Moved to new house but previous owners line still conected

Dear all

Having searched on-line I am struggling to find an answer to the following, although I'm sure the answer is out there.

I have just bought a house and moved to it. I tried to order O2 broadband and home phone, using the current telephone number but they couldn't do anything without a MAC code which I don't have for obvious reasons.

There is a phone line, which I can even dial out from. However I can only assume I have no authorisation over it because it must still be under the previous owners name. The replies from the owners solicitors, prior to the sale, said they were with Intec-Telecom Systems and I know from a check on O2 Web Site that they had a business line installed.

The owners, having split up, have left Guildford. So clearly they are not wishing to keep the number but apparently either of them could take the line if they wished. There are two options but I am not sure which if either would work:
1. Getting hold of the previous owners and asking them to get a MAC code and allow me to take ownership of the line. My solicitors, being as helpful as ever, only informed me after the purchase had been completed, that I should contact my estate agent to arrange the transfer of the ownership of the line.

2. Get a new line put in. However given that the line is still physically connected, how can I get a new line put in? If they can disconnect the current line and number and connect me, why can't I just take over the current phone number, given that I am still in the same house? Is that because the owners might wish to keep the number.

3. At what point would the number be deactivated and the line cleared for me use if nothing was done?

Thank you for reading

Put you # in here: http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

If it says you can have BB then you have a BT phone line. You don't need a MAC; you just need to get the line rental in your name and then put in an order for BB. This should work as my daughter left her old place w/out doing anything and not long after got a letter from her old ISP informing her that her line was being taken over.

However, if the BT Checker says you don't have a BT line, you need to find out who owns it and get the # transferred to BT. Perhaps you can find out by dialling 100 or 150.

Thank you for your reply XRaySpeX

I rang up BT and they said they could transfer the line to me. There would be an 11 day cease and transfer notice period and then it could happen. However if I did that I would be tied into a 12 month contract with BT and my over all aim was to sign up with O2 for both home phone and broadband. I don't want a BT contract for 12 months first.

However I have also spoken to my estate agent and his is in the process of contacting the sellers of the property so they might be able to cease the line. Currently they still have an active line and if I made any calls they would be charged. I know this from dialling my mobile and that ringing.

If I had known about this issue before I completed the house purchase I would have instructed my solicitors not to complete until the line was ceased, especially as the sellers were not living there by this point. However my solicitors only informed me of this issue once the exchange had occurred and I only got their letter after I had completed.

You could try using the post office to transfer the line. They will do everything that BT would have done but you will end up with no contract.

Edited by deleted (Thu 28-Apr-11 15:09:45)

Virgin cable is perhaps an alternative way forward. Whatever problems are on the existing phone line they can then remain for ever and a day.

You don't have to take up the option of a virgin phone service but could instead use just mobiles or sign up to a VoIP provider. Taking this route you will have an end date for a service running in your new home unlike trying to clear down the line to enable O2 services to be supplied which could run on for weeks, if not months.

DCB

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Whatever problems are on the existing phone line they can then remain for ever and a day.

So sayeth a pessimist!

O2 should be able to set you up themselves no matter who had the line, once the current owners cease order has gone through - "Most people can get a home phone with us, and we are able to install new landlines or switch you over from other providers if required. There's an £86.81 charge if we need to send an engineer out to put in a new line. For some existing landlines, we'll need convert the line to the right kind of technology - if this is required, there'll be a charge of £45.96"

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/home/questions.jsp

Thank you for all your replies. If I ask BT to cease the line, will they only do this if I sign up to them or can they do it regardless?

I've found getting lines ceased isn't so well documented on-line or may be my searches are just not bringing up the right results.

Kind regards

You are aware that even if you take the BT line takeover, you don't have to have their broadband? So you could still have the O2 broadband. You wouldn't be able to order the O2 until it was up and running though.

In many cases the cost savings of O2 Home Phone are marginal, especially if you get a free takeover of the line by BT, where many others including O2 will possibly charge for the takeover.

Thanks for your reply Roberto.

How much is the charge to take over a line? Why would people switch phone providers if they charge you to take over the line. Surely everyone would remain with BT, to avoid the line take over charge. Or does this charge only occur if changing from one named person on a phone line to another?

Kind regards

Have you ever registered online with BT ?

Wagstaff

When and what CPs charge for lines is variable, seemingly even within the same CP. It usually depends on whether or not the line is currently active. If it has recently been ceased is where odd things happen, and/or if it has been physically disconnected at the exchange.

Hard to forecast for any particular case, but we know BT will do it for free. Though you may find it is an 18-month phone contract.

Wagestaff I have not registered with BT on-line, although I do have a pay as you go dial up account with them.

I don't dial up any more but I still use the e-mail via their POP3 and SMTP servers.

Roberto, the line is currently active and I need it to be either put in my name or disconnected so I can then start again. O2 would charge me to get a new connection. Whilst I'd prefer the line to be put in my name, which involves dealing with the former owners of the house, I'm happy to have it disconnected, if that turns out to be my best route, i.e. I can't get the former owners to respond.

However the BT person told me that once they send out a cease order I would then sign me up to a 12 month contract with them. However I don't wish to have a 12 month contract with BT.

I would the line to disconnect so I can set my up own contract as I see fit. I don't see why I should be tied down to a company I never had any direct dealings with at the house, prior to my move, or any sort of dealings with since about 2002.

Thank you for your replies

In reply to a post by infobleep:

Wagstaff I have not registered with BT on-line, although I do have a pay as you go dial up account with them.

I appreciate your desire not to have anything to do with BT.
My reason for asking the question was that, if you were registered with them, and had the account number, you could quite easily add that account to your profile.
This would mean that you would have effective control of the account without penalty.

Wagstaff

Thank you for your explanation Wagestaff. It's a useful thing I wasn't aware of.

However I since rang BT up again and it turns out they don't have the account for line. Although they come up when I checked the line is out in another company's name. I even checked using an on-line and it came up as BT. However it is a business line out taken out with a different company.

This will be Intec Telecom Systems. They were the company listed on the sellers questionnaire I received. Originally I thought the sellers had the phone line and the cable with Intec Telecom Systems but when I could get through to BT on the phone, I thought it must have only been the cable that was with them.

BT member of staff also told me that any company can request a take over of the line. So I am going to go back to O2 and ask them to do that.

Kind regards

Hi there,

I now have an A tag on my line with BT wholesale need to remove according to O2.

Follow on from the previous discussion Ion here, I took wagstaff's advice and signed up with the Post Office for my home phone. Thanks for that advice. It has active with them since last Tuesday, 31st May. So I now have my phone with the post office and no broadband.

So last night I rang up O2, in order to switch to them. However they informed me I have a tag on my line. It is an A tag. There 2 types, A and L. Any provider can remove an L tag but only your current provider can remove an A tag, so his supervisor told him.

The tag side BT so they gave me a number for BT. Unfortunately it was BT resale. They said I need to speak to my current provider so I decided to ring the post office. O2 answer there phones really quickly, however after 20 minutes I was still on hold with the post office.

In that time I had been on-line and found out that Ofcom state providers you move to should do all they can to remove tags from a line. If they don't you should consider going to someone else. o I rang O2 back, they referred me to BT Wholesale and said that is who they refer all their customers to. It is company policy. Unfortunately the two numbers they had were out of date and no longer work. I located one in an internet forum posting from 2007 so clearly it once existed.

So the 3rd person I spoke to at 02 today said he would go away and look into finding me a more up-to-date number and get back to me.

Can anyone here offer any advice? Are O2 telling the truth when they say I need to contact BTWholesale. Or are BT correct when they say I must contact my current provider. Ofcom state that in some instances my broadband provider may need my help. However I am not sure if this is such an instance. http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/servi...

If I do get the number for BTWholesale, will they tell me where to go if I ring them. This is what I am expecting. I will try the Post Office again. I only cut my call with them because I needed to use the phone to ring BTWholesale.

This whole area is clearly murky and grey because everyone seems to have a different idea as to what one must do.

I could choose another provider, which is also what Ofcom suggest but I wouldn't know who to switch to, who would be any good and they might give me the same story about needing to contact BTWholesale.

I dreading speaking to the Post Office because it's not in their interests to remove the tag on the line. Of course there is no number for BTWholesale on their Web Site.

This may all seem rather confusing but then that seems to be the nature of phone companies these days.

I did learn though that there is no longer a Mac code required. A Mac code is required from your broadband provider, where as a Tag on the line is something totally different. It is put on when making changes but it isn't always removed when it should be.

Kind regards

Hi there,

I finally have a resolution to my problem so I hope this will be of help to other people. Having spoken to the Post Office, they said the Tag on the line was with BT so I really needed to ring BT or there retentions department, which are only open Monday to Friday.

So I rang back BT. The number O2 gave me was: 0800 7832326. This number is no longer in use and directs me to 0800 0322111. The person I spoke to at BT said I could have just rung 0800 150 and that is the number I should ring in future. As an aside, here are the two obsolete numbers O2 gave me for BT Wholesale: 0800 1690934 and then 0800 1699576. These no longer work.

Once through to BT I mentioned that there was a Tag on my line and it was under their name and I needed to have it removed. They then looked into it and spoke to their tag helpdesk. The result is that it will take 5 hours for the tag to be removed and this should happen sometime between 9am and 2pm on Monday.

I don't know whether this tag was the issue when I first tried to sign up with O2 or whether at the point I really did need a Mac code. It's all fairly confusing and I'd never even heard of a tag before, although I had heard of MAC codes.

So if anyone ever has a problem in the future, ask the provider you wish to switch to if their is a tag on the line. If their is find out who it is and ask them to remove it. You don't have to be a customer to get the tag removed or I didn't at least in this case. You do need to be customer to get a MAC code though.

This whole area of tags and MAC codes is not very well explained or documented. It is this area which comes across as being shady and murky. There really need to be much more detailed advice on this explaining what all this means and how it works. I struggled to figure all this out and I have an understanding of computers and things technical. How do people with less understanding of technology cope?

The nice man at BT did say today that it can be more difficult if a new person moves into a house. Of course I had nothing to reference from because I was part of a shared line/broadband taken out in someone else's name.

Kind regards

Thanks for that update.

Tags do seem to be a black art and your post will hopefully help demystify the process!