Cheapest Fibre Backup?

We are now into our 9th day without our fibre connection. BT's "engineers" have so far failed us hilariously.
The first one diagnosed a cable problem but couldn't climb poles because of an ear condition. The second one could probably have climbed the pole without a ladder, but knew nothing about broadband, only phones. The third one was smart and diagnosed a cabinet problem, but couldn't fix it. We think a 4th one may have come out to the cabinet, but the connection only stayed up a few hours. So after 2 days off work so far and a 5th appointment to come, things are frustrating to say the least.

To avoid such pain in the future we want to install a second phone line to the house but with ordinary ADSL broadband, so that cabinet issues are not a factor. Obviously this would not get used much, so I'm after the very cheapest solution possible. It can be capped, shaped, parentally filtered, whatever - we don't care, as anything would be better than nothing. And the phone would never get used.
We're rural, so it will have to be on BT wires.

I should add that the exchange is Abinger and mobile reception is poor.

Got any suggestions?

Edited by deleted (Mon 18-Aug-14 17:32:03)

Do you have Sky TV? They give you free broadband with that.

It's a good thought, thanks, but we're anti-Murdoch so only Freesat.

You could look at the cheapest Primus line rental on this page and Plusnet broadband, (bearing in mind if your exchange is Market 1/Market A the price will be considerably higher), but I'm not sure if the line connection is free or chargeable.

Alternatively the Primus bundle on their site, which has higher rental but very cheap broadband - if the price isn't higher where you are. Again, the line installation may be chargeable, as I think the "Free" is for a simple reactivation.

Unless they are now at that exchange and Sam doesn't know he can't have Sky as they no longer do BT Wholesale broadband for new connections.

Yes, I just checked and saw no Sky LLU. I'm not sure about them no longer doing Sky Connect however.

That looks good at face value. They even claim to offer free installation, but there's probably a catch since it would be a second physical line.
I'll follow it up. Many thanks.

I don't think they even do it for House moves from LLU to non-LLU areas.

At the bottom of the page I gave you:-

Primus Saver Unlimited: Package prices are shown inclusive of VAT at 20%. An 18 month contract applies. Customers preferring to receive a paper bill are charged an additional £2.25 per month. Customers preferring to pay for the service by means other than Direct Debit will be charged an additional £2.25 per month. Rates are shown in pence per minute, inclusive of VAT. All rates are charged per minute and are rounded to the nearest penny. For all non-inclusive calls a call set up fee of 14.5p applies. The rates shown apply from fixed line phones. Tariffs are effective from 1st April 2014 and are subject to change as specified in the Primus Home Phone & Broadband Terms and Conditions. Terms and Conditions apply. �A one-off £7.95 router postage & packaging fee applies.

Broadband Speed: We give you the fastest broadband your phone line can handle. The exact speed you get depends on the quality of your phone line and where you live.

New line installation: Only one new line installation engineer visit per account will be free of charge and made available at the discounted rate. Any subsequent visits required by the engineer will be charged at the standard engineer rate of £59 per visit. If the wiring, socket and routing from the exchange to your property are not intact then an engineer may be required to visit and the reactivation of your line may be chargeable. In the event that you are not at your property to allow the engineer to gain access on the day of your agreed engineer appointment you will be charged a missed appointment fee of £59.

You seem to be proficient with English: how many ambiguities are there in that last paragraph?!!
For example: "free of charge and made available at the discounted rate". huh?

Abinger Hammer? Have checked that TalkTalk LLU is available at that exchange using address check.

SimplyBroadband via TalkTalk

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/jump.html?type=5&url=h...

You miss out on the voucher as its a new install but £1.75/m for 12 months is not bad, and if you use the line rental saver and also pay on the day the bill email is sent out the 15% off push the price down pretty low.

Keep in mind that basically, you would still be relying on any unused pair in the same cable from your house to the PCP Cabinet, then over the main copper cable to the Exchange, for ADSL.

Basically the VDSL involves the same cable to the PCP, then the extra, short, new copper links to the new FTTC Cabinet, which is then linked by Fibre to possibly the same Exchange, depending upon the exact arrangements for the Fibre.

So ADSL potentially could be affected as much in the weakest part, from the PCP to your house, particularly as it appears from your mention of "rural" and "poles", suggests that your "D-Side" line may be particularly exposed to weather etc.

For example, say you already had this arrangement in place, the second, ADSL line could be equally affected by the present fault, unfortunately.

In other words, you can't guarantee that it would always provide a solution.

I think the problem is down to installer issues rather than a fault.

There is certainly that possibility, and also disturbance as the PCP is accessed, particularly to complete more FTTC connections for the OP's neighbours.

And again, no guarantee that such a fault would not be repeated on a "new ADSL line"

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I note that the OP states that the phone side of a second line would "never be used"; and that mobile reception etc is poor.

I wonder if he uses the phone side of his present line; and if it has been working during this episode, as that may or may not help to locate the fault causing his present problems.

Prima facie, it would appear to be on the D-Side including the FTTC-PCP links, with his apparently losing VDSL totally, unless it is failure within the FTTC equipment only, in which case basic phone facilities are likely to still be working.

Don't think Bob is at all to blame for someone other than himself writing a company's T&Cs!

That's interesting, thanks. I was hoping to add a new cable from the road - using spare wires in the same cable could expose me to tree-related issues! We'll see what BT say.

Problem was resolved yesterday. Engineer did a "lift and shift" in the cabinet, which is where the problem lay.
I shall still pursue a non-fibre backup to spread the risk, since the cabinet seems to be a vulnerability, especially with the state of the electricity supply hereabouts.

Poor old Zen. They do their best for customer service, but at the end of the day they are only as strong as the weakest link, which in this case was the quality/motivation of the various BT "engineers".

Thanks MrSaffron - will follow this up.
JR

Of course not - I apologise if that was inferred.

Cabinets have battery backup, so likely to outlast anything you have at home, unless you use a generator to run yourself for days

Just had an email from a colleague.

He has been without Phone and Broadband for a similarly long period, Saturday 10th August 2014.

Took 2 hours to restore his service today, then his neighbour came to tell the OR lad that his land line has failed during that 2 hours!

Could be a simple "disturbance" fault in the PCP to wrong "lift & shift" etc.

their general phone wiring dates from late 1960s.

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Keep in mind that any "second line" to you will almost certainly pass through the same PCP Distribution Cabinet as your first/primary line, hung on the same poles etc, so potentially with similar risks.

My suspicion is that with the rapid implementation of higher speed Broadband, the various "fixed assets", along with the exceptional weather and its related faults, are being accessed much more frequently than usual.