New pole required

Hi all,

Wondered if anyone could advise what is likely to happen next.

My grandparents have moved to a property in Tweedsmuir where nobody has lived for around 10 years. They ordered phone and broadband (more like dial up) from Sky and it was meant to be installed yesterday.

When the BT engineer arrived it was determined that the current telephone pole didn't have any capacity for the line and a new one would need to be erected.

They weren't given much in the way of information for what happens next other than at best it'll take a few weeks and someone will be in touch.

Will they need to pay for this? What I don't understand is there is physically a phone line going into the property from the current pole, so what do they mean when they say there is no capacity.

Thanks

When the BT engineer arrived it was determined that the current telephone pole didn't have any capacity for the line and a new one would need to be erected.

That doesn't ring true as an explanation

Will they need to pay for this? What I don't understand is there is physically a phone line going into the property from the current pole, so what do they mean when they say there is no capacity.

I feel sure they will not have to pay any additional costs.

My guess would be that there are no spare pairs from the DP block at the top of the pole going to anywhere useful. If this is the issue, then it still does not explain why a new pole would be required. Is the a red metal D label on the existing pole perchance ?

There should be no extra cost for this beyond the standard charge as I can't imagine it will exceed the threshold for excess construction costs (£3,400). I don't know what the capacity limit might be - possibly it's structural as I imagine a lot of long drop-lines all pulling in one direction might be considered excessive. (The tension required to hold a long drop line up can be surprisingly high).

As to how long it will take, I've no idea. Putting in poles is done all the time, but there's always the potential for complications.

ps. a quick look at the village on Streetview shows that it's served by combined utility poles. That is both main electricity and telephone are on the same poles which may also be a factor.

pps. another factor that can come into play (which I'd forgotten) is about how low a line will be if it crosses a road. There is EU legislation in this matter (to do with clearance for HGVs) and it's a potential safety hazard. A few years ago a (female) telephone engineer was killed when a lorry snagged a telephone line and a pole she was working on came down. On combine utility poles the telephone lines are hung below the power cables so have less clearance. About three years ago the line crossing the road outside my parents' house (on a quiet rural cul-de-sac) was rerouted under the road for exactly those clearance issues.

Edited by deleted (Thu 15-Oct-15 09:33:57)

I don't know what the capacity limit might be - possibly it's structural as I imagine a lot of long drop-lines all pulling in one direction might be considered excessive.

The OP states that there is already a DW in situ, so the load out of the pole is already done.

nb. a quick look at the village on Streetview shows that it's served by combined utility poles. That is both main electricity and telephone are on the same poles which may also be a factor.

Good spot, JUP's cause a whole other load of problems as local power companies have varying rules governing what can and cannot be done. Maybe it's a new carrier pole required to gain more height on a road crossing, but then the DW is already there ..... existing span faulty maybe .... who knows.

BT used to pay compensation if there was a delay installing a phone line. Do Sky do the same?

Not sure on the red D element. Will need to ask, they don't have any mobile network signal and have to drive 3 miles to pick up one. I've text them and will see what they say in a few days.

The property is actually situated outside the village. Around here I believe.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/55%C2%B028'27.0%...

When the ADSL Checker says 'Note: The DP is external to the end user premises.' What does this mean exactly?

Edited by deleted (Thu 15-Oct-15 11:16:03)

The DP line is perfectly normal, most DP are like this, its when the DP is inside the building that things get fun

Hard to tell from that streetview location, but it looks like the power lines (poles with 3 insulators on top) are seperate from the phone lines (single poles).

The Tweedsmuir exchange (WSTWE) is at Glenbreck which is quite a distance away and doesn't have fibre or even 21CN, just ADSL Max.

Yeah it's going to be slow! It'll be fine for them, light web browsing and email pretty much. Mainly need the telephone line as neither Vodafone, EE or Three have signal there.

EE claims to have signal but doesn't. Vodafone said it might, but does not. Going to try O2 next week.