A possible way to avoid BT connection charges?

essexsi_2

Hi all,

I have been looking into reconnecting the phone line in my flat. I have posted and searched on here and searched the wider net in the hope of finding an 'mse' way to do it.

I found the following on a property developers forum about connecting land lines. I printed the page off as I can not bookmark sites at work. I hasten to add I have not tried it yet and would like to know if anyone is aware of such a BT tariff existings?

I quote: " Firstly you ring BT and ask for their pre-pay landline. They will try to talk you out of it but insist that you want to go pre-pay. They will give you a date when your line will go active and your new phone number. This is the best part, then you can contact whoever it is you want your phone with and tell them you have a BT line and give them your number. You will then recieve a top up card in the post and your line will go active when you top up £10 on the card. Beauty is that by law you have 14 days to cancel and they cannot do anything about it if you have already switched to someone else and they cannot hold you to a 12 month contract either. There is no connection charge like other BT tarrifs , because the call charges are so high that's where they get their money from, but you won't be using it anyway as you will already have switched. You will also be able to get broadband on the line once it is switched to the new phoneline provider."

I have searched the BT website and can find no mention of a Pre-pay landline tariff, so I am very sceptical myself. I am going to give BT a call at the end of the week and give it a go!

Has anyone else managed to achieve it?

All the best Si

syko29793

BTs pre pay service or "pay and call" as it was known is no longer available.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I think there is one, yes. But there's no need to go to all this hassle. To avoid BT connection charges, just avoid BT.

essexsi_2

syko29793- thought it might be too good to be true!

Mark- I would like to avoid any charges for a new line reconnection!! Plusnet, talktalk, BT, post office all seem to charge and all perhaps with the exception of the post office, lock you in for 12-18 months. Now, I am not saying they should not charge, they are businesses not charities. I am just trying to find a more 'economical way' of getting connected.

Cheers Si

Mark_In_Hampshire

Openreach charge about £60 to connect the line. That's passed on to whoever you go with, and they then roughly double that to make a profit and then charge it to you.

Unless you commit for a longer period, in which case you can sometimes get connected for less (the company writes off the difference) on the basis that they have you for 12 or 18 months.

e.g. Plusnet will sometimes connect free, Virgin Media about £39 - in both cases you have to take the broadband as well.

If you want no commitment (e.g. only one month) then companies aren't going to pay the £60 for you so you can then jump ship after one month leaving them sitting on a loss.

essexsi_2

Thanks for the info Mark.

I was looking at plusnet for broandband as I believe I can get there really cheap broadband. Do they sometimes connect for free as part of an offer they run, or is it a case of getting a friendly telephone sales person on the day?

Cheers for your help. Si

Mark_In_Hampshire

Try putting your package together online and run through the various pages. You can always back out. You'll see whether a connection charge is payable or not in your case before committing any personal details.

essexsi_2

Thanks Mark. Just run through it on plusnet website and they charge £49-99 connection fee.

As sky is LLU on my exchange I am thinking of going through them for phone and BB. Is there anything I need to take into account before LLUing my phone line? What I mean is am I stuck with sky?

Cheers Si

Mark_In_Hampshire

Believe Sky can connect the line, though it might cost more than £49.99. With Plusnet did you choose both phone and broadband? That may impact whether the fee is charged or not.

Sky broadband has a good reputation when it's LLU and will doubtless outperform Plusnet which still goes through BT kit ("IPStream")

If you want Plusnet line rental and Sky broadband, you need to check with Plusnet to see if you can do that. It might be the case that to have a Plusnet phone line, you have to take (and only have the option of taking) Plusnet broadband.

Changing line providers only becomes an issue when the phone line part is LLU'd - if only the broadband is LLU then it won't matter. With Sky line rental you would need to establish whether the entire line is LLU'd which will indeed leave you stuck with Sky and may mean you'd have to pay the connection fee again if you move broadband provider away from Sky, which then in turn means you need to move line provider.

Suggest you go onto each of the websites of the companies you're interested in and try building packages, as the costs (both connection and ongoing) can vary depending on the combination. The best prices are normally when you take all the bundled services from only one supplier.

Once you have your "now" solution you can then enquire with that company about whether you can move the broadband and keep the line rental, or move the line rental and keep the broadband. If that makes sense!

essexsi_2

Thanks very much for your help Mark.

I remember reading that if you LLU your phone you would probably have to pay a connection fee to get it back to a 'normal' BT type line. Something to think about.

I take it having a BT line and then broaband from another provider is the best way to maintain your flexibility, if not your BB speeds.

I did add both broadband and phone to my Plusenet basket and it still stated a £49-99 connection fee. Might be worth a phone call to see if they might waive it!!

Cheers for your info and help. Si

Mark_In_Hampshire

It's a mess. You can thank OFCOM for that. More information here:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4376-ofcom-plan-to-simplify-broadband-switching-process.html