Since Covid-19 struck, my wife and I have both worked from home doing data-heavy jobs. Unfortunately, our access is poor: the Ofcom broadband speed checker shows that we get about 4.5Mbps download and 0.5Mbps upload. The Ofcom availability checker shows that only "Standard" is available at our address, not Superfast or Ultrafast. Openreach indicate that they have no plans to build out in our area. Virgin Media do not have fibre to our postcode.
We live in a densely-populated district within the M25.
To add to the frustration, two flats in our block of ten have Superfast broadband; I believe they are connected to a different street cabinet that has FTTC. As I understand it, it's not possible to have one's line moved to a different street cabinet.
Our 4G coverage is no better than the broadband; I have tried a MiFi router and the experience was poor. Satellite seems to be slower than what we already have, and the latency means that it is no good for Internet telephone calls, which we both make frequently.
The only options I can think of are:
1. Move house;
2. Get a leased line installed - I am currently investigating whether this is possible for domestic premises; or
3. Cancel our current landline and then order a fresh one in the hope that we are connected to the FTTC cabinet.
(1) really isn't appealing.
(2) may not be allowed and is expensive, although it's our livelihood on the line here, so cost isn't a major consideration.
Can anyone tell me whether (3) might work? I am not hopeful, and we'd need to live elsewhere between the two lines. Or might it be possible to get a second phone line installed and have it connected to the FTTC cabinet?
Any suggestions or advice very welcome.
Solved! Go to Solution.
a new phone line will just use the spare wires in the existing cable and be connected to the same street cabinet
just check what is available by entering your phone number and post results
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
Thank you for taking the trouble to reply. The site doesn't recognise our landline number so I used the address lookup:
For our flat:
For the flat immediately above ours:
Is there any way to get a second line installed and request that the new line use the more capable cabinet?
If your phone number did not work in checker then that suggests you are not a BT broadband customer bearing in mind this is a forum for BT Retail customer to help each other
a new line will just get connected to your existing cabinet probably using 2 spare wires in existing dropwire. anyway the other cabinet is full with waiting list so no connections currently available;le