Phone lines and Broadband when moving house

FinallyStoppedLurking

With our completion date set I went ahead and bordered TV and Broadband through Sky. We are currently living with relatives so are not transferring anything over.

I got a message from Sky saying the order had failed. After a long time on hold this seems to be an issue with the current residents not giving notice. The person I spoke to wasn't very clear and I don;t want to go through the hassle again so could someone who has moved recently please clarify the situation...

My understanding is that I cannot order Broadband etc until the current residents have given notice to their supplier that they wish to move. If this is the case, would they need to have activated the transfer (which they may not be able to do until the people above them have given notice etc) or can they simply notify their supplier they are moving on X date and will be transferring when they can. 

Any help appreciated. 

eddddy

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

With our completion date set ....

What do you mean by "completion date set"?  Do you mean you've exchanged contracts?  (I assume you mean you're buying a property.)

If you haven't exchanged contracts, that will just be a "target date" for completion that everybody wants to aim for. But completion might actually happen much later, or it's possible that it might never happen.

Are you planning to exchange contracts and complete on the same day, or are you planning to have a gap between exchange and completion?

Slithery

Wait until after you've completed to sort out the broadband otherwise you run the risk of cutting off your vendor.

FinallyStoppedLurking

Yes we have exchanged.

FinallyStoppedLurking

So, I've managed to get an answer from Sky. Thought I'd post it in case anyone else has the same in the future...

I can't take out phone and Broadband until the current owners package has ended. There is likely to be a 2 week wait between cancellation and termination meaning if they cancelled today, I could place an order on the 27th and they would install Broadband 2 weeks later. 

Realistically, the best case scenario they have already cancelled their Broadband and we can have it installed 2 weeks after we move in. Worst case (ignoring the below) is they cancel on completion day and we can then get it installed a month after.


This seems a very stupid system, in theory, they could keep their account active and there is nothing we could do about it and so could be without broadband indefinitely. Obviously this is extremely unlikely. 

cattie

When I last moved I gave notice for phone/broadband to end on moving day & for connection to new home for the following day. Suppliers tend to notify you that service can be disconnected/connected at any time up to midnight on the chosen dates. With mobile phones these days there's no need to fret about not having a landline until the day after moving in.

FinallyStoppedLurking

cattie said:

When I last moved I gave notice for phone/broadband to end on moving day & for connection to new home for the following day. Suppliers tend to notify you that service can be disconnected/connected at any time up to midnight on the chosen dates. With mobile phones these days there's no need to fret about not having a landline until the day after moving in.

Thanks. The home you were moving into, was that unoccupied?

As you say, mobile phones make things easier however my wife works from home so reliant on Broadband. 

moneysavinghero

You can use your mobile as wifi hotspot. Works for me on the occasions that broadband goes down and i need to work from home.

princeofpounds

That's changed then... When I sold my last place the new buyers kicked us off before they even moved in. It's even got a name, 'slamming'. See the link for details. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/nov/23/landline-broadband-transferred

FinallyStoppedLurking

moneysavinghero said:

You can use your mobile as wifi hotspot. Works for me on the occasions that broadband goes down and i need to work from home.

Yes that will be fine for me but my wife is a designer so constantly sending massive files so would churn through her data fairly quickly. She will just have to carry on working from her parents house for the time being. 

FinallyStoppedLurking

princeofpounds said:

That's changed then... When I sold my last place the new buyers kicked us off before they even moved in. It's even got a name, 'slamming'. See the link for details. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/nov/23/landline-broadband-transferred

Ha!