FTTC resellers and ripoff installation fee

I have been thinking of changing from BE Unlimited to an FTTC connection.
All the talk about BT Infinity and the imposed download caps made me decide to try and find a reseller where there are no advertised caps.
Nearly every reseller I looked at impose a usage/download cap and charge a different monthly cost depending on say a cap of 10Gb upwards to around a cap of 120Gb.
Another problem is that nearly all resellers quote a monthly cost minus the vat charge.
Then there is the(in small print)installation fee that you have to pay because they in turn have to pay BT for an engineer to come and swap your faceplate for the new one needed for VDSL.
It seems the current installation fee is around £50 inc vat only to be rising to around £70 plus vat on or after 30th June this year.
So there you have it...
average cost per month for either uncapped(if lucky)or capped £22+vat (around £26) plus at least £50 installation fee.

Then there is the(in small print)installation fee that you have to pay because they in turn have to pay BT for an engineer to come and swap your faceplate for the new one needed for VDSL.

This would seem to show that you fail to understand exactly what is done by the installing engineer. Yes some installs are a doddle, 48 minutes from knocking on the door, to 4.5 hours spent sorting out internal wiring, etc. This is ignoring the jobs when there's a problem with the new DSLAM port, and you have to get a lift and shift done. You are wrong about the filter also, it's just a DSL faceplate filter, the engineer is just making sure the modem is fed from a filtered feed, rather than letting self-install wallahs bodge stuff like they have been happily doing for the last 10 years.

EXCUSE me...
I know a lot more about it than you like to think.
MY "gripe"is with the sly way resellers hide the fact that there is a connection or installation fee away in the small print.
And about the fact there are usage limits or caps when it has not been said elsewhere on their webpages.
I am more than aware of just what gets fitted in the house than you think.

Who are you referring to?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

EXCUSE me...
I know a lot more about it than you like to think.
MY "gripe"is with the sly way resellers hide the fact that there is a connection or installation fee away in the small print.
And about the fact there are usage limits or caps when it has not been said elsewhere on their webpages.
I am more than aware of just what gets fitted in the house than you think.

Assuming your the same person that started this thread (since your posting as Anonymous).

If your gripe is only over the 'sly' way resellers hide prices then why make an issue of the engineering costs? The original post did come off ignorant as it inferred all the engineer had to do was a faceplate swap - as already stated much more to it then that and at £50 its actually a rather good deal for the time involved (travel, time onsite, materials used, etc), hardly a 'ripoff' as the thread title suggests.

Edited by deleted (Sun 12-Jun-11 16:14:54)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Yes some installs are a doddle, 48 minutes from knocking on the door, to 4.5 hours spent sorting out internal wiring, etc.

Oh! The installer is gonna love doing mine then (assuming it ever gets to these parts - we've had regularly moving dates since they were released about Sept. last year).
Master socket immediately the other side (of a wall) from the entry point, master socket about 6' from the front door, router by the master socket, no internal extensions connected and probably less than 200m of cable between here and the cabinet

In reply to a post by adebov:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Yes some installs are a doddle, 48 minutes from knocking on the door, to 4.5 hours spent sorting out internal wiring, etc.

Oh! The installer is gonna love doing mine then (assuming it ever gets to these parts - we've had regularly moving dates since they were released about Sept. last year).
Master socket immediately the other side (of a wall) from the entry point, master socket about 6' from the front door, router by the master socket, no internal extensions connected and probably less than 200m of cable between here and the cabinet

Sounds like an ideal candidate for complex provision charges.

Edited by deleted (Sun 12-Jun-11 17:09:10)

We'll find out soon enough. The cabinets are popping up all over town (big beggers aren't they) and the one for us looks about to be installed this week (large hole in the ground and surrounded by barriers), so all looking good for the enablement to be postponed from September to December, then March

Good Oh, see if you can get your conversion task pinned to me Ade !

I know a lot more about it than you like to think.

Not apparent from your first post, hence my comments.

I am more than aware of just what gets fitted in the house than you think.

Then why say 'just swap out the filter'. ?