Broadband choice. Help!!!!!!!!

tonymarsden

I currently have a home phone on a 12 month Primus Line rental contract. THis expires January next year. Cost to exit circa £70.

I work from home and my employer put BT Broadband in many years ago. I have been made redundant and my company broadband will end on the 20th May.

Any advice:

1.My first thoughts are Primus plus Tiscali and adapt the home line with Primus to include broadband

2, Try to do a deal to keep the BT line at a much improved offer

3. Scrap the lot and go with O2 as we are 02 MOBILE customers.

4. Grab a sky / Virgin deal. (Albeit we are not currently Sky or Virgin customers.

Really would appreciate your advice and recommendation. We have an ebay business so the computer and broadband are important but we download very little and dont currently own an ipod.


Help please.

Vanessa Marsden

brightonman123

may be worth asking primus e=what deals they have, as O2 offering better (maybe they are, maybe theyre not ;-)...

O2 apaprantly have best b/b service, according to latest press.. whatever deal you do, be sure to go through a cashback link!

Money_Doctor

Vanessa

You say u download very little and I assume that you do not stream videos, It was the Mobile companies ideal that Mobile Broadband would replace Fixed Line Broadband in the future, you can get some very good speeds, my 3 mobile 3g connection is very fast in my area, you would be able to get a reasonable package for about £15 a month and this would allow you to use it on the move as well, If any provider came out with an unlimited download on a mobile contract for £15 a month I would take it without hesitation, I should add speeds do depend on location, I would have no hesitation in taking a 3 mombile or Orange dongle, Vodaphone I have found to be patchy in several areas, cant comment on any other providers.

macman

O2 is the obvious choice at £7.50, 3 months free and cashback available-but only if O2 is available LLU on your exchange. Don't go near O2 Access (the non-LLU product).
What are your LLU options?
Do an exchange search on www.samknows and post the results.
It's not possible to give general recommendations for broadband, as it is exchange- specific.

mk-donald

Just to reiterate Macman's point - bolting o2 LLU broadband onto your current landline service = an obvious choice UNLESS your current line rental package is SO inappropriate for your likely new call patern that the £70 hit to bale would be appropriate (sounds unlikely as being an MSE'er presumably you know about the MSE landline UK/international lowest cost checkers on the MSE site).

Just to calculate out the figures Macman mentioned so you realise how cheap it can be: If you can get o2 Standard (their cheapest LLU circuit) at your exchange then the first year NET-cost (which would be your contract commitment once you pass their 30-day moneyback happiness guarantee) will be just £40 for the year (£3.33/m) assuming you get current cashback referral ie £7.50 * 9 (first 3m free!) = £90 less £50 £back = £40 to meet your contract commitment, then £7.50/m ongoing BUT they usually offer a 'retention deal' too (eg last weekend a friend of mine get their next 6m free for a fresh 12m commitment = laughing all the way to the bank - 3m free is more usual though!).

Although o2 have just started o2 Home Phone, there is NO requirement to take it (and to date they have offered no discounts/incentives to do so either) so on the basis your existing phone rental includes an appropriate call allowance for your new circumstances I wouldn't worry about trying to cancel it prematurely.

I thought Primus line rental were all BTwholesale circuits - ie you haven't burnt any boats leaving the BT Openreach infrastructure with them; and you can bolt many different firm's broadband (eg all the o2 ones) onto it.

As long as you can get a MAC (Migration authorisation code) for your existing BT circuit (which you ought to be able to, but not clear if your ex-employer is the one with the contract or you to ask for it), it usually takes 5-10 days to migrate the service with usually only a few minutes (max a few hours) downtime - and you'd get that first year of o2 Standard (upto 8Mbps synch, unlimited usage) for just £40 net. You don't need the MAC at the time you order from o2 (indeed I often recommend people DONT give it at the time of ordering because if the £back is critical to the choice, it's best to see the signup tracks on the £back site before giving the MAC to enable the order to proceed.)

MKD
A 2.5yr o2 Standard subscriber with ZERO regrets.