The general rule is that if a bill remains unpaid for around 90 days, an automatic cease request will be placed onto the account which physically ceases the service down. The TV is different - that can just be unblocked as such. The phone line has to be physically reactivated. Not sure why they are saying that a BT engineer is required though as this there should now be a stopped line (your old line) showing at your address which can both be restarted in 10 working days. As long as the order is placed on Sky's network, the phone and broadband will be provisioned at the same time. With regards to the number - Sky reserve the right to change a customer's number at any point, the customer does not own the number.In fact, Sky doesn't even own the number, Offcom does, and they simply assign number ranges to the communication providers. Locutus is correct - once a number is disconnected, it goes into quarantine for 90 days and is then available to to be re-assigned to a new customer.

Sky in Newcastle........ Sounds like one of the outsource partners The Listening Company then....... I would say they would be interested to hear of this, but as an ex employee of there's I know they are pretty useless and will just bury their heads in the sand........

One of the big things is dependant on the exchange, and whether they are "unbundled" and have equipment present from other suppliers, such as Sky, O2/Be etc. If not (which it very much sounds like in your case) then the provider will rent the service from BT Wholesale. There is very little margin in this for the company, so generally around the £17 mark is the going rate. Best thing to do is type Sam knows into google, visit the website and look at broadband availability. Type your phone number in, and look to see if a) the exchange is LLU enabled and b) whether any provider has their equipment in it. Speaking from experience, Sky connect is awful - poor speed, heavily contended and throttled badly during peak periods. I can't complain though as I didn't pay for it (I work for Sky) - The Sky network though, completly different kettle of fish, it's excellent so was happy when my exchange become unbundled. It might be worth checking with Sky as well to see if your exchange is due to be unbundled anytime soon as a rollout programme for further exchanges is currently happening.

If I was being biast, I would say go with Sky as I work for them. On second thoughts...... I found o2 great for BB - getting uber fast speeds. I have a seperate Ukonline connection at my parents and the o2 one at my place is so much better. no download limts either

That part made me chuckle

Would be very concerned if this was a [problem] as the site is run by the royal mail!!

Just a quick question on this as I had some dealings with power 2 contact a year or 2 back. Just taken this from credit solutions / p2c's website: We have all the tools you would expect for Trace activity, including: BT OSIS Database – allowing new telephone numbers to be acquired and also enabling discreet neighbour tracing. Note the bold part - is that actually legal? Not 100% au fait with a a lot of the legalities, so more intrigued really Thanks

Be careful when accessing the link for Capri skies - AVG just popped up a virus alert when I loaded the page.........

From experience in the past, getting BT to do a stop / start order on the line has had the desired effect as well. It can be a lottery sometimes depending on the people you speak to. This isnt *generally* the case. The new provider can give advice on how to get this removed, however the majority of tag issues nowadays are not actually tags, but still the physical service from the old provider. It is then up to the customer to arrange for this to be removed Though i do agree there are some cases when the receiving ISP can get these removed, generally when it's a simple issue such as routing still being left on Openreach's systems, or an incorrect ned type marker still present.

Thanks for your response Sali I spoke to them earlier today, and they advised I should send me complaint through to the general manager for the unit. Bearing in mind that it's run through an outsourcer, should I send it for the attention of the gen manager, or should I bypass them and go straight to the trust instead? Ta

nope - just take the base package with BT and then whatever calls package you want with your preferred supplier

PDS would be if no help to fix this fault........ it sounds to me like the phone line was activated remotely, and BT actioned a visit reduction and didn't send an engineer out when the line was activated. I imagine their records would have shown all wiring was in place. Usually the simple fix would be for an early life cycle failure to be logged to BT to get an engineer out to resolve. Ida is correct - and yes, I do work for an outsource partner. And outsource partner team managers do take over phone calls.

You say Sky tried it on......... but no reference to Sky in your post? or am I missing something?

Change your provider to someone who doesn't mess up so much.... Have you asked tiscali for a copy of their formal complaints procedure? Have you complained in writing or just verbally into their contact centres?

You will prob struggle. Best advise is to go through trouble shooting with tech support to see if they can improve your sync rate. Problem being is that speed is never guaranteed using a copper phone line - there could be a numbe of factors - poor quality wiring, poor quality phone line, line length to the local exchange etc. If you are deemed to be receiving an "acceptable" connection then they will not terminate without charges - problem being a 0.5mb connection is quite often classed as acceptable......