New house share how to change phone line

DebH

Hope you can help. My daughter and 5 of her friends (all students) have just moved into new house. They have changed all utility bills into thier name but are having major problem with phone/broadband. The previous tenants had phone/broadband with Tiscali as far as they know, line is still connected and they can make and receive calls (altho they are not using phone) but broadband has been disconnected. They have called Tiscali who have said that an account is still active but as previous tenants won't answer calls etc they are stuck. Any advice on where we can go from here? They want to get orange broadband/phone as one of them has contract with orange.

syko29793

This could get complex but i will try to help. If the phone and broadband is with Tiscali it may be on an LLU line which if stopped will mean a reconnection charge to connect it back up again.
If it is an LLU line you will not be able to move to Orange as they dont offer reconnections or transfers from LLU to LLU ( Orange use LLU too same as Tiscali)
BT retail is the only provider that offers free reconnection from an LLU provider (as far as im aware) so you may have to get BT to take the line back(12 month contract) and then choose a broadband provider that allows you to have a BT line and broadband with another isp.

macman

How do they know that the broadband has been disconnected? If the account is still live then there will still be broadband provision, but of course they won't be able to connect to it without the original username and password.
They need to speak to Orange and get them to have the tag removed from the line.

DebH

They have tried to connect to the internet but there is no connection - doesn't ask for any info and even if they try and connect with a wired connection there is no broadband

macman

DebH wrote: »

They have tried to connect to the internet but there is no connection - doesn't ask for any info and even if they try and connect with a wired connection there is no broadband

It won't ask you for any info-to get a connection you have to log in using the ISP's supplied username and password-which they won't have.
Wired or wireless makes no difference, it still has to connect via the ADSL line.

syko29793

If the connection belongs to another customer then transfer of service is not possible.
A tag "MAY" be left on the line but will be automatically removed when the line stops in the previous customers name.
If the line is fully unbundlled then no tag will be there as its a non BT Wholesale account but as fully unbundled the reconnection charge will apply if the line is stopped.
My advice is (to keep things simple) is to get BT retail to port the number back ( you will have a 12 month contract with line rental) this should be free and then choose an isp for your broadband that uses a BT line.