Moving house: advice needed!

MastodonMike

Hi all,

I've just bought my first house (yay!), and want to get set up with broadband, TV and telephone. I've found that Tiscali do a £20 all-in deal which covers the line rental as well which sounds great, however, I have one question about this that no-one seems to be able to answer!

To get the above deal, Tiscali require an existing BT line, but as I've just moved in, I don't have this. It's my understanding that if I call BT to connect the line, they will need me to enter into a contract and pay them £11-odd a month for at least 12 months, which negates the whole point of going through Tiscali.

Is there anyway round this? Can Tiscali take over the line without me having to involve BT? Or can BT connect the line without commiting me to a 12 month contract?

Any help you can offer will be much appreiated!

Cheers,

Mike

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums MastodonMike.

Tiscali, now owned by Talk Talk, like all the other line providers now in the market, can (as BT Retail does) employ Openreach to install a line.

However, it appears the current economic climate means many such companies just say, "Only BT can do that" or some such nonsense so they don't have to use their own money to pay Openreach before recovering the cost (and their mark up) from you.

Bear in mind though that having a 'real' BT line (minimum contract is 12months - 6 months shorter than Talk Talk's) means you will have the choice of any ADSL broadband provider and will also mean you will be able to use the likes of www.18185.co.uk to save money on your voice telephony call costs.

Similarly, Sky satellite TV is, IMHO, vastly superior to what Tiscali offer via the landline and, of course, for £30 (but with £50 M&S vouchers cashback), they'll install the dish, cabling a Sky+ box.

MastodonMike

I should have said that the house itself already has a physical connection; I'm just concerned with connecting that line to Tiscali rather than to BT.

I've discovered that BT offer an Unlimited Weekend Plan that has no minimum contract, which should mean that if all else fails, I could connect to BT on this plan, and then swith to Tiscali...right?

MastodonMike

I appreciate the service differences, but in terms of cost, Sky, Virgin and BT are practically double what Tiscali is charging. Plus, you can always switch back once the contract is up.

Heinz

MastodonMike wrote: »

I've discovered that BT offer an Unlimited Weekend Plan that has no minimum contract, which should mean that if all else fails, I could connect to BT on this plan, and then swith to Tiscali...right?

The calls plan is no contract - but the line rental is 12 months. Switching away would cost you breach of contract charges (£8.50 for each month remaining IIRC).

MastodonMike

Heinz wrote: »

The calls plan is no contract - but the line rental is 12 months. Switching away would cost you breach of contract charges (£8.50 for each month remaining IIRC).

Sod it then, think I'll just get Sky! Cheers for your help Heinz!

Heinz

If the line exists, BT may (re)connect free of charge.

£11.25/month line rental - after paper-free discount and if you pay by Direct Debit.

£0/month for the Unlimited Weekend Plan.

£18/month for Sky (you can cancel after 12 months but keep the hundreds of free channels)

MastodonMike

Heinz wrote: »

If the line exists, BT may (re)connect free of charge.

Do you mean FOC, instead of the £125 reconnection charge? I don't think it'll need that, because the line has been active up until yesterday, because the previous owner has only just moved out.

Is there ALWAYS a 12 month commitment?

Heinz

Yes, blame Talk Talk for that. They used to encourage people to get BT to connect and then jump ship immediately. They even used to pay the breach of contract charge (which was much lower then). The reason being it costs them £2.35 to take over an active line but £103.40 to pay Openreach to connect a new one.