Hi Tim
This is the same experience that I and my customers have had. The
Engineers are helpful and will endeavour to do a neat job.
Most times thay will fit the faceplate but as you say when accomanied they
go by the book and who wouldnt.
As to plying them with tea and coffee it is one of the great urban myths.
Ian
www.cyber-cottage.co.uk
"Tiscali Tim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have recently upgraded from Home Highway (using Freeserve Anytime) to
> PlusNet ADSL (Easy Start) and thought that my experiences may be of
interest
> to others contemplating something similar. I shall post separately about
the
> PlusNet process - this post is mainly about the BT bit. I went with
PlusNet
> because they have a good reputation within this NG and because they offer
a
> managed conversion, while Freeserve don't. With a managed conversion, Home
> Highway gets automatically re-installed if the line doesn't pass the ADSL
> line-test.
>
>
>
> Once I had signed up with PlusNet, they gave an order to BT to do the
> conversion, and fixed a mutually convenient date.
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, I had planned my end of the deal in some detail - including the
> intention to use a filtered faceplate on the master socket rather than a
> proliferation of microfilters. However, I didn't buy this until *after*
the
> conversion for 2 reasons:
>
> a) I wasn't sure my line would pass the test
>
> b) I would want a different version depending on where the master socket
> ended up
>
> [i.e. either a simple one with phone and ADSL sockets just on the front,
or
> a modified one with connections for hardwiring an ADSL extension into the
> back].
>
>
>
> By way of background, prior to having HH installed two and a half years
ago,
> the master socket was in the downstairs hallway, with my phone extensions
> wired into the back of the NTE5 faceplate. When HH was installed, the
master
> socket was replaced by a dummy master/junction box, and the HH box was
> installed in my upstairs office, joined to the dummy master by a 3-pair
> cable which I routed inside hollow walls and under floorboards etc. [I has
> laid in some pull-wires prior to the arrival of the BT engineer, in order
to
> make this possible]. In doing the HH to ADSL conversion, I wasn't sure
> whether the new master socket would end up in the hallway - where the
> original one had been - or whether it would be possible (my preference) to
> install it upstairs in place of the HH box. If it were downstairs, I would
> need an ADSL extension (hopefully using one of the pairs in the existing
> 3-pair cable) and would want to wire it into the back of the faceplate -
> hence needing a modified faceplate. If it were upstairs, my ADSL modem
would
> plug straight into it without needing an extension.
>
>
>
> The appointed day for the conversion arrived, and the BT engineer turned
up,
> more or less as scheduled - but he did phone to warn me that he would be a
> couple of hours late. The first thing he did was to remove the faceplate
> from the dummy master in the hall and run the linetest on the incoming
pair
> with nothing else connected. Pretty smart this, because if it failed, it
> could all be put back together with little ado since the HH kit (at my end
> anyway) hadn't yet been removed.
>
>
>
> By way of an aside, the BT engineer was accompanied by a young lady whom I
> initially assumed to be a trainee engineer - but who turned out to be a
> senior HR manager, spending a day with an engineer in order to experience
> life at the sharp end!
>
>
>
> Fortunately, the line passed the test. The BT engineer was quite happy to
> put the new master socket in either location - so I opted for upstairs. He
> put an extension socket in place of the dummy master, with my existing
> extensions and a link to the new master wired into the back of it. He used
> the remaining pair of the HH 3-pair cable to carry the incoming line to
the
> new master.
>
>
>
> The new master which he fitted was, of course, a standard NTE5 with
> removeable faceplate. [He apparently also had some filtered faceplates in
> his van, but fitting one for me wasn't part of the deal. I got the
> impression that he might ordinarily have been pursuaded otherwise, but it
> didn't seem like a good idea to ask him in the presence of a senior
> manager!] In the event, I was able to get a filtered faceplate from
Solwise
> within a couple of days for about 14 quid including postage and VAT.
>
>
>
> Before he left, he demonstrated - using his laptop computer - that ADSL
> worked from the new upstairs master - and waited while software changes
were
> made at the exchange to restore the dial tone to the voice circuit. In
all,
> he was on-site for about a couple of hours - and the phone line was down
for
> about two and a half hours - because he had moved it from the ISDN to ADSL
> rack in the exchange before travelling to my house.
>
>
>
> Despite what people say about BT, I was very happy with their performance
on
> that occasion. I was glad that I had planned the whole thing, and so was
> able to end up with an installation wihich suited my exact purposes. I'm
not
> sure what the default would have been had I left the engineer to his own
> devices. BTW, despite what everyone says about plying BT engineers with
> copious quantities of coffee and biscuits, mine declined all such offers!
> --
> Cheers,
> Tim
> ______
> Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!
>
>
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
