Broadband for BT customers only

Hi,

Hope this question makes sense - I'm not very up on how some of this stuff works, or the terminology for it.

So we moved house recently, and our broadband speed (we're with EE) is very slow - about 5mbps, I think.

We had an electrician round for some wiring work, and he told us that there are two broadband wires running into our house: an old one, which is what we're plugged into, and a new one ('a twisty one' he called it) that goes into the loft, and then stops there. However, he tried to connect us to the new wire and found it didn't work. He called BT, who told him this line was for BT broadband customers only. (The wire I think comes from the green phone exchange box thing on the corner of the street.)

Have BT got this right? Can a wire be reserved for use only by customers of a particular broadband provider? It doesn't seem likely to me that everyone on the street is on BT. If we did move to BT to take advantage of the fast wire, would we have to stay with them or could we then move to a different provider again? If we went straight from EE to a non-BT provider, would that provider have to run yet another wire into the house?

I hope this makes some sort of sense. Thank you in advance for any help!

No. It sounds like a second line that isn't connected to anything at the other end. However, it is for "BT Openreach" customers only which would cover all of the ISPs that resell the BT Openreach product.

Excellent, thank you!

I think in this case the electrician has got his wires crossed in a big way. It's more likely when he phoned BT they told him that the number he called was for BT broadband customers only.

As he was just an electrician he would not have the authority to contact BT on the householders behalf as it's against the data protection act.

Or just �Openreach�, as it is and has always been called.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Or just �Openreach�, as it is and has always been called.

Funny, that to order broadband from most ISPs, including a couple owned by BT, one needs to have or purchase a "BT line".

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Or just �Openreach�, as it is and has always been called.

Funny, that to order broadband from most ISPs, including a couple owned by BT, one needs to have or purchase a "BT line".

Says who though? Openreach wouldn�t use that terminology. CPs need to stop calling it BT or BT Openreach. They�re doing marketing for BT Group!

It was a "BT Line" before Openreach was formed. Some people, even occasional newbies to these forums still refer to having GPO lines.

Things don't change that easily, particularly in the case of Openreach which still belongs hook, line and sinker to BT.

In any case, prior to Openreach existing, what "BT Line" meant was a BT Wholesale line. However, nobody but pedants like me ever referred to it like that. Most of the time, that is still the appropriate description when explaining the foibles of broadband ordering from different retailers.

Just thinking, doesn't the dropwire have two pair in it as a matter of course?

Also the position in the loft can sometimes be the location of a monitored alarm system, which might have used a second line for it own use

Just thinking, doesn't the dropwire have two pair in it as a matter of course?

Not any more, the �standard� dropwire, DW11 in use is single pair, and has been for a few years now.