[kr0ne]

OK... finally, it might be getting redone next week... I do not envy anone else trying to get through this with a CS department over the phone.

Piggy, you're right - obviously I have a master socket in so far as there is one socket attached to the junction box and another two connected up to this but the thing is that all 3 of the sockets are DIY jobs that have been (incorrectly) hooked up by a previous occupant and the only actual bit of genuine BT wiring appears to stop at this battered old junction box marked "GPO", which tells you how old that must be.

I have to say the £125 charge, while a little excessive, is understandable in a climate where a componany is forced to allow competitors to use it's infrastructure to offer competing products and services.

Fair enough the infrastructure was originally paid for by us, the people, and BT were essentially handed a monopoly when privatisation began but it is not cheap to maintain such an investment and you kind of have to accept that any company, when faced with such a situation, is going to adopt a pricing model like this that grabs every penny they can while maintaining compliance to the letter of all applicable legislation.

The thing I find really neat about the little Local Loop Unbundling game they have going on at the moment is that if your line is unbundled and taken over by one of BTs competitor's (they physically connect it to the competiors kit kept in rented space at the exchange) you will have to pay BT another £125 to have it taken back before you can move to another competitor.

Yes, I understand BTs need to do this and I'm sure, faced with the same situation, I would do the same but I doubt this was what OfCom originally envisaged when they thought "hey, this isn't very fair, lets let everyone else in to the last mile as well".

Still, it let's me get BE internet - so I'm kind of happy I suppose.