bb_matt
Executive Member
Please don't view this as boasting or gloating or anything like that, thanks.
I moved into my new apartment in Odiham (hampshire) on January 27th and on Wednesday 1st Feb, called BT to get a landline installed, first step in the process to get broadband.
One thing that is immediately obvious is that BT still control the network regarding telephone connections, which are required to get broadband. I need to do some more research, but every ISP here lists a BT landline as a requirement, so I guess that private companies are not allowed to lay any telephone cabling.
My first attempt at calling to get a land line left me stumped, I was told that my house had a "ceased line" and that the next available time for an engineer to install it, would be on February 28th - almost a month to wait.
Not deterred, I called again and spoke to a different operator at BT. This time, I was told February 27th.
Not good enough.
On my final attempt, I was amazed to be told it could be installed in three days.
So yeah, the same situation happens here as back in SA, the old "run around"
I told the operator to PLEASE tell the engineer to call me when he got to my house, as I would be at work and that it would only take me 5 minutes to get home to let the engineer in.
They didn't, and the engineer left a card saying he had been to the house and I wasn't there.
I phoned BT, quoted my reference number and asked why my instructions hadn't been followed. "sorry sir, very sorry - blah blah" - at least they were polite about it.
I was then told that an engineer could only call again in two weeks. I was having none of that, so I told the operator "not good enough"
I was told to hold on, 5 minutes later, the operator came back saying there was a cancellation on one call out and the engineer could install the line the next day. I once again left instructions for the engineer to call me.
This time, they did and I nipped home to let the engineer in. 30 minutes later, I had my landline installed.
Then I ordered my broadband via BT online, with a standard 5 days waiting time.
They shipped my wireless router via Royal mail and it arrived on February 8th as promised, at the same time as my broadband being activated on my phone line.
I'm happy, but it's very clear to me that had I not put my foot down and been persistent, I would still be waiting.
That leads me to believe that the average time to get broadband installed in the UK, if you have no landline, is one month.
Yes, I hear you say, "but in South Africa it can take 3 months !"
That maybe so, but you'd expect a 1st world country to be a bit speedier than 1 month.
In fact, my ADSL back in SA was delivered and installed in 3 weeks, including a brand new landline installation.
So yeah, I was lucky and my experience dealing with this type of thing paid off - from initial contact, to getting broadband, it was 10 days.
I won't go into the speed or the cost, suffice to say it's not as amazing as many would have you believe, but it is better and cheaper. I'd say it's about 1/3rd of the price and 3 times the speed, depending on what you want.
They DO have capping here, I have a 20gig account. There are broadband services who offer unlimited downloads, but there's all sorts of catches.
It maybe better than SA, but it's not "the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" - there are issues, landlines get disconnected, there's overloaded circuits, wireless broadband costs just as much.
So don't complain too much about the situation in SA, if the UK is anything to go by, things will improve over there, hopefully reasonably quickly.
I moved into my new apartment in Odiham (hampshire) on January 27th and on Wednesday 1st Feb, called BT to get a landline installed, first step in the process to get broadband.
One thing that is immediately obvious is that BT still control the network regarding telephone connections, which are required to get broadband. I need to do some more research, but every ISP here lists a BT landline as a requirement, so I guess that private companies are not allowed to lay any telephone cabling.
My first attempt at calling to get a land line left me stumped, I was told that my house had a "ceased line" and that the next available time for an engineer to install it, would be on February 28th - almost a month to wait.
Not deterred, I called again and spoke to a different operator at BT. This time, I was told February 27th.
Not good enough.
On my final attempt, I was amazed to be told it could be installed in three days.
So yeah, the same situation happens here as back in SA, the old "run around"
I told the operator to PLEASE tell the engineer to call me when he got to my house, as I would be at work and that it would only take me 5 minutes to get home to let the engineer in.
They didn't, and the engineer left a card saying he had been to the house and I wasn't there.
I phoned BT, quoted my reference number and asked why my instructions hadn't been followed. "sorry sir, very sorry - blah blah" - at least they were polite about it.
I was then told that an engineer could only call again in two weeks. I was having none of that, so I told the operator "not good enough"
I was told to hold on, 5 minutes later, the operator came back saying there was a cancellation on one call out and the engineer could install the line the next day. I once again left instructions for the engineer to call me.
This time, they did and I nipped home to let the engineer in. 30 minutes later, I had my landline installed.
Then I ordered my broadband via BT online, with a standard 5 days waiting time.
They shipped my wireless router via Royal mail and it arrived on February 8th as promised, at the same time as my broadband being activated on my phone line.
I'm happy, but it's very clear to me that had I not put my foot down and been persistent, I would still be waiting.
That leads me to believe that the average time to get broadband installed in the UK, if you have no landline, is one month.
Yes, I hear you say, "but in South Africa it can take 3 months !"
That maybe so, but you'd expect a 1st world country to be a bit speedier than 1 month.
In fact, my ADSL back in SA was delivered and installed in 3 weeks, including a brand new landline installation.
So yeah, I was lucky and my experience dealing with this type of thing paid off - from initial contact, to getting broadband, it was 10 days.
I won't go into the speed or the cost, suffice to say it's not as amazing as many would have you believe, but it is better and cheaper. I'd say it's about 1/3rd of the price and 3 times the speed, depending on what you want.
They DO have capping here, I have a 20gig account. There are broadband services who offer unlimited downloads, but there's all sorts of catches.
It maybe better than SA, but it's not "the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" - there are issues, landlines get disconnected, there's overloaded circuits, wireless broadband costs just as much.
So don't complain too much about the situation in SA, if the UK is anything to go by, things will improve over there, hopefully reasonably quickly.
