should WE have to pay £125 to reconnect @ an old house??

mb2_2

hi, we have recently moved into a new (to us) student house. It has a BT line wired in, but not 'connected'. its a '30's house so must have had an active line for a long time.
my housemate called BT and they said that we would need to pay £125 to reconnect. (i think as the previous tennants didn't have BT?).
is this true?

what happened to 'come back to BT for free' ads i think i rememeber?

and if so, are they the only people who can connect us?.. (i'm pretty sure the answer is a yes here..)

..we only want the phone line for internet.. so would have gone with BT (£10.50) + BE lite (£14, 8mb unlimited) /month.. but if we have to pay a one-off £125 then i suppose we'll go with ntl ('virgin') for £25/month. [we are in a cable area].
which is a shame as its more for less

BritBrat

Have you connected a phone to it?

Does it have a dial tone?

If not and an engineer has to visit and make a repair then yes it will cost you £125.

I would say you would be better off with cable anyway for internet use, just wish I had that option.

and if so, are they the only people who can connect us?.. (i'm pretty sure the answer is a yes here..)

Originally Posted by dawny10

For info, the companies I have come across that say they do reconnections/installs:

BT - £125

Madasafish - £115

PlusNet - £105

Bulldog - £99

With Madasafish and PlusNet you are not tied into a 12 month contract for phone - just need to give 1 months notice.

An amendment to the above, PlusNet will only do an install for you if you are an existing customer moving home - it's not available to new customers.

SOURCE : http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5895688&postcount=338

mb2_2

thanks.. just checked with a phone and no tone so that means it would have to be 'repaired'? NTL here we come i guess..

thanks for the useful, clear reply, rather than a 'search'/'read X' post:beer:

ioscorpio

If you only want it for internet access, think about a 3 or a T Mobile or a Vodafone usb modem from £10 per month

http://threestore.three.co.uk/mixnmatchphone.aspx?phonecode=3GUSBMODDS&mixnmatch=0

bclark

Virgin media offer a 2 for £20 bundle which includes Phone, Broadband and they even through in free TV. I believe that the only installation fees are £25.

Moffatt

When a phone service is ceased, the line is placed in a 'stopped' state (i.e. it is still connected straight through) but after a period of time it may be physically disconnected at one point or another for one of many reasons.
It is true, switching back to BT is free afaik, as is activating a 'stopped' line but physically providing a pair of wires at any point incurs a charged raised by Openreach and passed to your provider and then to you, the end user.