WHY does it take 7 days OR pre-ordering is pointless

Hi,

My exchange has reached target so 14 days before today I had sorted
out my phone lines (was 2 now 1) and pre-ordered my adsl. The tracker
showed my line past the checks and order progressed. BUT my
activation date is in 7 days. Nobody can tell me WHY.

Now I can understand if I place an order on an already enabled
exchange it will take time to process the paperwork and schedule
sending a man to the exchange to change the link (if that is what
happens). BUT what I don't understand is WHY that process takes 7
days after the exchange is enable, irrespective of when the order is
placed. Why is the man in his van not at the exchange tomorrow? WHAT
is the point of pre-ordering? NONE it would seem!

BTW, I've asked my ISP this question. They don't know and apparently
I can't ask BT wholesale 'cos they won't talk to me.

Now I can see that BT like people to pre-order since they now they
have customers but this should be a 2 way street. If you pre-order it
ought to speed up the process! Otherwise why bother!

Malcolm


--

....malcolm

Malcolm Reeves BSc CEng MIEE MIRSE, Full Circuit Ltd, Chippenham, UK
((E-Mail Removed), (E-Mail Removed) or (E-Mail Removed)).
Design Service for Analogue/Digital H/W & S/W Railway Signalling and Power
electronics. More details plus freeware, Win95/98 DUN and Pspice tips, see:

http://www.fullcircuit.com or http://www.fullcircuit.co.uk

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"Malcolm Reeves" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> My exchange has reached target so 14 days before today I had sorted
> out my phone lines (was 2 now 1) and pre-ordered my adsl. The
tracker
> showed my line past the checks and order progressed. BUT my
> activation date is in 7 days. Nobody can tell me WHY.
>
> Now I can understand if I place an order on an already enabled
> exchange it will take time to process the paperwork and schedule
> sending a man to the exchange to change the link (if that is what
> happens). BUT what I don't understand is WHY that process takes 7
> days after the exchange is enable, irrespective of when the order is
> placed. Why is the man in his van not at the exchange tomorrow?
WHAT
> is the point of pre-ordering? NONE it would seem!
>
> BTW, I've asked my ISP this question. They don't know and
apparently
> I can't ask BT wholesale 'cos they won't talk to me.
>
> Now I can see that BT like people to pre-order since they now they
> have customers but this should be a 2 way street. If you pre-order
it
> ought to speed up the process! Otherwise why bother!
>

As I understand it, they have to have 75% of the trigger level figure,
pre-order, before the exchange is enabled. The pre-ordering seems to
be just to confirm that there are enough customers to justify the
exchange being enabled.
--
Gavin Gillespie
Giltbrook
Nottingham UK

"Malcolm Reeves" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> My exchange has reached target so 14 days before today I had sorted
> out my phone lines (was 2 now 1) and pre-ordered my adsl. The tracker
> showed my line past the checks and order progressed. BUT my
> activation date is in 7 days. Nobody can tell me WHY.
>
> Now I can understand if I place an order on an already enabled
> exchange it will take time to process the paperwork and schedule
> sending a man to the exchange to change the link (if that is what
> happens). BUT what I don't understand is WHY that process takes 7
> days after the exchange is enable, irrespective of when the order is
> placed. Why is the man in his van not at the exchange tomorrow? WHAT
> is the point of pre-ordering? NONE it would seem!
>
> BTW, I've asked my ISP this question. They don't know and apparently
> I can't ask BT wholesale 'cos they won't talk to me.
>
> Now I can see that BT like people to pre-order since they now they
> have customers but this should be a 2 way street. If you pre-order it
> ought to speed up the process! Otherwise why bother!
>
> Malcolm

I think there is a seven day delay before any lines are activated for all
newly enabled exchanges... Same happened to me.

I gather that they carry out testing of the equipment in that time to make
sure it's all working correctly before they plug people in...If it's any
consolation, as far as I can remember my line was activated on the day they
said (i.e. 7 days after the RFS date) and I haven't looked back since.

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 16:37:15 +0000, in article
<hF4xb.3930$(E-Mail Removed)> "Gavin Gillespie"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> As I understand it, they have to have 75% of the trigger level figure,
> pre-order, before the exchange is enabled. The pre-ordering seems to
> be just to confirm that there are enough customers to justify the
> exchange being enabled.

I think this changed once BT realised what the demand for ADSL was like,
it's also the reason why many of the exchange trigger levels dropped.

It isn't really that they need fewer people connected to make an exchange
viable, it's that now they have confidence that if x people register
interest then only a few of them won't order once the exchange is enabled.

Of course pre-orders are very nice for BT but no longer necessary.

--

Brian Morrison

please observe reply-to address

"Malcolm Reeves" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> My exchange has reached target so 14 days before today I had sorted
> out my phone lines (was 2 now 1) and pre-ordered my adsl. The tracker
> showed my line past the checks and order progressed. BUT my
> activation date is in 7 days. Nobody can tell me WHY.


I recently had ADSL installed but because I work for BT I could follow my
order on BT's computer system. There were 14 separate and distinct
activities or jobs created for my order. Each job had to be completed in
the right order before the next activity could start. Some activities were
robotic while others required a human to do something. This was spread
over 10 days.

"Brian Morrison" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed). ..
> On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 16:37:15 +0000, in article
> <hF4xb.3930$(E-Mail Removed)> "Gavin
Gillespie"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > As I understand it, they have to have 75% of the trigger level
figure,
> > pre-order, before the exchange is enabled. The pre-ordering seems
to
> > be just to confirm that there are enough customers to justify the
> > exchange being enabled.
>
> I think this changed once BT realised what the demand for ADSL was
like,
> it's also the reason why many of the exchange trigger levels
dropped.
>
> It isn't really that they need fewer people connected to make an
exchange
> viable, it's that now they have confidence that if x people register
> interest then only a few of them won't order once the exchange is
enabled.
>
> Of course pre-orders are very nice for BT but no longer necessary.
>

This is the reply I received from BT, to a question I asked at the end
of October, the question was :-
'Are NTL cable customers allowed to pre register with an exchange, if
they are considering changing suppliers?'

<Quote>
Unfortunately you are unable to pre-register for Broadband unless you
have a current BT telephone number. The reason for this is that once a
trigger level has been reached BT Wholesale will not upgrade the
exchange without a number of pre-orders being placed and this is not
possible if you do not already have a BT line. BT Broadband as a
service provider only has no influence or control over this process.
</Quote>
--
Gavin Gillespie
Giltbrook
Nottingham UK

"Gavin Gillespie" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:hF4xb.3930$(E-Mail Removed)...
> As I understand it, they have to have 75% of the trigger level figure,
> pre-order, before the exchange is enabled. The pre-ordering seems to
> be just to confirm that there are enough customers to justify the
> exchange being enabled.

This step was abolished in December 2002.

Regards
Sunil

"Malcolm Reeves" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> My exchange has reached target so 14 days before today I had sorted
> out my phone lines (was 2 now 1) and pre-ordered my adsl. The tracker
> showed my line past the checks and order progressed. BUT my
> activation date is in 7 days. Nobody can tell me WHY.
>
> Now I can understand if I place an order on an already enabled
> exchange it will take time to process the paperwork and schedule
> sending a man to the exchange to change the link (if that is what
> happens). BUT what I don't understand is WHY that process takes 7
> days after the exchange is enable, irrespective of when the order is
> placed. Why is the man in his van not at the exchange tomorrow? WHAT
> is the point of pre-ordering? NONE it would seem!

Pre ordering does speed up the activation process.

You are very likely to find that you are activated before the date your ISP
gave you - however, BT quote 7 days or so, in case they need to iron out any
unforeseen issues.

Once they are happy the ADSL equipment is functioning properly they will
just go through their list and enable all the customers who have ordered the
service.

If you have HH or ISDN its a bit different as BT need to visit you and
normally start the visits about 10 days after the exchange has been enabled
(so they can get all the analogue activations out of the way) but sometimes
BT try and move these forward as well.

Regardless of what the ADSL tracker shows, BT cannot properly test your line
until the exchange has been enabled.

You have been waiting so long - its only a few more days - just plug in your
ADSL equipment and wait for it to show signs of life..

Regards
Sunil

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
> Now I can understand if I place an order on an already enabled
> exchange it will take time to process the paperwork and schedule
> sending a man to the exchange to change the link (if that is what
> happens). BUT what I don't understand is WHY that process takes 7
> days after the exchange is enable, irrespective of when the order is
> placed. Why is the man in his van not at the exchange tomorrow? WHAT
> is the point of pre-ordering? NONE it would seem!
>

It may be _up to_ 7 days.

I was told that ISDN->ADSL would take 10-15 days after the order, but in
the end I was converted in 7 days. It would have been much quicker had I
been on POTS, but because I was on HH, an engineer had to come out and
make some changes to the phone system in the house.

Pete.

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On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 21:21:39 -0000, "Sunil Sood"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Pre ordering does speed up the activation process.
>
>You are very likely to find that you are activated before the date your ISP
>gave you - however, BT quote 7 days or so, in case they need to iron out any
>unforeseen issues.

>Once they are happy the ADSL equipment is functioning properly they will
>just go through their list and enable all the customers who have ordered the
>service.

I hope you are right, time will tell. I can understand that it could
be up to 7 days, but my ISP seems to be saying it WILL be 7 days. If
it is take specific then really the RFS date is 7 days later since
that is when it all works.

This is something that BT should specify better since you are usually
changing from dial-up to ADSL so have cancel the dial-up and even
reduce the number of lines you have, swap numbers etc. (as in my
case). All of that needs to be scheduled in and if ADSL is then 7
days later it makes a mess of the arrangements. I could have kept my
two lines for another week at least.

Malcolm

--

....malcolm

Malcolm Reeves BSc CEng MIEE MIRSE, Full Circuit Ltd, Chippenham, UK
((E-Mail Removed), (E-Mail Removed) or (E-Mail Removed)).
Design Service for Analogue/Digital H/W & S/W Railway Signalling and Power
electronics. More details plus freeware, Win95/98 DUN and Pspice tips, see:

http://www.fullcircuit.com or http://www.fullcircuit.co.uk

NEW - Desktop ToDo/Reminder program (free)