Getting BT Infinity installed on Tuesday. Have questions

Found out my cab was finally enabled (Part of Digital Durham). Estimates are 60-80 which is amazing considering I currently have 2.5. I placed an order for Infinity 2 and chose and engineer install date of Tuesday afternoon. The HomeHub is arriving tomorrow but I plan to replace that at some point with an unlocked openreach modem.

But there's something weird. When I track my order it says the engineer visit has been cancelled as he'll do all the work at the exchange. That can't be right can it? I don't even have the correct faceplate. I've had no email about this. If I hadn't decided to track the order I wouldn't even have known. I've got a sneaking suspicion I've had this happen before when I reported a fault though so I thought I'd check with you guys before I brave the customer support phone lines.

Can I just plug my new homehub5 into my adsl splitter and get my full capable speed without an engineer visit?

Cheers

If there is not lots of extension wiring in the home then a microfilter can give full speeds

We have one extension with nothing connected to it. The master socket has a filter, my current hub, a sky box and a single phone (the rest is cordless).

I think I'd better phone up about the appointment though. I'd like the correct faceplate.

It turns out my appointment has been cancelled. I have no idea why and obviously nobody was going to bother telling me not to take the day off work. Apparently someone will call me from the "high priority team" today to sort something out. I'm not holding my breath.

Nice misleading order tracking page though. That's high quality comms right there.

Finally got a call back from BT.

BT and BT Wholesale say Infinity is available. Open Reach says the work on the exchange/cabinet isn't finished yet. Apparently someone will get in touch with me on progress. So not the worst news. Sounds like someone jumped the gun with the adsl checker and allowing orders.

It's pure agony knowing I'm going to get it and having to wait and wait though I'm currently on 2.5 meg

2.5M, 2.5M, 2.5M, 2.5M, {little wait} 40/80M, 40/80M ahhhhhhhhh bisto.

I cant say directly about BT Infinity 2; but I ordered an upgrade back on 18th May from EE, from ADSL2+ to 40/10, FTTC having been recently installed and activated in the area.

The Bright Box 2 arrived 3 days after placing the order. Nothing about its installation requirements, other than typical "Plug it in".

My NTE is almost an ancient on; and I expected to have an engineer appointment etc.

The installation date of (by?) 5th June was included, though not clear exactly what this meant.

Was it that the installation would be some time in the period up to 5th June; or was it scheduled for that date?

In the meantime, I had organise fish wires to pull through new wiring, if needed etc.

On 4th June I phoned the EE Help Line; and fortunately got a "Customer Adviser" who clearly knew what he was talking about.

He informed me that unless something prove to be faulty, there was no need for an appointment.

On the 5th June, approaching "High Noon", I spotted a KELLY van across the road, at the PC, with two lads at the PCP.

Just as I was speaking to one, a trainee, the other happened to be confirming which line he was working on by ringing 17070 - and I heard my own phone number being read back.


Returned home; and some minutes later plugged in the BB 2.

It took about 3 minutes to set itself up; and has been working since.

It is running at around 36 Mbps Down, 9.5 Mbps UP, on a line which is now about 300 Metres long.

In the house, the line supplying trhe Router is rough phone wiring from the NTE up through the stairs, across a landing underneath the carpet, to a socket just inside the "office", where a conventional "Phone Extension Cord" completes the line to the BB 2.

There are are another two extension wires off that "office" socket, one actually being used.

Absolutely no changes to the existing higgledy-piggledy internal wiring, apart from fitting the two supplied VDSL Splitters, one on the BB 2 Router extension, the other on a Cordless Phone Base Station, elsewhere.

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Possibly someone who has done a similar upgrade to you may respond with their experiences.

I have a BT Care caseworker now who's going to keep an eye on the problem for me. Not sure if that'll do any good. Digital Durham kindly checked with their contacts in Openreach for me and found out the cabinet is definitely live so god only knows what's going on. Apparently my next update is tomorrow but I might not hear back from them until Wednesday.

Meanwhile you can still place an order for my cab. Taking bets on how long it takes to sort out.

I managed to get someone to escalate my problem. I still don't know why my order went wrong initially but I got it installed yesterday.

When I noticed the line go dead I switched my router over to VDSL and in a few minutes it synced up to 37meg. Once the faceplate was fitted it jumped to 72. Currently steady at 70/17 which considering I came from 2.5 I'm very, very happy about

BT are also giving me a month free in compensation for the problems I had