New House, What Phone and Broadband?

Jakie123Jakie123

Moving house this week and thinking about what broadband/phone to go for. I would have preferred a bundled package but cannot really afford sky (we will have freeview) and I cannot get the Talk Talk offer in my area. I have seen that Tiscali do a £19.99 bundled offer (on this chat room) but I think that it is only for existing customers.

Anyway it looks like a seperate line rental and broadband is the way forward, based on the above. I dont anticipate that we will be using the phone much so i think Option 1 on BT and Virgin's £10 a month broadband offer is probably the way forward. If anyone has any better suggestions or anything to look out for then please let me know. Is it a standard 12 month contract?

Just a couple of questions:

How long does it take to get Virgin (or any other) broadband up and running?
Will I have to sign up for BT when I move house or will it automatically swap over to me from the previous residents?

BrunoM

Just been looking into this - it seems like 5 working days is a minimum for setup but some companies were a good bit longer, and no BT won't swap you over, you need to call and get a new setup - if this happens shortly after the previous occupants cancel their number this can apparently be done in under 24 hours.

Bear in mind given the above, that Virgin cable broadband does not require a BT land line, unlike the others.

Jakie123Jakie123

Am i right in thinking that I can get Virgin broadband and phone line rental for £20 a month (plus phone calls) and miss BT out altogether? I would also have to pay a £25 installation fee to Virgin.

Is there any advantage of having Phone rental from Virgin as opposed to BT option 1?

The costs would be relatively equal.

BrunoM

That looks right to me, yes. As to advantages - pretty arguable stuff, I think Virgin at the same price is a faster BB connection for what that's worth to you.

dave_dph

Jakie123Jakie123 wrote: »

Am i right in thinking that I can get Virgin broadband and phone line rental for £20 a month (plus phone calls) and miss BT out altogether? I would also have to pay a £25 installation fee to Virgin.

Is there any advantage of having Phone rental from Virgin as opposed to BT option 1?

The costs would be relatively equal.

Go one better.... get broadband from Virginmedia and then use VOIP - no need for a phone line at all! Check out https://www.voip.co.uk. If you decided to go down that route you could could port your existing BT number over to a new voip.co.uk account before you move and therefore keep your current number when you move house.

jamfool

How would Voip work? Its not completely free is it?

mrJ_5

I think dave was implying that with VM you wouldn't need to get a landline, thus you would make your calls via VoIP - naturally it is completely free - if you want to call a landline, for example, you would pay - however, companies like Skype allow you to buy a phone number, and have unlimited calling for a set price - working out to a couple of pounds a month