Choosing the correct router for our needs

[licquorice]

If you are not moving to FTTP there is no Openreach visit required to move to DV. 

[BevisBeauvais]

Perhaps we have an unusual and so far undiscovered factor at play here, then, because of the four visits from Openreach with a different engineer on each occasion at least one of them was acting under the assumption that we were switching to a BT Residential package. 

When as potential customers we go to a large and reputable firm like BT our natural expectations are that our side of the transaction is merely to state our requirements and pay for them. Instead, we seem to find ourselves in the unenviable position of having to function as de facto mediators between the sales team and the engineers while also attempting to factor in the information from two or more technical forums. In some instances we have also to coordinate the information from customer complaint and resolution departments. And all of this as novices in a field in which we have no professional expertise.

While experts on this forum are more scientifically minded and concerned purely with defining technical problems and solving them, sales teams and other departments are also driven by commercial concerns. The tension between these two aspects can sometimes prove problematic.

Additionally, BT may sometimes be tempted to put its long term and idealised ambitions before the immediate concerns of its customers with the inevitable result of eventually causing widespread dissatisfaction and driving potential customers into the arms of competitors. Sampling this and other forums, both Such scenarios can only be ignored and concealed for so long before irreparable damage takes place and one imagines it is only a matter of time before the situation is picked up by the press and eventually Government ministers. 

[licquorice]

The crux of the matter is you were completely misssold a business package on the basis of increased speed. DSL broadband speed is rate adaptive and is thus at the mercy of the laws of physics which are immutable.

[BevisBeauvais]

Yes, I think that's what one of the engineers picked up on.

I think between you and your colleagues you've resolved all of the issues apart from one: Have you any thoughts on how, if we choose a residential service, we may retain our original number? What factors might work against doing so and how might they be overcome? 

[licquorice]

That, I'm afraid, I can't help with. Moving from business to residential might possibly result in loss of number. Residential analogue to residential Digital Voice is almost invariably achieved without a change of number.

PS we are not colleagues, just customers 

[iniltous]

You have not so far provided some pretty pertinent information, perhaps you can now …

Who is the provider (or last provider ) you had , presumably this is the company that currently has ‘ownership’ of the number you wish to retain,  was that service over the Openreach cable pair , and was it a on a business or residential tariff  ? 

Somethings you say make little sense , if your provider ceases to provide you with service , BT/Openreach don’t intervene in to keep you ‘working’ , the Openreach network etc becomes dormant until a new provider takes it over , if you still have any service irrespective of how poor it is , it’s your current provider that is supplying it , so what is the contractual status with your current / previous provider ( it’s not clear if you have ceased your service or not , hence using ‘current/previous’ provider , but who is the last company you used before you proposed switch to BT .

As stated , if your arrangement with your previous provider was as a business, then it may affect your ability port a number to a resident provider as businesses  don’t have the same rules as consumer, that may be why the BT ‘residential’ equivocation around this subject , but it’s  probably not going to be an issue even with a residential tariff , provided the number in question is either still ‘live’ with your current / previous provider or wasn’t ceased more than 30 days ago.

Assuming you are using an Openreach cable pair that had your current/previous suppliers services on , you don’t need a visit from Openreach (which begs the question why you have been visited many times ) in simple terms you replace your old providers router with BT’s router and if you need telephony you connect a phone to the router port (that’s assuming a residential tariff with BT ) everything else is not your providers  or Openreach’s problem .

TBH , you have an unrealistic expectation of what any ISP and the network provider will do when a standard product is ordered , the demarcation point is the master socket , that’s where Openreach responsibility ends (and no reason to think it’s not serviceable if the last company was using it successfully recently) , and BT only are required to connect their equipment at this point ….and in the most cases this is self installation anyway , the router arrives in the post and you connect it yourself …the rest , wired  extension sockets etc are no ones problem but your own , but BT will supply DV adapters, that basically convert a wired phone to a DECT cordless one , but the normal DECT environmental limitations apply , so a wired extension 40 meters away converted to DECT with a DV adapter is unlikely to connect to the DECT basestation inside the router as that’s outside the usual working distance.

[BevisBeauvais]

Thank you. I'll collate what you and your fellow customer rbz5416 have said and will in due course respond more fully to the last posting by iniltous while taking onboard Crimliar's observation about learning through error.

[BevisBeauvais]

We were originally with Plus-Net and from what you say still are. It was a residential service on an Openreach line and the 24 month contract was due to expire on 28th August. 

The BT order, dated 14th July and for a 36 month contract, reads: "Broadband Essential + Digital Line; Cloud Voice Express (V2) and Hybrid Speed Boost - Hybrid Connect Device".

It lists an appointment for an "Expert Setup Engineer" on 1st August to connect and configure the router and says this is when my phone number would be transferred. There was a link to a video explaining what to expect on the day and how the FTTP would be installed. Estimated download speeds for my location was given as 4.7-10.2 Mbps.  Prior to this date I was sent a BT Smart Hub 2 and a Hybrid Connect Device.

The outside overhead cable runs from the telephone pole at the end of the drive for 75 paces to a pole in next door's garden then doubles back from there for 27 paces to our house.

[Anonymous]

I can't see any reason why Business would guarantee transfer of the phone number. Number transfers are always sold as "best endeavours" because the transfer is partly reliant on the losing provider. Maybe they were more confident because it was coming from another BT Group ISP, but I'm pretty sure the process would be largely the same.

There have been some additional issues with Digital Voice taking a while to get the number transferred after the service goes live, but I've not seen one reported for a while now, so hopefully that's sorted.

I have no recent experience of Business setup, but maybe a visit is necessary to set up the cloud based telephone?

So as I alluded to before, unless there is other value to you in a Business service, I think residential is the way to go.

[iniltous]

Another inconsistency, now you say FTTP when previously you said no FTTP was available, so FTTP to be installed (which effectively does away with your existing copper pair ) or not , presumably not as you quote speeds not associated with FTTP .

It seems unnecessary to go for a business type product in a residential setting , as stated , if anything this method puts your existing tele number at risk of being lost more so than changing to BT Consumer from Plusnet (which is the same underlying network anyway ) .

Assuming you do the obvious thing , which is cancel your business product and take a more suitable residential product, then if FTTP is available you get a new install , if it’s not , you replace the Plusnet router with a BT one  and connect your phone to the new BT router , you arrange separately to reengineer your wired extensions to connect to the router rather than the wall socket  that’s the same irrespective of staying on copper or changing to FTTP .

If as likely you are staying on the copper pair service, the route of the dropwire is irrelevant the same wire used for your current Plusnet service , delivers the BT service, in that respect nothing changes .