The tenant wants to get the new future fibre service that is being rolled out in south lakes.
To get it he says that the BT equipment needs to be removed. I’d prefer they didn’t touch it, but happy for the new service to be installed.

Am I being unreasonable? Any practical reason this isn’t possible?

Am I being unreasonable? Any practical reason this isn’t possible?

Yes. Full fibre requires the old to be removed as it’s no longer needed.

Sounds like nonsense to me. Assuming you have DSL currently it’s a wholly different system, you don’t need to remove your TV aerial to get Sky.

I’d ask exactly what they propose needs removing and why, “equipment” could mean anything.

yeah, sounds like a load of bollox from my experience. We’ve got a landline coming in from a pole over the road. The Fibre comes in from the same pole, tied to the house at a different point, comes into the house via a different hole in a different wall, attaches to a different bit of kit. We had both services running at once before the old one was turned off.

Yes. Full fibre requires the old to be removed as it’s no longer needed.

You’re correct that it’s no longer needed, but it does not need to be removed.

it might be that he’s staying with BT and upgrading the package, and BT say they want the old router back. Which sounds pretty standard.

You’re correct that it’s no longer needed, but it does not need to be removed.

No point in keeping it though as voice lines are also going digital. Why would keep the cable and box coming into the house and on the inside.

We’ve got Hyperoptic at home (which is flippin’ awesome, FWIW!) but we’ve still got a BT wire coming into the house connected to a box with a socket on the wall. It just doesn’t do anything any more.

As others have said, there’s no reason the old wire and box should need removing, but BT might ask for their old router (and phone handset?) back if the tenant is ending the contract with them.

voice lines are also going digital

Following the storms last year where it turned out the telecomms companies had little power backup for their equipment, there’s a lot of push back against this (and I believe a review).

Fine if you’re in a well served town or city.

it might be that he’s staying with BT and upgrading the package, and BT say they want the old router back.

the line to the house presumable belongs to, is the responsibility of, and is maintained by BT I’d assume. So if a new system is being installed and being paid for by the customer it seems BT would be in their rights to take away anything that isn’t being paid for.

The tenant is the customer not the landlord. Unless you’re offering to pay BT to maintain the legacy connection it’s not really any of your business.

The tenant is the customer not the landlord. Unless you’re offering to pay BT to maintain the legacy connection it’s not really any of your business.

Not quite that simple. The landlord needs to give permission for it to be installed.

Oh and the line is Open Reach not BT.

Who’s paying for the existing connection?

What “equipment” are we actually talking about here? When we got ours installed they changed the socket to a different one, it wasn’t a dramatic change

I think 99% of future tenants would favour much faster broadband than the slim chance they’ll use a landline.

Whack the faster system in at tenants expense – win, win surely? Can’t really see why you want to hang on to the old tech.

We’ve not phoned anyone of our landline for 6 months.

Following the storms last year where it turned out the telecomms companies had little power backup for their equipment, there’s a lot of push back against this (and I believe a review).

Fine if you’re in a well served town or city.

The issue was that if you have fiber then if your power goes then so does your landline. On the older copper lines the phones were powered by the line itself.

So if you have fiber then you also need a UPS to make sure you at least have the line and router working in the event of a power cut so you can VoIP.

We’ve not phoned anyone of our landline for 6 months.

We’ve not a phone plugged into a landline socket for 6 years, it’s only there for the broadband.

Yes.

The issue was that if you have fiber then if your power goes then so does your landline. On the older copper lines the phones were powered by the line itself.

So if you have fiber then you also need a UPS to make sure you at least have the line and router working in the event of a power cut so you can VoIP.

If only someone would invent a mobile phone that used some sort of wireless technology, then gave one to pretty much everyone in the country whose age was in double figures.

We’ve not a phone plugged into a landline socket for 6 years, it’s only there for the broadband.

Yep. 5 years without plugging in a handset.
No need with mobiles, plus completely inundated with spam calls – three or more a night, compared to maybe three genuine incoming calls a week…and two of them were the mother in law.

@Cougar – I needed a laugh today, thanks for that 😀

If only someone would invent a mobile phone that used some sort of wireless technology, then gave one to pretty much everyone in the country whose age was in double figures.

Yeah and hopefully have masts with backup generators that last more than a few hours.

If only someone would invent a mobile phone that used some sort of wireless technology, then gave one to pretty much everyone in the country whose age was in double figures.

I assume you must live somewhere in affected by the storms….

Our fibre cabinet and the phone mast lost power most of January. – as did several others across the region.

Didn’t really give two hoots tbh but it does somewhat leave a gaping hole in your plan

By removing the copper kit your ensuring that future tennents are tied to fibre. . . And currently that means more cost to them.

No need for the old copper Wire & socket to be removed, if its still in good nick.takes away choice. Should only be removed if asked to be removed by homeowner.Sometimes the old copper d/w is used to draw the new Fibre line pole to property, ok if agreed to be removed,sometimes done by lazy engineers,and a lot of sub contractors without permission.

Presumably you have storm-proof telegraph poles?

I take your point(s), but you’re describing pretty atypical scenarios here. Paying ~£20/month line rental for something which serves no purpose other than to act as a contingency against catastrophic failure is a madness unless you have specific reason to do so. I haven’t had a working landline in like a decade, and DSL aside I likely haven’t needed one in about 30 years.

If I lost all Internet connectivity AND all mobile connectivity then I’d likely have larger problems than the phone system, and if the solution to this disaster is ‘landline’ then I could just pop next door and go “hey, can I use your phone?”

As above everyone will lose ‘landlines’ in the next 2 years. We’ve just swapped broadband from Sky to Plusnet but kept the landline, could have gone with BY but would lost the landline, you get an adaptor to use existing phones with new setup. Only reason we didn’t go to BT was the extra £5 per month.

Also when was the last time you needed to make an emergency call in a power cut, I certainly haven’t in the last 35 years.

I don’t get a mobile signal inside my house, so keep my old analogue phone as a back up in case of emergencies. My new house phone is VOIP. When I was involved with deploying new VOIP phones to colleges and departments at a big University it was standard practice to keep a couple of analogue emergency phone lines (such as in the porters lodge).

I hope you’ve got some old tech to use with your copper lines!? Your fandangoed cordless phone won’t be working without power to the base unit! 😀

As above everyone will lose ‘landlines’ in the next 2 years

Oh. Will my fax machine still work?

I hope you’ve got some old tech to use with your copper lines!? Your fandangoed cordless phone won’t be working without power to the base unit! 😀

10kwh of battery do it ?

A 3kw generator ?

Powers much easier to sort out than the communication metric.

a-typical

A future tennent not wanting to pay the extra for fibre ?

10kwh of battery do it ?

A 3kw generator ?

Powers much easier to sort out than the communication metric.

…you got a prepper basement too!? 🙂

If the tenant is paying the bill and they wont be knocking massive holes in walls i don’t get why you would care. To be honest if you was my landlord I wouldn’t even have told I would have just done it – not once have I ever told a landlord about anything bills related. Yes its your house but its their home they live there and it needs to fit their needs.

you got a prepper basement too!? 🙂

No I just live somewhere where power cuts are reasonably frequent and the above solutions are far more palatable than living with a mass of people.

Having just been through the migration to fibre myself, a stipulation of ordering was that they will remove the copper connection. This is because they might choose to use the old copper to pull the new fibre from a pole or through a duct. So it’s not really up to the customer what they do on installation day.
Add it happens, in my situation, they didn’t bother removing the old copper so both stayed.
But, in answer to your qtn, are you being unreasonable in insisting they keep the copper… Yes. They may have no choice, and if you block them upgrading you are consigning your rental business to the dark ages.

No need for the old copper Wire & socket to be removed, if its still in good <span class=”skimlinks-unlinked”>nick.takes</span> away choice

The choice is being removed in a few years anyway.

Another with a landline and no phone plugged into for years.

Having just been through the migration to fibre myself, a stipulation of ordering was that they will remove the copper connection. This is because they might choose to use the old copper to pull the new fibre from a pole or through a duct.

Unless the new provider is BT I expect Openreach might have something to say about that. It’s not theirs to pull up.

Ive got my landline

We’ve not had a landline for 7 years. In the last house it was only used by the mother in law to call. She now uses a mobile.

But why do fisher price still put the dial in the toy. I’m approaching 42 and only have vague memories of using a phone like that at my grannies.

I’ve kept my landline, CB radio, telegraph, pigeon and have a fire on the go just in case smoke signals are needed.

Yes, I’d say you’re being unreasonable.

Unless the new provider is BT I expect Openreach might have something to say about that. It’s not theirs to pull up.

It will be Open Retch or one of their contractors that fits the new fibre if it’s going into their network. If it’s one of the separate networks then they shouldn’t be touching the competitors kit.

We have Sky fibre interwotsits, which was installed by Openreach as it’s rebadged Full Fibre. I wasn’t given the choice of keeping the old wire and BT Master box, it all came down and was replaced by the fibre equivalent, and my land line plugged back in, though I seem to have lost my listing in the phone book now.

As for landlord/tenant, their home, their choice. Permission could be withheld only if it were reasonable, and it isn’t. Copper is done, you might as well try to keep round Rediffusion selectors or a Squarial on the roof for BSB.