Ending broadband, what happens to phone line if not switching

brainiack

I'm about to move home, and currently have an expensive broadband package as I wanted to remain out of contract to leave penalty free in the next few months.

There's going to be a period in between moving homes where I won't need the broadband at my old home and won't be switching broadband providers in the old home.

What happens in the interim, until the buyer completes on my property? As in, I expect to request to end my broadband deal at the end of April, and then have no broadband service in the property until it is sold. Does the phone line remain, or how does the new owner pick up the broadband? Not sure what the phone number will be or what to explain to them, other than there was a phone line for broadband but it won't have been used (or active?) for several months in the period between April and whenever the new owner enters.

flaneurs_lobster

Are you not over-complicating this? If you are sure you want to end your relationship with your current supplier (you don't want to use them at your new property) then just cancel the service. The early termination penalty will be the same amount as paying monthly to the end of your minimum term.

maya85

Just pay the penalty if you can afford it. really not worth the mental hassle while you are in the middle of moving. 

brainiack

Sorry for confusion, I'll rephrase the question:

What happens, when you cancel/end your existing broadband service and do not replace it or switch to another one? 

Does the line stay active, for whenever you or the next owner/tenant wants to start up a package again in future, and how do you know what the phone line number is?

400ixl

If you terminate the contract with your current supplier for your landline and broadband service without a switch then they will do a line termination (there may be a charge to you for the line termination). The phone number will be released into the pool.

That is then it from your perspective, no services are present at that property.

When the new buyer takes possession, if they want services then they will order then through whichever supplier they choose. They will likely have to pay a new connection fee as it will be seen as a new line. They may get the same number, but likely a different one.

The risk to them with this scenario is that if there was a waitlist on the exchange, that could have been assigned to someone else and there may not be space for them to have a connection. Rare, but it can happen.

They will also have the potential of a stop Sell order on the exchange for the analogue PSTN service so would need to find a digital voice supplier if they do want a landline.

None of that is your issue on the old property though.

Rob5342

They would just approach whichever ISP they chose. They would give them all the account details including the phone number of them wanted one, these days the chances are they wouldn't bother with a hint phone.

prowla

If the phone contract is coupled with the BB service then it will be terminated at the same time and the phone number will be released for re-use.

You might be able to downgrade your service to phone only to keep the number and then transfer it to your new residence.

iniltous

Presumably this is a property with access to only one network provider, Openreach for example.
If someone moves into a property, they don’t need to know the previous occupants phone number or ISP , the address ( which they obviously know ) is the only info the provider they intend to use requires, and there is effectively no difference in price between a new occupant taking over a ‘working’ line or one that’s been dormant for a while, and it doesn’t matter if it were recently ceased , or had been ceased years ago , obviously in some cases , lines that haven’t been in use for years ( like a Virgin customer going back to an Openreach based ISP ) they still can remotely ‘start’ the line , if it fails to work , then they send an engineer out to investigate.

If the property has access to more than one network, City Fibre or Virgin for example as well as OR , then they may not use the same network provider as the previous occupant anyway.

As stated , it’s really not your problem , if you want the service ceased, simply tell your provider the date you want that to happen .

brainiack

Brill thanks for the replies, glad to hear its not my problem and terminating the broadband and line completely won't come back on me with any future owner/tenant. What I was hoping would be the case. Thanks again!

Olinda99

don't forget to omit telephone / broadband as connected services on the property information form.

danco

The problem that could affect you is that you would not be able to keep the old phone number when you move.  If you kept the broadband (and phone service?) you could probably move the number. But you may not care about that aspect.