HomeHighway to ADSL

I have signed up for PlusNet's 1Mb service and they are 'managing' the
conversion from HH to ADSL. PlusNet told me that an engineer would arrive
tomorrow and remove the HH box, set up ADSL, and if ADSL didn't work, then the
HH box would be replaced at no cost. All this was supposed to be done in one
day with the mimimum of fuss.

However, today I have had a call from BT saying that this is a load of
rubbish. BT need to test the line first (before they'll even attempt to remove
the HH) and this will take an additional week!! This is contrary to other
threads on the NG which suggest the a HH line can't be tested for ADSL until
it is removed. Who is right? Are BT talking crap instead of just admiting
their engineers are getting behind in their work and can't get to me until
next week?
Maybe BT want to keep us on ISDN as they extort more money from us that way?

I am worried that the HH box itself may cause the line to fail as we have had
problems with it before causing noise on the line, even though we are just
under 3km from the exchange and initial online checks say we (and our
neighbours) should be able to get 1Mb.

I would like to hear the experiences of other people who have gone throught
the process of converting from Home Highway to ADSL.

Thanks,

PSB

"PsychicStickleBrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bvolr0$4ha$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have signed up for PlusNet's 1Mb service and they are 'managing' the
> conversion from HH to ADSL. PlusNet told me that an engineer would arrive
> tomorrow and remove the HH box, set up ADSL, and if ADSL didn't work, then
the
> HH box would be replaced at no cost. All this was supposed to be done in
one
> day with the mimimum of fuss.

I signed up with BT a few weeks back.

Initially, I had signed with Demon but cancelled once I had discovered that
BT would charge £50 for converting the line from HH to ADSL UNLESS I used
their service, I swapped to BT.

The engineer is coming next week. Apparently, he will disconnect the box and
YES I was also told that the box would be put back if the line wasn't good
enough for ADSL.

If I were you, I would enquire about the £50 conversion charge with Plusnet.

Maybe something you hadn`t expected.

Regards

MJ

"Mungo Jerry" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bvom2l$ufpg6$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "PsychicStickleBrick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:bvolr0$4ha$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have signed up for PlusNet's 1Mb service and they are 'managing' the
> > conversion from HH to ADSL. PlusNet told me that an engineer would arrive
> > tomorrow and remove the HH box, set up ADSL, and if ADSL didn't work, then
> the
> > HH box would be replaced at no cost. All this was supposed to be done in
> one
> > day with the mimimum of fuss.
>
> I signed up with BT a few weeks back.
>
> Initially, I had signed with Demon but cancelled once I had discovered that
> BT would charge £50 for converting the line from HH to ADSL UNLESS I used
> their service, I swapped to BT.
>
> The engineer is coming next week. Apparently, he will disconnect the box and
> YES I was also told that the box would be put back if the line wasn't good
> enough for ADSL.
>
> If I were you, I would enquire about the £50 conversion charge with Plusnet.
>
> Maybe something you hadn`t expected.
>
> Regards
>
> MJ

PlusNet don't cover the £50 conversion charge. Even so, PlusNet are infinately
preferable to BT as an ISP (in terms of overall cost, customer service,
quality, performance and just about everything else)

In article <bvolr0$4ha$(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> I have signed up for PlusNet's 1Mb service and they are 'managing' the
> conversion from HH to ADSL. PlusNet told me that an engineer would arrive
> tomorrow and remove the HH box, set up ADSL, and if ADSL didn't work, then the
> HH box would be replaced at no cost. All this was supposed to be done in one
> day with the mimimum of fuss.
>
> However, today I have had a call from BT saying that this is a load of
> rubbish. BT need to test the line first (before they'll even attempt to remove
> the HH) and this will take an additional week!! This is contrary to other
> threads on the NG which suggest the a HH line can't be tested for ADSL until
> it is removed. Who is right? Are BT talking crap instead of just admiting
> their engineers are getting behind in their work and can't get to me until
> next week?
> Maybe BT want to keep us on ISDN as they extort more money from us that way?
>
> I am worried that the HH box itself may cause the line to fail as we have had
> problems with it before causing noise on the line, even though we are just
> under 3km from the exchange and initial online checks say we (and our
> neighbours) should be able to get 1Mb.
>
> I would like to hear the experiences of other people who have gone throught
> the process of converting from Home Highway to ADSL.
>
> Thanks,
>
> PSB
>
>
>
Had a managed conversion handled by Eclipse. BT engineer arrived, removed
HH box, tested line and said it was ok. If it had failed he would have
replaced HH. As you said, I though they couldn't remotely test a line
with HH.

thanks

Mungo Jerry wrote:

> Initially, I had signed with Demon but cancelled once I had discovered that
> BT would charge ?50 for converting the line from HH to ADSL UNLESS I used
> their service, I swapped to BT.

Oops! that was silly.... ;-)

> The engineer is coming next week. Apparently, he will disconnect the box and
> YES I was also told that the box would be put back if the line wasn't good
> enough for ADSL.

They can do basic distance from exchange pre-checks before removing the
HH box. The more detailed tests they do after.

> If I were you, I would enquire about the ?50 conversion charge with Plusnet.

PlusNet do a more expensive account at 25/month that includes all the
things from their ADSL Home package (i.e. the 22/month package) and has
no activation fee. (It also includes things like spam filtering IIRC
which is normally a paid for extra). After the first year you could
downgrade to the 22/month account if you wanted.

Hence BTs no conversion fee is deal is not as much of an incentive as
you might expect (i.e. costs more!).


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
John Rumm <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> PlusNet do a more expensive account at 25/month that includes all the
> things from their ADSL Home package (i.e. the 22/month package) and
> has no activation fee. (It also includes things like spam filtering
> IIRC which is normally a paid for extra). After the first year you
> could downgrade to the 22/month account if you wanted.
>
> Hence BTs no conversion fee is deal is not as much of an incentive as
> you might expect (i.e. costs more!).
>
>
PlusNet's Easy Start package does indeed include "free" activation of the
ADSL line - but I'm pretty sure that's on the assumption that you are
starting with a PSTN line - and that you'd *still* have to pay BT UKP50 for
the HH to PSTN downgrade. AIUI, PlusNet would order the downgrade from BT -
but the fee would appear on your BT bill.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

Andrew <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<MPG.1a8a3b3661f33e09989685@localhost>...
> In article <bvolr0$4ha$(E-Mail Removed)>,
> (E-Mail Removed) says...
> > I have signed up for PlusNet's 1Mb service and they are 'managing' the
> > conversion from HH to ADSL. PlusNet told me that an engineer would arrive
> > tomorrow and remove the HH box, set up ADSL, and if ADSL didn't work, then the
> > HH box would be replaced at no cost. All this was supposed to be done in one
> > day with the mimimum of fuss.
> >
> > However, today I have had a call from BT saying that this is a load of
> > rubbish. BT need to test the line first (before they'll even attempt to remove
> > the HH) and this will take an additional week!! This is contrary to other
> > threads on the NG which suggest the a HH line can't be tested for ADSL until
> > it is removed. Who is right? Are BT talking crap instead of just admiting
> > their engineers are getting behind in their work and can't get to me until
> > next week?
> > Maybe BT want to keep us on ISDN as they extort more money from us that way?
> >
> > I am worried that the HH box itself may cause the line to fail as we have had
> > problems with it before causing noise on the line, even though we are just
> > under 3km from the exchange and initial online checks say we (and our
> > neighbours) should be able to get 1Mb.
> >
> > I would like to hear the experiences of other people who have gone throught
> > the process of converting from Home Highway to ADSL.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > PSB
> >
> >
> >
> Had a managed conversion handled by Eclipse. BT engineer arrived, removed
> HH box, tested line and said it was ok. If it had failed he would have
> replaced HH. As you said, I though they couldn't remotely test a line
> with HH.
>
> thanks

I had BT HomeHighway and used Virgin's 24x7 dialup service. That all
worked fine but I decided to change to ADSL. Virgin organised the
whole thing at no cost (don't know if that offer is still available
though). On the day, BT rang from the exchange to say that they were
disconnecting the HH and connecting the line to the ADSL equipment.
The engineer turned up 20 minutes later and ran all the tests. The
line did actually work, but the attenuation was too high, so he said I
couldn't have broadband installed. He went back to the exchange and
reinstated HomeHighway.

Didn't cost me a penny.

Pete

"Pete Mainwaring" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...

> On the day, BT rang from the exchange to say that they were
> disconnecting the HH and connecting the line to the ADSL equipment.
> The engineer turned up 20 minutes later and ran all the tests. The
> line did actually work, but the attenuation was too high, so he said I
> couldn't have broadband installed. He went back to the exchange and
> reinstated HomeHighway.
You were lucky. In our region the BT engineer that visits your home is not
the one that works on the exchange.

One engineer visits you at home. When he discovers that exchange work is
needed he calls base and a roving engineer (who covers about 5 exchanges and
may be lready out) travels out to your exchange, whilst the home engineer
twiddles his thumbs and drinks your tea ..... and this is in suburban
London! All done in a day, if you are lucky - but a farse reminiscent of
the Flanders and Swan song "The gas man calleth"!

Chris

> Hence BTs no conversion fee is deal is not as much of an incentive as
> you might expect (i.e. costs more!).

I know. But as it was a HH conversion and I wanted to make sure it all ran
smoothly, I opted for BT.

I currently pay £25 surftime and £20 to Demon for Premier Connect. So the
£38 BT subs for 1mb will actually save me money. I`ll also save on the HH
rental.

Having looked around at the Newsgroups and online, it seems there just isn`t
a perfect ISP out there <Demon have come close for me this last five years>.
So I decided to take the safe BT route.

Will get back to you in this thread after activation <11th Feb> and let you
know if it all worked according to plan.

MJ

"Mungo Jerry" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bvt43f$vp9d9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hence BTs no conversion fee is deal is not as much of an incentive as
> > you might expect (i.e. costs more!).
>
> I currently pay £25 surftime and £20 to Demon for Premier Connect. So the
> £38 BT subs for 1mb will actually save me money. I`ll also save on the HH
> rental.

PlusNet is subsc. is £32.99 pcm for 1Mb (which is £5pcm cheaper than BT + you
get many more features). So, if you are planning to keep your ADSL connection
for more than ten months (you may find you are locked in for 12 with BT) you
would be better off with PlusNet. (10x£5 = £50 to cover the cost of
conversion - ignoring differences in activation charges though) .