Checking if a house has a phone line?

Delvis

Delvis

Delvis

Caporegime
Joined
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Buckinghamshire
Hello all

About to move into a rented house, and I was wondering if there was a way of checking whether or not the house currently has a phone line in use etc?

Reason I ask is I'm going to have to setup my broadband (Which I can't just 'switch' from my old house for some reason....I need to cancel it THEN re order it? I'm thinking of changing providers possibly...) and I'm naturally going to need a BT line, which is another thing to moan about, how much a month? :p

So, any info is appreciated :) And if anyone can give me other ideas on BB providers it'd be appreciated...currently using Demon and i don't really use it to its full potential (web space etc)

Thanks :)
 
Well if you find that it has no phone line then the next thing to do is see if you can get Virgin cable. Much cheaper to install and only one bill. That's what I did. I have no phone line here. Virgin box on the wall plugged into PC. Done.
 
mame said:
Well if you find that it has no phone line then the next thing to do is see if you can get Virgin cable. Much cheaper to install and only one bill. That's what I did. I have no phone line here. Virgin box on the wall plugged into PC. Done.
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So is that everythig? Internet, phone, telly? I thought Virgin channels wern't that good or so i've heard :p never looked into it
 
Could take a simple analogue phone and plug into master socket and see if you get dial tone. If you have dial tone dial 17070 and you should be told the telephone number.

If the property is rented ask the landlord/letting agent for any details they might have.

Cheers
 
Styles said:
Could take a simple analogue phone and plug into master socket and see if you get dial tone. If you have dial tone dial 17070 and you should be told the telephone number.

If the property is rented ask the landlord/letting agent for any details they might have.

Cheers
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Yeah, going to find out as much as possible once were in, the agents we've dealt with so far know naff all about the place at the moment, which fills me with confidence :rolleyes:
 
Delvis said:
So is that everythig? Internet, phone, telly? I thought Virgin channels wern't that good or so i've heard :p never looked into it
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I don't have virgin TV or Phone. I don't have any landline. I only have broadband. When I said Virgin box, i just meant the cable inlet on the wall. I only have one bill.
 
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mame said:
I don't have virgin TV or Phone. I don't have any landline. I only have broadband. When I said Virgin box, i just meant the cable inlet on the wall. I only have one bill.
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Ah okay thank you for clarifying :)

Can I ask how much that is roughely? And is there any restrictions on the line etc?

Thank you
 
Just go on to the BT website and start the process for ordering a new phone line or broadband package. You only need the address. It will tell you if there is already a BT line there.
 
Delvis said:
Ah okay thank you for clarifying :)

Can I ask how much that is roughely? And is there any restrictions on the line etc?

Thank you
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It's £20 a month for 10mb. The first 3 months are £15. Ok, it's not the cheapest but when you knock off phone installation and phone rental it's a very easy way of doing it. It looks like you get a free wireless N router as well now. having a BT line put in can be very expensive, it seems a bit hit and miss. With the phone costs, even if you had a £5.99 broadband, you would have to have all of this for a few years before you could say that you had saved yourself £100. I'm pretty sure that in 2 years, Virgin would have worked out cheaper.
 
mame said:
It's £20 a month for 10mb. The first 3 months are £15. Ok, it's not the cheapest but when you knock off phone installation and phone rental it's a very easy way of doing it. It looks like you get a free wireless N router as well now. having a BT line put in can be very expensive, it seems a bit hit and miss. With the phone costs, even if you had a £5.99 broadband, you would have to have all of this for a few years before you could say that you had saved yourself £100. I'm pretty sure that in 2 years, Virgin would have worked out cheaper.
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Ah thank you :) I will look into it as soon as I can...As I say i'll just have to change everything over to a new email address or something

Cheers :)
 
new phone like is like £140-150
kick up a fuss saying that the last user had a line and used it and it was all ok.
also see if you can get the phone number from the ex tennant, this will help.
 
Delvis said:
Looking on Virgin, not sure what packages let you order without a phone line?
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None of em. You'll also be able to haggle a better deal if you ring up saying you're thinking of joining them, but some Sky bloke in a shopping centre offered you (insert semi-believeable deal here) and you were hoping they could match it.

....and before the moral brigade come along and say that lying to get a good deal is wrong (I dont see the problem) just remember that the salesperson on the other end of the phone line can always just say "no".
 
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Le_Petit_Lapin said:
None of em. You'll also be able to haggle a better deal if you ring up saying you're thinking of joining them, but some Sky bloke in a shopping centre offered you (insert semi-believeable deal here) and you were hoping they could match it.

....and before the moral brigade come along and say that lying to get a good deal is wrong (I dont see the problem) just remember that the salesperson on the other end of the phone line can always just say "no".
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Oh? I was just going by what mame said earlier? Is it only Virgin that does this then...

I'd like to try and keep costs down but it seems a phone line alone costs you £12 a month or something stupid
 
Delvis said:
Oh? I was just going by what mame said earlier? Is it only Virgin that does this then...

I'd like to try and keep costs down but it seems a phone line alone costs you £12 a month or something stupid
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You get inclusive calls with that as well.

That's around the same price that most providers charge.
 
Azza said:
You get inclusive calls with that as well.

That's around the same price that most providers charge.
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With what? I don't really want to have a phone in the house as it will tempt the others to use it to ring mobiles...
 
Delvis said:
With what? I don't really want to have a phone in the house as it will tempt the others to use it to ring mobiles...
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Well you're paying the £12 for line rental and they automatically put you on a base phone plan. For me it's M which is just weekend calls. You don't have to get a phone though, if you're worried about people ringing up mobiles from it.

Most ISP will do that.
 
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