Get landline fitted or contract phone?

charlotte_RE

My parents have recently split and my mother has moved into a cottage without any phone or television line. She is pretty hopeless with technology so unlike myself (teenager so internet & phone is vital) who noticed that these were missing straight away, she did not realise at all & signed the lease!

Luckily the rent is low and she loves her new place. My uncle has bought her a small aerial which works very well. She is getting a proper tv point put in next month though, which will cost £100-something I imagine (I could be wrong).

This is a bit of a unnecessary/misplaced priority in my view. Despite my advice she also purchased a pay-as-you-go phone which she finds very difficult to use and is presumably locked to T-mobile. It is costing her about £30 a month when she is trying to use it as little as she can.

The landlady has offered to pay 50% of the cost to fit the phone and/or telephone line - mum finds it difficult to distinguish between the two and she's the one who spoke to her. I think it's probably both. If anybody thinks that she should pay the whole thing let me know!

She thinks perhaps she may only stay for 6 months then move somewhere else, though I don't know how likely this is to happen. She doesn't want to pay for a telephone line fitting if she is only staying for 6 but I believe there's a good chance she will stay 12. And she's already paid for the tv line for no good reason!

I have to sort this out for her, but I have a lot of college work atm, so I'd love some help. Should she get a landline fitted or purchase a contract mobile? What are the prices? Can you recommend a certain company? If there is internet too that would be great as my sister is living with her & has lots of school work.

You only really need to read the bits in red to help me! We're wanting to just get the best value possible as my mum has to be pretty thrifty in her new situation.

Charlotte

PS. My uncle also bought a USB dongle for my sister but someone stole her bag which it was in. Apparently it was quite slow anyway, and limited GB for money or something like that.

Buzby

Get a landline, and accept the landlady's offer of paying 50% of any installation fee. A contract mobile is an absolute no-no, if she needs security when out and about, a PAYG is ample, as many of the bundled services she's paying for she'll never use.

Mobile USB dongles are slower than BB via landline or cable, as this is dependant on the number of users online using the same cell site. If she needs BB, fa better to use a fixed connection.

duchy

Check different suppliers -Sky usually charge very little or nothing for installation of phone line (depending what services she wants-probably basic tv or TV with entertainment package plus phone (basic package includes free landland calls between 7pm and 7am) and broadband. Don't do it through Sky direct but go through a cashback site like Quidco or Topcashback -unless you have a friend who can refer you and you'd prefer M&S vouchers to cash.If she takes TV and phone with Sky BB is usually free unless you are on one of the very old exchanges.

If she has Sky TV she won't need the £100 ariel socket fitted -really you need to number crunch the different options as if a company has high installation charges it may not be the best deal over a year or six months compared to one with low or no intallation charges.

It will be a year's contract but you can change address on the contract so if she does move in six months it won't matter.

What *exactly* do you mean by a "television line" ? Either she recieves TV through an ariel or through cable -£100 to fit a roof antena I could understand (but wouldn't recommend for a possible 6 month stay) but not for a cabled connection -which would be free in most cases..

I'm not convinced this "television line" is the best for her but if it is not yet installed there may be a cooling off period and she can get out of the contract if she needs to-more info needed though.

Quentin

charlotte_RE wrote: »

......The landlady has offered to pay 50% of the cost to fit the phone and/or telephone line -& has lots of school work........

The post office currently do installation of a new line free.

They have no minimum term contract for the line rental, and just £15 to pay if you get a new line installed from them and leave within 6 months.