Turned down by freeserve but BT engineer gives all clear

Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality

Just had a very nice chap from BT come out and he's given the all clear
after trying TWO tests- one to the socket alone, and one with all my
phones/(cheap) extensions plugged in. I believe one was called an NTE(?)
test.

He said there was no way I'd be turned down by bt broadband (yeah that
sounds biased, but he was referring to the tests).

I spoke to freeserve yesterday and they say my line is still active as I
haven't been contaced by anyone re cancellation. They HAVE cancelled my
anytime a/c though (bastards!) so I am now having to use 0845 which is no
use when I run a business online!

Tried connecting even though light still blinking, and just get a "cannot
get dialing tone (?!) message". Could my modem/filters be faulty?

I could just tell freeserve to sod off, but if I went somewhere decent I'd
have to buy my own modem, and if they turned me down (why?), I'd be out of
pocket.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003, "As mellow as a horse" wrote:

>I could just tell freeserve to sod off, but if I went somewhere decent I'd
>have to buy my own modem, and if they turned me down (why?), I'd be out of
>pocket.

Well, you could go for the simple starter package from PlusNet which costs
24.99 a month. I feel sure they'd only send the kit when your line was OK
as far as BT confirming that it would be enabled, and they'd refund if no
ADSL service was possible, so you probably have nowt to lose with them.

You'd be spending similar amounts of cash over the course of a year, esp.
as Freeserve charges more per month, but on the other hand, Freeserve is
willing to let people run a business from home on their ADSL connection.

"As mellow as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote in
message news:bpo315$mho$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality

> I could just tell freeserve to sod off, but if I went somewhere decent I'd
> have to buy my own modem, and if they turned me down (why?), I'd be out of
> pocket.
>
Pipex offer a modem and two filters for £17 plus free connection with a
monthly fee of £23.49.

On 22/11/03 4:27 pm, in article bpo315$mho$(E-Mail Removed), "As mellow
as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote:

> Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality
>
> Just had a very nice chap from BT come out and he's given the all clear
> after trying TWO tests- one to the socket alone, and one with all my
> phones/(cheap) extensions plugged in. I believe one was called an NTE(?)
> test.
>
This very nice chap from BT - was he testing your telephone line for vice
quality perchance ? AFAIK, the BT ADSL providers does NOT test lines as you
suggest, he was probably just testing the line for voice. How did you
initiate the line test request ? Calling 150 or something like that ?

> He said there was no way I'd be turned down by bt broadband (yeah that
> sounds biased, but he was referring to the tests).
>

I suspect (but cannot be sure) that he was not doing an ADSL test, probably
just a voice quality test.

Let us know what type of test was run and how you got them to do it ....

"Graham in Melton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:BBE654DD.186CE%(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 22/11/03 4:27 pm, in article bpo315$mho$(E-Mail Removed), "As
mellow
> as a horse" <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality
> >
> > Just had a very nice chap from BT come out and he's given the all clear
> > after trying TWO tests- one to the socket alone, and one with all my
> > phones/(cheap) extensions plugged in. I believe one was called an
NTE(?)
> > test.
> >
> This very nice chap from BT - was he testing your telephone line for vice
> quality perchance ? AFAIK, the BT ADSL providers does NOT test lines as
you
> suggest, he was probably just testing the line for voice. How did you
> initiate the line test request ? Calling 150 or something like that ?
>
> > He said there was no way I'd be turned down by bt broadband (yeah that
> > sounds biased, but he was referring to the tests).
> >
>
> I suspect (but cannot be sure) that he was not doing an ADSL test,
probably
> just a voice quality test.
>
> Let us know what type of test was run and how you got them to do it ....
>

I got him out to the house on the pretence of noise voice calls, and he did
do that old test where he just plugged his special phone into the socket and
listened for noise. And the good old pole/fishing rod test.

But then I mentioned broadband (and the lack of it according to freeserve)
and everything changed . He did the the two extra tests I mentioned in the
OP and said he would never have done them if I hadn't mentioned broadband.
He also said they were expensive tests that would be billed (not to me!) and
he was crapping himself about terminating the connection as soon as each
test finished!

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 12:13, Graham in Melton wrote:

>was he testing your telephone line for vice quality perchance ?

what, starting an 090x chat line :-))

As mellow as a horse wrote:
> "Graham in Melton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:BBE654DD.186CE%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On 22/11/03 4:27 pm, in article bpo315$mho$(E-Mail Removed),
>> "As mellow as a horse"
>> <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality
>>>
>>> Just had a very nice chap from BT come out and he's given the all
>>> clear after trying TWO tests- one to the socket alone, and one
>>> with all my phones/(cheap) extensions plugged in. I believe one
>>> was called an NTE(?) test.
>>>
>> This very nice chap from BT - was he testing your telephone line
>> for vice quality perchance ? AFAIK, the BT ADSL providers does NOT
>> test lines as you suggest, he was probably just testing the line
>> for voice. How did you initiate the line test request ? Calling
>> 150 or something like that ?
>>
>>> He said there was no way I'd be turned down by bt broadband (yeah
>>> that sounds biased, but he was referring to the tests).
>>>
>>
>> I suspect (but cannot be sure) that he was not doing an ADSL test,
>> probably just a voice quality test.
>>
>> Let us know what type of test was run and how you got them to do
>> it ....
>>
>
> I got him out to the house on the pretence of noise voice calls,
> and he did do that old test where he just plugged his special phone
> into the socket and listened for noise. And the good old
> pole/fishing rod test.
>
> But then I mentioned broadband (and the lack of it according to
> freeserve) and everything changed . He did the the two extra tests
> I mentioned in the OP and said he would never have done them if I
> hadn't mentioned broadband. He also said they were expensive tests
> that would be billed (not to me!) and he was crapping himself about
> terminating the connection as soon as each test finished!

The only test which would show whether you could have DSL or not were
not available for him to test as there was no DSL service on your
line.

Sorry but it does sound like a well meaning newby, yes there are some
out there, who didn't know what they were talking about...

--
B-)
Don't practice safe hex,
do it!!!

"Kráftéé" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:M04wb.2051$(E-Mail Removed)...
> As mellow as a horse wrote:
> > "Graham in Melton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:BBE654DD.186CE%(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> On 22/11/03 4:27 pm, in article bpo315$mho$(E-Mail Removed),
> >> "As mellow as a horse"
> >> <richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Got turned down by freeserve a week ago due to line noise/quality
> >>>
> >>> Just had a very nice chap from BT come out and he's given the all
> >>> clear after trying TWO tests- one to the socket alone, and one
> >>> with all my phones/(cheap) extensions plugged in. I believe one
> >>> was called an NTE(?) test.
> >>>
> >> This very nice chap from BT - was he testing your telephone line
> >> for vice quality perchance ? AFAIK, the BT ADSL providers does NOT
> >> test lines as you suggest, he was probably just testing the line
> >> for voice. How did you initiate the line test request ? Calling
> >> 150 or something like that ?
> >>
> >>> He said there was no way I'd be turned down by bt broadband (yeah
> >>> that sounds biased, but he was referring to the tests).
> >>>
> >>
> >> I suspect (but cannot be sure) that he was not doing an ADSL test,
> >> probably just a voice quality test.
> >>
> >> Let us know what type of test was run and how you got them to do
> >> it ....
> >>
> >
> > I got him out to the house on the pretence of noise voice calls,
> > and he did do that old test where he just plugged his special phone
> > into the socket and listened for noise. And the good old
> > pole/fishing rod test.
> >
> > But then I mentioned broadband (and the lack of it according to
> > freeserve) and everything changed . He did the the two extra tests
> > I mentioned in the OP and said he would never have done them if I
> > hadn't mentioned broadband. He also said they were expensive tests
> > that would be billed (not to me!) and he was crapping himself about
> > terminating the connection as soon as each test finished!
>
> The only test which would show whether you could have DSL or not were
> not available for him to test as there was no DSL service on your
> line.

So how is ANY test for ADSL done prior to ADSL being activated then? Am I
missing something here?

> Sorry but it does sound like a well meaning newby, yes there are some
> out there, who didn't know what they were talking about...

Well, he was no spring chicken, so I would guess he's not straight off the
training line. If he IS right, the worst that can happen is that I DO get
BB, but have to go through BT BB for 12 months.

And to cut a long story short, I'm now back on freeserve anytime (at least
for now) and I've asked them to put the order through again, although they
say it will still take up to 10 days again. As I'm determined to get my
free month, I'm not going to go else where right now as that would also take
10 days, and I need interim anytime access whoever I go with.

> --
> B-)
> Don't practice safe hex,
> do it!!!
>
>

Kráftéé wrote:
> The only test which would show whether you could have DSL or not were
> not available for him to test as there was no DSL service on your
> line.

Come on now, you've got a Hawk tester, ain't yea ??

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 18:13:51 -0000, "As mellow as a horse"
<richie42@***xxxSPAMOFFxxxx**eidosnet.co.uk> wrote:

>and I need interim anytime access whoever I go with.

MyInternetPass mipcard.com (?) would allow you 160 hours for a
tenner or 2000 minutes to be used within 90 days, so you'd at
least be able to check for e-mail frequently... Peter M.