I've been asking some questions in other threads about o2 and such and decided tonight to switch to them. I'm moving to a new flat next week so needing to get my phone and broadband sorted out.

I've tonight signed up online with o2 for a 12 month SIM only deal as my T-Mobile contract ends shortly.

But I've now just phoned up o2 to ask about getting the phoneline and broadband and been told I need an active line before switching to them. How do I go about getting an active line if I've not moved in yet and don't want to get tied down with BT?

if you are willing to pay for installing a new line i would get it via the post office as you are not tied to a 12 month contract its a monthly one ive been considering it myself

I think PO charge £110 for a new line and then you'd have to pay for a month and then give a month's notice.

Any particular reason you want O2 phoneline?

The easiest option is to get BT to supply the phone line, complete with 12 month contract, then take O2 broadband. If you really want O2 phoneline, then change after the 12 months.

O2 phone line isn't significantly cheaper than O2. (Oh, and looking at the webpage, it states you must have an active BT phone line to change to O2 phone, so you might not be able to use a PO line)

I thought PO Home Tel was really a BT phoneline but you pay every month to PO Home Tel.

And they both let you use 1899,18185 etc for calls.


I'm not sure if you have an 02 phoneline you can use these other providers for calls.

I checked a few companies for phonelines and some would not allow you to make calls with others like 1899.

I'm sure I read with a PO phoneline you can use anyone for your broadband.

i have vm phone and bb at the moment the advantage of a bt /po line to me would have a lot more choice as far as bb goes and as i am with 02 payg i think i could get a better deal with them than with vm

Yes having a wide choice of providers for broadband is good and for me personally if it's a monthly contract that's better.


I use 02 for my mobile calls and they are good so I'd hope their landline broadband is good, but I've not used it myself.

As is O2 homephone...its BT equipment and BT carriage of the calls, the Bill and Customer Service comes from O2

Why don't o2 want to place the order to get the line connected by BT?

Seems weird they are unwilling to get the line connected for you.

Yes you’re correct that O2 would require an active BT line to switch over home phone service.

In regards to the prefix before dialling a number that then gives you the number at a discounted rate. We can confirm that most of these services will work like 18185,etc and O2 will not bill you for the cost of the call. However we are unable to support the customer if they have billing problems with these calls, nor can we guarantee the stability or reliability of the service as we have no control over it.

We are also unable to make specific comments on individual services, if they will work or how they operate.

Abhishek

But is an active BT line a line owned and billed by BT or is say PO Home Phone which is an active BT line but you pay your bill to PO Home Tel OK.


I may get my gas from various companies but although I pay British Gas, NPower or whoever the gas still comes thru the same pipe.

I ran PO Home Tel and you can take a phoneline from them and use other providers for internet.
Obviously they'd rather you take their internet as well of course.

I don't know myself if 02 broadband want you to take both phoneline and internet from them.

its as you say perhaps you should take a look at the po site all the info is there.i want a bt line but dont want a 12month contract so the alternative is to get the line with po and pay for the installation and not be tied to a 12 month contract so i can then go to whichever phone/bb provider that i want to

I agree the BT phoneline deal means a 12 month minimum contract which I would not want.
And they sometimes try to get you to take an 18 month minimum which is even worse.


But when you read reviews about customer service for BT phoneline and PO Home Tel both are rather poor.

Fortunately with PO you can get out after a month if not happy.

I just rang PO Home Tel and they answered straight away because it was the sales no.
Now if I had been with them for a while and was phoning to complain about something and used the support no I wonder how long I'd have to wait ?


Now if you get PO Home Tel for a month and then switch to 02 for phoneline and broadband that might be good if 02 give good customer service.

But if they don't and it's a 12 month contract then you are stuck.

ive not noticed any adverse comments on other forums regarding 02 service (there may be some but ive not come across any sofar)
but if bb spead is important then take a look at samknows.com to see where your exchange is .

Why do you require an active line and you won't arrange to have a line connected/installed yourselves?

Because it costs O2 less than £3 to take over an active BT line but about £88 to get Openreach to acvtivate/install one.

Simples.

But they could bill the customer for the £88 surely ?

at the end of the day its up to you to decide if there system suits you if not then you go elswhere (but where) apart from cable if its availlable.As 02 are not the only provider that have this condition there are several other providers that stipulate that you need an active bt line.The main problem that i can see with this system is what happens if you have a 12month contract with them and you have to relocate to somewhere that hasnt got an active bt line.

You’re right in thinking that if customers are willing to pay for the new install then why don’t we offer this service and charge accordingly. This is something in the pipeline already. So watch this space!

Abhishek

Well bring it on down because if you want the custom you need to do as much as you can to help the customer.

I am a PO customer and cannot fault customer service, I have never been stuck in a queue and they are based in the UK as well.

OK thanks we'll give Post Office Home Tel a shot then.

I's thinking of trying Be for internet as they do a three month contract.

From 1st September 2010, O2 WILL be able to active and install lines for you.

I'm in exactly the same position as you and O2 CS told me yesterday that if I can hold off until the 1st Sep, they will then be able to activate the line into my flat.

Currently, they can only take over from an existing active line. This will change in Sep.

I want home phone & boradband from O2 because including line rental, evening & weekend calls, 8MB broadband... only comes to £15 /month for exisitng O2 mobile customers (me).

It comes to £17 for me, is that some sort of deal you've been offered direct?

^ O2 do a great deal in that regards, only if someone else wasn't paying the phone bill, i would have the same.

BB for 7.50 is a blinder though!