Line connected in house but not underground?

Question

Hi
We had an engineer fit a new line into our house about 5 weeks ago. It is still not an active line. We keep trying to ring through to BT but we keep being disconnected when we get transferred back to the UK. We were told BT would keep us updated with what was going on by email but we have heard nothing.
Sorry if this is the wrong forum but wanted some advice. We have to drive out 18 miles to our families addresses to use a telephone to contact Bt which is very frustrating especially when you sit on the phone for 45mins to be disconnected.
We were told by the person who fitted the line that it needed to be connected underground and should be done within 24 hours. Please could someone tell me what is taking so long and how long i am likely to have to wait.
Thank you
Lottie

Answer 1

'They have said there is a fault on the line and they have to get planning permission to dig up the road to correct it. Is this normal?'
Sometimes they do need to get permission sometimes they don't, really depends on what kind of road it is and its location.
'I thought all they had to do was attach us their end.'
They have to attach your line at the Line Concentrator to the Main Distribution Frame, then in the Cabinet they have to connect the Exchange side cable to the Distribution Point cable, terminate it at the Distribution Point then do the fit in your house. If there is a break in the line between any of them points then it will need to be fixed.
'Would this not affect my landladies line too?'
No, each phone line is a single pair of wires that run from the back of your master socket all the way to the Exchange. Just because one pair of wires is faulty doesn't mean they all are.