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'. ?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

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

Just a little north of your area (unless they've moved things around a little) unfortunately - otherwise there'd be a big mug of tea and a large slice of cake waiting for you.

Shiny new cabinet went in today - about the tenth I've noticed in town.
Given I'm on cab 72, OR still have a fair bit to do (I'm assuming cab numbers don't jump about, so there's at least 72 cabinets in town) but it's looking good for a September switch-on.

Been out on loan all over the place just recently fitting these ...... but not anywhere near you !

They don't enable them in numerical order, and that the furniture is going in now may be a good omen for an early enablement. In the mean time, if you want to pop round and borrow a bucket of internet !

When a fibre cab is installed next to its PCP does this imply that the fibre has already been laid from exchange?

No. The main fibre 'spine' may be in place, but the local feed from the may well not be. The various parts of the whole process are performed by different groups/contractors, the street furniture is the most obvious part.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Been out on loan all over the place just recently fitting these ...... but not anywhere near you !

What's this I hear about DIY installs coming soon?
Was this just a rumour/myth?
Sounds like a very poor idea (IMHO) given how badly affected ordinary ADSL can be by shoddy home wiring and VDSL more so (because of the much higher frequencies involved). Sounds like all BT need is a load of botched home installs to repair!

To the OP -- I switched from O2 unlimited (distance meant this was 4/1) to BT Infinity "unlimited" at 34/8. WHilst this initially had a 300GB limit before being throttled for 28 days, this limit has been removed

There still remains severe P2P throttling, but I'm delighted with the service and value for money

http://community.bt.com/t5/BB-Speed-Connection-Issue...

ADSL back in the day had installation charges. And for £50 install fee you get VSDL modem included which is actually needed since your old ADSL router isn't going to work no more.

The £50 (plus VAT) actually covers workmanship for, Installing/replacing a faceplate, connecting (rerouting cables if nessesary) and testing from both at your house and at the exchange, and also supplying a VDSL which actually costs around £50 if you went out and bought one yourself seperately.

And as for small print about download caps, all FTTC products i've seen makes the allowances pretty clear from the get go. Since you're with BE (I am too) if you actually read the small print that actually do have a FUP in place. Just because BE doesn't act upon FUP violations it doesn't mean the FUP doesn't exists.

Edited by deleted (Wed 15-Jun-11 17:42:37)

In reply to a post by SDU:

And for £50 install fee you get VSDL modem included

Not really, that remains BT property.

Not heard of the DIY stuff, but it wouldn't surprise me. The VDSL faceplate filters already have a knock out like the I-plates, so can be slipped over extension wiring without dissing them off.

Sounds like a very poor idea (IMHO) given how badly affected ordinary ADSL can be by shoddy home wiring and VDSL more so (because of the much higher frequencies involved). Sounds like all BT need is a load of botched home installs to repair!

100% in agreement there Ade !

The money Openreach can rake in when the service providers raise SFI and Boost jobs to put it right would easily out weigh the lost revenue from self installs, i'd imagine there would still be a general connection charge same as there is with ADSL.

Then again since it seems Openreach wants to go toe to toe with Virgin for the speed crown, negative publicity due to all the botched self installs and complaints over speed could end up costing Openreach in the long run.

Edited by deleted (Wed 15-Jun-11 18:15:38)

In reply to a post by FRS_Plunderer:

Then again since it seems Openreach wants to go toe to toe with Virgin for the speed crown,

I'm all for that - nice and close to the cabinet here so I might actually benefit from higher speed boosts (for once - having spent the last 8 years at the end of a 5.2km cable which OR think is 7km).

lol lucky you! atleast for the VDSL not so much the years of ADSL....


....I've got 500mtrs of burried .5 aluminium between me and the PCP with a slight battery.