‘Set up’ newbie

hopperdennis

I have never had the internet personally, and other than connecting and using it I’ve never had to set it up! I’ve just purchased a property that I need to do so in, and quickly. It has an old BT WiFi box (router?), and that’s near the phoneline. I can’t get in touch with the previous owner but I know they would have had wifi set up when they were there. I’m just wondering now in this pandemic when it’s hard to get someone in to help, what is the path to get this set up quickly? Don’t need a landline for calls and I don’t need it to cover a great distance. Any help or direction greatly appreciated, I’m a little older. I respect that this is maybe layman’s questions in today’s modern world.

J_B

Well, first of all, you have accessed the forum (welcome!) so you must have internet. How is this happening?

There are options of getting a phone line with internet added (usually can't be done without a landline) OR maybe getting a mobile internet system which 'grabs' the mobile phone signal and turns it to wi-fi.

Browntoa

If the property has already had broadband then it's a simple set up .

Sign up for broadband (phone line is required but not used unless it's Virgin fibre broadband ) with a supplier . The will give you a go live date for your broadband and send a wireless router in the post just prior to activation date. Plug the wireless router into the socket and on activation date it should just magically come to life ( in BT case it's a steady blue light ) and off you go .

Highly unlikely that any work is required at your premises , all done at the exchange and by the side of the road by openreach . 

hopperdennis

J_B said:

Well, first of all, you have accessed the forum (welcome!) so you must have internet. How is this happening?

There are options of getting a phone line with internet added (usually can't be done without a landline) OR maybe getting a mobile internet system which 'grabs' the mobile phone signal and turns it to wi-fi.

Accessing via my phone data casted (hostpot) to a tablet, which is unsustainable. There is a phone landline here (would know if it has a tel# attached to it), and it’s near where the only BT unit / router was left. As I said, can’t get in touch with the previous owner but know they would have had WiFi. It’s just how to get a sub set up, and if BT is the cheapest maybe this existing unit would work? 

hopperdennis

Browntoa said:

If the property has already had broadband then it's a simple set up .

Sign up for broadband (phone line is required but not used unless it's Virgin fibre broadband ) with a supplier . The will give you a go live date for your broadband and send a wireless router in the post just prior to activation date. Plug the wireless router into the socket and on activation date it should just magically come to life ( in BT case it's a steady blue light ) and off you go .

Highly unlikely that any work is required at your premises , all done at the exchange and by the side of the road by openreach . 

Silly question but is the phone line the socket? Is there a way test, just for piece of mind, that my phone line is set up and I’m all good to simply sign up with a supplier? Also, any recommendations on how to source the best supplier for my areas? Again apologies, this is all very new to me. Have been reading online however a lot of the terms and jargon confuse me. In normal times I’d have gotten a friend or family member to travel down to me to help and doesn’t help that the previous owner is uncontainable.

Croft12

hopperdennis said:

Browntoa said:

If the property has already had broadband then it's a simple set up .

Sign up for broadband (phone line is required but not used unless it's Virgin fibre broadband ) with a supplier . The will give you a go live date for your broadband and send a wireless router in the post just prior to activation date. Plug the wireless router into the socket and on activation date it should just magically come to life ( in BT case it's a steady blue light ) and off you go .

Highly unlikely that any work is required at your premises , all done at the exchange and by the side of the road by openreach . 

Silly question but is the phone line the socket? Is there a way test, just for piece of mind, that my phone line is set up and I’m all good to simply sign up with a supplier? Also, any recommendations on how to source the best supplier for my areas? Again apologies, this is all very new to me. Have been reading online however a lot of the terms and jargon confuse me. In normal times I’d have gotten a friend or family member to travel down to me to help and doesn’t help that the previous owner is uncontainable.

yeah its the socket.

Guides

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/broadband/

molerat

Plug a phone in to the BT socket and see if there is a dial tone.  You could always plug the router in and see if there is an active service.

Check here for what is available, there are loads of other comparison sites that offer cash back for starting a service https://broadband.moneysavingexpert.com/

cognoscenti

As said, plug a phone in & if you have a dial tone phone your own mobile - that will give you the landline phone number.
Alternatively see this:
https://selectra.co.uk/tv-broadband/guides/how-to/find-landline-number

If you want broadband using your phone line, you need to know the landline number before you can do anything else.
If you see BT equipment, a phone call to BT is the way ahead if other methods fail.

It is quite possible that the existing connection has been terminated, meaning that you will need to arrange a new supplier for services which would mean a new landline telephone number being allocated to you but if you can find the old landline number first it will make life easier.

hopperdennis

cognoscenti said:

As said, plug a phone in & if you have a dial tone phone your own mobile - that will give you the landline phone number.
Alternatively see this:

If you want broadband using your phone line, you need to know the landline number before you can do anything else.
If you see BT equipment, a phone call to BT is the way ahead if other methods fail.

It is quite possible that the existing connection has been terminated, meaning that you will need to arrange a new supplier for services which would mean a new landline telephone number being allocated to you but if you can find the old landline number first it will make life easier.

When you say broadband via a phone line, is there an alternative? So I need to find out my landline to first proceed? Sounds like I need to give BT a call then, and will try and check the landline had a dial tone, I guess there is then no way to automatically find out the number?

hopperdennis

molerat said:

Plug a phone in to the BT socket and see if there is a dial tone.  You could always plug the router in and see if there is an active service.

Check here for what is available, there are loads of other comparison sites that offer cash back for starting a service 

Once I plug the (BT) router left behind in, how can I tell if there is an active service? Thanks again for all the patience and help thus far 

Browntoa

The online ordering tool tells you if you can order a line at your address without making a phone call.