Mobile broadband best buy?

I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to keep
your existing number.

I'm looking at mobile broadband options in the meantime and the choice is
pretty poor: T-Mobile offers an unlimited pre-pay option with a fair use
policy limit of 2 Gb! Isn't that a job for the ASA?

The best I can find price wise is Vodafone's dongle option with 3Gb data
included for a reasonable off the shelf price.

Three's Wifi option looks attractive for the hardware - a temporary wireless
router. But the included data allowance is pathetic. And the data network I
hear is crap.

I can't believe there is so little competition in mobile broadband pricing.

But more than that how does BT get away with such long provisioning times
for fixed line broadband?

Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings, Gareth
chose the tried and tested strategy of:

> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to
> keep your existing number.

Dare I suggest you befriend a prospective neighbour and ask if you can use
their wifi in return for a tenner or two?

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
18:45:45 up 88 days, 1:57, 1 user, load average: 1.77, 1.08, 0.75
Qua illic est accuso, illic est a vindicatum

Gareth wrote:
> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to
> keep your existing number.
>
> I'm looking at mobile broadband options in the meantime and the choice
> is pretty poor: T-Mobile offers an unlimited pre-pay option with a fair
> use policy limit of 2 Gb! Isn't that a job for the ASA?
>
> The best I can find price wise is Vodafone's dongle option with 3Gb data
> included for a reasonable off the shelf price.
>
> Three's Wifi option looks attractive for the hardware - a temporary
> wireless router. But the included data allowance is pathetic. And the
> data network I hear is crap.
>
> I can't believe there is so little competition in mobile broadband pricing.
>
> But more than that how does BT get away with such long provisioning
> times for fixed line broadband?
>
>
>
Because in the limit they MAY need to lay new cables.

"alexd" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings, Gareth
> chose the tried and tested strategy of:
>
>> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
>> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to
>> keep your existing number.
>
> Dare I suggest you befriend a prospective neighbour and ask if you can use
> their wifi in return for a tenner or two?

Do you know that thought never even crossed my mind.

Then again would they/I trust anyone to use my account without doing
anything dodgy? Sad but true.

"The Natural Philosopher" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:i7dfnu$s1p$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Gareth wrote:
>> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
>> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to
>> keep your existing number.
>>
>> I'm looking at mobile broadband options in the meantime and the choice is
>> pretty poor: T-Mobile offers an unlimited pre-pay option with a fair use
>> policy limit of 2 Gb! Isn't that a job for the ASA?
>>
>> The best I can find price wise is Vodafone's dongle option with 3Gb data
>> included for a reasonable off the shelf price.
>>
>> Three's Wifi option looks attractive for the hardware - a temporary
>> wireless router. But the included data allowance is pathetic. And the
>> data network I hear is crap.
>>
>> I can't believe there is so little competition in mobile broadband
>> pricing.
>>
>> But more than that how does BT get away with such long provisioning times
>> for fixed line broadband?
>>
>>
>>
> Because in the limit they MAY need to lay new cables.

The long provisioning time is a consequence of taking your existing phone
number with you - surely a software issue?

Sure, even if you take on a new number you are still looking at a week or so
but why a week longer if you just want to keep your existing number?

"The Natural Philosopher" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:i7dgdj$tfj$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Gareth wrote:
>> "alexd" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings,
>>> Gareth
>>> chose the tried and tested strategy of:
>>>
>>>> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
>>>> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and want to
>>>> keep your existing number.
>>>
>>> Dare I suggest you befriend a prospective neighbour and ask if you can
>>> use
>>> their wifi in return for a tenner or two?
>>
>> Do you know that thought never even crossed my mind.
>>
>> Then again would they/I trust anyone to use my account without doing
>> anything dodgy? Sad but true.
>>
>>
> also, why not start the phone transfer BEFORE you move?
>
> You can get a second number installed, and move the first one across later
> on onto the same line.

No, it's not that simple - I've already asked. Unless you move your existing
number whilst you still have a claim on it it will, more often than not, be
taken on by the new occupant of the old house.

I suppose it might be possible if there is a decent time between notifying
BT and actually moving but I suspect this would attract some sort of extra
charge.

Gareth wrote:
>
>
> "The Natural Philosopher" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:i7dgdj$tfj$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Gareth wrote:
>>> "alexd" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings,
>>>> Gareth
>>>> chose the tried and tested strategy of:
>>>>
>>>>> I can't believe that BT still has an up to 10 day turnaround time for
>>>>> provisioning of fixed line broadband if you are moving home and
>>>>> want to
>>>>> keep your existing number.
>>>>
>>>> Dare I suggest you befriend a prospective neighbour and ask if you
>>>> can use
>>>> their wifi in return for a tenner or two?
>>>
>>> Do you know that thought never even crossed my mind.
>>>
>>> Then again would they/I trust anyone to use my account without doing
>>> anything dodgy? Sad but true.
>>>
>>>
>> also, why not start the phone transfer BEFORE you move?
>>
>> You can get a second number installed, and move the first one across
>> later on onto the same line.
>
> No, it's not that simple - I've already asked. Unless you move your
> existing number whilst you still have a claim on it it will, more often
> than not, be taken on by the new occupant of the old house.
>

So start the miove while you still DO have a claim on it.

Before you move.


> I suppose it might be possible if there is a decent time between
> notifying BT and actually moving but I suspect this would attract some
> sort of extra charge.


A couple of weeks line rental?

anyway, do the smarter thing, get a VOIP number and keep it forever..

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:03:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> also, why not start the phone transfer BEFORE you move?
>
> You can get a second number installed, and move the first one across
> later on onto the same line.

Will that not attract a minimum term of x months, where as moving
property would not?





--
BT Openreach Engineers - all they need to supply for work is their own
socks and pants

"Comtroll" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:i7di4l$i9$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:03:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>
>> also, why not start the phone transfer BEFORE you move?
>>
>> You can get a second number installed, and move the first one across
>> later on onto the same line.
>
> Will that not attract a minimum term of x months, where as moving
> property would not?

I should know the answer to this but I'm not 100% sure.

I believe it is possible for a fee to port a new number to an existing
business line thus replacing the number already on the line. This doesn't
attract a minimum contract fee but it does attract a charge. For residential
services I don't know. But you certainly have to "own" the number you want
to "port".

I did this years ago with no hassle at all with Home Highway: when I
cancelled Home Highway I was given a choice of the number I wanted to keep -
first line, second line or ISDN number. I know it isn't that simple anymore
although if you cancel a second line you can, apparently, move the second
line number to your first line for free.

So it is technically possible but I suspect that BT will charge an arm and a
leg for what is a simple software solution.

How this relates to broadband is beyond me. I guess that changing your line
number may have non trivial consequences for your connection.

If the suggestion of NP was good then wouldn't everyone be doing it?
Moneysavingexpert would be suggesting it ;-)

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:33:21 +0100, "Gareth"
<hotmail.com@dgareth_remove.com> wrote:

<snip>
Three definitely not crap anymore!

>http://www.speedtest.net/result/964105854.png