I moved into my house about 6 months ago and connected to ADSL because the BigPond website says cable internet is not available at my address. Even though I thought there was a cable strung up out the front I accepted this.

This morning when I went out to collect my mail I saw 2 Telstra trucks and a cherry picker inspecting one of the cables strung up on the poles outside my house. The guy in the cherry picker had a Telstra safety vest on. I asked one of the guys on the ground what they were doing, he said "We are looking at the Cable TV cable".

I immediately rang BigPond to transfer to BigPond cable because it is cheaper and I can get much better speed than my current ADSL. Again they denied there was a cable existing there. I explained my story and the CSR said he would get someone to contact me and they may arrange a visual inspection.

Am I being stalled here or will the result in some success? Have others been able to convince BigPond that a cable their records says doesn't exist, actually does? Are there any secrets to success with this?

Did you confirm with the Telstra guys in the trucks that it was a Foxtel/Bigpond cable, and not an Optus cable? They may have actually been independent cable installers, who happen to usually work for Telstra, and so wear the Telstra "branding". That happens.

Anyway, it sounds like a visual inspection has just been done. Why don't you ask the neighbour(s) whose house it was in front of whether they were trying to get Cable? If they have a report as a result of the inspection, they may be willing to share the info. Get a document number to quote to Bigpond.

RoderickGI writes...

Did you confirm with the Telstra guys in the trucks that it was a Foxtel/Bigpond cable, and not an Optus cable? They may have actually been independent cable installers, who happen to usually work for Telstra, and so wear the Telstra "branding". That happens.

I understand your point but the 2 trucks had the BigPond branding plastered all over them and there are 2 cables strung up. They were looking at the lower one. The upper one which is strung up in a similar way is I expect the Optus cable.

See if you can get Foxtel without the need for a satalitte dish, if you can then Cable is there, if you can't then it must be a different cable not the ones used by Foxtel/Cable Internet.

Gorman writes...

I moved into my house about 6 months ago

Is it recently constructed and what kind of home is it - house, unit etc?

I live in a block of units built after the HFC rollout. There are four cables in the street - amazingly BP/Foxtel and Optus each have one on each side.

Neither company will connect pur units because the rollout only envisaged a singe dwelling on the site. BP/Foxtel have quoted about $8,000 to put in a backbone (my terminology) but the oldies on the Body Corp won't pay.

We have good ADSL in the area, but no pay TV.

It took 8 years to get Foxtel/Telstra to fix their records and recognise that there is cable for 4 houses (including mine) in my street that they kept saying didn't have cable. The other 26 all showed on their records and about half have Foxtel connected. My next door neighbour ended up getting satelite.

I had a 2nd phone line for 6 years, got rid of it and put on ADSL when our exchange was enebled, had that for 3 years, finally got Foxtel and Cable internet 2 years ago when they finally came out and inspected and fixed their records.

I've been extremely happy with cable ever since and have VOIP running on it and a server.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Chris Burns writes...

I live in a block of units built after the HFC rollout. There are four cables in the street - amazingly BP/Foxtel and Optus each have one on each side.

Neither company will connect pur units because the rollout only envisaged a singe dwelling on the site. BP/Foxtel have quoted about $8,000 to put in a backbone (my terminology) but the oldies on the Body Corp won't pay.

I lived in a block of units many years ago and I was lucky that the Body Corporate did put the cabling in.

Retail POS writes...

It took 8 years to get Foxtel/Telstra to fix their records and recognise that there is cable for 4 houses (including mine) in my street that they kept saying didn't have cable.

I have been typing in the addresses of all the houses around me and my neighbor and the 2 unoccupied houses across the road all come up has having cable available. The cable is strung up on my side of the street. I am hoping their offer of a visual inspection leads to a quick resolution.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Thanks. I am hoping it doesn't take me as long as it did you to convince them that the cable is there.

Gorman writes...

moved into my house about 6 months ago

Good Luck Gorman - and keep pushing them....

I also moved recently and wanted my cable connected at the new address - BP installer came out and said it will cost 1$squillion because the pit was in the middle of my driveway! (and they would have to dig up paving / retaining walls etc etc to get to the house.) Fair enough but the house id 50 yrs old - cable pit ~5yo. Evry other pit I've seen is usually between property boundaries to 'share' the infrastructure and run up the fenceline. - Sheesh! I just realised my neighbour will need a lot of digging up if they want cable...

..What's the chance Telstra would move the pit????

Gorman writes...

I lived in a block of units many years ago and I was lucky that the Body Corporate did put the cabling in.

In my case the BC didn't exist when the cable was rolled out.

If the units had been there at the time where would have been no cost to the BC.

Chris Burns writes...

In my case the BC didn't exist when the cable was rolled out.

Which will invariably be the case when new units are built

But if it was "no cost" you'd reckon the developer or owner would do it as a value-add for the property

Gorman writes...

I have been typing in the addresses of all the houses around me and my neighbor and the 2 unoccupied houses across the road all come up has having cable available. The cable is strung up on my side of the street. I am hoping their offer of a visual inspection leads to a quick resolution.

Telstra (BigPond) use a database called "Homes Passed" for HFC infrastructure information. The database contains errors and omissions. You need to convince BigPond that the database is wrong and that their cable is available to you.

johns2294 writes...

BP installer came out and said it will cost 1$squillion because the pit was in the middle of my driveway!

Get quotes from other cable installers. They can burrow under anything these days if they have the right equipment. No need to dig up fixed structures, although holes will be required at one end point.

RoderickGI writes...

Get quotes from other cable installers

Thanks R - Might see what Foxtel says..

Cheers

canon1d writes...

Homes Past

or is it homes future??

maybe homes passed ??

OP keep onto them, they'll eventually send someone out, and then it's cable time....

loopylooploop writes...

maybe homes passed ?

I was close - phonetically.

yes its homes passed to check the cable
if its not in the database ask the CSR
to do a 'commercial quote'
you wll need to ask for 'legacy' or 'heritage' activations to do this
they do take from 1 day - 4 weeks to process
137663 option 2

johns2294 writes...

I also moved recently and wanted my cable connected at the new address - BP installer came out and said it will cost 1$squillion because the pit was in the middle of my driveway!

Before cable internet came out, (I knew it was coming) I took advantage of a Foxtel deal. Free installation if you sign up for 3 months. They came and installed it.....dug a big trench to a pole on my property, up the pole and then through the air. Down the wall to a box, then under the house right to the back.
Yes, I cancelled after 3 moths and got cable internet as soon as it came out.

Squillions be buggered!

Out of curiosity, is the phone cable underground, if it is then the HFC cable should be underground as well, as Telstra wouldn't use overhead cabling unless it was impossible to place underground.

Gorman writes...

Am I being stalled here or will the result in some success? Have others been able to convince BigPond that a cable their records says doesn't exist, actually does? Are there any secrets to success with this?

don't worry, it is just telstra.

now not knowing what exactly whats going on, I say it is quite probable.

I tried for 2 years to get some decent broadband here and it was by mistake I talked to a telemarketer at work.

low and behold after all the dramas there was a box outside my house all along. and all because the previous owner had satellite TV. so a wasted two years but worth the wait, sort of.

I know bigpond cable and foxtel cable and couldnt be happish.;

Don't just ask neighbours if they are trying to get cable - find out who already has it.

Optus told us years ago we couldn't get cable. On a hunch, I asked "what about #17?". They said #17 could get cable, but it didn't reach us at #15.

I was able to use this to convince them their records were wrong and they agreed to do an inspection. You see - to get a cable to #17 they had to literally pass the cable OVER our house (or AROUND our house)... so it made no sense that #17 could get it and we couldn't.

edit: If your dsl is slow and your a long way from the exchange, cable is a good idea. Is there a reason you haven't gone to Optus cable?

Today I saw a brand new townhouse having free to air antenna and a pay tv connector (coax connector) on the wall sockets.

Does that mean it has cable access? - the BP street address check showed no cable availability.

Viral Infinity, don't assume having the f-type connectors on the wall sockets means that they will have broadband cable access.

I did an FTA antenna install in my house last year using quad shielded RG6 coax and crimped f-type connectors all the way from the antenna to the 3 way splitter in the roof, then to the wall sockets. Also made the fly leads as crimped f-type one end and crimped pal on the end that goes into my set top box, dvd/vcr, tv and pc tuner card. The reason for this is that the f-type connectors have less signal loss than the old type screw/saddle pal outlets.

Viral Infinity writes...

Does that mean it has cable access?

If it had FTA socket and coax connector - the coax connector could be Bigpond cable, optus cable, or a satellite connector.

Thanks, guys!

This is a brand new 5-townhouse complex and all are equipped with these tripple sockets (FTA/PayTV coax/phone point). Will check with Telstra what is going on there.

Would be somewhat silly to have those plugs without cable connectivity.

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Update: I spoke to a nice guy in activations yesterday. He did the checks on the system for my house and the houses around me and said it was strange that my house was a black hole in the records. He accepted that I can see the cable outside my house.

He said he would arrange for a "Commercial Quote". Apparently this forces a tech to come out and inspect things. He said if what I was telling him was accurate and I lived no more than 2 houses from the cable that all that would happen is that their records would be updated and they would either send me a letter or give me call to arrange a standard installation.

So far I have to give the BigPond staff credit, they have been willing to listen and perform the work required to verify what I am telling then. This has been relatively painless.

I had this issue at my old house. Foxtel could see the cable for one side of the street (odd numbers), but not the other (even numbers). I gave them my address as an adjoining suburb (as my street crossed the suburb boundary, and lo & behold, they could see the even numbered houses in my street!

I would say it's just Bigpond/Foxtel's slack record keeping in this case.

Viral Infinity writes...

these tripple sockets (FTA/PayTV coax/phone point

Why couldn't they have put something useful in, like, say, Ethernet?

:D

Big Red writes...

Viral Infinity, don't assume having the f-type connectors on the wall sockets means that they will have broadband cable access.

yep, it's a satellite dish on the roof :-(