Reconnecting to existing copper line

[itphonehome]

Our village hall wants to install broadband. There is, we believe, an existing copper line in which was installed a few years ago when the hall was used a couple of days a week by the Post Office (now long departed!) This was said to be a 'secure connection' although my guess is that it was simply a locked down router.

I phoned BT - line connections are nothing to do with us - contact Openreach.

Went on Openreach website - basically full fibre is not available at our postcode and they are no longer installing copper lines.

Tried to find a contact to tell them we just want an EXISTING copper line reconnected but they refuse to talk to end users - they say we have to go through a service provider......like BT.........

How on earth can we get someone somewhere to even talk to us so we can explain the position?  Broadband for our community hall is urgently required.

[iniltous]

You phoned BT with what purpose, to use BT as the provider of this service or for general information or something other than placing an order ? , if it wasn’t to order service , then they have no need to engage with you at all .
Openreach are not customer facing , they deal with CP’s (Communication Providers ) so if you were told to contact them to arrange service that was incorrect , you contact a CP that uses Openreach infrastructure to supply their services.
If FTTP isn’t available, then copper pairs are still used , you just raise an order , if that’s broadband over copper then obviously only the lower speed tiers are on offer

Is it BT or someone else you want to use ? , if it’s someone else , this forum is not the place for your enquiry , you need to be asking  the CP you want to use ,

If it is BT , then you can order on line or over the phone , the previous supply into the building is  completely irrelevant, I suspect you may have muddied the waters by mentioning the previous service and asking for it to be reused… if you feel you can’t be understood by calling , just use online ordering portal .

As a village hall isn’t a regular dwelling unit  (residential ) but effectively a business premises , then there may be issues ordering a residential service for that address , but that will be apparent when using the ordering portal online when getting to the point of selecting the individual address service is to be provided at , that selection (or lack of it ) is once the postcode is entered , if the village hall doesn’t appear in the list of serviceable addresses aligned to that postcode, then it’s not a matched address and that will complicate matters …..if it is BT you want to use , then obviously feel free to post here again should you have further issues 

[itphonehome]

The intention was to engage BT as provider! You may be right that I muddied the waters by mentioning the existing line but I did make it clear that we wanted BT to provide us with broadband! 

The thing is we're applying for a community grant to fund connection costs and need a quotation in the first instance.

I'll try simply placing an order online and see what happens.

[iniltous]

With a standard 24 month minimum term , there is no connection fee , possibly a fee for delivering the router that’s about it , you pay rental in advance, and any call charges (should you take a calls plan ) in arrears ….I dare say if you also mentioned wanting to get a grant to pay for it , as this also is also non standard , would lead to confusion with the call handler , when you order on line you will need to provide bank details etc for payment.

[itphonehome]

I've now tried applying online - both through business and residential and both are identifying the correct address and postcode and offering a range of packages. I havent completed the order but I'm assuming that if the address has been correctly identified then a viable line to that property exists and is available for connection?

Hopefully it's that simple because we didn't know if the Post Office still had any claim to the line. Presumably it's being flagged up as dormant and available for use? That's simply what I phoned to ask in the first place!

[iniltous]

No wonder the BT guide was confused , lots of irrelevant information offered by you , I’d say you have completely overthought this simple procedure, if you called BT , all that was required was for you to effectively say ‘I’d like BT service here ‘ and give the address , that’s it , no back history, no ‘the Post Office had/have a line here  , no ‘I’m trying to get someone else to pay for it via a grant’ ,no ‘it was a secure locked down connection’   all that was unnecessary.

As already stated there is no connection charge as such , (the installation fee is amortised over the term , but that’s between BT and Openreach )  , from your point of view  installation is ‘free’.

If the existing ‘line’  is serviceable ( basically still intact from the equipment in the FTTC cabinet to the master socket ) and after connection remotely by BT and OR , but before the OR engineer visits you , you may get a text saying ‘we think there is now no need for us to visit as the line is working, so the visit has been cancelled’ , but it also continues ‘if the line isn’t working please text back’  ,obviously if the line is working at that point ( assuming you have found the old master socket ) you connect the router yourself and away you go ….this is assuming it’s copper based service (part fibre) , if it’s full fibre FTTP , a visit is definitely necessary as all the previous copper network is redundant and new fibre network is provided, so you won’t get a text like that .

In situations where the line was in service and working  already (a working line takeover ) , and was just being taken over by a different provider, that generally doesn’t need an appointment/visit …..but as there has been a significant break between the last time the ‘line’ was in use and now (the fact it was the Post Office is irrelevant ) , you almost certainly will be given a time and date for an engineering visit , and you need to be available at the address during that ‘window’ to give access to the engineer , even if you get told at some point we no longer need to visit , you need to assume a visit is needed, until you know it isn’t .

As far as the address checker showing the property, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s had service in the past , but can mean that , it doesn’t matter to you the details why the address is showing, there can be a few besides a previous installation existed , but it does mean the address is matched an order can be raised against it , if there was no entry for the property that’s when it can be problematic.

[itphonehome]

" lots of irrelevant information" ? With respect, I think it was extremely relevant to mention that the line was a dedicated Post Office line. I didn't even know if it was lawful for the general public to use it and didn't wish to be accused of concealing anything. Funding was not mentioned to the BT call handler. I simply said I thought a line existed which was previously used by the PO and we would like to be connected on it if that was possible. If it is as simple as going online and blithely signing up for a package then surely the BT guide could have just said so?

[WSH]

No he wouldn't.  They're on commission, so he would have wanted to close the deal himself.

[itphonehome]

I think I got through to technical department. As I say, I just wanted to know if there was a viable line!

[iniltous]

I think it’s fair to say an easy process was made much more complicated than necessary , otherwise your post here would be necessary , and from your initial post here , I found it necessary to ask what you were actually trying to accomplish as it wasn’t apparent ( not to me anyway),  so it’s reasonable to assume that whoever you had spoken to may have struggled to conclude what it was you were wanting .
Even if the PO still had any administrative ‘control’ over an Openreach ‘line’ , it’s irrelevant to BT , if the line was in use , the process is to migrate it to the new provider doesn’t need BT to know that (the network provider advises the old ISP that their customer is leaving ) , if the ‘line’ we’renot in use or had been dormant for a short while, it’s effectively a new provision, but with the caveat that an installation visit may not be necessary…..FYI the PO stopped being a retailer of telecommunications in Feb 2021 when it sold its ‘customers’ to Shell .

I’m not saying you as a consumer  need to know any of this , but similarly, if you had approach this as someone moving into a property with no knowledge of what services were previously there and who supplied them , you would have simply said ‘l would like broadband please at this address etc. ’ , basically that was the only detail necessary and I’m sure a perfectly ordinary order would have been raised if that were the crux of the conversation, and made this post unnecessary…anyway hopefully you have now raised an  order either online or via the telephone.