BT phone billing

[pipme]

It would appear that one can view detailed recent call data, without signing up for 'e' billing only, at the revamped Bt website.
Useful, but it will cost them ! Can check on teenage use by call now, rather than just the 'cost of calls to date' in the past !
Gonna mount the phone so's teens cannot be comfy while using, inherent idleness will out and the call length diminish ... I hope !

 

[david and julie]

Slightly off post but still concerning BT.

My mum recently moved, she is in the same area and she kept her phone number. I went round to her old house about a week later(it was for sale) and BT had removed the cables to house. I phoned them and asked why and they said it is normal practice and we won't charge you to put them back.

Now obviously we won't be putting them back but the buyer might, so is this another scam to get an extra installation charge. Has anybody else heard of it before?

 

[AdamW]

I've never heard of that! Whenever I have moved somewhere I am pretty sure I just rang up BT and they activated it. My current place was using all cable services before and didn't even use their BT line.

Pip, better hope they don't come up with the idea of moving a chair next to the phone whilst they use it! Cordless phones are the real bu**er, a colleague of mine found £100 of calls to one number last month (not quarter, MONTH) due to his step-daughter continually ringing her boyfriend's mobile! Because it is a cordless, they never saw her do it.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Oh, but BT is very good in giving freebees )
It happened to us three times now (in 4 years): they install something, which was promised for free and..... yes, charged me for it on the next bill. You call, they apologize and credit the bill the next time (i.e three months later).
Happened last month again: switched from BT Highway to Broadband, according to their website a free service. Bill came last week: charged me for it! Called them again, eh sorry, we will credit it.

But in the mean time, how many people don't check their bills properly????

 

[pipme]

......Pip, better hope they don't come up with the idea of moving a chair next to the phone whilst they use it! Cordless phones are the real bu**er, a colleague of mine found £100 of calls to one number last month (not quarter, MONTH) due to his step-daughter continually ringing her boyfriend's mobile! Because it is a cordless, they never saw her do it.

They have to use a chair now .... TO STAND ON !!
next step raise higher .. til standing on stool !!
Cordless is thefinal step.... via snips !!

The 'itemised to date' facility is good, hopefully nip things in the bud !!

 

[AdamW]

They have to use a chair now .... TO STAND ON !!
next step raise higher .. til standing on stool !!
Cordless is thefinal step.... via snips !!

Health and Safety pip!

Of course, once they have removed the handset from the phone, can't they just climb down again and sit on the chair? Only the cables are stretchy and usually good for 6 feet or so.

I was a far more cunning teen, I secretly wired my own extension in order to allow me surf the web and make the odd phonecall in my room.

 

[securespark]

I have one sure-fire way to reduce your bills.

Remove the line cord from the phone, and pocket it. When you need to call, plug it back in temporarily.

Point your offspring to the nearest phone box. Tell them that that's what "I had to use when I was younger, so you bl**dy well can get used to it, too!"

 

[AdamW]

With the advent of such cheap phonecall to other landlines, unlimited call lengths for a few pence and the like, surely the main problem is if they are ringing mobiles?

Although I suppose it would be annoying if no-one can ever get through to you!

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Remmber a few years back on American sitcoms and films, they would always have a phone in the kitchen that could stretch around the whole room/apartment!

Then cordless appeared and you never see them now. But how come that they still use these huge cumbersome handsets? Do the Yanks not have DECT technology???

Finally, the one drawback with cordless phones (in my house anyway ) is that, the phone rings, I go to answer it and.... Mmmm, no phone in the cradle, so I go to the kitchen, same there etc. (we have four hansets). Eventualy, I will find most of the handsets in my daughters bedroom.

I have therefore come up with a solution to this problem, I was going to connect a piece of coiled cable to handset, linking it to the cradle, that way, you will never missplace the handsets! What do you lot think? I reckon, I'm on to a winner!!!

 

[AdamW]

Whilst you are at it, could you innovate a ringing sound that sounds like a ringing bell? Only I think I nearly got lynched standing on a station platform when the polyphonic strains of George Gershwin's "I got rhythm" started mincing out of my pocket.

 

[pipme]

I have one sure-fire way to reduce your bills.

Remove the line cord from the phone, and pocket it. When you need to call, plug it back in temporarily.

Point your offspring to the nearest phone box. Tell them that that's what "I had to use when I was younger, so you bl@@dy well can get used to it, too!"

Crikey ! Was I deprived as a kid ... nearest post, telephone box, bus stop and pub... one mile distant ... Bus to local city every hour, last one home 10-30pm plus that one mile hike, of course the final 300 yards were up hill .. Hence the desperate wait for the mo-bike and freedom !!

 

[Thermo]

mmj easier solution, do what we do with our teenage daughter and fine her 50 pence every time she fails to put it back. Only problem is she owes so much money in fines shell never leave home till shes 46!

Thermo

 

[Paul_C]

My mum recently moved, she is in the same area and she kept her phone number. I went round to her old house about a week later(it was for sale) and BT had removed the cables to house. I phoned them and asked why and they said it is normal practice and we won't charge you to put them back.

It was certainly never standard practice when I worked at BT, nor am I aware of it having become so.

The normal procedure when a line is to be taken out of service is to initially just disconnect it at the exchange, either on the subscriber's line circuit or by physical disconnection of the links at the MDF (Main Distribution Frame -- the place where the incoming cables from the street are all linked to the internal exchange equipment).

The pair used by your line in each cable on the route will be marked as spare, and may be re-used for other people as demand dictates, but there's no reason to remove the actual drop from pole to house.

The only possibility I can think of is if the drop in your case was the old-style cabling (e.g. flat-twin, gray insulation). BT does now have a policy of replacing these with the current-style drops when work is carried out, but it would usually be done when the new owner requested service. Maybe your local area office decided to get a head start?

 

[pipme]

Just to gently edge us back onto course ... Tis good to be able to see itemised recent calls at any time .......... Isn't it ?
P