Trying to find out what's happened to a line

For once this isn't about my line - I've just moved into a new build house (on a new estate) and all is good for me.
However my neighbour is having no end of issues. They're 5 doors down from me and are unable to get a working phone line. They should be on the same cabinet and same exchange. However neither Sky or BT retail have been able to give them a working service, citing random reasons each time.
The last time I spoke to my neighbours they'd cancelled the order with Sky who were arguing with Openreach about whether an order had been fulfilled or not.
Now that the Sky order has been cancelled, they've gone with BT. The service was due to go live today, but the engineer has cancelled the visit saying that more work needs to be done.

Is there a way to find out what state the line is actually in, and to find out what needs to be done? Or is there a strategy to play with BT which will get them to push it through the right channels?

Also, is there a way to thrown a wireless signal 50m down the road?

Homes are built in batches, so it may be you are in batch A and they are in batch B and something has not been done with regards to handing over the ducting to allow a phone line yet, or another issue.

Another possibility is problems with address databases not matching up. New builds are always more likely to have issues.

Wireless 50m, if you have clear line of sight then any of the outdoor wireless antenna/bridges should suffice and you may find of windows are not modern foil backed version that a router in a window is enough if clear line of sight.

Something like This £40 external bridge gets past the window problem or can be mounted in a position that has better line of sight. With just one its like a better wireless antenna - if you have two then you can form a dedicated bridge that should be better, i.e. good antenna at each end and.

Thanks Andrew.
That's bridge is pretty perfect for what we need. Apparently my neighbours can get my routers signal from their garage, so that would work nicely.

The houses were built in the same batch, and we've all been in for about 3 months. I initially had issues with the address databases, but I think that's all sorted now. I'm hoping that if they just keep pushing BT it'll all get sorted, though Sky didn't seem to have much luck.

Is there underground cable visible o/s the property ?

Yeah, the line is physically installed at the property (and it's underground)
There was a dial tone briefly before it was realised it was someone elses number

Weird then that there is a perceived problem....

Have you tried a PM to Ribble for more detail ? 😉

Ribble doesn't accept PMs. Not surprising - there would be hundreds.

Fair enough really, and maybe something I should have guessed.

He was for a time this week as I sent him one.

No reply though

This is what's confusing me - there's obviously *something* that needs doing somewhere. And the exchange is about 100m as the crow flies!

The situation is slightly muddied by Sky's previous order which has now been progressed to Ofcom, so there are different organisations having different reviews about the same issue.

Still no active phone line 4 months in though!