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Aardvark Daily

New Zealand's longest-running online daily news and commentary publication, now in its 25th year. The opinion pieces presented here are not purported to be fact but reasonable effort is made to ensure accuracy.

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Why I can't get my phone/Net connection moved

9 June 2016

As regular readers will have already noticed, your daily dose of Aardvark has been missing for a week or so -- that's because I'm moving house again (or should I say *trying* to move house.

After almost a week of shuffling boxes, whiteware and other items from the old to the new, I've been getting very pee'd off with Telecom (sorry... Spark).

My phone and internet was supposed to have been transferred from the old house to the new house on Monday (or Tuesday at the latest, given that Monday was a holiday) -- but it's now Thursday afternoon and I'm still waiting.

It seems that there's a major stuff-up in the system, a stuff up that could affect anyone who is moving house and effectively deny them a phone or internet connection at the new location -- even though it's all wired up and there's plenty of capacity in the system.

The reason I'm still paying rent and power for the old house (as well as the new house) is because Spark tell me that they can't connect me to the new house until the previous tenant relinquishes their connection at that address.

Now you might think that this is fair enough and that this would be just a temporary hiccup until the old tenant's order to move the connection was processed -- but it's not.

The previous tenant left the property almost four months ago and the house has been sitting empty and unused for that time.

Yet, strangely enough, Spark tell me that they still have a naked DSL connection (via some other unnamed ISP) assigned to the address and I can't be connected until the owner of that connection relinquishes it.

So let's get this quite clear:

  • The previous tenant does not own the property and never has
  • The previous tenant has not lived in the property for almost 4 months
  • The previous tenant wasn't able to pay the rent -- so I doubt they've paid the ISP bill
  • I can not get a connection until the previous tenant relinquishes theirs -- even though they haven't resided in the property for a long time

This is utter crap!

When contacted, the family of the previous tenant said that the person in whose name the connection is held, is away for another week and so they can't do anything until he gets back.

What a great way this would be to make a small fortune.

Rent a house briefly and get the Net or a phone line connected in your name.

Move out of the house but do not relinquish the phone/Net connection.

Wait until the new tenant moves in and tell them you'll relinquish the line for $1,000 and they can take it or leave it.

So... here I am, stuck paying rent and power for at least another week at this old address and having to sit in a freezing cold house to do my work.

Who should carry the can for this?

Spark... whose online system said "ADSL is available at this address"?

The old tenant's ISP who are effectively continuing to provide a connection in a house where their client has no longer has right to have one?

The previous tenant, for not relinquishing their connection thereby holding the line hostage?

If you're moving house -- be *very* careful this doesn't happen to you. The system is badly broken and nobody seems interested in fixing it. Despite assurances from your telco, you may find that you can't get the promised phone and broadband in your newly rented or purchased house, simply because the previous occupant hasn't relinquished their grip on the line -- and this "right" may persist for many months, even if they're not paying the bill.

Sucks!

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