Aaaargh! Broadband frustrations!

I moved house last week.

The move itself was OK.

There was no discontinuity in phone service - there was a simple
switchover.
There was no discontinuity in electricity or gas service.
There was no discontinuity in insurance cover.
and so on...

So why, why, why, why, why is it so hard to move broadband service
between houses?

I have moved one street away. My BT phone line has not changed number.
I am connected to the same telephone exchange. The existing phone lines
do not need upgraded.

But I have to cancel my broadband account (and be charged £58 as I'm
in the first 12 months of service) and reapply for a new account -
which will take at least 7 days, possibly up to a month.

And PIPEX (my ISP) no longer offer the same deal I was signed up to -
so I'll have to get a different offer - and none of their current deals
are as good as the one I was on!!!

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I needed that.

So, I origianlly chose pipex because I could get an uncapped (if slow;
256kbps) service for 14.99 a month. Now they only offfer 2Mbit service
and the 14.99 one is capped at 1Gb per month (which I have been known
to exceed, if not every month).

Is there a good uncapped any-speed service for about 15 quid a month
from another ISP at the mo, or should I opt for the 19.99 Pipex service
(2mbit uncapped) and get the £58 quid back? (costs about the same when
spread across 12 months)

And why can't broadband just be transferred between addresses?

Cheers,

Ric.

ps dummy e-mail address - please reply to the group.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> So why, why, why, why, why is it so hard to move broadband service
> between houses?

Although I've not needed to, it seems some ISPs make it easier than
others. Last summer, Zen Internet offered house (and office?) moves
at no (or low, if any) fee. I know Plus.Net offers this, on some low
admin fee (5.88?) and their "you stay, we pay" deal (which assumes the
customer will remain a customer for 60 months, and if less, repay their
activation fee, on a sliding scale). Not ideal if using anyone else!!


> I have moved one street away. My BT phone line has not changed number.
> I am connected to the same telephone exchange. The existing phone lines
> do not need upgraded.

> But I have to cancel my broadband account (and be charged £58 as I'm
> in the first 12 months of service) and reapply for a new account -
> which will take at least 7 days, possibly up to a month.

There have been comments here in the past about simultaneous provision
of both line and internet service. Some other ISPs might have managed
it a little better. Have not tried it so cannot comment more...

> AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
>
> I needed that.
>
> And why can't broadband just be transferred between addresses?

Well, it does still need someone to visit the exchange, and that's not
free. How easy the rest is, to fix to be done on a specific day, is a
BT Wholesale/ISP thing, and it's probably 90% of ISPs which would give
a similar 'cease and provide' answer, and some degree of cost too. It
is maybe easier to get a brand new line and move when that's active if
internet access _must_ be available from day one after the move. Then
again there are often other things to be done when moving home :-)

On 7 Feb 2006 06:56:55 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I moved house last week.
>
>The move itself was OK.
>
>There was no discontinuity in phone service - there was a simple
>switchover.
>There was no discontinuity in electricity or gas service.
>There was no discontinuity in insurance cover.
>and so on...
>
>So why, why, why, why, why is it so hard to move broadband service
>between houses?
>
>I have moved one street away. My BT phone line has not changed number.
>I am connected to the same telephone exchange. The existing phone lines
>do not need upgraded.
>
>But I have to cancel my broadband account (and be charged £58 as I'm
>in the first 12 months of service) and reapply for a new account -
>which will take at least 7 days, possibly up to a month.
>
[snip]

>
>And why can't broadband just be transferred between addresses?

I suppose because until broadband dialtone is available, (part of the
BT 21st century network, IIRC) there is a physical shift involved -
swapping over DSLAM connections on a distribution frame - for which BT
are entitled to charge your ISP.

PSTN is different because it's a logical shift for which there is no
charge - in your circumstances.

"anon" <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:43e8ca16$0$82640$(E-Mail Removed)...
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
"Well, it does still need someone to visit the exchange, and that's not
free."

Actually they would have to go there to provide the PSTN. If it was fed off
the same cab it would just be a jumper swing. I guess it's a sweet way to
make a bit more cash.... nothing more than that, and it needs sorting.

A mate recently moved his plusnet from one town to another. Ceased and
reprovided on different exchanges, different number etc and he tells me it
did not cost him a bean... but he would say that as he is a fibber.

"Rick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
" PSTN is different because it's a logical shift for which there is no
> charge - in your circumstances."

Assuming (a) the jumper was left in for the previous residents and a BT
engineer had not swiped the 'taken out of service (TOS)' line left behind
(b) the number was on the same equipment cluster in the exchange. If not,
which is 50/50, it would still require a physical re-jumper in the
exchnage.

I think the BT test message goes along the lines of ''Were are please to
have provided service for you on 01234 567890 - when you find it is not
working please ring us on 0800 noanswer and we will be glad to fuck you
around for a week''

Flunkett Clogwheel wrote:
> "Rick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> " PSTN is different because it's a logical shift for which there is
> no
>> charge - in your circumstances."
>
> Assuming (a) the jumper was left in for the previous residents and a
> BT engineer had not swiped the 'taken out of service (TOS)' line
> left
> behind (b) the number was on the same equipment cluster in the
> exchange. If not, which is 50/50, it would still require a physical
> re-jumper in the exchnage.
>
> I think the BT test message goes along the lines of ''Were are
> please to have provided service for you on 01234 567890 - when you
> find it is not working please ring us on 0800 noanswer and we will
> be
> glad to fuck you around for a week''

It should be issued to field staff the next day, but what with
staffing levels (they let a largish number go not so long ago) & what
the field staff do with it is the problem.