Need a phone line connected

GeCon

Hi,

I am looking to move into a property soon that never had a phone line installed. The connection charge from BT would be £127.99. I have seen that there is currently an offer from BT for £29.99 if an 18 month contract is taken out. However, I am a bit unsure if this is the best way to go for me as my contract for the house will only be for 12 months.

In the T&C of this offer it states:
"If you decide to end your contract within the minimum term, you will incur a single charge of £7.50 (on the Unlimited Weekend and Unlimited Evening and Weekend plans) or £8.00 (on the Unlimited Anytime Plan) for each month left of the minimum term." However, since you will not be making any phone calls with them within that period, I get the feeling that they might also charge you this:
"You'll need to pay a charge of £5.15 for every month in which you don't make these calls."

Going from the problems that people have experienced with BT with their offers, I am just not sure it will be worth the hassle and you might end up losing money in the end anyway.

I have now looked at Sky, who I think can supply a new line for £25 if you take out one of their Sky Talk pakages. Does anyone know if these packages are any good? Or do they work out quite expensive? I am currently using an override provider for international and mobile calls. Could I still do that with these packages or would I then not qualify for the cheap installation anymore?

Has anyone got any other ideas on how to save some money on the connection fee?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'd shop around and see what prices you can find. You say the contract for the house will only be 12 months, so unless you think it realistically likely that (assumption it's a rental property) you'll renew for a longer period, see what you're offered in terms of cost/length. I think Talk Talk were doing installs for circa £69 (don't know contract length); IDNET is about £117 and has a one month contract (most flexible), Post Office circa £100 for one month contract etc.

OldGreyFox

If you took out an 18 month contract with BT and cancelled after say 12 months you would pay the initial connection of £29.99 and when you cancelled it you would pay no more then the 6 months of the remaining contract. 6 x £8 = £48 so total cost would be approx £78.