Signing up for new Phone line

shanklyforever

Hi all, newbie here, please be nice!!

Right, here's the thing. I live at home with my family. We had a BT line, however, due to my Mum being too soft, my little brother has kept ringing mobiles willy nilly, and over the course of months, the bills have got higher and higher, and more and more out of control.
The upshot is, after all this, the bill to be paid has gone astronomical, and we can't afford it.
Now, after some time of this, BT have informed us that they will be cutting us off in due course.

What I suggested was, to sign up for a Telewest line, in my name. I know Telewest aren't the best, but the package is relatively cheap, and it's just a way of getting a phone again. Not having a phone recently has been severely annoying, and we feel cut off.

Anyway, my main question is, if I sign up online for a Telewest line in my name, do they do credit checks? Because my credit history is not all that.

Or do they not do credit checks? Also, they have asked for the BT account holder's detials... does my Mum's poor recent record with BT prejudice the chance of me getting a new Telewest line?

Sorry for the essay, any help would be much appreciated!!

BexTech

Telewest do do credit checks, depending on your credit record they may require a deposit.

shanklyforever

Thanks for your reply.

Well, shortly after signing up on their website, I receieved an email from them:

"Welcome to Telewest Broadband.

We are pleased to advise that a Broadband Technician will be calling on
21/06/06 between 8am and 1pm to install your new services. The
installation will take approximately 2 hours. Someone will need to be
present whilst the installation takes place."

Surely that means they have already approved my application?

*!*HIBS*!*

Hello to the boards :wave:

Has the bill to BT been paid off? I am assuming not (as you mention that BT will be cutting you off). If you do go back to BT you may probably need to pay BT (for the debt?) before you will be allowed to reconnect again.

Yes it looks like Telewest have accepted your application.

shanklyforever

*!*HIBS*!* wrote:

Has the bill to BT been paid off?

Nowhere near! So I suggested that while my Mum begins to tackle paying that off, I would sign for a new phone line, in my name, so we can have a phone again. Really annoying not having a phone for such a long time.

The phone will be in my name, so I can keep a tight control on it - the mobile barring code will be sent to me, and under my supervision, so it won't be allowed to get out of hand again!!

Heinz

shanklyforever wrote:

The phone will be in my name, so I can keep a tight control on it - the mobile barring code will be sent to me, and under my supervision, so it won't be allowed to get out of hand again!!

Now you need advice on keeping calls costs down (i.e. not sending your calls out on Telewest at their high rates).

www.call1899.co.uk, www.18185.co.uk and www.call18866.co.uk are the most obvious suggestions but http://wakeup.to/cheapercablecalls is worth a look too.

macminiuser

18185 and 18866 are good choices as long as you don't misdial and enter the 1 twice, thereby connecting you to 118 185 and 118 866 which are expensive £1.50 directory enquiry lines.

Heinzsy here gave me the heads up on these threads:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=137257

and

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=74259

The easy answer? Use 1899 - it's cheaper, anyway! (especially weekend calls to mobiles at 3p per minute)

Edinburghlass_2

As it would be a Telewest/NTL line the OP wouldn't be dialling the 18866/18185 prefix but the longer cable user prefix