In reply to a post by chipperson:

I forgot to mention that Fuel stated Ofcom guidelines say it's my job to speak to Openreach!

I rang Ofcom today, and as expected, they told me it's the ISP's job.

This made me think of this from your first post:

In reply to a post by chipperson:

Sister has broadband + phone with Fuel Broadband (formerly Primus) for a few years now, no problems but wants to get a cheaper deal elsewhere

A decent ISP could probably resolve this for you. These are the kinds of issues where paying a little more rather than obsessively looking for the absolute cheapest, bargain basement deal has some value.

I hope you can find some way to resolve this. It is, however, entirely down to the ISP to get the issue fixed. Your sister's contract is with them. They are in turn renting the line from Openreach, possibly through an intermediary.

Edited by deleted (Wed 23-Sep-15 14:59:26)

BT is a monopoly

BT is far from being a monopoly. It might be the only landline provider at a particular postcode but that does not make it a monopoly.

It's the USO which makes BT a monopoly.

In reply to a post by chipperson:

we've tried to sign up with many other ISPs but they all tell us there's no line at her house.

Looking at this from another angle. What happens if you order a new line?

Presumably Openreach will come out find there is already a line and use that, then update their database: job done.

Edited by hk11 (Wed 23-Sep-15 16:52:53)

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

A decent ISP could probably resolve this for you. These are the kinds of issues where paying a little more rather than obsessively looking for the absolute cheapest, bargain basement deal has some value.

Yes indeed. Primus were reasonably cheap when sister joined up (which wasn't without its problems), now they're one of the more expensive, and certainly not value for money.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Looking at this from another angle. What happens if you order a new line?

That's something she's considering, although of course doing that will incur extra charges. I don't want all this to sound like I'm obsessed about doing things on the cheap, but what grates with me is that it's extra money my sister shouldn't have to be spending.

In reply to a post by chipperson:

although of course doing that will incur extra charges.

Not if they don't actually fit/install a new line. That was my point.

I guess there couldn't have been any issues when your sister originally signed up with Primus for phone and broadband, was that her first ISP at that address?

In reply to a post by hk11:

Not if they don't actually fit/install a new line. That was my point.

If it was me I might take the chance, although I suspect an upfront payment (for a new line) wouldn't be refunded if an engineer's visit had been necessary, existing line or not. I also don't want to run the risk of my sister losing her number, although I understand that you don't think that would happen.

Edited by deleted (Wed 23-Sep-15 18:28:09)

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

I guess there couldn't have been any issues when your sister originally signed up with Primus for phone and broadband, was that her first ISP at that address?

Sister went with Primus when she moved in because it was free to activate a new number - the previous owners took their number with them, I seem to recall. It took several weeks, to her dismay and my annoyance. Once it was finally up and running, it was fine.