Monthly internet + line rental

cinereus

Need to get a proper broadband connection for a short-term property. Monthly is preferable but could go up to a 3 month contract. Maybe 6 month too. I really don't want to have to fork out over £30/month as it would be just for me.

Priorities:

1. Truly unlimited.
2. Cheap.
3. Fast.

Is this possible at all? Or do I need to pay for 12 months line rental

ioscorpio

Have look at Plusnet!

macman

Since broadband is exchange specific, we can't give general advice. Start with an exchange search on https://www.samknows for your LLU options.
You don't however say if the property already has a landline installed.

cinereus

ioscorpio wrote: »

Have look at Plusnet!

That doesn't meet any of my requirements It's got very tight bandwidth restrictions and doesn't seem to have monthly phone only so I can use a better provider.

macman wrote: »

Since broadband is exchange specific, we can't give general advice. Start with an exchange search on www.samknows for your LLU options.
You don't however say if the property already has a landline installed.

I'm less worried about the broadband aspect of things - it seems much easier to get monthly broadband. Unfortunately I don't think there is a landline installed so I guess deals with free installation are preferable. How could I find out for sure?

macman

Agreed, plenty of 30 day broadband deals around, alhough you will pay more. But who is going to give you a 'free' line install only for you to leave in a month?
PO line rental is available on a monthly basis with a minimal ETC if you don't see out the 12m, not sure of their present install charge, it used to be around £50.

cinereus

I did look at PO before. Reckon that's the best thing on offer? I just called them and the install charge is £60 which is ridiculous if you want 6 months or less. The good thing there's no cancellation fee after 1 month.

So for 3 months you're looking at £33/month just for phone.
And for 6 months it's £23/month just for phone.
So it's looking impossible to keep the total below about £30/month all in.

Unless anyone's offering free installation at the moment?

macman

Why is £60 'ridiculous'? They're getting a possible minimum contract length of just one month from you. If you then leave without penalty, they're heavily in loss, having subsidised the initial install cost for you. The standard BT line install charge is about £130.
No one will offer a free install unless you take a 12 or 18m minimum term.

cinereus

It's not ridiculous from their point of view but it makes the whole thing non-viable for anyone who needs short-term broadband at a reasonable cost. To be fair, £60 is a lot for the amount of work required - many people could just do it themselves if allowed.

macman

So you think that BT OR should allow people to install or reconnect their own lines? To allow Joe Public to access street cabs and exchanges? Are you serious?
At £60 the price is already heavily subsidised.
If you want short-term access then a dongle is the only real alternative.

cinereus

I've tried a dongle but had a terrible experience. It would cut out, was completely unusable and I spent more time trying to get it to function that actually working

Seems like basic broadband internet access is still going to set me back over £50/month in 2012

macman

Then you need to use a network that gives you a decent 3G signal at the location.
It's not £50 per month, it should be nearer £20, but you can't avoid the need to have a working line installed first if you want ADSL broadband, and no one will do that for free unless you are taking a normal minimum term contact. So a sum upfront is unavoidable.