Query about new line installation/reactivating a line

I have recently moved into a flat in an apartment building. There is an existing phone socket in the flat. I was about to sign up for ADSL when i was told by the online rep that i would need a new line installed. After abit of investigating i realized that the line is routed through the building with no above ground pole outside! How will the engineer do this?

The reason i ask is i was worried that the engineer might not be able to fit a new line and then i risked losing some money as i wanted to pay the years line rental up front at a discount.

Also there is a guy in the flat next door with the same ISP i was going to join but he's never in to ask what happened when he got his.

When they say "new line installed", they normally mean going through the standard motions of connecting your existing line up to the exchange. I moved into my new flat at the start of last year, which is a new build. The physical line is put in to the property, along with everyone elses. But it then has to be connected up to the exchange, assigned a phone number, and all that jazz. This comes under the umbrella of a "new line" install.

The physical line is most likely there, but it just not connected (you can find that out easily enough by plugging a phone into the master socket - there should be no dial tone).

New line installs aren't cheap. Depending on who you go with, it will probably be around the £100 mark (BT might do it cheaper if you go with them for line and broadband). The previous occupier of the flat no doubt ceased the line, which is a perfectly normal thing to do. Any cease and re-provide of a line normally requires a "new line" to be installed.

It's completely free on BT for certain online orders.

If there was an existing line in there before you and it was not too long from when it was last used the chances are you can get it restarted in 24 hours.