Setting Up Landline?

MonkeyKong007

In my new student house, we basically want a phone line to have our broadband through and to receive calls, not make any.

is there a cheap way of doing this, or do you just have to call up BT or something?

any comments would be appreciated

mhendo

To have ADSL on a BT line, you have to have their standard line rental (BT Together Option 1). You are not able to opt for anything liek their Light User scheme.

£75 for new lines. Might be free if the line is already connected.

Take a look at Bulldog, as they offer both ADSL & telephone (no need for BT line). On a monthly contract too. Although, they can be known for taking some time provisioning a line, but from what I here once you're connected its fine. Mine is due to be activated 07/10/05. I also expect to have Be* 24Mbps within a few weeks for £20pm.

Use this checker to see if you have LLU services at your exchange.

thefirs

Have a look at NTL's Offering: for only £9.99 pm all-in you could have BB (speed - 1Mb), though only 3GB pm data, i.e. only enough to do surfing and email for a shared service. If you're into more data intensive uses then their £24.99 service offering 30GB pm would be relevant.

The cunning bit would come in getting a free phone service; get a Sipgate account which will provide you with a free geographical-numbered VOIP service in a location of your choice. At least one pc would have to be operating to allow anyone to answer the phone, or a VOIP router might be the answer, where you plug in your conventional instruments and answer your calls in the ordinary way. Another approach might be that if each of you were networked, then everyone could have their own Sipgate account.

There's extensive discussion of the difficulties, effectiveness, and practicality on the site - start here

It depends on the luck of the draw as to whether your house has NTL or not, obviously. There's a check-by-postcode facility on their page.