New connection - no lines available

[nflutter]

Just moved in to new (old) house, BT phone sockets in the house, line from telegraph pole etc.

Last week openreach turned up to install our new broadband router and phone line, after a while outside he came in saying 'there's no available lines on the telegraph pole, I'll place a work order for one to be installed from the green box up the road'

Now after a week and many calls there is no idea from openreach when the line will be installed, after checking online it seems we may be in a nightmare scenario. To install a line to the telegraph pole they have to dig up the road, this will have to be run past the council and planning permission and relevant permits obtained, can't imagine how long that will take. In addition I've heard of situations where customers have been asked to pay £20,000 (not a typo...Twenty Thousand pounds) for a line to be installed!

Our house is in a town centre with neighbours both sides and behind all with phones yet our property may not be able to even have a simple phone let alone the superfast fibre broadband we ordered...... really, in this day and age?

This not a new build it's an old 60s bungalow that definitely had phones in before we moved in, whats happened?

[Nabs]

BT are having a laugh right...

Might be worth contacting the previous owners of the house if that's possible, ask whether they ever had any issues getting the phone line connected?

[nflutter]

They're totally serious. Spoken to previous owner, place has been empty for over a year but he had phone and internet when he was there for over 10 years.

BT say during that time the line may hve been taken by a neighbour for an extra line or the line may be faulty.

It looks like it could be well over a year before they install a new line from the box.

We're a family with 2 teenagers, all of us on the net all the time, kids at college and need internet access and me for business, one of the main reasons we moved was that we were in a rural area with superslow broadband and literally struggled to watch a youtube vid. first thing we checked even before viewing the new place was that superfast fibre was available...... how ironic, we can't even have a simple phone now let alone internet!

[Nabs]

Ah right, all possible scenarios I guess, doesn't help you any though!
A year for a phone line installation is ridiculous, that's not including the 20k cost! Why on earth would you pay for BT to fix their network!

To add to the matter; BT Openreach won't deal with customers directly either so there's very little you can do to progress things beyond keep asking Vodafone who will simply just keep asking BT... I don't envy your position!

Your local MP may be able to offer any assistance, depending on who it is they may have some access (see know people) at BT and therefore Openreach...  or worst case I'm sure there will be media outlets more than happy to run the story!

Not sure what part of the country you're in but if you've got coverage Vodafone may be able to sort something out with a Mobile Wifi connection, whilst you won't be able to use it the same as home broadband it would at least get you connected with the basics.