HELP! Short-term Broadband?

Hello all,

I am currently on O2 broadband through a flatmate. He is leaving shortly and neither o2 or BT will let him transfer his contract for internet/telephone to me so he is likely to take it with him to his new house.

I now need a broadband provider. The problem is, I don't intend staying her for more than a few months. I really really don't want to sign up for a 12 month contract for anything if I can help it. I have a few avenues to explorer, one of which is to see if my landlord will take the phone rental and we pay him monthly for it (he may not do this as it leaves him liable if not everyone pays).

I am a 'power user' (of sorts) and dont' think mobile data is up to it in this area.

I have found the Phone Co-op have shorter term contracts for a BT line. I am tempted by this but have a few questions no one has been able to answer... 1. Our exchange is be/o2 enabled meaning we have been LLU'd on the data side, can I still join the phone co-op without having to pay a silly amount? 2. I want to stay on o2/Be if possible (since I live 400m from the exchange and get great speeds). Can I be with Be on a phone co-op line?

Anyone have any alternative ideas. Virgin woun't provide to my house (even though nextdoor has Virgin).

The post-office do monthly line rental and Be does 3 monthly broadband. Get Be via quidco and you can get some money back.

OK, sounds good. I've phone BE who say 'BT line only, BT line only". If I signed up to the post office, would they actually be able to tell whether my line is BT or post office?

Nope, they mean BT wholesale line only (as opposed to cable). Both BT retail and Post-Office use BT wholesale equipment, so it won't affect the broadband.

So the question is then, if I connect my line rental via a WLR which doesn't do LLU at my exchange (e.g. post office, phone co-op) then I can connect to a half-LLU broadband provider (e.g. BE) so long as I tell the provider I have a BT line?

If that's the case then, what is the best way to migrate from my flatmate's BT/O2 combination to a Post Office/BE combination with minimum downtime/cost? I want to avoid any unnecessary disconnect/reconnect costs if possible.

I would think you can migrate them both as soon as possible. Especially for the phone line, because if BT put a stop on the line then you may have to pay a reconnection fee.