Broadband at Home?

There is an old BT line to my home here, with the line finishing at a
junction box outside. I terminated the phone account about 10 years ago.

I now want to use broadband, so I assume I will have to contact BT to
install a new line from the junction box to a master socket inside the
house. However, I don't want a phone account, as the line will only be
necessary to carry broadband, and I will be using VoIP over the line for
all phone calls.

Is this a possible scenario, or will I have to become a BT phone
subscriber (paying line rental) as well?

Also, as a previous customer at this location, will I have to pay an
installation charge?

Finally, any recommendations for a broadband supplier? Or warnings
against choosing any particular supplier?

--
Ian

ian wrote:
> I now want to use broadband, so I assume I will have to contact BT to
> install a new line from the junction box to a master socket inside the
> house. However, I don't want a phone account, as the line will only be
> necessary to carry broadband, and I will be using VoIP over the line for
> all phone calls.
>
> Is this a possible scenario, or will I have to become a BT phone
> subscriber (paying line rental) as well?

No, you will still have to pay line rental. This covers the upkeep of the
cabling between you and the telephone exchange.

> Also, as a previous customer at this location, will I have to pay an
> installation charge?

Probably, as the line will require an engineer visit to connect.

> Finally, any recommendations for a broadband supplier? Or warnings
> against choosing any particular supplier?

Where are you?

ian wrote:

> There is an old BT line to my home here, with the line finishing at a
> junction box outside. I terminated the phone account about 10 years ago.
>
> I now want to use broadband, so I assume I will have to contact BT to
> install a new line from the junction box to a master socket inside the
> house. However, I don't want a phone account, as the line will only be
> necessary to carry broadband, and I will be using VoIP over the line for
> all phone calls.
>
> Is this a possible scenario, or will I have to become a BT phone
> subscriber (paying line rental) as well?

Yes you will. You are after all renting a line. They don't charge less because
of the frequencies you want to use it at. A BT line has a heck of a lot better
voice quality than VoIP too btw and you don't have to pay BT's prices for the
calls. I can make international calls over the BT copper for about 3p a minute
btw and most VoIP providers are no cheaper than that. Check out 'carrier
preselection' and so on.


> Also, as a previous customer at this location, will I have to pay an
> installation charge?

Try negotiating. If you had a BT line 10 or so years back what happeend to the
wire that came into the house back then ?


> Finally, any recommendations for a broadband supplier? Or warnings
> against choosing any particular supplier?

That depends totally on what your expectations, requirements and budget are. Let
us know these things. Most of the big ISPs are fairly rubbish/indifferent though
and all the really shit hot ones seem to be fairly small and relatively unknown
by the public at large.

Graham

"ian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> There is an old BT line to my home here, with the line finishing at a
> junction box outside. I terminated the phone account about 10 years ago.
>
> I now want to use broadband, so I assume I will have to contact BT to
> install a new line from the junction box to a master socket inside the
> house. However, I don't want a phone account, as the line will only be
> necessary to carry broadband, and I will be using VoIP over the line for
> all phone calls.
>
> Is this a possible scenario, or will I have to become a BT phone
> subscriber (paying line rental) as well?
>
> Also, as a previous customer at this location, will I have to pay an
> installation charge?
>
> Finally, any recommendations for a broadband supplier? Or warnings against
> choosing any particular supplier?
>
> --
> Ian

I agree with everything that Jim and Eeyore have said. The only thing that I
can add to the pot is that, after 10 years, you will *definitely* have to
pay to have a working line re-instated and it's currently around the £125
mark.

John.

John wrote:
>
> I agree with everything that Jim and Eeyore have said. The only thing
> that I can add to the pot is that, after 10 years, you will
> *definitely* have to pay to have a working line re-instated and it's
> currently around the £125 mark.

Is 10 years the cut off? BT told me that ours had been disconnected for
around 10 years when we moved in (previous occupants used Cable).

Although BT sent an engineer round to reconnect some of the pairs it still
cost us nowt!

jon

"Eeyore" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:(E-Mail Removed)

[snip]

> Yes you will. You are after all renting a line. They
> don't charge less because of the frequencies you want to
> use it at. A BT line has a heck of a lot better voice
> quality than VoIP too btw and you don't have to pay BT's
> prices for the calls. I can make international calls over
> the BT copper for about 3p a minute btw and most VoIP
> providers are no cheaper than that. Check out 'carrier
> preselection' and so on.

Hmm. Depends on where you want to call, I suppose. I call the US for less
than 2p/minute and there are cheaper services than that. Quality has
always been excellent and no different from a BT line.

Ivor

ian wrote:

> Finally, any recommendations for a broadband supplier? Or warnings
> against choosing any particular supplier?

You will find that there are at least as many people who hate an ISP, or
spread bollocks about them in public forums, as there are broadband
suppliers.


Eeyore wrote:

> That depends totally on what your expectations, requirements and budget
> are. Let us know these things. Most of the big ISPs are fairly
> rubbish/indifferent though and all the really shit hot ones seem to be
> fairly small and relatively unknown by the public at large.

....and then get bought up and "indifferentiated" by a larger organisation.
Although Easynet's support still seem to be fairly clueful
post-acquisition.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
18:25:09 up 23 days, 20:25, 2 users, load average: 0.17, 0.31, 0.26
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0

"Jonathan Pearson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> John wrote:
> >
> > I agree with everything that Jim and Eeyore have said. The only
thing
> > that I can add to the pot is that, after 10 years, you will
> > *definitely* have to pay to have a working line re-instated and
it's
> > currently around the £125 mark.
>
> Is 10 years the cut off? BT told me that ours had been disconnected
for
> around 10 years when we moved in (previous occupants used Cable).
>
> Although BT sent an engineer round to reconnect some of the pairs it
still
> cost us nowt!
>
> jon
>
>
>

Ah, you've let it slip. If the previous occupants used cable then you
too can use cable and with them you <don't> have to have telephone or
TV. What is more cable is much more reliable IMO than ADSL and is
generally faster for similar cost.

If they used cable then unless you had it removed the likelihood is
that the cable will still be presented to your building so there
should be little or no installation charge.


--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

harrogate3 laid this down on his screen :
> "Jonathan Pearson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> John wrote:
>>>
>>> I agree with everything that Jim and Eeyore have said. The only thing
>>> that I can add to the pot is that, after 10 years, you will
>>> *definitely* have to pay to have a working line re-instated and it's
>>> currently around the £125 mark.
>>
>> Is 10 years the cut off? BT told me that ours had been disconnected for
>> around 10 years when we moved in (previous occupants used Cable).
>>
>> Although BT sent an engineer round to reconnect some of the pairs it still
>> cost us nowt!
>>
>> jon
>>
>>
>>
>
> Ah, you've let it slip. If the previous occupants used cable then you
> too can use cable and with them you <don't> have to have telephone or
> TV. What is more cable is much more reliable IMO than ADSL and is
> generally faster for similar cost.
>
> If they used cable then unless you had it removed the likelihood is
> that the cable will still be presented to your building so there
> should be little or no installation charge.

.....erm....except you're not replying to the original question
asker....

On Tue, 22 May 2007 18:18:11 GMT, "harrogate3" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>"Jonathan Pearson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> John wrote:
>> >
>> > I agree with everything that Jim and Eeyore have said. The only
>thing
>> > that I can add to the pot is that, after 10 years, you will
>> > *definitely* have to pay to have a working line re-instated and
>it's
>> > currently around the £125 mark.
>>
>> Is 10 years the cut off? BT told me that ours had been disconnected
>for
>> around 10 years when we moved in (previous occupants used Cable).
>>
>> Although BT sent an engineer round to reconnect some of the pairs it
>still
>> cost us nowt!
>>
>> jon
>>
>>
>>
>
>Ah, you've let it slip. If the previous occupants used cable then you
>too can use cable and with them you <don't> have to have telephone or
>TV. What is more cable is much more reliable IMO than ADSL and is
>generally faster for similar cost.
>
>If they used cable then unless you had it removed the likelihood is
>that the cable will still be presented to your building so there
>should be little or no installation charge.
The cost of cable installation isn't as expensive as BT's installation
anyway. Yes, if you can go for cable only - no telephone line
required. You'll only have a choice of one provider of course.
Voip works well on Telewest area cable.

Afaik BT reconnect for free unless the disconnection was due to a bill
not being paid.
Remove 'no_spam_' from email address.