NTL wont lay cable to my house!

[tizer2000uk]

I live in a back to back terrace house located as shown below, the house marked ME is my house, marked Y are the houses which can have NTL and N where they cant, there is a path which runs around one side of the houses to our property, the length of which must be at least 20 metres, the only access to the property is via this path, the points marked A and B are points between which I can route the ducting myself and the point marked C is where I am allowed access to for telecommunications purposes.

I have asked NTL to install it but they refuse, citing access issues. The real reason is probably money, what I want to know is, what is the maximum length of ground NTL is willing to dig to give me cable and how far would I need to get the ducting myself? Also, who would I need to speak to in NTL to get this rolling.

---------------------------------------
/ (C) ///////////////ROAD///////////////////////
----------------------------------------
///:.............:..............:...........:........ :C
P :.....Y......:......Y......:......Y....:....Y..: A
///:.............:..............:............:....... :R
A :------------------------------------:
///:.............:..............:............:....... :P
T :......N.....:.......N......:....ME....:....Y..: A
///:.............:..............:............:....... :R
H :------------------------------------:K
/////////////////PATH////////////////:........:
--(B)----------------------------(A)....(B)

[Luappy13]

not being funny but why go to all that trouble when there are people like BT who will be willing to install.. I know it's not cable but do you care ?

[tizer2000uk]

Forgot to mention, ADSL while available is right on the limit of 63db for line length, the maximum speed of 2mb is a joke and it keeps dropping out constantly. BT insist there is no problem with the line etc and in the days when I lived in a house with NTL installed I probably only had 3 days outage in 5 years! So I think it is time I returned.

[Pierre]

The problem will undoubtedly be one of a wayleave issue.

Who owns the land the path is on???

No doubt the land that the path is on will be owned by the properties adjacent to it. ntl would need a wayleave from all the landowners to lay a cable to your property

[tizer2000uk]

Well you would think so, the great thing is the footpath in front actually comes with access rights for 80 years for utilities/telecommunications installation and access. Usefully the path in front of the house has next to it a fence behind which is a gap of about a foot to a small wall, the ground is unmade and underneath the earth is a length of conduit which conveniently runs the length of the houses and could be used to house NTL's cable, the same conduit runs into a another conduit which comes out by my house.

[thelem]

Are ntl aware of the access rights (and do they agree that you have them)? Were they more specific than just "access issues"?

[Horizon]

tizer: ask your neighbour (the one marked Y and to the right of you) if he has ntl and where the cable comes from. If he can have access I can see no reason why ntl can't install services for you. Might be worth taking a few photos of your path and the ground as you described above and sending them to ntl.

In the end, if ntl don't want to do it the don't have to. But you can cause a stink about being denied access to services. Write to your MP about it, Ofcom may help too if ntl keep refusing. As said though, more likely that ntl doesn't think it's allowed access to install services to your house. If you can clear that up for them, ie find out who has access to what, they may become more obliging.