Telephone Line Advice Needed

[veedee]

I have just moved into a property with a 'dead' telephone line

I have been told that a bt/Openreach engineer will be required to connect everything up (perhaps at the exchange)

However due to the current pandemic they are saying the earliest they can get an engineer out is July/August

Now i (kinda) know a guy who works for Openreach/Kelly Communication who says that he can do this privately ie quickly for me.

What i want to to know is are telephone lines like light bulbs ie When wired up correctly, they work?

Or should look for certain things? Be weary of certain things?

Sorry if this is an unusual topic, but i wasn't sure where to put it.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

The equipment at the exchange needs to be associated with a telephone number assigned to you for which you have a contract to pay the bill. It is hard to see how some 'bloke down the pub' could arrange this.

 

[Sureitsoff?]

if the property did have a working telephone and there is still a phone socket in the property then BT might just need to allocate a number and connect it to your line from the exchange, maybe even just with software rather than an engineer attending the exchange and your house, but there may be other factors involved and i dont thinl it is something that can be done "privately"

 

[yorkspark]

I have just moved into a property with a 'dead' telephone line

ok, pretty standard, unless the nte5 is damaged?

I have been told that a bt/Openreach engineer will be required to connect everything up (perhaps at the exchange)
However due to the current pandemic they are saying the earliest they can get an engineer out is July/August

This is also true see :- https://www.openreach.com/covid-19-coronavirus

Now i (kinda) know a guy who works for Openreach/Kelly Communication who says that he can do this privately ie quickly for me.

Openreach and kellys are two completely separate entities. and just where exactly would he get an allocated number from, broadband routing details, line routing info and set up billing and an account for payment etc? is he advocating theft and fraud?

What i want to to know is are telephone lines like light bulbs ie When wired up correctly, they work?
Or should look for certain things? Be weary of certain things?

Yes, stay aware from cowboys who promise free connections, when he can't deliver, and set up an account with an isp and do it
properly

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Plug a phone in. If you get dial tone (or you can hear line noise) then BT (or Virgin if its one of theirs) can probably activate the line without needing to visit.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Plug a phone in. If you get dial tone (or you can hear line noise) then BT (or Virgin if its one of theirs) can probably activate the line without needing to visit.

If its a recent master socket, remove the faceplate and plug basic phone directly into the socket which the faceplate plugs into - then see if there is a dial tone. It could be that there is a fault on your internal slave sockets and that might work. If not...

It could be the line has been cut off by BT at the exchange, or the line at the pole reused for another customer, in which case your line will be lacking a number. As others have said, no guy you met down at the pub, could fix that - you will just have to patiently wait on Openreach getting to you.

 

[Diver Fred]

Do what Harry B suggests, if can get dial tone then you should be able to dial 150/152/112/999 (BT sales & service + Emergency calls). I understand nowadays once a phone line has worked into a property the service must be maintained for emergency calls. The only exceptions to that is if the cable between the the local distribution point and the exchange has ran out of working spares.

What ever you do - do not allow a man down the pub try to get you working.

 

[SUNRAY]

10 years ago my Father-in-law moved, he was in one of the bungalows in sheltered accommodation and he moved into a flat in the main building. We contacted BT as soon as we knew of the move and were assured the phone would be changed over on the day, about 3 or 4 days later.

On the day of the move his phone was disconnected, ie totally dead.

3 of us moved him the 100m or so, using only 2 sack barrows. Checking his new phone line found dial tone and a fully working line but not his number, multiple phone calls over the next week or so and BT came up with the lame excuse that they had never had an instruction to disconnect the existing number in the flat [previous tenant had passed away] oh and they threatened legal action for using the line without authority.

Sadly as an ex BT employee I knew exactly how easy it was to make the change, and for the last 5 years or so of my time with them that was exactly my job.

The really annoying thing is the distribution point for the whole complex is in the cupboard right beside his new flat and it could have been so easy to swap it there.

When I worked for BT we were, believe it or not, a customer based company and individuals were able to make decisions in this sort of situation, I was proud to be in that situation but I'm so glad I'm not there now having to misquote David Walliams... "The computer says ... p*** **f.

Eventually BT waived the cost of the changeover... oh how so very generous of them. The promised letter of apology never did arrive.


EDIT:
I still had people on the inside who could have easily made the changes for me and for that matter I still had access to some of the systems BUT no way was I going to get involved with that can of worms.

 

[veedee]

Message received! Don't get the local guy from the pub..

Wait for a proper engineer

Thanks for the comments guys

 

[john4703]

The equipment at the exchange needs to be associated with a telephone number assigned to you for which you have a contract to pay the bill. It is hard to see how some 'bloke down the pub' could arrange this.

A guy down the pub reminds me of a true story I heard from Ireland.
There was a squad laying a new gas main and a local got chatting to them in the pub and asked if they could make a connection to his house that no-one knew about. A few hundred euros exchanged hands and a few days latter there was a bright new yellow pipe next to his house and when he opened the valve gas flowed out.
The house owner got gas central heating installed at the cost of several thousand euros. It worked, all was warm and then the gas stopped.
The householder decided to investigate and upon digging along the track of the yellow pipe found a now empty gas cylinder. The squad had moved on so not chance of catching them
The moral is don't trust a guy in the pub who can fix it cheaply.

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

It's a great story... to be sure...