Internal Bell

My help has been requested to install Broadband for a family member and having
assisted with many installations, had thought I had seen it all, except this
time!

What we have is an internal extension bell, at least 30 years old, that is
hard wired in, although al the phones are on sockets. Even after such a long
period of time, a rental is still being paid on this item!

My thoughts are to cease rental for the bell by having it removed and returned
to BT, install a socket on the exposed wiring, use a filter and plug in a bell
that can be purchased locally. But who should do this work? I'll be quite
happy to do it but this won't stop the rental continually charhe into the
future. So what are my options?

Feedback would be appreciated.

David Bradley

On 14 Aug 2005 18:55, David Bradley <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What we have is an internal extension bell, at least 30 years old, that is
>hard wired in, although al the phones are on sockets. Even after such a long
>period of time, a rental is still being paid on this item!

>My thoughts are to cease rental for the bell by having it removed and returned
>to BT, install a socket on the exposed wiring, use a filter and plug in a bell
>that can be purchased locally. But who should do this work? ...

>So what are my options? Feedback would be appreciated.

II'd think this was better asked in uk.telecom than u.t.b as it is incidental
that ADSL will later be used ...

--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!!

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:55:36 +0100,it is alleged that David Bradley
<(E-Mail Removed)> spake thusly in uk.telecom.broadband:

>My help has been requested to install Broadband for a family member and having
>assisted with many installations, had thought I had seen it all, except this
>time!
>
>What we have is an internal extension bell, at least 30 years old, that is
>hard wired in, although al the phones are on sockets. Even after such a long
>period of time, a rental is still being paid on this item!
>
>My thoughts are to cease rental for the bell by having it removed and returned
>to BT, install a socket on the exposed wiring, use a filter and plug in a bell
>that can be purchased locally. But who should do this work? I'll be quite
>happy to do it but this won't stop the rental continually charhe into the
>future. So what are my options?
>
>Feedback would be appreciated.
>
>David Bradley

My thought would be a 25pound (free if there's a disabled person in
the house) 'regularisation' from BT, which would involve them fitting
an NTE5 'linebox'. The extension wiring would then become yours. Tell
them that the internal bell is no longer wanted to be rented, they'd
probably leave it behind. Depending on how it's hooked up you may be
able to connect it to a short cord with a BT plug, and connect the
bell between terminals 3 and 5, then plug this all in through a
filter. Or go with the original plan and replace it with a newer one.

--
Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while.

If BT are charging rental then it is their job to remove it if the facility
is cancelled.

--
Peter Crosland

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

> If BT are charging rental then it is their job to remove it if the
> facility is cancelled.

Supposing they choose not to bother - and just stop charging rent but leave
the bell in place - as they may well do?
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 18:30:48 GMT, Chip <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>My thought would be a 25pound (free if there's a disabled person in
>the house) 'regularisation' from BT, which would involve them fitting
>an NTE5 'linebox'.

if you already have sockets, as the OP suggests, I'm not sure that's
achievable. Regularisation is for an illicit master or for a hard
wired installation, worth a try though.

My folks have an NTE5, the hard wired bell comes off that via a
switch. It doesn't appear to bother the broadband.

Hard wired filters are available to filter the bell if required.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

"David Bradley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My help has been requested to install Broadband for a family member and
having
> assisted with many installations, had thought I had seen it all, except
this
> time!
>
> What we have is an internal extension bell, at least 30 years old, that is
> hard wired in, although al the phones are on sockets. Even after such a
long
> period of time, a rental is still being paid on this item!
>
> My thoughts are to cease rental for the bell by having it removed and
returned
> to BT, install a socket on the exposed wiring, use a filter and plug in a
bell
> that can be purchased locally. But who should do this work? I'll be
quite
> happy to do it but this won't stop the rental continually charhe into the
> future. So what are my options?
>
> Feedback would be appreciated.
>
> David Bradley

We had exactly the same situation when we moved in to our current house, I
noticed we were paying rental on an extension bell which I had never seen?
I phoned up BT gave them the 'what's this for' speech..... they apologised
and credited me with the rental, I was painting the rear hall a while later
and found the bell!! admittedly it didn't work and by the fact it was well
hidden under many layers of paint hadn't worked for a quite a few years.

I was surprised BT never came out, but I suspect this happens quite often,
customers are charged rental for an item, phone, bell, even an extension
which has long since been removed stop working etc. it is not worth their
while checking every case, they may have made so much on rental, the item is
paid for, why send an engineer out at a cost of say £90 for a couple of quid
rental a quarter, just to check.
I wonder how many elderly customers that have been in a house for years have
had a son/daughter buy them a phone when the original has gone faulty while
they are still paying BT rental for it.

Des

Des