I simply started my order from this page on bt.com. I'm certainly fully LLU, I entered my phone number and address details on the BT website before it came back and said it'll be free connection.

It is a 12 month contract, so I presume they'll be getting their money back that way, but they may get in touch to say a connection fee is chargeable.

Are you going for phone only, or phone and BB? The link you gave is for phone only, and afaik 12 month contracts are only available for phone only. If you read the "connection fee may apply" details, the free connections are only available for phone+BB connections, and the reduced £30 fee only applies to 18 month contracts - so it looks like you're going to get hit with a £130 fee. You will be better off going for a phone reconnection with another provider (I mentioned the prices earlier in the thread) - all prices quoted are for connecting a "BT compatible" line).

If you want to keep your number, also be very careful. If the changeover gets messed up (which apparently happens regularly), your number will be reissued to Openworld as a free number and it cant be retrieved. Apparently Sky will reluctantly issue a MAC code for your number, but its time limited and often gets lost. Forums are full of people complaining of losing numbers they've had for 30 years or important business numbers etc. I didn't mind having a new number when I changed so this wasn't an issue for me.

You need to play allot more attention to what you are doing and agreeing too , out of the frying pan and into the fire , spring to mind .

I was thinking of taking Sky line rental a few months ago (I didn't in the end). As I wondered about moving back to BT when on Sky line rental, I sent BT an email.

Me: I am currently paying Sky for my phone line rental. If I move my line rental to BT will there be a connection charge, and if so how much is it? Thanks in advance.

BT: I confirm that if you will transfer your services from Sky to BT then there will be no connection charge and the services will not be interrupted as well because it will be a take over of the services, If you wish to make the arrangement then you can directly contact our Customer option team on 0800800030 they will place the order for you.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

I was thinking of taking Sky line rental a few months ago (I didn't in the end). As I wondered about moving back to BT when on Sky line rental, I sent BT an email.

Me: I am currently paying Sky for my phone line rental. If I move my line rental to BT will there be a connection charge, and if so how much is it? Thanks in advance.

BT: I confirm that if you will transfer your services from Sky to BT then there will be no connection charge and the services will not be interrupted as well because it will be a take over of the services, If you wish to make the arrangement then you can directly contact our Customer option team on 0800800030 they will place the order for you.

OK you can believe BT customer serivces if you like. You will find that if you call that number they will change their tune to "Oh we thought you mean Sky connect (in which case they would be right in what they said)

I can assure you if you leave Sky LLU you will be charged and lose service (I say this as I sit here using my tethered mobile phone for internet access - just like I have for the last 2 weeks). If you like chatting to customer service, maybe ask Sky themselves. To save you time, I did so myself on their live chat service:


You: If I join the Sky Broadband and Sky Talk phone service, and then in the future want to move back to a BT service, will there be a connection charge, and there be any interruption of service?
Jordan: there can be interruption of 2 weeks in you are in Sky broadband Area and BT may charge you for that
You: And will both the phone and internet be interrupted?
Jordan: yes both phone and Broadband will be affected
You: Will i lose my telephone numberif I go back to BT?
Jordan: no, you can still keep your number
You: Ok thanks for help


So I repeat...if you leave Sky LLU for BT or another BT compatible service, you will almost certainly be charged anything upto £130, and you will lose service for a minimum of 2 weeks.

You need to be clear that the problem occurs when you go to Sky LLU for both phone and broadband. If you are on LLU for broadband only (ie paying your line rental to someone else) then a standard MAC transfer is used. If the phone and broadband are LLU'd then there is currently no process that is enforced for moving to another provider.

It is Ofcom who force the use of MACs and to be honest they should be ensuring it is possible to move from the full LLU as well as the shared via this sort of process.

Needless to say I have broadband with Sky but continue to have phone rental with BT as I do not want issues with moving my broadband when I want to.

Correct as far as you go ian72.

However a MAC is not always required if you have a SMPF (Shared) LLU or BTWholesale IPStream / Datastream service.

If you just move the broadband service to another provider then yes, a MAC will be required.

If you move both phone and broadband to a full LLU provider then no MAC is required. The losing telephony provider is notifed and does have the option to stop the transfer out. Most don't bother and just send a "Sorry you're leaving...." type letter to the customer, usually with some kind of retention deal offering.

It would be good to see an authorisation code mechanism put into place for telephone line rental - something akin to PACs for mobiles. It would certainly reduce the amount of slamming and mis-selling that goes on.

In reply to a post by Spacemanc:

So I repeat...if you leave Sky LLU for BT or another BT compatible service, you will almost certainly be charged anything upto £130, and you will lose service for a minimum of 2 weeks.

I used to be full LLU with Bulldog. I did an RTD (return to donor) back to BT, phoneline moved on the day appointed, small interruption while line moved back - no charge made. BB was installed around a week later (Be*).

In reply to a post by TheHorseman:

In reply to a post by Spacemanc:

So I repeat...if you leave Sky LLU for BT or another BT compatible service, you will almost certainly be charged anything upto £130, and you will lose service for a minimum of 2 weeks.

I used to be full LLU with Bulldog. I did an RTD (return to donor) back to BT, phoneline moved on the day appointed, small interruption while line moved back - no charge made. BB was installed around a week later (Be*).

Thanks for that - So did I. Anyway back to the leaving Sky thread...............

In reply to a post by Spacemanc:

Thanks for that - So did I. Anyway back to the leaving Sky thread...............

The point was that Sky full LLU (MPF in Ofcom terms) and Bulldog LLU (also MPF) are the same in regards to "returning to BT".

However BT can be useless in handling Return to Donors and lots of ex-bulldog customers have lost their phone numbers.

The solution was to ignore the front desk BT staff and insist on the "customer options team" (as they were known in 2008, might have changed) which put you through to second line support always based in the UK. Once they actioned your request it always worked.

The assumption was that the off-shore first line team tried to assist you (as is in their nature/culture) but actually didn't have the RTD option on their screens so were essentially doing a full new order.

RTD took on average the same time as moving from BT to a MPF service provider, for voice about 2 hrs. Unfortunately pretty much all MPF providers offer dual voice and data, but BT only offer voice, and you have to order data separately.

For me its one reason to keep with BT for line rental, or at least a provider using WLR, rather than a provider using MPF.

Your posts in this thread sound so similar to issues I read about in the Bulldog forum in 2008.

edit due to over eager censor

Edited by jchamier (Tue 05-Jul-11 22:57:52)