Internet without a BT line?

Guru · 17 Feb 2008 at 22:59

Are there other companies who can connect your phone line and provide you with internet?

Don't like the fact that BT have changed it to 12months line rental it was 3 when I signed up and when I moved house they tried to force me to tie into another 12months. Would sooner **** them off and go with someone else tbh.

I know other ISP's can provide you with internet with no line rental, but do other ISP's have the ability to connect you up?

There is currently no dial tone when I pick up the phone in this house. I know there has been phone. broadband and sky in here before and BT reckon it will cost over £100 to "connect" the line. It's not like they have come out and ripped out the line, surely they just have to flick a switch??

This T-mobile internet is fine for browsing, but I'd like to be able to download and play games again.

Tis bs I tell thee.

G

HangTime · 17 Feb 2008 at 23:04

Try and find out who provided the line before, you may be able to get it reconnected for free with the previous provider. I had an old BT line reactivated about 9 months after moving in as I'd got so few up with NTL. Obviously if it's been physically removed at your end then you would need to pay the connection fee mentioned. Bear in mind that even if the house has had broadband and Sky before, it didn't necessarily have a BT phoneline.

Guru · 17 Feb 2008 at 23:11

It was BT, I checked before we moved in. But now that we are here they are saying I have to pay through the nose to be reconnected :/

tolien · 17 Feb 2008 at 23:19

If there's no dialtone, it's been disconnected at the exchange.

There's cable or full LLU (Bulldog/TalkTalk), or there's some providers will swallow the installation fee but get the money back via a contract.

Immsy · 18 Feb 2008 at 10:22

tolien said:
If there's no dialtone, it's been disconnected at the exchange.

Indeed, and thats why there is a re-connect charge.

Guru · 18 Feb 2008 at 11:05

Immsy said:
Indeed, and thats why there is a re-connect charge.

Is it not just a flick of a switch then?

Immsy · 18 Feb 2008 at 11:29

Im not sure of what exactly is involved but its openreach who raise that charge for the reconnection and BT Retail pass it onto the customer. As Tolien said, openreach will charge every company to do the connection but some swallow up the charge in exchange for a contract commitment etc.

izzy eckerslike · 18 Feb 2008 at 11:42

Don't think you can escape line rental from BT, Sky b/band is completely free if you pay for the TV but you still have to pay BT line rental to get the free b/band.

If your street is cabled then thats the best option, Virgin offering free connection

Neal · 18 Feb 2008 at 11:49

well considering its BT's line, and BT's engineers that will have to reconnect the line, it looks inevitable that you'll have to pay them. LIke mentioned ring around to see if certain companys will "wave" the connection charge, and try and cut out BT all together.

I had similar when i moved house, and ended up paying BT to connect the line as I couldnt get anyone else to "re-connect" the line without the charge.

One thing in BT's favour, as an ISP I have never had one day without internet service in 4 years, other than when my internal extension borked.

Immsy · 18 Feb 2008 at 11:53

Neal said:
well considering its BT's line, and BT's engineers that will have to reconnect the line, it looks inevitable that you'll have to pay them.

The lines are owned by Openreach and its Openreach engineers that would connect the line. Openreach work on behalf of all ISPs and phone companies and are not the same as BT Retail. The relationship between BT Retail and openreach is no different from that of the relationship between another supplier and Openreach.

Guru · 22 Feb 2008 at 21:40

Got bt to connect it for £25 in the end.

Now I need to find the cheapest UNLIMITED broadband up to 8meg

Any suggestions?

Currently considering BE Unlimited.

FatRakoon · 22 Feb 2008 at 23:43

Im on XLN

I have absolutely nothing to do with BT.

My phone is provided by XLN
My Line Rental is XLN
My broadband is XLN

I started with XLN at my shop, that had no phoneline at all and they got me wired up and setup and connected for... FREE!
They gave me a very basic ADSL Modem, and a basic phone, again for free.
I have unlimited, uncapped, unmetered Broadband for £9.99 a month.

Tripnologist · 23 Feb 2008 at 11:37

Guru said:
Currently considering BE Unlimited.

I've been with Be for a year now I think. I find it very fast and stable and I do a fair amount of data transfer (300+ GB per month). DNS servers suck but that's easily fixed by using OpenDNS or BT DNS servers instead.

Guru · 23 Feb 2008 at 12:36

FatRakoon said:
Im on XLN

I have absolutely nothing to do with BT.

My phone is provided by XLN
My Line Rental is XLN
My broadband is XLN

I started with XLN at my shop, that had no phoneline at all and they got me wired up and setup and connected for... FREE!
They gave me a very basic ADSL Modem, and a basic phone, again for free.
I have unlimited, uncapped, unmetered Broadband for £9.99 a month.

How much is your line rental?

FatRakoon · 23 Feb 2008 at 13:32

Guru said:
How much is your line rental?

Hang on... I will just check the bill...

Line Rental = £9.99

Call reject = £3.50

Broadband = £17.99 - Ah! - its gone up from £9.99

These dont include VAT @ 17% so thats about £37 minus calls

Not bad.

Tosk · 23 Feb 2008 at 14:39

you could go with mobile broadband not as good as adsl/cable but ok for browsing the net and stuff
only down side is its slower and costs a lot more. but no land line needed

you just have to be in a 3g network area

3pay have just started to do pay as you go mobile broadband, starting from
1gb = £10.00
3gb = £15.00
7gb = £25.00

another downside is the cost of the modem at a wopping £95.00 lol

i guess it will get cheaper later on as its new atm.