BT access point help

Hi,

I made an order for BT infinity and opted for a new line to be installed. I got this message in the welcome email;

Important: You need to arrange access to your building's BT connection point
You have one of these somewhere in your building, and your engineer will need to be able to get to it to set up your new phone service.
It's likely to be on the ground floor or basement, in a communal area. It might be in a locked room with the power meters, or where other utilities come into the building. If you don't have access yourself, or you don't know where the connection point is, you'll need to contact your building's management company or landlord.

If the engineer can't get access during the visit, they won't be able to set up your service and you'll have to arrange a new appointment.
I live in a block of flats 10 storeys high with 64 individual flats and I live on the fifth floor. There are utility cupboards on each floor and on each side of the building. There are three flats on each side of the building on each floor.
I found a little grey BT box in the utility cupboard on my side of the building and my floor. Some cables come out of it and go into 3 underground tubes which feed the 3 flats including mine on our side of the building.

So can the engineer install the line from there or does he need access to something else? Is there a master box or something like that on the ground floor he needs to go too?

I have taken some pictures for you to look at.

http://tinypic.com/r/1zn4k5s/8
http://tinypic.com/r/2u9tz4x/8
http://tinypic.com/r/120mp94/8
http://tinypic.com/r/14bhzco/8

Thanks in advance for any help.

There is very likely a much larger junction or frame on the ground floor or basement where a 100 pair cable enters. That will be split into smaller 4 or 6 pair cables which feed those smaller boxes on each floor.

You will need to find where the incoming cable terminates - just in case.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick reply,

When you say the incoming cable terminates do you mean the main cable coming into the block or the existing cable coming into my property?

The utility cupboard's downstairs have padlocks on them, do BT have keys?

Sorry for the noob questions but BT customer service haven't been very helpful.

One of the cupboard's was unlocked downstairs and has a big grey box with a huge green metal thing underneath. My guess is that's for the electric. It looked like a power box but I can get pictures.

My council are not being much help either so I'm a bit stuck really.

Install on the 29th!

Info on things like this should be part of the information provided when you move in. Tried asking another resident how they got their lines connected.

If its totally brand new then more may well need doing hence access to the utilities cupboards, but if someone had an existing phone line and they moved out and you moved in it should be a fairly simple turn the line on.

I'm a council tenant and when I moved here 3 years ago they didn�t provide any information on new BT lines being installed. The block of flats is not new. The post code is E11 2HN.

I have an active FTTC line already here but would like a new line installed.

I hope you can shed some light on this.

If its a new line, then likely will need work in the utility areas, as for access to them time to talk to the council, arrangements for this may vary from council to council e.g. some may have areas that a standard BT cab key gets engineer into, others may need an engineer to stop off and get a building specific key

Local engineers probably know what to do, but if you get an out of area one, then knowing the detail will help.

Right ok, I'll get onto the council in the morning. I did speak to them already about it and they said the little grey box in the utility cupboard on my floor and side of the building was what the engineer needed to get too. I thought I would double check with BT but no joy.

Do you think the little grey box is the right one?

The 'little grey box' looks to be a 'floor DP' from here there is a cable running to the main DP. Quite often the key required is an FB2 key, which some engineers carry.

Since this is a 2nd line in to the property, they will need to pick up a spare pair on the existing internal cable in the flat, then push it through the little grey box, then on to the main DP.

Have fun.

Wow, I didn�t realise it would be so much work! I guess the main DP is in one of the ground floor utility cupboards?

One is unlocked but not on my side of the building, I took some pictures of what was inside.

http://tinypic.com/r/oarw9h/8
http://tinypic.com/r/m7z2aa/8
http://tinypic.com/r/2qaqlia/8
http://tinypic.com/r/wqx7yh/8
http://tinypic.com/r/2r4hgzr/8

I�m guessing that�s not it? The other utility cupboard on the ground floor on my side of the building in locked with a padlock.