# Forum Home Renovation Television, Computers & Phones  Broken Telephone Line

## scihe1

Hi, 
I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. 
I moved in to a rental property 6 weeks ago and ordered broadband and phone from Telstra straight away. 6 weeks later and they have finally sent an engineer to see why I still don't have a phone signal. 
After digging around for a couple of hours the Telstra engineer found that the line was damaged within my property boundary (under a shared access drive way). Telstra basically said it wasn't there problem as it was on my property. 
So, I booked an independent engineer to come and have a look at it and he has found that the line was cut exactly where a new piece of concrete had been recently layed.  I have spoke to the neighbour who I share the drive with and he told me that new gas pipes were installed exactly where the cut in the line is about 6 months ago. As nobody was living in the house at the time nobody noticed. 
So my questions is, what can I do now? Telstra wont fix the problem and the quote from the engineer is going to be very expensive. Also, I obviously don't want to fix the telephone line at the risk of damaging the recent gas pipe work. I presume that the gas company has some kind of come back. Does anyone know if there is a process to follow or where can I start following this up. 
Thanks in Advance
Ian

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## Bedford

> I moved in to a rental property 6 weeks ago

  I would talk to the landlord or Agent, whatever is involved I'm sure will be at the landlords cost, if the phone line was available to the house at signing of the lease.

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## president_ltd

if Telstra have said that the break is on YOUR side (not the 'network' side) then this is a good thing.  it means they don't care who fixes it (means they won't insist they have to, and charge an arm and a leg for it). 
you can get any registered cabler to fix it for you. 
not that i'm in any way recommending you do it yourself, but just for your information, lets say that you had a broken line and wanted to fix it "as new" without replacing the entire cable, then you could use gel-filled crimp connectors to join the cable together.  there will be two pairs of cable (blue/white, red/black), same colour connects on both side (i.e. blue to blue, white to white etc.). 
the gel-filled crimp connectors are easily obtainable, e.g. from Altronics - Your One Stop Audio Visual & Electronics Supplier and you simply insert the cable in each hole and use pliers to 'crimp' it.

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## Master Splinter

Pursue it with the landlord, it's their responsibility.

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## MobyT

If it becomes a battle between the gas company, the landlord and Telstra it could take a while to work out.  You might want to try to find out how long it will take to fix, and if it looks like being a while, think about getting your money back from Telstra or converting to NextG or other 3G internet/phone in the meantime. 
Good luck with it all.  Hope it gets fixed soon.

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## sundancewfs

Go with someone other than Telstra. It's obvious they don't want customers.
Tell them this and see what happens.....

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## Pugs

> Go with someone other than Telstra. It's obvious they don't want customers.
> Tell them this and see what happens.....

  umm Telstra Own the copper, So it is their responsiblity to maintian that, but saying that, cleary you have a lazy tech visit you.. *Escalate* it...  if they want to follow that up with the gas company for the bill that is their problem, you have a right to a working phone line, even if they offer you a 3G home phone in the mean time... or use a 3G stick for net access not ideal but it will work. 
also the above suggestions to DIY are Ilegal... and could land the OP in a situation where they are fined for messing with the Lead in

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## 2x4

> and could land the OP in a situation where they are fined for messing with the Lead in

  Not exactly sure that it is the lead in. 
Pugs is correct about the fine regardless of who "owns the damaged cable" 
More info may be helpfull........ Shared driveway? Are these townhouse,units,flats,
etc? 
Prolly clutching at straws here but is there a main connection point for the carriers services whith the complex(MDF)? 
Just trying to help with a solution to get him going in the short term.  
.

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## woodbe

> Does anyone know if there is a process to follow or where can I start following this up.

  Yes. Speak with the landlord or his agent, follow up in writing asking that the line be repaired. Its not your responsibility, nor should it cost you anything and I'd wager if they do nothing you can escalate it to a rental body who will support your rights. 
woodbe.

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## cam_jim

> umm Telstra Own the copper, So it is their responsiblity to maintian that, but saying that, cleary you have a lazy tech visit you..

  Not quite. I think you will find that if the Telstra Tech finds out that the problem is in the cabling on the property he is NOT allowed by law to offer quote to fix it on the spot. Something to do with unfair competetive advantage. Called freedom of choice. At least with Telstra they came out and proved the problem lay within your/landlords responsibility at no cost to you. If it was a plumbing problem you would have had to call a plumber first at your expense to prove the problem was not within your responsibility.

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## sean_c

We had plumbers cut through the telstra cable, well within our property, and copped a big bill for telstra to repair it. We don't even use telstra. But our neighbours did and they were disconnected for a couple of weeks before anyone worked out what went wrong. Apparently they own all the copper so I'm a bit surprised they're not going to repair it.

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