Cheapest short term broadband for new flat with no phone line

okay79

Hi,

I'm moving to a new flat which I'm renting. I don't expect to be there for more than a year, perhaps only 6 / 9 months.

It has no phone line, so it seems I need to get one installed for broadband which is quite a hefty charge (£70+). It's unclear who's cheapest when this charge is factored in, especially as the minimum terms are often 18-24 months. If I leave after 9, I'll still be paying for the rest of the term.

I just want the internet, don't use the phone for anything nor do I want tv etc. I use about 20-30gb a month so a 3g option isn't ideal, but if dropping my usage and getting a dongle is substantially cheaper, I'll do it.

The site's guides don't seem to cover my situation, has anyone here done the research or have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Okay79

Donnie

Now is a slight possibility.

okay79

Wow, that would be great but unfortunately not in my area.

chris1973

Wow, that would be great but unfortunately not in my area.

Anybody found an area where it is available?. Maybe they should offer a prize........

Without a phone line / digital service then you have two options. Satellite Broadband or Mobile Broadband.

Mobile Broadband is the cheapest. Satellite broadband costs £100's to set up and £35+ a month for very limited (3gb - 5gb) allowances.

If you use 20 - 30gb a Month then 3 Mobile Broadband is your best bet for midrange allowances, but even then 7gb will cost you about £25 a month, so expect £75 in PAYG top up's a month just to pass 20gb worth of usage. You'll need to significantly throttle back your current usage and enjoyment in order to experience the dark age allowances offered by the seat of yer pants 3G broadband - assuming you can get a decent signal and speed.

If your service falls back to ancient 2G / GPRS speeds you won't need to worry about how many gb's you use, as you'll be on less than 56k dial up speeds!. If this does happen then invest £25 - £30 on a decent 3G external aerial, as this will at least get you 3G or 3G+ / HSDPA connection speeds.

On the higher allowance side, 3 are not the most competitive because Orange also offer a more usable 10gb allowance for the same £25 but on a monthly contract package with 30 days cancellation. But like all of the Mobile operators their service is partly based on geographic location and partly based on pot luck. Feedback is mixed.

Unfortunately, even 10gb - 20gb / month is moderate usage in todays growing digital age, a fact which Mobile Providers haven't quite got their head around yet. Sadly expecting a regular internet user to stay within 1gb - 3gb boundaries is like expecting a fat person to live off bread and water.

Unfortunately, those are the only choices on the table. However, after 6 months of Mobile Broadband connection, I reckon you'll be on the move again - this time looking for a flat with a phone line, LOL

Personally, i'd swallow the £70 installation charge, and get a monthly 30 day rolling notice contract from an ADSL provider like AOL or BE. You'll be far happier, as your current usage doesn't really put you in the 'will enjoy mobile broadband' category, and even the 10gb allowance from AOL is a fraction of the cost of top up's.

Unless of course you think you can go from using 30gb a month to 1gb or 3gb allowances and also experience a drop in connection speed.

That £70 landline connection is peanuts compared to what mobile top ups of 20gb+ will cost you on Mobile Broadband, personally i'd only use mobile broadband where there was absolutely no alternative, and you have an alternative, so get that landline booked!.

okay79

Gosh that's an excellent guide to the state of 3G at the moment, thank you so much. A very enjoyable read too!

Only decision remaining then is which landline + broadband package works out cheapest for 6-12 months. So far I have spoken to Virgin and TalkTalk, asking for their cheapest and shortest packages including installation. I'm only interested in broadband myself but there may be tv, phone etc. included with these.

PlusNet
Extra package (60gb peak time limit)

There are 12 month min. term and no contract options. Going with no contract adds a £25 activation charge.

Setup: £49.99 installation charge / £74.99 = £49.99 + £25 activation
Rental: £22.74 = £11.25 line + £11.49 broadband

6 months: £120.47 (£20.08 monthly) = £45.58 rental + £74.99 setup - £90.96 (4 months free rental*)
9 months: £188.69 (£20.97 monthly) = £113.70 rental + £74.99 setup - £90.96 (4 months free rental*)
One year: £231.91 (£19.36 monthly) = £272.88 rental + £49.99 setup - £90.96 (4 months free rental)

* I'm assuming that you get the 4 months free rental even if you leave before 12 months? The website doesn't say otherwise, unless it's in the small print.

Here's how the 12 month and no contract options compare, month by month.


Direct Save Telecom
Option 1 Family package (20gb peak time download limit)

Setup: £79.95 installation and £29.95 connection charge = £109.90 setup costs.
Rental: £14.95 per month. (28 days min. term)

6 months: £249.60 (£41.60 monthly) = £89.70 rental + £109.90 setup + £50 disconnection charge
9 months: £289.30 (£48.22 monthly) = £179.40 rental + £109.90 setup (paying for 12 months is cheaper than disconnecting)
One year: £289.30 (£24.11 monthly) = £179.40 rental + £109.90 setup

Virgin
(package?)

Setup: £35 installation charge
Rental: £24.49 per month (12 month min. term)

6 months: £328.88 (£54.81 monthly) = £293.88 rental + £35 setup
9 months: £328.88 (£36.54 monthly) = £293.88 rental + £35 setup
One year: £328.88 (£27.41 monthly) = £293.88 rental + £35 setup

TalkTalk
(package?)

Setup: £69.99 installation charge
Rental: £26.48 per month (24 month min. term)

6 months: £705.51 (£117.59 monthly) = £635.52 rental + £69.99 setup
9 months: £705.51 (£78.39 monthly) = £635.52 rental + £69.99 setup
One year: £705.51 (£58.79 monthly) = £635.52 rental + £69.99 setup
Two years: £705.51 (£29.40 monthly) = £635.52 rental + £69.99 setup

BT
?

I'm going to carry on exploring, if anyone else has done some research then please contribute.

Update: I've changed the format to make the details clearer, showing the total cost over 6/9/12 months and equivalent monthly cost. I've put them in order of price - the better deals deserve to go higher up the list!

I don't have the package names from V and TT. I'd like to add BT's offering too.
[STRIKE]Haven't included disconnection charges yet.[/STRIKE] Done.

Update 2: Added PlusNet, which MSE recommends. We have a new winner.

This bit of research shows how dire the competition is for new lines with short broadband contracts.

Donnie

chris1973 wrote: »

Anybody found an area where it is available?. Maybe they should offer a prize........

I think they wait for expressions of interest to reach a critical point in order to know where they should introduce the service.

Donnie

£79.95 for connection and £10.86 line rental on a rolling 28 contract, though the 'new telephone line installation offer' has a minimum contract of 12 months. In this case it may be worth asking if the usual connection price of £116.32 has no minimum term). They also have a call and Internet bundles from £9.95, again on a 28 day contract(£29.95 connection fee). If you leave the broadband service within the first 12 months there is a £50 disconnection charge. So their broadband product is unlikely to be the best option.

As to alternatives for Internet, that depends on what is available in your area. You can go for a standard contract with O2 for £112.50 for the year(3 months free) minus £50 cashback via Quidco. BeThere have three month contracts and £40 cashback via Quidco.

Do check beforehand to ensure that the line provided is compatible with the Internet service you desire.

okay79

I didn't know about Direct Save Telecom, they work out at a good price actually. I've included them above. That O2 price seems very cheap. The line provider / broadband compatibility thing is another point to look into...

I'm going to research some more and will add my findings.

Thanks everyone,

Okay79

chris1973

I think they wait for expressions of interest to reach a critical point in order to know where they should introduce the service.

Thats a bit like a chicken and egg situation. What advertising is this company doing in order to get that interest. The only coverage I can see is one person posting the link several times on a certain forum . Any TV advertising?, Local paper / Radio advertising / google adwords? PC Media Mags?

Living in a rural area myself over the past seven years i've seen several community and business backed efforts aimed towards this type of wireless community thing, and i've never yet seen any one of them get beyond the talking stage, certainly no licenses have ever been applied for. A similar thing happened in Whitby some years ago, as at the time like many coastal areas they didn't have ADSL either, needless to say, absolutely nothing happened as a result of all of those meetings and promises!.

I look at larger companies and their roll out efforts, for example if Virgin media cannot yet get their service into 100% of households in every town, let alone rural villages with their contacts and financial backing then how could a small company get wireless broadband into every town and village?.

I'm also a little wary of entering my email address into 'register your interest' type websites. I did the same on a website promising cheaper petrol prices about six years ago, and surprise surprise, that never happened either. *Cough*

Donnie

chris1973 wrote: »

Thats a bit like a chicken and egg situation. What advertising is this company doing in order to get that interest...

http://www.ukbroadband.co.uk/ The Netvigator product worked quite well in Hong Kong, but it didn't really take off here.

chris1973

Any examples of it in use?. Surely there must be somewhere in the UK where this is actually working?

The Netvigator product worked quite well in Hong Kong, but it didn't really take off here.

Which pretty much comes down to market research. I imagine the market for all types of broadband is very different in HK compared to the UK, in the same way as the market for broadband in rural areas of the UK is pretty different to that in the city centres!.