What is the correct procedure for getting ADSL

I have found out that maybe I can get ADSL now. Initially I had two
business lines connected and a couple of years ago this was converted to
Business Highway, and of course dropping one line but keeping the
numbers. I would now like to see if I can get ADSL, and propose changing
the ISDN back to a single business line and enabling the old line to
residential with ADSL. The question is how do I go about this. Should BT
be approached to do this or should I go through my preffered ISP to
organise this, or is it a bit of both?

Help or advice would be appreciated.

--
Regards


David G
(remove r u n)

David G wrote:
> I have found out that maybe I can get ADSL now. Initially I had two
> business lines connected and a couple of years ago this was converted
> to Business Highway, and of course dropping one line but keeping the
> numbers. I would now like to see if I can get ADSL, and propose
> changing the ISDN back to a single business line and enabling the old
> line to residential with ADSL. The question is how do I go about
> this. Should BT be approached to do this or should I go through my
> preffered ISP to organise this, or is it a bit of both?

Normally, order ADSL through your chosen ISP, and they should be able to
order the ISDN downgrade as part of the ADSL installation. BT will convert
your digital lines back to a single analogue line and remove the Highway
NTE. You will be charged for the downgrade on your telephone bill.

However, do you want to end up with two seperate phone lines, a business one
and a residential one? Your post is a little unclear on this. Bear in mind
that the ADSL line can still be used for voice calls.

Dominic

Dominic wrote:
>
> Normally, order ADSL through your chosen ISP, and they should be able to
> order the ISDN downgrade as part of the ADSL installation. BT will convert
> your digital lines back to a single analogue line and remove the Highway
> NTE. You will be charged for the downgrade on your telephone bill.
>
> However, do you want to end up with two seperate phone lines, a business one
> and a residential one? Your post is a little unclear on this. Bear in mind
> that the ADSL line can still be used for voice calls.
>
> Dominic
>
>

I haven't fully sorted this yet but this seems the best solution for me.
The reason for having a second line is for the fax which I was going to
put on the ADSL line. We don't get many but it is an nuisance sharing on
the main line. Have been through that in the past and never found a
satisfactory solution apart from having a separate line.

--
Regards


David G
(remove r u n)

On 10 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, David G wrote:

>Have been through that in the past and never found a
>satisfactory solution apart from having a separate line.

I get very few faxes these days, but have used Inweb and Plus.Net
0870 to e-mail fax answering so I get e-mail with an attachment
these days. I now have three fax machines, used to bleep into
any callers' ears if they ring the wrong (unpublished) numbers
on my lines. Most recent calls have been to x50y50 because an
estate agent (in the next area code) has that number :-(

--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz> - I recommend them and save some cash.

poster wrote:

> On 10 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, David G wrote:
>
>
>>Have been through that in the past and never found a
>>satisfactory solution apart from having a separate line.
>
>
> I get very few faxes these days, but have used Inweb and Plus.Net
> 0870 to e-mail fax answering so I get e-mail with an attachment
> these days. I now have three fax machines, used to bleep into
> any callers' ears if they ring the wrong (unpublished) numbers
> on my lines. Most recent calls have been to x50y50 because an
> estate agent (in the next area code) has that number :-(
>

Thanks - that is interesting. Did not know about that. I had a look at
Inweb but could not find anything relevant there. I would like to know
more about this service but don't think this group would be appropriate for.


--
Regards


David G
(remove r u n)

On 10 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, David G wrote:

>I would like to know more about this service but don't think
>this group would be appropriate for.

Crumbs... George W, PC Games, which Peer-to-Peer software to use and a host
of other OT stuff gets into threads here and Ikea just came up on uk.telecom
so 'what the heck'

There are a number of services offering fax to e-mail converstion, for free,
(ie no setup or monthly fees) where the caller pays for an 0870 call (and do
not be put off by the 'say no to 0870' moaners - a 2 page fax it would not
"break the bank" !)

www.efax.com www.inweb.co.uk and plus.net all offer this type of service.
I've used efax for a while. They send infrequent advertisements (to fund
their service) and they have their own viewer software. PlusNet and Inweb
send attachments to the e-mail, Inweb's needs you to negotiate the control
panel to set up a (free) account and Plus.Net offers the service to anyone
on a monthly fee paying account (but for residential users, non-use of the
0870 number (for 3 months) means it gets taken back for use by another user
(but on a business accoungg, there isn't the same requirement, however there
is a problem if a user was to stop using the PlusNet service as that 0870 is
not the customer's number to take with them to another ISP... Peter M.

poster wrote:
> On 10 Sep 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, David G wrote:
>
>> I would like to know more about this service but don't think
>> this group would be appropriate for.
>
> Crumbs... George W, PC Games, which Peer-to-Peer software to use and
> a host of other OT stuff gets into threads here and Ikea just came up
> on uk.telecom so 'what the heck'
>
> There are a number of services offering fax to e-mail converstion,
> for free, (ie no setup or monthly fees) where the caller pays for an
> 0870 call (and do not be put off by the 'say no to 0870' moaners - a
> 2 page fax it would not "break the bank" !)
>
> www.efax.com www.inweb.co.uk and plus.net all offer this type of
> service. I've used efax for a while. They send infrequent
> advertisements (to fund their service) and they have their own viewer
> software. PlusNet and Inweb send attachments to the e-mail, Inweb's
> needs you to negotiate the control panel to set up a (free) account
> and Plus.Net offers the service to anyone on a monthly fee paying
> account (but for residential users, non-use of the 0870 number (for 3
> months) means it gets taken back for use by another user (but on a
> business accoungg, there isn't the same requirement, however there is
> a problem if a user was to stop using the PlusNet service as that
> 0870 is not the customer's number to take with them to another ISP...
> Peter M.

We also provide a free Fax to Email service both for customers and
non-customers (so the number is not attached to your ISP account). It uses
an 0870 number, but ours does not require special software - faxes are
emailed to you as multi-page TIFFs, and advertisements are not sent.

I can't find the web page about it off-hand, but I know sales can get the
service up and running quickly.

Domnic

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
David G <notreallyhere@sure> wrote:

>
> I haven't fully sorted this yet but this seems the best solution for
> me. The reason for having a second line is for the fax which I was
> going to put on the ADSL line. We don't get many but it is an
> nuisance sharing on the main line. Have been through that in the past
> and never found a satisfactory solution apart from having a separate
> line.

As others have said, you don't *need* a dedicated line for faxes. There are
plenty of fax to email facilities to be had, for receiving faxes - some of
them free via your ADSL ISP. For example, I'm with PlusNet - and they've
provided me with a free (to me) 0870 number to which faxes can be sent. Any
faxes sent to that number are automatically converted to emails and sent to
a nominated email address - with the fax itself appearing as a .tif file
attachment to the email.

Sending the occasional fax over the voice part of an ADSL-enabled line is
not usually too much of a problem. However, there are even ways of avoiding
that if you wish - by using email to fax services such as iddd.tpc.int

With reference to getting your highway line converted back to PSTN in
readiness for ADSL, it pays to sign up for ADSL with an ISP who will
organise the whole thing as a "managed conversion".

Not all ISPs offer this - with some you have to get (and pay for) BT to
convert the line to PSTN before the ISP gets involved. If the line then
fails its ADSL test, you then have to pay *again* to have highway
re-installed.

With a managed conversion, it's all done as one operation and - if the line
fails the test - highway is left in place at no cost to you.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

David G wrote:

> I have found out that maybe I can get ADSL now. Initially I had two
> business lines connected and a couple of years ago this was converted to
> Business Highway, and of course dropping one line but keeping the
> numbers. I would now like to see if I can get ADSL, and propose changing
> the ISDN back to a single business line and enabling the old line to
> residential with ADSL. The question is how do I go about this. Should BT
> be approached to do this or should I go through my preffered ISP to
> organise this, or is it a bit of both?
>
> Help or advice would be appreciated.
>

Have recently been through the ISDN to ADSL process and it is not easy
to get the info. You have three options. One is to get BT to do a
conversion to BT Broadband assuming you are happy to have them as an ISP
(I wasn't). The second is to pay BT to convert ISDN back to POT. Then
you can do a self install with your ISP of choice. If it turns out your
line will not support ADSL you have to pay BT to put the ISDN back in.

The third and preferred is to find an ISP which will do a "managed
conversion" where they liase with BT to take the ISDN out, test the line
and if necessary reinstall for a single charge. The trouble is finding
an ISP that does a managed conversion. BT will not tell you which ones
do it so you have to start phoning around. I ended up selecting Nildram
(1st choice of Zen didn't do managed conversion)

The final challenge is getting the process to run smoothly. BT kept
rejecting Nildram's order because there was "incompatible equipment" on
the line. The incompatible equipment was actually the ISDN equipment
that they were supposed to be removing but it took several loops before
we got BT to accept the order. After that it ran fine. BT turned up,
removed the ISDN box, tested the line and left a working active line to
plug the router into.

Tony

I've been using www.efax.com at the office for a while now, much more
convenient than a fax machine.


Graham