Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

well, i have the option of free bt option 3 broadband but i also want to keep my vm phone line and vm cable internet, is it possible to kepp my vm phone line and just have a bt line installed for the internet service?

I want the bt internet specifically for one person, while the others use vm internet.

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

Yes providing there's enough capacity in the cabling between the exchange and your house you can probably have as many as your willing to pay for ;)

Also BT use seaperate cabling to VM so it won't be a problem, you will however have to pay the £125 i think it is for a new BT line to be installed.

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

well, my house did have bt lines, so i assume it wouldnt be too much of a hassle to install it.
NTL installed their own seperate line so the bt one shouldnt have been disconnected should it?

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

It probably isn't connected from the cab back, since BT openreach is now a sepearate entity to BT retail I would think that they would still charge the install fee for a new line :(

But apart from the cost No it shouldn't be to much hassle to have it reconnected

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

so, i would unfortunately have to end up paying for the reconnection fee even though i most likely have a bt line going into my house?
Do NTL unplug the bt line when they install their service?

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

Probably not but the point was it might be connected inside your house but its highly likely that since you were no longer a customer the cable pair in the cables going back the exchange could have been reused for someone else's line.

When you order a line a routing is chosen between the exchange and your premises, which corresponds to a metallic pair in the cables in that location the connections are made to.

Its not 1 continuous cable what usually happens is there is a large cable (or cables) going to a PCP (primary connection point, usually a cab) then there's a load of smaller cables for each area fed off that cab which go to secondary distrabution points (e.g a smaller cab or a DP) where they get joined with the cable entering your house.

They do reuse pairs in the cables to save having to put a new cable in every 5 minutes and if you haven't had your BT line for a long while its highly likely that they reused the pair you had in that cable.

So although it may be connected at your end its quite possible that its not making its way back to the exchange and therefore needs to be connected in the various DP's cabs and cable joints in the network.

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

well, its possible it hasnt been reused as i have only lived in this house for 10 months.
Anyway, if i go and check my bt line to see if theres a dial tone does that mean its conncected?

And thanks for the help.

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

If theres dialtone then its connected to something and in which case it might be a free reconnect i guess since they wouldn't have to do much ;)

If you do get dialtone try dialling 17070 (line test)
or calling c/s on 150

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

ah well, seems like the phone boxes have been removed by decorators so ill just have to see if it will cost me for a new line, but another question - can you get them to install the new line in a bedroom? because thats where i want the home hub.

Re: Can you have 2 phone lines?
 

I don't know, I think they used to put it where you wanted but not sure thesedays it may have changed.

When we had ours done the line was already here but they had to put a new drop wire in from the pole since the lazy people who replaced the pole some years back never bothered to replace it given that the house had NTL at the time. :rolleyes: