Moving into a house that has a phone line, but no number - broadband?

richieboy · 8 Mar 2010 at 19:12

I bought a house around 2 months ago, it had a phone number and they had broadband. After we got the house, we spent the last 2 months doing it all up. Now we are looking to move in, i plugged a phone in and there is a dial tone although im not sure what the number is and i don't want to dial anything in case BT start charging etc...!

So my question is - how would i sign up with an ISP if i don't have a telephone number and its not a "new line" as the line is already installed and has a dial tone?

Thanks...and apologies if this makes little/no sense...

Carter · 8 Mar 2010 at 19:38

dial 17070 and see if an automated voice tells you the number.

BlueMhz · 8 Mar 2010 at 20:43

Well I'd be asking myself, whose name is the BT line registered too, as they would be responsible for paying the line rental and any calls. If it was the previous owners, then you should probably ring up BT and explain you've now moved in and get the line transferred to your name.

richieboy · 8 Mar 2010 at 21:16

This is what im worried about - i am planning on paying line rental to the ISP i am looking to go with (IDNet) so don't really want to contact BT at all as i don't want to be paying them anything...

I'll phone IDNet tommorrow and see what they say, but am not sure whats happening as the previous owners have spoken to BT and taken their number with them...i was assuming if i made a phone call nothing would happen.

nrh1703 · 8 Mar 2010 at 22:45

i had something similar when i moved in to a flat. there was a bt line with dial tone and a number (found using 17070) but the old number had been ported to ntl/virgin. bt said they couldn't recognise it as a valid line and insisted an engineer was sent around to 'connect' it. the engineer did sweet fa and i was £100+ out of pocket.

BlueMhz · 8 Mar 2010 at 23:25

richieboy said:
This is what im worried about - i am planning on paying line rental to the ISP i am looking to go with (IDNet) so don't really want to contact BT at all as i don't want to be paying them anything...

I'll phone IDNet tommorrow and see what they say, but am not sure whats happening as the previous owners have spoken to BT and taken their number with them...i was assuming if i made a phone call nothing would happen.

As you are going with IDNet for phone also, makes sense to contact IDNet, and let them sort it out for you.