Could someone who knows about BT lines help with a query?

If you have a BT line which allows incoming calls only (to avoid conflict over bills in a house shared by students) can you use that same line for other call providers, like 1899? Or are access codes to other providers also blocked?

Also, if you wanted to use the line for a broadband connection, can you have it set for incoming calls only but still have access to the broadband part of the line?

I'm also thinking that if you could use broadband on the line, you could then make phone calls via your computer using VOIP.

Does anyone know how this works? I asked BT but the lady I spoke to said that you wouldn't be able to connect to the internet if you had outgoing calls barred because "you have to have a number to connect to the internet". I know you need a number for dialup access but I thought that with ASDL you were just permanently connected, so I wasn't sure whether her answer was correct or not.

If you have incoming calls only (known as In-Contact Plus) then you can not use other companies for calls via their access numbers.  The same thing with broadband via ADSL.

To use another company for calls or/and to use ADSL broadband (ie via a BT line but not necessary with BT broadband) then incoming/outgoing line is needed.  The cheapest BT charge for this is currently £10.50 a month via direct debit for BT Together Option 1.

Many people have complained about this and the matter was referred to OfCOM but they decided BT was right to insist that people upgraded to incoming/outgoing line to use other call companies.  I believe OfCOM are currently investigating whether incoming/outgoing line is needed for those wanting just broadband.

The only other possible way to get broadband without the use of incoming/outgoing line with BT is to get broadband with Telewest or NTL (generally Telewest are a lot cheaper and do unlimited/uncapped broadband unlike NTL).

The downside to this is that you have to be in a Telewest or NTL enabled area.

Many thanks. That's very helpful. Unfortunately, neither Telewest nor NTL is available in the street involved.

What about this idea instead? If you used the call barring feature that you can turn on and off by using a PIN (www.bt.com/SelectServices/index.jsp and select call barring) and you were to use the most restrictive barring level, it seems from the website that you can still make calls to 0800 numbers. I'm on Telewest so I use an 0800 number anyway to connect to 1899. So do you think this level of access would allow you to reach 1899 or an ADSL connection?

That's an idea.

When you are on BT then Call18866 is cheaper for geographical calls (those beginning 01 or 02) at only 2p per call and can be accessed via short code 18866 although this may also be blocked along with other calls but I'm not sure.

If it is then you can use the Call1899 freephone access number instead as this should work (but try Call18866 as its cheaper for BT customers).

I don't use ADSL so not sure what number ADSL broadband rings but its possibly a freephone 0808 number which should work with call barring.

Alternatively, you could use a Orchid Dialler which could be setup to bar all calls and this would still allow you to use freephone and Call18866 via its normal short code access number.

It costs about £15 but in the long-run it's cheaper than BT's £1.75 a month (over 9+ months) but gives greater flexability and you can choose your own override code (within reason) for when you do want to make calls.  If you're interested in this method then read the MSE forum here to get 20% off when ordering online.

The problem is that because its a dialler box that needs to plug into the telephone line if someone else notices it and realises what its doing they can simply unplug it and bypass it so if this is possible then the BT method is really the only answer.

ADSL "doesnt dial" a number.

as its an always on service all it does is verfiy your username and password when you click on the magic connect button.

Tiscali used to dial 0,37 yes with the comma but they wernt on ADSL, they were on FIRACO or some other old BT system.

So if ADSL doesn't actually dial a number, do you think that you could connect to your broadband connection even if outoing voice calls were barred?

dont think BT would allow you to have a DSL enabled line as incoming calls only

wrote on Sep 6^th, 2005 at 10:36am:

dont think BT would allow you to have a DSL enabled line as incoming calls only

No they don't and people have complained to OfCOM about it and last I heard they are investigating whether having a line for both incoming/outgoing calls was necessary.  The problem is BT know that if OfCOM rule against it then a lot people may start using VoIP and therefore stop using BT for calls (who does anyhow!) and this probably has BT scared.

Technically I don't think (but not sure) that an outgoing line is necessary but BT wont allow broadband unless you have an incoming/outgoing line which is reason why OfCOM are meant to be investigating it.

Im so used to cable anyways, but Im interested or curious..

Can on have DSL without an actual phone line, and is this what is being spoken about here??

nb. ntl dont cap the connections as yet

Just for your information, i have a BT line (incoming calls only) -- and on that line have a Broadband connection set up with no problems as all.  The fact that i had just an incoming call only line made no difference whatsoever.

And as for VOIP -- you are quite right.  I use my Broadband connection for making VOIP phone calls no problem either.

Hope this helps you a bit!  

You may have slipped past the net.

Especially about using VoIP as well as having incoming-calls only.  As OfCOM have already said that those on incoming-calls & light user scheme can not use alternative call carriers.  As for broadband without having a full (incoming/outgoing) line - people have tried and been told no it wasn't possible by BT and hence reason why OfCOM are looking into this.

I wouldn't make a song & dance about it otherwise eventually once BT realise you are using VoIP then you could find you get bb cut off or line rental changed to full incoming/outgoing calls.

Oops, i'll defo keep quiet about it then.  :-X

Had no idea there was an issue with it.  I had wondered about it before i got BB, but i enquired with a couple of ISPs and they suggested it was no problem at all.  I guess BT will eventually clamp down on it more stringently.

wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 3:26pm:

The problem is that because its a dialler box that needs to plug into the telephone line if someone else notices it and realises what its doing they can simply unplug it and bypass it

So in that case it's a better idea to get the Orchid Ranger 400 Phone which incorporates the Dialler & therefore stops this disconnection. But you could then of course switch the phone plugged in the BT socket if you knew about the facilities it gives !!  :-/

wrote on Sep 11^th, 2005 at 2:27pm:

So in that case it's a better idea to get the Orchid Ranger 400 Phone which incorporates the Dialler & therefore stops this disconnection. But you could then of course switch the phone plugged in the BT socket if you knew about the facilities it gives !!  :-/

And of course even if you find a way of making the wall socket end tamper-proof the lead probably connects to the phone using a plug anyway, rather than being hard-wired.

wrote on Sep 11^th, 2005 at 1:17pm:

Had no idea there was an issue with it.  I had wondered about it before i got BB, but i enquired with a couple of ISPs and they suggested it was no problem at all.  I guess BT will eventually clamp down on it more stringently.

The thing BT are probably worried over is loss of revenue.  If everyone went over to incoming-calls only and then used VoIP to make outgoing calls this would be the same case as trying to use alternative providers like Call18866, etc when on incoming-calls only.  OfCOM did agree with BT that those on incoming calls or light user scheme couldn't use other alternative providers and BT were allowed to block them.

As far as I know I don't think BT would know you are using VoIP if you dont use them as your broadband provider but obviously BT would know if you had broadband as it would be on their records regardless of which broadband provider you are with this is why I think you have slipped past their net.

wrote on Sep 11^th, 2005 at 2:39pm:

And of course even if you find a way of making the wall socket end tamper-proof the lead probably connects to the phone using a plug anyway, rather than being hard-wired.

The most secure method is using call barring because then it wouldn't matter if you tried to bypass the dialler or if using the ranger phones with dialler built-in, to unplug the phone and use a normal phone instead.

Many thanks for the info, F-elix. If you can use broadband on a line with incoming calls only, that makes me pretty confident that broadband would also work if you barred all calls except the free ones (999, 0800) using the Call Barring feature on the BT line. This costs £1.75 a month but is probably worthwhile to avoid arguments about who made which call.

I am using BT in contact plus since three years.When you join this scheme then you have to say that i will not use free phone numbers ,internet etc.But in fact except AOL all other internet services working.I used plus.net,tiscali and uk online broadband successfuly on the BT in contact plus line.Regarding aol they will find it out with in one week.One can also use 1899 and 18866 0808 numbers since they are not black listed until today.But unfortunately the 0800 numbers of post-office card,alpha,lycatel ,first national,voice telecom  are black listed on bt in contact plus.One can also use www.myinternetpass.com telephone access number for the pre-paid card.But when these numbers will be black listed i can't say.Since three years i am using these services and no problem!  ;)

As I wasn't convinced by the reply I got over the phone from BT (see first post in this thread) I sent them an email query too.

I asked if you could continue to use ADSL broadband from a non-BT supplier on a BT line where all but free calls had been blocked using their Call Barring facility.

They replied today saying: "The call barring service should have no affect on your ADSL Broadband connection. The reason for this is that the call barring facility blocks number you attempt to dial however your Broadband service is permanently on so will not be affected. "

I work for BT. Officially Broadband is one of the exclusions for being able to have Bt Incontact Plus. You can't currently have broadband on your line and then convert over.

You can however convert to Incontact Plus then get broadband from another company. It's not guaranteed to work, but I know plenty of people who have both. You can't have broadband from BT but any other supplier should work without a problem.

wrote on Sep 24^th, 2005 at 6:07pm:

I work for BT. Officially Broadband is one of the exclusions for being able to have Bt Incontact Plus. You can't currently have broadband on your line and then convert over.

This sounds like good ammunition for a complaint to BT High Level Complaints and then on to Otelo and then Ofcom.

The two issues which BT hasn't a leg to stand on are (a) refusing to allow those on the Light User Scheme or In Contact Plus to have a broadband connection on their line and (b) refusing to allow indirect prefix codes like 1899 etc to be used on Call Diversion setups using *21*.  I'm sure if Ofcom were backed into a corner and forced to rule on both these things they would have to rule against the current BT practices.

How do you account for BT not being able to block existing customers on In Contact Plus or Light User from getting broadband even though they won't transfer your line rental packages to these tariffs if you have broadband.  Presumably its because the broadband setup system is blind to line rental status but to get Light User or In Contact Plus you have to speak to a human operator who can manually check broadband status?

What do you do for BT?  Just work in customer services or customer sales or what exactly?

I'm a nice ye old 150 guy. (Customer Services)
Generally it's down to the advisor to do the job properly and to spot it as an exclusion, if they don't then in most cases the system would pick it up and not allow the conversion to happen. I've had cases where the system would allow the conversion to happen even if broadband is present.
http://www.bt.com/customerservices/cust_details.jsp?parentcat=cs_in_contact&childcat=who_is_eligible

Incontact Plus details above.

But if get IncontactPlus when I don't have broaband on the line and then sign up for a non BT ADSL service it does work because the automated ADSL sign up process doesn't care what BT line rental package you have?  Ditto with subsequent broadband migration between non BT providers.

Am I correct on this?