How to get internet in my appartment?

Yucca

Yucca

Yucca

Associate
Joined
20 Nov 2004
Posts
2,209
Location
Nock/Leicester
Hi all,

Ok just moved out of home for first time and living in an appartment. But i have no idea how to get broadband up and running.

I have been told i need to have a phone line installed first by phoning BT?

So do i have to have the line with BT or any company?

Is there no good Broadband company that offers the phone line and decent broadband (i am a heavy user so want a good speed and none of that capping rubbish) for a competitive price? Prefrably one which offers a good Broadband bundle with a wireless router?

So many internet companies i dont know where to start?! Help!!? :(

Oh and its a 9 month lease so dont want to have to sign any 12/18 month line rental/broadband contracts!

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Well, BT will be a minimum of 12 month contract, and no one else can install the line. Unless of course Virgin Media are available in your area.

However, if you move out after 9 months, it'll only cost you 3 months line rental to buy out of your contract, which will be just over £30. Not too bad, IMO.

If you go the BT router, Check on www.samknows.com. If o2/be* or SKY are available on LLU, I'd go with one of them, otherwise, consider an enta reseller, such as adsl24.co.uk, ukfsn etc.

Which you do have a "cap" with an enta reseller (30GB Peak/300GB Off-Peak - £19.99/m), they don't do traffic shaping, meaning you'll always get full speed.
No one offers truly unlimited (Other than Sky Max LLU perhaps), any that claim to will have a max limit in their FUP and/or traffic shape at least p2p/usenet traffic.

Virgin Media is another option if it's available, but they have a pretty heavy FUP in force, I believe.
 
Thanks for the info, but can you please re write it and simpify it as i dont know what u mean at points. Im a bit of a broadband/line rental noob im afraid.
 
MikeHiow said:
Well, BT will be a minimum of 12 month contract, and no one else can install the line. Unless of course Virgin Media are available in your area.

However, if you move out after 9 months, it'll only cost you 3 months line rental to buy out of your contract, which will be just over £30. Not too bad, IMO.

If you go the BT router, Check on www.samknows.com. If o2/be* or SKY are available on LLU, I'd go with one of them, otherwise, consider an enta reseller, such as adsl24.co.uk, ukfsn etc.

Which you do have a "cap" with an enta reseller (30GB Peak/300GB Off-Peak - £19.99/m), they don't do traffic shaping, meaning you'll always get full speed.
No one offers truly unlimited (Other than Sky Max LLU perhaps), any that claim to will have a max limit in their FUP and/or traffic shape at least p2p/usenet traffic.

Virgin Media is another option if it's available, but they have a pretty heavy FUP in force, I believe.
Click to expand...

The decent LLU providers are unlimited - o2, Be, Sky, UKO (effectively just two companies).
 
Last edited:
dovey said:
Mobile internet could be an option. 3 gig a month can be had for £15 if you are in a 3g area
Click to expand...

3gb, hardly what he asked for is it?


LLU means someone has put ADSL equipment in your local telephone exchange other than BT. BT wholesale backhaul from the exchange to the ISP is what costs the money and is where the cap comes from, with LLU you avoid this.

So as said go to Samknows, see what LLU you can get first of all and also how far from the exchange you are, if you are really far away for example then you don't need to worry about ADSL2 as it will make no diff or maybe not even LLU if it is that far away. :p


LLU falls into 2 camps. one where they take over the phone and ADSL, no BT line required and another where it is just the ADSL. BT line still needed.

and ofcourse no LLu where you use BT for the phone and any ISP for the Internet who inturn use BT wholesale.

SIMPLE :D
 
For short term access I would rather have that than nothing. Can take BT ages to get anything done so he could be without net for a good while yet and even then don't they try tie them in for 12 months line rental?
 
Ok MikeHiow and Starfighter i went to that site and according to that the only LLU available is C&W/Bulldog and Sky/easynet and Talktalk.

WHat now?
 
Right then, your best option, IMO would be to sign up for Sky's "Max" broadband package, especially as you said you are a heavy downloader and don't want caps.

You'll need a BT line first, though.

Give Sky a call first, see what the pricing is like, if their service suits you, and that they can actually provide you with internet.

Once you're happy with sky, I'd then speak to BT. You may find they'll want £125 to connect you, however, they will allow you to spread this cost over a period of 12 months.

BT Connection can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks, usually. Once your line has been connected, you can go ahead and order your broadband.
 
Last edited:
So even if i go with one of these LLU ones ie Sky i still need to fork out for a BT line anyway? So long story short i HAVE TO get a bt line installed?

And dont you need a 12 month sky tv subscription to get their broadband? If so then surly this would be more expensive that going with a company that doesnt make you spend £ on tv to?
 
I'm not sure on that one, I thought sky did a package for around £17/m, but can't find any reference to it.

I'm afraid I can't answer that. Your only other option is to go with "normal" ADSL, something like adsl24, as mentioned earlier, Of course, with sky you'd get upto 16mbit/s as opposed to upto 8mbit/s with ADSL.

Do you know how far away you are from you exchange?
 
No i dont have a clue. So if i have to have a line with BT anyway and fork out the money for one then why go with sky rather than any other provider? Surly im open to pick any one at all?

Why is everyone recommending a LLU one as apposed to any othe one and why sky in particular?
 
Because, In general LLU is cheaper for ISP's to provide, thus cheaper for you, and they tend to be less strict with caps, Fair Use Policies etc.

People are recommending Sky because C&W/Bulldog no longer offer residential connections, afaik, and talktalk arn't renowned for being the best of ISP's.

Another good LLU provider is O2/Be Unlimited, however, if they arn't present in your exchange, it isn't much use to you :)

Of course you are free to choose whichever ISP you want, however, you won't get upto 16mbit/s like sky, you won't find an unlimited service, with no FUP like sky, and you'll probably end up paying more than sky.

Your other option is to check out the Virgin Media website, to see if it's available in your area.
 
I'd speak to a heavy user that uses them first, I believe they have some kind of traffic shaping in force. I'm sure a VM user would be able to explain the situation better than I can.
 
If you don't mind the quality of service with VM cable, which can be poor during peak periods, go ahead and see if it is available in the area. The only major advantage they offer, in my opinion, is not needing a BT line...you're still tied into a 12 month contract with Virgin Media though.
 
It may also be worth noting, after reading it in the "Who Provides my Line" thread, apparently when you sign up to sky, they'll credit your account with £130 for your line to be connected.
 
MikeHiow said:
It may also be worth noting, after reading it in the "Who Provides my Line" thread, apparently when you sign up to sky, they'll credit your account with £130 for your line to be connected.
Click to expand...

Hmm, Sky seem to be a hit and miss affair depending on region, I've had a few people around here tell me it rarely worked.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom