House-hunting and ADSL

Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find may be
in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a line-test I can't be
100% certain that I could have a 2MB connection. Do BT allow checks on
lines that you don't yet own? I would of course be willing to pay for the
line-test. In choosing future houses, I suppose this is a consideration for
an increasing number of people.

"Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bsk3ni$djrpe$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find may be
> in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a line-test I can't
be
> 100% certain that I could have a 2MB connection. Do BT allow checks on
> lines that you don't yet own? I would of course be willing to pay for the
> line-test. In choosing future houses, I suppose this is a consideration
for
> an increasing number of people.

No they don't. I'll bet the existing owners would allow one though if they
were convinced you were a serious buyer.

--
Phil McKerracher
www.mckerracher.org

"Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bsk3ni$djrpe$(E-Mail Removed)
|| Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find
|| may be in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a
|| line-test I can't be 100% certain that I could have a 2MB
|| connection. Do BT allow checks on lines that you don't yet own? I
|| would of course be willing to pay for the line-test. In choosing
|| future houses, I suppose this is a consideration for an increasing
|| number of people.

What you could do is call 150 and work your way through the options to the
tech agent in fault reports & discuss what you want with them. Ask for line
capacitance and an estimate of distance in figures, they may give it as a
percentage which is useless. That is as far as you can get other than
decoding the colours on the BT website. It is often adequate, I have had to
move 4 times in the last 2 years due to work and have performed this
procedure on all the houses I plan to rent, has been quite sufficient, I was
even able to judge suitability for the 2 MB service correctly. You want a
line distance of less than 3 km from the exchange if looking for 1 MB or
faster services and a capacitance of less than 300 in A-B terms with A-E or
B-E less than 160 microfarads. This is stricter than the generally
acknowledged limits but you dont want to be a victim of variable line
quality.

There is more info in the http://www.adslguide.org/qanda.asp?faq=technical
FAQ, these tests will only be a guide and the only definite guarantee is
getting BT to perform a line test. And I see no reason why BT should allow
you to test someone elses house for ADSL installation though in practice if
you gave the correct details and bent the truth a little while placing the
order I dont see them checking. Getting the current owners to perform the
test is a lot more usefull though obviously you can only do that if you are
pretty definite that there are no other problems. And this has the added
advantage that you might be able to get the contract transferred over thus
giving you a very short lead time for installation.


S. Althaf

"Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:bsk3ni$djrpe$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find may be
> in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a line-test I can't
be
> 100% certain that I could have a 2MB connection. Do BT allow checks on
> lines that you don't yet own? I would of course be willing to pay for the
> line-test. In choosing future houses, I suppose this is a consideration
for
> an increasing number of people.
>
>
I had exactly the same problem. The closest I could get was to run the
previous owners number through the checker. That was good enough for me as
there was also NTL (lol) as a backup.

On 27/12/03 6:17 pm, in article bskibc$d5kcc$(E-Mail Removed),
"Peter Ingason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> "Cuzman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:bsk3ni$djrpe$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find may be
>> in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a line-test I can't
> be
>> 100% certain that I could have a 2MB connection. Do BT allow checks on
>> lines that you don't yet own? I would of course be willing to pay for the
>> line-test. In choosing future houses, I suppose this is a consideration
> for
>> an increasing number of people.
>>
>>
> I had exactly the same problem. The closest I could get was to run the
> previous owners number through the checker. That was good enough for me as
> there was also NTL (lol) as a backup.
>
Make them an offer, subject to the usual surveys and ask them if you can get
their line enabled at no cost to them. Get the cheapest, short term
wires-only offer you can, and get it installed. Take your own router along
and hook it up, check it works and continue with the sale.

If you cant get a connection, you know the house isn't for you.

I doubt any serious house seller would object as long as it cost them
nothing ...

The above is my plan for my next house which should be before April 2004.

In message <bsk3ni$djrpe$(E-Mail Removed)>, Cuzman
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Let's say that I was to go house-hunting. A nice house that I find may be
>in an acceptable postcode area for ADSL, but without a line-test I can't be
>100% certain that I could have a 2MB connection. Do BT allow checks on
>lines that you don't yet own? I would of course be willing to pay for the
>line-test. In choosing future houses, I suppose this is a consideration for
>an increasing number of people.

Wonder how long before "ADSL catchment area" starts appears as an estate
agent's blurb next to "desirable_school catchment area"

--
bof at bof dot me dot uk