new phone line installation

frankie1star

My friend is moving to a location without a landline, it's a converted stable within the parameters of an existing property with a landline. She has been messed about by BT, who want to charge her £1,000 to dig up the garden, so that the cables can be set to the stable. If there is already an existing phone line at the property, why would it cost this much? Can anyone suggest another way of not incurring the cost of installing a new phone line to the new property?

littleboo

There are plenty of reasons it might cost that much, there may not be any spare capacity on the existing cabling, the route from existing plant to the property may require under ground or overhead works. Just because there is one working line, it doesn't mean its necessarily cheap or easy to provide another one to a different location.

frankie1star

as she will be renting for a short amount of time, it looks like a no go then

littleboo

If it's a rental property, it's worth speaking to the landlord to see if they will contribute. Also, if digging on the premises is required, it might be possible to do the digging yourselves.

Owain_Moneysaver

BT's universal service obligation to provide a phone line for £130 only applies to the first line to a domestic dwelling.

If the stable has been converted legally, with planning permission for a separate dwelling, and separately registered for council tax, then the £130 price should apply. (There is currently an online offer of £40, or free if a broadband/tv package is also taken.)

For the second line to the same property BT can charge full commercial rates.

Owain_Moneysaver

If the landlord has broadband, then a Voice over IP phone might be an alternative.

frankie1star

Yes its all been done with legals etc. It's too much money for the landlord,

frankie1star

the landlord is going to allow her access to her broadband, how does she go about getting voip, from that?

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If the landlord has broadband, then a Voice over IP phone might be an alternative.

Owain_Moneysaver

frankie1star wrote: »

the landlord is going to allow her access to her broadband, how does she go about getting voip, from that?

If it's wired ethernet, a VoIP phone such as
http://www.voipon.co.uk/yealink-t18p-ip-phone-sipt18p-p-2527.html
and sign up with a VoIP service like
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/user/

If it's wireless internet (wifi) then wifi IP phones tend to be more expensive.

An alternative is a softphone app on a computer or tablet.

frankie1star

softphone app, she has an ipad, so what sort of app would she need or would she have to make calles via skype if everyone she wants to speak is a skype user?

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

If it's wired ethernet, a VoIP phone such as
http://www.voipon.co.uk/yealink-t18p-ip-phone-sipt18p-p-2527.html
and sign up with a VoIP service like
http://www.sipgate.co.uk/user/

If it's wireless internet (wifi) then wifi IP phones tend to be more expensive.

An alternative is a softphone app on a computer or tablet.

Owain_Moneysaver

frankie1star wrote: »

softphone app, she has an ipad, so what sort of app would she need or would she have to make calles via skype if everyone she wants to speak is a skype user?

Put VoIP or softphone into the App Store. Some apps may be tied to a particular VoIP network provider.