How long can BT make me wait?

Hi

Not sure if this is the right group, but I ordered Adsl for my parents for
Christmas - going with EFH Broadband - high setup costs but £10+vat per
month.

They gave a start date of 12 Nov but according to EFH, BT have put the order
on hold because there is not enough capacity at the exchange. The order is
on hold until BT sort out more capacity.

EFH says they have never been in this situation and are chasing BT.

Has anyone here come accoss this situation before and how long can BT makje
us wait until the decide my folk can get ADSL.

BTW all the web site with ADSL availabilty checker say their phone number is
OK fot broadband and also their dial up is so bad and unreliable that after
several complaints to BT who say they can do nothing about it and that we
should consider broadband - but when we have finally given in and gone for
ADSL they can't do that either.

Any ideas or help greatly appreciated

DeeBee

On 18/11/2004 06:45 DeeBee got up from the bar and shouted..:
> Hi
>
> Not sure if this is the right group, but I ordered Adsl for my parents for
> Christmas - going with EFH Broadband - high setup costs but £10+vat per
> month.
>
> They gave a start date of 12 Nov but according to EFH, BT have put the order
> on hold because there is not enough capacity at the exchange. The order is
> on hold until BT sort out more capacity.
>
> EFH says they have never been in this situation and are chasing BT.
>
> Has anyone here come accoss this situation before and how long can BT makje
> us wait until the decide my folk can get ADSL.
>
> BTW all the web site with ADSL availabilty checker say their phone number is
> OK fot broadband and also their dial up is so bad and unreliable that after
> several complaints to BT who say they can do nothing about it and that we
> should consider broadband - but when we have finally given in and gone for
> ADSL they can't do that either.
>
> Any ideas or help greatly appreciated
>
> DeeBee
>
>

Try here: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/capacity-league.php

It shows if there are any planned DSLAM upgrades pending at your
exchange to increase capacity.


--
"This dog don't give a feck..."

In message <1100760331.aVRwi/3/VRghRB4iz8OaGA@teranews>, DeeBee
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes

>They gave a start date of 12 Nov but according to EFH, BT have put the order
>on hold because there is not enough capacity at the exchange. The order is
>on hold until BT sort out more capacity.
>
>EFH says they have never been in this situation and are chasing BT.

Seems to me like it will be an ever more frequent problem. There is a
shortage of real copper lines back to the exchange.
>
>Has anyone here come accoss this situation before and how long can BT makje
>us wait until the decide my folk can get ADSL.
>
>BTW all the web site with ADSL availabilty checker say their phone number is
>OK fot broadband and also their dial up is so bad and unreliable that after
>several complaints to BT who say they can do nothing about it and that we
>should consider broadband - but when we have finally given in and gone for
>ADSL they can't do that either.
>
>Any ideas or help greatly appreciated

Almost certainly they have been DACS'd. There is a grubby little two way
splitter somewhere nearby up a pole or in a cabinet. It crucifies dialup
connectivity and fax. Voice degradation is barely noticeable.

Check uk.telecom for current diagnostics numbers to measure your line
audio bandwidth - that frequency response curve will show if it is on
DACS or not. If it is then you are stuck waiting until they can find a
spare line or pinch a real copper line off some poor sap to give to you.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown

On Thu, 18 Nov 2004 06:45:29 -0000, "DeeBee" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Any ideas or help greatly appreciated

did your line result from www.bt.com/broadband flag up a "line sharing
device" or other issue that may have complicated it ?

does http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/ say anything about
availability of port problems.

EFH may be using datastream, which requires a specific connection to
the exchange for them. Ask if this is the case, and ask if an IPstream
alternative is available.

Phil

> Almost certainly they have been DACS'd.

< SNIP >
..
Voice degradation is barely noticeable.



Maybe I have a musical ear or something but I can always tell if a line has
a DACS.
Not so much on the voice quality, but the dialtone and NU tone sounds
different, sort of choppy, no doubt due to the extra sampling.

Cable phone lines (at least NTL ones) sound the same way too.


Graham.


%Profound_observation%

Graham wrote:
>> Almost certainly they have been DACS'd.
>
> < SNIP >
> .
> Voice degradation is barely noticeable.
>
>
>
> Maybe I have a musical ear or something but I can always tell if a
> line has a DACS.
> Not so much on the voice quality, but the dialtone and NU tone sounds
> different, sort of choppy, no doubt due to the extra sampling.
>
> Cable phone lines (at least NTL ones) sound the same way too.
>

I could always hear high pitched background tones on DACS lines, for some
reason....

"DeeBee" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1100760331.aVRwi/3/VRghRB4iz8OaGA@teranews
> They gave a start date of 12 Nov but according to EFH, BT have put
> the order on hold because there is not enough capacity at the
> exchange. The order is on hold until BT sort out more capacity.
>
> EFH says they have never been in this situation and are chasing BT.
>
> Has anyone here come accoss this situation before and how long can BT
> makje us wait until the decide my folk can get ADSL.

BT can make you wait forever until they give you ADSL - as they are under no
obligation to provide it!

However, the SamKnows web site probably won't help you - what normally
happens in "not enough capacity" cases is that the DSLAM has simly run out
of ADSL line cards, not that a new DSLAM is needed..

It normaly takes 2/4 weeks for BT to get around to installing new cards on a
DSLAM.

Am suprised your ISP hasn't come across this issue before - its not
uncommon.

Regads
Sunil