[M. Tourette]

Hi
I am moving to a new flat which has no landline installed or ever has had one, (recent conversion)

I am currently with Virgin and had no issues with them but the new place is not in their cable area so they say I have to get BT to install a landline and then they will install Virgin....

If this happens I will be tied into a contract with BT for a year or more for a line I do not want but will pay for and then on top will have to pay for Virgin. (currently all my email addresses are virgin and I don't want to change them)

Has anyone got any other suggestions how to get a broadband connection without involving BT?

[LION8TIGER]

Has anyone got any other suggestions how to get a broadband connection without involving BT?

I don't think that is possible, BT will have to install the line. That does not mean that you will have to pay BT if you sign up with another provider (and pay them the line rental) but you will have a minimum contract with the new provider .... they will pay BT a percentage for the use of the line.

Put the postcode of the new flat into Sam and see what is available.

[Sven945]

I don't know about installing a new line, but I use Plusnet for phone and broadband and I'm not tied in to a 12 month contract for either (the catch is you have to pay for broadband activation and the modem if you don't commit for 12 months). I imagine installing the line will be a fixed cost to BT regardless of who you actually pay the line rental for.

[wavy-davy]

Get a Three mobile dongle. No landline necessary.

I pay about £16 a month for a 15GB allowance at speeds of around 1 to 6MB depending on area with an 18 month contract.

CHECK COVERAGE FIRST.

http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage

[lbear]

Can you clarify whether you are in a Virgin "national" area or in one where they have their own network for TV and broadband. They may not be able to provide a telephone unless there is a BT line (my situation) but you can use one of several IP telephone services if you have a Virgin cable connection.

It sounds like you are in an area not served by their cable and, unless there are other providers, you will have to get a BT line installed. I believe you will have to rent from them before you can change telephone provider - if I remember correctly this is for a minimum of three months.

Ignore those awful mobile phone dongles. Their "up to" services are pure fantasy. I was helping a friend in London E2 once and he was achieving speeds of 50 bps. The estimated download time for a Windows update was three months! It may be worthwhile seeing if there is a local wifi hotspot and a service available you can use.

[Colin_London]

Originally Posted by wavy-davy

Get a Three mobile dongle. No landline necessary.

I pay about £16 a month for a 15GB allowance at speeds of around 1 to 6MB depending on area with an 18 month contract.

CHECK COVERAGE FIRST.

http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Coverage

For people used to a cable connection moving to a 3G solution, even a HSDPA (up to 21Mbps) one will have shortfalls.

In the OPs case he has said he doesn't want to lose his Virgin accounts. If he doesn't want to move from this he has no choice but to pay for a landline install.

Three MiFi deals are 18-24 months, even longer than a landline contract.

And then there is the variable performance (even in good signal areas) and latency issues. Might be OK if the OP just surfs the web, but what if he is used to gaming, watching HD Streaming TV etc.??

[Roush]

Originally Posted by lbear

Can you clarify whether you are in a Virgin "national" area or in one where they have their own network for TV and broadband. They may not be able to provide a telephone unless there is a BT line (my situation) but you can use one of several IP telephone services if you have a Virgin cable connection.

They are not in a cabled area.

Originally Posted by M. Tourette

the new place is not in their cable area

If there is not currently a phone line then you will indeed need one installed by BT Openreach before you can connect to a broadband service. Your ISP (Virgin, if you chose to stay with them) will arrange this for you.

[Matt D]

Get a "BT line", and get ADSL.

Get a "BT line", and get FTTC (if available).

Get a 3G mobile broadband connection.

Not really anything else you can do...



If you do end up getting a BT line, *and* your exchange has Sky's LLU broadband available, then I would highly recommend Sky Broadband Unlimited. £7.50 per month if you have Sky TV, £10 per month if you do not have Sky TV. Totally unlimited usage, no Fair Usage Policy, no Traffic Management / Throttling. Only *if* in Sky's area, though. If all you can get is Sky Broadband Connect, then stay away! NB: Sky Broadband requires Sky Line Rental, instead of BT (still a "BT line"). I have heard of some people getting a BT line installed for free in exchange for taking Sky Broadband, but I don't know how widespread it is or if it still even happens. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

If Sky isn't available, I'd recommend O2 (if available). Not as cheap as Sky (even if an O2 mobile customer), but still fairly cheap, and also totally unlimited.


EDIT: Oh, Virgin email... I don't think they stay active after you cease being a VM customer. This is why you should never be tied to an ISP email account! tbh, rather than go with VM's ADSL just to keep the email, I'd go with a better ADSL ISP, and just get Gmail or something and put up with the VM email loss.

[wavy-davy]

Originally Posted by lbear

Ignore those awful mobile phone dongles. Their "up to" services are pure fantasy. I was helping a friend in London E2 once and he was achieving speeds of 50 bps. The estimated download time for a Windows update was three months!

*ahem*

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2000085400.png

I've been using a Three dongle for over 2 years now and it's saved me a fortune over fixed line and speed averages about 3MB

[neo_wales]

Dongles are as good as the signal available but 15Gb a month is really not a lot, start watching BBC, youtube et al and your allowance is gone. I've used dongles when I was camping in a tourer and sometimes the signal was fab other times...nothing or really poor.

See whats available in your area (OP)
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

[joshua_welby]

Sky charges £39 for a new Phone Line Install and BT charges £130 approx for a new Phone Line Install unless you sign up for BT's Feature Line 5 year contract
like what I had to do, then it will be Free

I'd go to Sky or see if another provider is cheaper than Sky

Check Samknows for details www.samknows.com

[Nick_London]

Originally Posted by M. Tourette

Hi
I am moving to a new flat which has no landline installed or ever has had one, (recent conversion)

I am currently with Virgin and had no issues with them but the new place is not in their cable area so they say I have to get BT to install a landline and then they will install Virgin....

If this happens I will be tied into a contract with BT for a year or more for a line I do not want but will pay for and then on top will have to pay for Virgin. (currently all my email addresses are virgin and I don't want to change them)

Has anyone got any other suggestions how to get a broadband connection without involving BT?

You can get Post office home phone and broadband with a free phone line installed, there is no minimum term for the landline if you read carefully, however there is a contract for broadband, visit the post office telecoms website to view details of the packages they have.

[Lurkalot]

Google satelite internet.

[BMR]

Originally Posted by Colin_London

For people used to a cable connection moving to a 3G solution, even a HSDPA (up to 21Mbps) one will have shortfalls.

In the OPs case he has said he doesn't want to lose his Virgin accounts. If he doesn't want to move from this he has no choice but to pay for a landline install.

Three MiFi deals are 18-24 months, even longer than a landline contract.

Although you can take them with you when you move

And then there is the variable performance (even in good signal areas) and latency issues. Might be OK if the OP just surfs the web, but what if he is used to gaming, watching HD Streaming TV etc.??

I get around 2 meg and can stream Iplayer in SD without much buffering. Do be careful though, as you can get through 15gb fairly easily if you use Iplayer every day.

[neo_wales]

Originally Posted by Lurkalot

Google satelite internet.

Google bank loan to fund it.

[Rossby41]

Or just use Google TiSP

[TeeGee]

As previously mentioned, Plusnet (actually a subsidiary of BT) will do you the best deal for a new line. The service is good too. Give them a call.

[Nick_London]

Originally Posted by TeeGee

As previously mentioned, Plusnet (actually a subsidiary of BT) will do you the best deal for a new line. The service is good too. Give them a call.

I'm sure this was a company which was taken over by Ofcom and then sold to BT as it was in big trouble, once it has a certain amount of customers, BT will integrate Plusnet with its main BT residential Retail product portfolio and either BT will lower its current prices to the same as Plusnet or existing Plusnet customers will be able to keep the same contract under BT but if they cancel they won't be able to revert back onto the Plusnet packages.

It is BT's way of reclaiming lost customers who have a vision that BT is expensive, previously Oftel and for a brief time Ofcom regulated BT's pricing and controlled how low BT can set its Residential Telephone and Internet products, it previously controlled BT Payphone prices as well, this was so that Cable companies and Mercury/Cable and Wireless as well as other companies could have a chance at competing and surviving as the UK was very used to having one telephone service(BT) as well as having Cable and Wireless with international services. Both companies previously publicly owned.

Now, competition in the market is thriving however, so that BT is able to compete as well and because landline usage has fallen a bit and the cost of rolling out fibre and superfast broadband is increasing, Ofcom made the decision to abolish that condition controlling how low BT can charge. Previously BT would never offer you a retentional deal, now they will!

The changes have so far seen deals like anytime unlimited landline calls when taken with Broadband,0845 and 0870 calls included as part of inclusive calls,lower call rates to mobiles. BT was also allowed to get rid of the minimum call charge and replace it with Call connection charges like Virgin Media and it can now charge what it likes for line rental. However, as the cost of call packages go down, it is unlikely BT will lower its line rental costs.

Ofcom still has the power to enforce BT to offer products like BT Basic(also replaced BT Pay&call),BT Light User Scheme,public payphones,free access to all 0500,0800 and 0808 as well as free paging numbers. It also has to offer access to all 118 numbers as well as in-direct access numbers.

Ofcom also enforces that everyone has a right to Telephone service and BT has to provide service in the areas it operates, so even if the customer fails the credit check, BT still have to provide an option for them, this could be asking for a £50 deposit although it would help if you took the BT yearly line rental option and would actually save you money in the long run.

BT Payphones can now charge what they like, uniform pricing has also been consulted, which means although most payphones have the minimum call charge set at 60p, it is possible some heavily used phones be set at as low as 10p and some rural phones be £1.20, removal of under used kiosks are subject to public consultation by local councils. Freephone access to 0500,0800 and 0808 numbers including free paging numbers is enforced by Ofcom and BT as well as all payphone companies are entitled to 8.5p per minute from the owner of the freephone number, 20% of payphone revenue is generated from freephone access.

So expect Plusnet to dissolve into the rest of BT in a few years, Mad As a Fish and IC24(Dial Up) is also owned by BT

Most of the best deals for phone and broadband deals especially BT can be found online on there own websites, using comparison sites gives you an idea but they generate revenue from you switching which means some of the packages may be more expensive. BT,Post Office and TalkTalk as well as Sky are able to give you huge discounts on new line connections online, if you ring up, you could be expected to pay a lot of money. Taking Broadband with the same provider also helps too.

[d'@ve]

Originally Posted by M. Tourette

Hi
I am moving to a new flat which has no landline installed or ever has had one, (recent conversion)

I am currently with Virgin and had no issues with them but the new place is not in their cable area so they say I have to get BT to install a landline and then they will install Virgin....

If this happens I will be tied into a contract with BT for a year or more for a line I do not want but will pay for and then on top will have to pay for Virgin. (currently all my email addresses are virgin and I don't want to change them)

Has anyone got any other suggestions how to get a broadband connection without involving BT?

Not sure why you are so against BT, but if you think you'll be there for 18 months, I'd get a BT line and broadband/fibre if I were you. There's not much difference in cost from VM on many bundles (e.g. phone rental + broadband/fibre) and as a new customer, you'd probably qualify for free installation by BT. Any particular reason for avoiding BT?

Your flat is probably leasehold though, and if so you will need your landlord's written permission (whatever fixed line system you go for).

Originally Posted by joshua_welby

Sky charges £39 for a new Phone Line Install and BT charges £130 approx for a new Phone Line Install unless you sign up for BT's Feature Line 5 year contract
like what I had to do, then it will be Free

New line+broadband bundles are installed free of charge by BT. Mine was anyway (3 months ago) on a standard 18 month phone+fibre to the cabinet contract.

[iniltous]

Originally Posted by joshua_welby

Sky charges £39 for a new Phone Line Install and BT charges £130 approx for a new Phone Line Install unless you sign up for BT's Feature Line 5 year contract
like what I had to do, then it will be Free

I'd go to Sky or see if another provider is cheaper than Sky

Check Samknows for details www.samknows.com

You should check facts before posting stuff like this, a phone line install ordered on line is £40 with BT, take a broadband package at the same time and its a free install

[daniel.thomas10]

I have a spare half price tv code you can have it if you want... It comes with a free phone line install
Pm me if you want it

[Nick_London]

Originally Posted by d'@ve

Not sure why you are so against BT, but if you think you'll be there for 18 months, I'd get a BT line and broadband/fibre if I were you. There's not much difference in cost from VM on many bundles (e.g. phone rental + broadband/fibre) and as a new customer, you'd probably qualify for free installation by BT. Any particular reason for avoiding BT?

Your flat is probably leasehold though, and if so you will need your landlord's written permission (whatever fixed line system you go for).



New line+broadband bundles are installed free of charge by BT. Mine was anyway (3 months ago) on a standard 18 month phone+fibre to the cabinet contract.

Some of them like the one I chose was 12 months, however you need to becareful what you choose as not all bundles are including free line installation, some are £40 whilst some are £130 and also if you had BT in the past and was disconnected for non-payment but paid it in the end, they will still charge you a reconnection charge plus a deposit if paying line rental every month, my mate therefore put it in his house mates name to avoid that and eventually got free connection and a new line.

[John259]

I'm with Virgin Media National (i.e. over a phone line) on a non LLU exchange. Originally I paid line rental to BT but I now pay Virgin Media for line rental, phone calls and broadband Internet and I no longer make any payments to BT.

So I would suggest that you contact Virgin and see if they can arrange for a phone line to be installed without you having to enter into a contract with BT.