.

Yes it does annoy me!

Ed


John wrote:

On Apr 2, 10:49

In article , John
scribeth thus

Well do you have any alternative?. Are VM active in your area?.

If they are/were then what about either going to them, or telling BT
that if they install FOC then the jobs theirs;!..

--
Tony Sayer

On Apr 2, 9:54 pm, John wrote:

You should only expect to pay additional hourly charges over and above
the Ł125 if you requested additional extension wiring - perhaps this
is what your friend has done.

On Apr 2, 10:49 pm, Edward Hobson wrote:

These are Excess Construction Charges which apply where the cost for
Openreach to supply the line is greater than Ł3400 for the first line
in the site and Ł1000 for subsequent lines. It can take a while where
Excess Construction Charges apply because a survey officer will have
to visit site and supply an estimate. The amounts ive quoted are
exemption amounts which are set by Ofcom, so you cant really blame
Openreach. Details of exemption amounts and Excess Construction
charges are detailed here - http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/pricing/cpp/down=
loads/ORPLCOM EXCESS.htm


The exemptions for ISDN2 are lower than for analogue lines, so you
would have been worse off if you had requested ISDN2 lines. Openreach
are not going to install a DACS as they are in the middle of a
programme to remove all DACS from their network in advance of 21CN
being deployed.


The existence of cabling and linebox is irrelevant if no network is
available outside the building to connect to! The standard
installation charge covers the phyiscal jumpering of the line card in
the exchange to the MDF and also an engineer to visit site and jumper
the customers drop wire to a spare pair in the distribution point and
test the line. This standard price also covers any additional network
work (in most cases) and the price Openreach charge (Ł88) has been set
by Ofcom and is a homogenised price across all installs based on
Openreachs costs.


The existence of cabling inside a premises and a linebox and indeed a
dropwire from the nearest telegraph pole does not mean there is a
connection all the way to the exchange. If indeed there is a single
line in a premises which has previously been live and is in a
stopped state then it only costs Ł2 to restart it with Openreach.


If you buy the lines off Openreach direct you can often book the
engineer appointment at the time of placing the order and generally
around the country the wait is only a few days to a week in most
cases. If there is no line plant available then installs can take
longer and the amount of time can vary quite a bit from job to job
(for various reasons) and you appear to have been unlucky with this
with the case you mention.


Openreach arent that bad, especially if you buy from them direct.
Often people get a worse experience if they are buying lines off an
Openreach reseller who does not have enough expertise to deliver a
good service.