New provision - old adsl ?

Hey,

Having just moved house and set up a new BT provision I was pleased as punch that BT could do it in two days..

However my mood changed when I tried to order broadband.. apparently there is an existing adsl service on the circuit, for which I need to obtain the mac code before I can order a new connection.

All well and good, but when BT themselves cannot tell me who it is, or remove the tag from the line and Zen my new provider tell me that I have no choice but to wait for the old user to cease the old service.. I'm at a loss as seem unable to sort this out.

Even if I knew who the old provider was, I couldnt talk to them I am not the account holder, Zen cant help as its not their service and BT are useless.

Can anyone suggest anything I can do to expedite this fix to get me up and running?

Thx

Phil

Can you get in touch with the previous occupier?

John.

Hi John,

Yes I am tryin that but so far estate agent is telling me they have moved to dubai, hence the lack of response thus far!

Is it the same number as the line had before? If not, I don't see how a Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) would help. Nothing/no-one is migrating a service.

Whether or not there is a new number, there should be an automatic cease in hand as the previous customer has presumably cancelled PSTN service.

There used to be a number the public could call for the BT Tag Removal team. I believe that has now been withdrawn, (too many people using it as BT procedures are duff in this respect?), but that new procedures were introduced instead for ISPs to get the same job done.

I could be talking rubbish, but hopefully someone will either add to or correct me. I haven't time right now to search through the forums, but it was a few months ago I saw it mentioned.

Though why a physical cease needs to occur is baffling.

Your summary is pretty much spot on.

You cannot use a MAC to change the owner of an ADSL service. When you change the BT phone bill details BT will raise a cease on the ADSL automatically although it may take them a few weeks to complete it.

The BT Wholesale tag on line team was shut down and extra facilities provided to ISPs so anyone in this situation needs to get their new ISP to chase BT to have the tag removed but do understand that it will take about a week unless there is already a cease in place in which case it will take as long as it takes for that cease to complete.

Yup - the new ISP is now responisble for resolving tag on line issues.

I've had no problems getting them to do this in the past though - guess it depends on the ISP. Entanet got in touch with the BT tags team for me on behalf of one of our customers recently, who placed a manual cease (which then showed up on the BT availability checker as a pending cease) and the order went in just fine once this had completed.

Hi, It is the responsibility of the "gaining ISP" to get the Tag Marker removed and they will incur a cost, it is for that reason the ISP is trying to get you to remove the Tag Marker from your line.

have you read the advice from Ofcom�

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumeradvice/internet/customer_service/tagonline/

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/ofcom-revises-the-tag-on-the-line-resolution-procedure-378.html
http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/dealing-with-a-tag-on-your-phone-line.html

Interesting number no longer in use. Ring BT 0800 169 0934

Thanks Jason.

Thanks.

Judging by the responses so far and confirmation that it is Zen's responsibility to get it sorted if they want your custom I suggest you do one or both of two things.

First call Zen again and see if you get or can be put through to someone more helpful. It doesn't sound like the Zen we hear about to let you down like this.

If that fails then IDNet are even more highly regarded. Others to consider are Newnet if your usage is under 20GB per month, or an Entanet reseller if it is more.

Ukfsn who have responded confirming the procedure for getting your problem sorted are one of the better known and reputable Entanet resellers.