I need some advice...

[Semi On]

Roughly two years ago I signed up for AOL BB, and some minor delays getting the line up and running aside - like digging up the road...twice - everything went fine. I filled in the direct debit form and thought that was that, until I checked my bank statement after a month and realised I'd only been charged for unmetered dial-up - £15.99. This continued for a year until I heard about NTL's 1Mb service and decided to switch. I imagined that someone would then notice I'd been undercharged, but upon ringing AOL to cancel, the nice lady said she couldn't find anyone under my name on their system.

I've been really happy with NTL's service - an average downstream of 115KB/s is pretty good, and downtime is quite rare, but I'd like to keep my options open, so that if I do move, I can do it as painlessly as possible.

I did the Pipex availability check and got " Unfortunately, a check on your line reveals that there is an incompatible service present on your line."

I assume this is the legacy of the AOL connection I had, so will it be easy to get Pipex running on it? Naturally I'm a bit nervous to ring BT, since I still have their ADSL equipment and if they start snooping I could get a hefty bill from AOL if they find out.

Do you think I should just ring BT and get it over with? I could be worrying over nothing, but you never know...

[paulyoung666]

hi and to the site , i might be being here , but i dont get the incompatible service bit , am i right in assuming you have had adsl ?????????? , if you have then i cant see why pipex cant sort you out , like i said , it might be just be me being

[gazzae]

Incompatible Services
You may not be able to use an existing line for a ADSL service if one or more of the following BT-supplied services are already installed on it:

PBX (Private Exchange)
A system where your telephone line is connected to a switchboard or switching unit, or where multiple phone numbers are routed through a single line. If you have to dial a number or press a key before dialling an outside line, or your company has a reception desk and extension telephones, you will probably have a PBX system. In this case, a direct line would be needed, such as may already be installed for the company fax machine to receive inbound calls. ADSL can be used on an existing fax or modem line provided the line satisfies the other ADSL requirements.

Auxiliary line
Similar in concept to PBX, this service enables a call to be routed to the next available incoming telephone. Not often used and has been mainly replaced by the PBX-based Direct Dial Inward (DDI) service.

DDI
If your line offers DDI this indicates that it is an extension from a PBX and so is incompatible with ADSL (see above).

BT DataStream
If a telephone line is already being used to deliver a BT digital data service it cannot also be used for ADSL.

BT VideoStream
VideoStream is a version of DSL specifically designed to carry video signals (eg television pictures). If a telephone is already being used to carry one form of DSL it cannot be used to carry another at the same time, and so would not be suitable for ADSL.

Leased Line/Private Circuit
A high-speed direct digital link provided by BT. If a telephone line is already being used to deliver a BT digital data service it cannot also be used for ADSL.

Red ABC/RedCare
Both are a type of alarm monitoring service. If your alarm sounds (fire, burglar etc) a signal is sent to a monitoring centre who then contact the Police. The presence of this signal would interfere with ADSL and so ADSL cannot be used on a line with this service.

30K Loop/Out Of Area line
This is a service which enables a customer to move their telephone line to a new area, even if this is outside the range served by their original area code. For example, taking your 01438 number to the 01462 dialling code. In this case, the line length would be too long for ADSL to function.

Featurenet 5000
A virtual telephone management system operated by BT for very large organisations who require more flexibility and control over their telephone systems.

Subscriber Metering Line/Meter Pulses
A facility which allows a customer to monitor their call charges and time spent on the phone through a specially fitted meter which responds to pulses sent down the line from the exchange. These pulses would interfere with the operation of ADSL and so ADSL cannot be used on a line with one of these services.

[Semi On]

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

hi and to the site , i might be being here , but i dont get the incompatible service bit , am i right in assuming you have had adsl ?????????? , if you have then i cant see why pipex cant sort you out , like i said , it might be just be me being

Yup I had ADSL. The line hadn't had anything done to it previously, then the chap from BT came out and did something to the main phone socket so I could use AOL BB, and nothing has been touched since. That was 2 years ago, so maybe something needs to be changed before I can use Pipex?

Oh, and thanks for the welcome.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Semi On

Yup I had ADSL. The line hadn't had anything done to it previously, then the chap from BT came out and did something to the main phone socket so I could use AOL BB, and nothing has been touched since. That was 2 years ago, so maybe something needs to be changed before I can use Pipex?

Oh, and thanks for the welcome.

was the aol bb adsl ?????????? , i am being really here arent i

[Semi On]

Now that you mention it...I can't remember if it was DSL or ADSL.

Hmm...

[Jon T]

Now that you mention it...I can't remember if it was DSL or ADSL.

It's the same thing, the A in ADSL stands for asymetric which just means that the upstream is slower than the downstream.

I wonder if someone local to you(like nextdoor) has had a phone line installed, if they have, and there wasn't any capacity on your street then BT may have resorted to DAXing, which is where they split one analogue line(yours) to make two. The DAXing process and ADSL are imconpatible with one another.

Jon

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Semi On

I did the Pipex availability check and got " Unfortunately, a check on your line reveals that there is an incompatible service present on your line."

Did you do the test from a BT phone line or an ntl one?

[Semi On]

Sorry, should have made that clear. It's a BT number.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Semi On

Sorry, should have made that clear. It's a BT number.

i still cant see why you cant get it , or am i still being