Pre order line check ?

Dear NG

I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will probably
pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed
to confirm if your line is suitable..."
The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.

I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after activation
date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)

Thank you

Chris S

"Chris Schwindack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LjyFc.213$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will
probably
> pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
> given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
> also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed
> to confirm if your line is suitable..."
> The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.
>
> I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after activation
> date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
> property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
> place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)

There is no way of definately checking a line without placing an order.

However, given the sums of money involved when purchasing a property - you
may just want to order it and actually see if ADSL can be enabled on the
line now.

For instance, Virgin offer free activation with a one month minimum
contract - so your total outlay would be in the region of £25 for a month

One word of warning though, when you do finally move in and change the phone
line into your name etc/transfer your BT account etc - BT will disconnect
the ADSL if its still working/active then (as it will be associated with the
current owners account) and you will have to order it again.. - still at
least you will know 100% that it will then support the speed you want (which
I assume is 512K)

Regards
Sunil

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:15:23 GMT, Chris Schwindack <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Dear NG
>
> I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will
> probably
> pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
> given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
> also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be
> performed
> to confirm if your line is suitable..."
> The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.
>
> I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after activation
> date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
> property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
> place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)
>
> Thank you
>
> Chris S
>
>

Hi Chris,

Without placing an order for ADSL on the phoneline you can never be 100%
certain that you can get ADSL as the tests are only done when an order is
placed. When you check on www.bt.com/broadband what speed does it say you
should be able to receive? If it says up to 2Mbps then there shouldn't be
a problem getting 512kbps is this has a different line length/loss limit
to 1 and 2Mbps.
Another good indication of availability (although again it doesn't
guarantee it) is if any of your potential neighbours already have ADSL.

--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

Hi Chris,

Before I moved, I got PlusNet to check the line beforehand. All they
needed was the phone number to perform a woosh test.

I also would not have moved without the possibility of BB.

Cheers,

Guy

** I may not be perfect, but I'm
** English, and that's the next best thing!

"Chris Schwindack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:iXRFc.64$(E-Mail Removed)...
> thanx for advice.
> I have thought of ordering but the legal implications are worrying. It
> could be seen as fraud ordering a service on a line in a house that is not
> mine. I'm not even supposed to know the properties telephone number !

Would you be best just waiting till you move in?

Dear Sunil -

thanx for advice.
I have thought of ordering but the legal implications are worrying. It
could be seen as fraud ordering a service on a line in a house that is not
mine. I'm not even supposed to know the properties telephone number !

I'll try and speak to the owner through the agents - what a nuisance

chris



"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Chris Schwindack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:LjyFc.213$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will
> probably
> > pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
> > given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
> > also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be
performed
> > to confirm if your line is suitable..."
> > The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.
> >
> > I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after
activation
> > date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
> > property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
> > place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)
>
> There is no way of definately checking a line without placing an order.
>
> However, given the sums of money involved when purchasing a property - you
> may just want to order it and actually see if ADSL can be enabled on the
> line now.
>
> For instance, Virgin offer free activation with a one month minimum
> contract - so your total outlay would be in the region of £25 for a month
>
> One word of warning though, when you do finally move in and change the
phone
> line into your name etc/transfer your BT account etc - BT will disconnect
> the ADSL if its still working/active then (as it will be associated with
the
> current owners account) and you will have to order it again.. - still at
> least you will know 100% that it will then support the speed you want
(which
> I assume is 512K)
>
> Regards
> Sunil
>
>

Dear Dave

The online "test" result suggested "up to 2Mbps download speed". You have
confirmed what others have suggested - that this does give an indication of
line quality. In this case good news. One person in town has BB but the
last bit to the house seems ancient - I am just very weary of BT. Can you
confirm Dr Teeth's next post regarding the pre install woosh test.

Thanx

chris

"PlusNet Support Team" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:15:23 GMT, Chris Schwindack <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear NG
> >
> > I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will
> > probably
> > pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
> > given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
> > also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be
> > performed
> > to confirm if your line is suitable..."
> > The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.
> >
> > I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after
activation
> > date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
> > property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
> > place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)
> >
> > Thank you
> >
> > Chris S
> >
> >
>
> Hi Chris,
>
> Without placing an order for ADSL on the phoneline you can never be 100%
> certain that you can get ADSL as the tests are only done when an order is
> placed. When you check on www.bt.com/broadband what speed does it say you
> should be able to receive? If it says up to 2Mbps then there shouldn't be
> a problem getting 512kbps is this has a different line length/loss limit
> to 1 and 2Mbps.
> Another good indication of availability (although again it doesn't
> guarantee it) is if any of your potential neighbours already have ADSL.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> | Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
> | Technical Support for Home & Business
> | PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
> + ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

On Sun, 04 Jul 2004 11:52:14 GMT, Chris Schwindack <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> Dear Dave
>
> The online "test" result suggested "up to 2Mbps download speed". You
> have
> confirmed what others have suggested - that this does give an indication
> of
> line quality. In this case good news. One person in town has BB but the
> last bit to the house seems ancient - I am just very weary of BT. Can
> you
> confirm Dr Teeth's next post regarding the pre install woosh test.
>
> Thanx
>
> chris
>


Hi Chris,

We can only do a woosh test on active ADSL line unfortunately (and only
for one of our customers and not another ISP's). We can do a different
test via our electronic ordering system eCo, this pulls data from the same
place as www.bt.com/broadband so I would expect a green result from this
too. If you want to email me the phone number ((E-Mail Removed)) I'll
check it for you and let you know what it says.



--
Regards,

| Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
| Technical Support for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

Dean Lambert <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> "Chris Schwindack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:iXRFc.64$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> thanx for advice.
>> I have thought of ordering but the legal implications are worrying. It
>> could be seen as fraud ordering a service on a line in a house that is not
>> mine. I'm not even supposed to know the properties telephone number !
>
> Would you be best just waiting till you move in?
>
If it's a possible condition, then I'd suggest getting the occupants to
get broadband installed - even if they have no computer.
Broadband availability might make several K difference to my offer for a
property.

Dear All - thanx for suggestions
difficult if you do not own the property and do not know the telnumber.
As Ian suggests - maybe oneday a broadband enabled line will be seen as a
bonus when buying a home !

Finally - see BT's official response - helpful as always:

.... "Thank you for your e-mail.

I'm afraid that extra testing only takes place once we receive a valid order
against a telephone number, we do not send out our engineers to test lines
for broadband outside the ordering process. This is because broadband is
currently not considered an essential service, unlike telephone, and we
cannot commit to providing it to a certain address. The situation for an
individual line may change, for example as a result of work done in the
network or because of a number change, and a line that qualifies today, may
not do so at a later stage. While these changes do not happen very often, it
does mean that we cannot provide any solid guarantees that we can provide
broadband to new properties before we receive the actual order.

I am sorry I cannot help you any further in this case,

Kind regards, " ...


Regards

chris





finally - have a look a
"Chris Schwindack" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:LjyFc.213$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Dear NG
>
> I am thinking of buying a house in a small rural village, but will
probably
> pass it up if no broadband available. The online broadband checker has
> given me the usual "...Good News! your exchange has ADSL broadband" but
> also "...If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed
> to confirm if your line is suitable..."
> The house appears to be 4-5 km's away from the exchange.
>
> I have been burned by BT before who turned around 2 days after activation
> date telling me broadband is not going to work afterall in a previous
> property. Is there any way to have the line physically checked before I
> place an order. (Current owner would be happy as long as I arrange)
>
> Thank you
>
> Chris S
>
>