12Km from exchange in London?

Hi all,

I've recently bought a new flat in Hammersmith, London - and have just managed to get the phone line in the property reactivated with BT.
My exchange is This one.

When I try to sign up for broadband with BE I am told I live too far from the exchange, after speaking to someone there they told me that according to BT I am 12KM from the exchange. Although I'd guess I'm less than 2.

I rang up BT about this, and the person I spoke to had no idea what I was on about, but said they will look into it.

Is this usual, or is there definitely a problem here? Would it be with BT or BE?
I have no confidence in the BT employee I spoke to doing anything, so I'd like to be able to ring back with the correct information to fix things.

What may be a related problem is that I couldn't sign up with Primus to activate the phone line, they spent a week telling me either the phone number (which I got from 17070) or the postcode/address was wrong, despite me telling them otherwise.
After getting wound up going in circles I just went with BT instead.

Thanks for any help.

Do you have broadband at the moment? If you do could you post your current line stats, see http://kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php (the stats will indicate distance to the exchange).

Hi,

No i do not have broadband currently, I have only managed to get the phone line reactivated a couple of days ago..

I think you will find that BT have closed West Kensington building and you are now served from another building further away. However I would be surprised if it was 12Km away.

if you really are 12km away due to exchange closing, I would try and cancel and go for virgin media. Put your number in the BT line checker? see when FTTC is ready.

unfortunately Virgin Media is not available in my area either, according to their website.

If you meant this line checker it seems fine for ADSL & ADSL 2+.

I'm interested in BE for their lack of traffic chaping and low latency. I'm a PC gamer, so low latency would be great.

Edited by deleted (Wed 06-Jul-11 15:19:45)

In reply to a post by Londoner_85:

after speaking to someone there they told me that according to BT I am 12KM from the exchange. Although I'd guess I'm less than 2.

Most likely BT laggy database still has your phone # at its old location miles away from your current exchange. You may need to wait a bit for it to catch up with its new location.

EDIT: What does BT Postcode Checker say compared with BT Availability Checker?

Edited by XRaySpeX (Wed 06-Jul-11 15:22:43)

Leave it another day or so for the line information to filter through ...

Once the correct information is available the results may change.

the number was linked (through 17070) even when the line was dead though?
The number hasn't changed now it is activated - will that make a difference?

What does BT Postcode Checker say compared with BT Availability Checker?

Number and Address checker say West Ken exchange, fine for ADSL and ADSL2+.
Postcode checker also says fine for WBC FTTC.
Infinity website says fibre not available and will not be in the next 6 months.

Yes, but how do the predicted speeds, like for like, compare with the actual phone # checker that I linked for you? Are they drastically different?

no, they are different, but not by much.

Its possible BE's database says you are over 60db attenuation and if so they say "too long" and refuse service.

Its worth discussing in the BE forum here on thinkbroadband as this has happened to others in the past. However I think that BE no longer have the ability to override the system, so unless it sorts itself out within 5 days, I think you might have to look at another ISP

I don't know if asking BT for a new number would help.

Congratulations on moving to a superb area (I may be biased)!

The following may be of interest (available here);

This brief is to advise Communications Providers that West Kensington exchange
in West London will close at the end of 2008. The Main Distribution Frame (MDF)
and all customer equipment and circuits will be transferring to the Fulham
exchange. Briefing LLU027/08 (18th March 2008) also applies.

As has been suggested by others, BT's line database may not be up to date. You may have to wait for the database to be updated or try to convince BE that there approximately 350 (I may be exaggerating) exchanges within a 12km radius of your property.

EDIT: Try O2.

Edited by JimmyBoy (Wed 06-Jul-11 19:40:39)

Thanks, no luck with o2, thinking about plusnet.

What does is say if you put your number in here?

http://windows.mouselike.org/be/?DoAction=Checker

And with postcode?

I have 2 BT phone lines.

Your Be link says "Real Error: BT report incompatible product on the line." on the line without BB. That's not right! Is it something to be concerned about?

It gives the same msg on the line with BB but that is to be expected.

Has that line ever had broadband?

Yes, 1 month free O2 trial 2 years ago, but I'm sure that Be Checker has given a reading since then.

Also the BT Checker recognises I have another BB on the BB line and not on the non-BB line. The Be Checker must get its data from the same database.

I seem to remember that it is BTw instead of BTOR or vice versa

Are both at the same property?

In reply to a post by nredwood:

I seem to remember that it is BTw instead of BTOR or vice versa

What is?

Same property, even down to master sockets in same room

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by nredwood:

I seem to remember that it is BTw instead of BTOR or vice versa

What is?

The BE checker database.

That's right

There are 2 BT checkers - one is BTw and the other is BTOR

Still doesn't explain failure of Be Checker.

Can one use the BTOR Checker directly? Have already checked BTw one gives correct results.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Still doesn't explain failure of Be Checker.

Can one use the BTOR Checker directly? Have already checked BTw one gives correct results.

The BE checker uses the BTOR database.

I know. Nicola already told me that.

I'm trying to take the Be Checker out of the equation, but you never answered my Q, instead uselessly repeating what had already been said.

No,its a CP tool

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

I know. Nicola already told me that.

I'm trying to take the Be Checker out of the equation, but you never answered my Q, instead uselessly repeating what had already been said.

As this post points out, you can't "take the BE checker out of the equation"

No! repetition; the horse has bolted!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

No! repetition; the horse has bolted!

Sounds like the penny has dropped.