ISP with cheapest cancellation fees

liamgaul

So basically I'm living in a flat in London as I'm studying at university up here. Moved in in September and took out a 9 month, student contract with virgin. In November it stopped working and an engineer came out but couldn't fix it due to renovation works being carried out on our block involving scaffolding blocking the lock box where all the cables go to. The scaffolding company couldn't move the poles to allow access as they were structural and virgin wouldn't cancel our contract due to it being out of their control. So I've had to live without internet since November which has been HELL and disrupted my studies. Then, in late January, the scaffolding company magically decided they could move the scaffolding and allow access to the lock box. An engineer came out who said the builders had cut all the virgin cables and the council weren't allowing new cabling to be installed as they had just renovated the whole block rendering our block unserviceable. So the council basically, without warning ,cut off our internet supply and never told us anything and we've had to live without internet for months as they didn't tell virgin who then wouldn't allow us to cancel.

So now I need to take out a new contract with a different ISP and ADSL is my only choice I guess. However, I will be moving out in June and so will only need it for 4 months. With minimum contracts being 12 months, that means I'm going to have to cancel very early so I was wondering if anybody knows which ISP's have the most straightforward cancellation policy and cheapest termination fees. I see some require you to even pay for the router if you cancel early. There's too many ISP's and with all the info buried in pages of Ts&Cs, I was wondering if anybody has any knowledge of what is likely to be the cheapest option to get broadband for 4 months.

Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long winded background.

macman

There are plenty of 30 day broadband contracts around, though you will of course pay more. Rather fewer line rental contracts of less than 12m though, so that should be your focus.

liamgaul

I could only find mobile broadband packages with monthly contracts. I've been essentially using mobile broadband for the past few months as I've been tethering my iPhone connection to my laptop but it isn't good enough for me really. Do you know what ISPs offer 30 day or 3 month contracts?

Also is there a way to activate email updates for this thread?

macman

You haven't looked very hard. Plusnet for one, Zen Internet is another.
As I said, you'll also need a 30 day line rental contract, which can be expensive.
Why not use mobile broadband on PAYG for those 4 months, unless of course you are moving to an address where you can migrate the service to-in which case a 12m contract may be better?
Yes, you can set up email alerts via your Control Panel.