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£100 charge if they can't connect me!

ThinkingWISP will charge me £100 if, on coming to install the service, they find that I am not within range. I could check reception myself if I knew the wavelength they use (which they won't tell me). Are wavelengths on public record and if so where can they be consulted?
 
Ouch! In fairness "call out charges" are quite common in many trades, particularly plumbing and the like, but related fees are usually much smaller than that and in an ideal world such charges should be fair and proportionate. I struggle to see how £100+ is fair unless you live an hour or more away (driving time) from their HQ, in which case the lost fuel and labour hours might impact things. Openreach engineers can also levy similar charges, sometimes for doing virtually nothing.

I assume you already checked your address with their online map?
http://www.thinkingwisp.co.uk/our-area/

As to your question about wavelengths, well I believe the ISP uses 5.8GHz under an Ofcom license (they might use others too, not sure) and you could test for the signal by using a Spectrum Analyzer device (note: not all will go up to 6GHz, some stop at 3GHz etc.), but the cheapest of those is also around £100 :) .
 
Thanks for your comment and wavelength info.

I AM within their area as shown on their map. That's why I'm so unhappy at being quoted £100 for a failed installation.
 
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I can certainly see how the cost of a failed installation could be £100 or quite a bit more - to the provider concerned.

What I can't see is why a provider presumably interested in gaining customers doesn't simply shoulder the cost themselves if within the stated area, rather than pretty much slap potential customers across the face and incentivise them to go somewhere else.
 
It all sounds a bit dodgy to me, they could make a healthy profit from "failed" installs, without every getting a customer connected.
 
If you're showing as good on their coverage map then this has to be considered an unfair practice, try pinging the regulator to see what they think.
 
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