Ways to minimise broadband disruption when moving house?

babedia

We'll be moving house soon - just a couple of streets away. We have the landline with BT which I'd like to keep and broadband with Tiscali (now TalkTalk). According to their customer service it would take 20 working days to transfer the service *after* the BT line is active in the new house, which apparently could take 5 working days. So we are looking at 5 weeks without internet access and I need to do some work from home every day.

I thought it might be easier to cancel TalkTalk but even that takes at least a couple of weeks before BT removes the broadband marker from the line for another broadband provider to be able to set theirs up.

Is there any way of avoiding this long period without Internet access? I'd heard setting up cable would be quicker but I checked the Virgin package yesterday and it includes the phone line.

Any suggestions?

MrsManda

Depends on what you need the internet for but if you only need it for access such as email and searches rather than downloading great amounts of data it may be worth getting a dial-up connection which although will require you to wait until the landline is in but will cover you for the period between the landline and internet access. Or seeing if you can get PAYG mobile broadband, or ask your mobile provider (if you have one) whether you can add internet access on it for a couple of weeks.

I have downloaded a lot of data from mobile broadband but it can be slow on occassion.

getmore4less

The best option from what I have read recently is to just get a new BT line into the new house and ignore the old one.

Order early and it can be set up very near day one.

with all the costs of moving the £125 is probably well worth it.

Transfering phone and BB seems to take ages so not worth the hastle.

Virgin can be done without the phone line but we are happy with our VM phone(unlimited geographical calls) TV(HD) and BB(10mb) for aroud £26. not sure what current new deals are

Peterxxxx

I would agree with the PAYG advice. Get a dongle - vodafone does a good monthly one with no tie in. Then you'll have basic internet, albeit a bit less faster than usual, while you get the best new deal you can on the broadband, which might mean that it takes a few months.

babedia

Thanks for the advice. I just spoke to Virgin and they do do just broadband and because there's a fibre cable going into the new house they would be able to set that up straight away. But it's £5 a month more than I'm paying at the moment. I'll look into the dongle option too.

bitsandpieces

Go through quidco or topcashback and that should make an O2 PAYG dongle fairly cheap. You need to make sure you can get a good enough signal, though - and don't expect it to be as fast as a good broadband connection through your phoneline.

How quick can Virgin get the line in? If they would be very fast and it's only £5/month more for a 12 month contract - that's £60 in total. There might be an argument for just writing that off as part of the cost of moving, assuming you need/want broadband quickly. Always the possibility that Virgin (or anyone else) will mess up the installation, though :eek:

See here for cheap broadband deals - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-broadband O2 might be worth a look for broadband, too, if you're definitely keeping a BT line and are in an unbundled area.

babedia

Virgin said they need 5 working days notice and then they can organise it for the day we move in. But that might be the sales pitch. Once I sign up I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly it wasn't so straightforward. But I'm worried about the payg dongle might end up working out quite expensive if I use it a lot.

Peterxxxx

if you're just browsing and emailing, a 15 pound dongle can last a month or so. As soon as you start downloading or streaming, it does add up. It's a good way to limit internet addiction once in a while! Virgin will almost undoubtedly mess up your installation, but then every broadband company seems to do so. That said, I am with Virgin - phone and TV and broadband - and all things considered am happy enough with them.

Mouseman

When we moved into our current house, I had Virgin arranged to set us up for broadband the afternoon we moved in.

This wasn't a full installation, we were already wired up as it were. If your new place has had a cable install previously, there's not much reason you can't be given a new modem the day you move in.

Hope that helps RE cable

Red_Panda_2

I would order a new tel line to be installed in the property with a simultaneous supply of broadband, check with whoever you want your ADSL through but they should be able to do it with a siebal reference which BT can give you.
I work for an isp and we order adsl with the line and the adsl order tracks the line so they both go live on the same day, meaning if you order early enough both should be working the day you move in.

piggeh

I think Virgin took 3 weeks to install my broadband. In the meanwhile I had a mobile phone contract which included a data allowance and used it as a usb modem to connect to the net. Fine for normal surfing, not great for much else, however if you have a data tariff on your phone contract it can be worth looking to do in the meanwhile. You need to check your phone can run as a modem though.

One word of warning is a)you'll probably get near/over the FUP as its quicker browsing on the PC than on a phone, and secondly mobile operators sometimes stipulate against it in their contracts (although mine did, but never said anything to me, probably as its over a short period).