Getting broadband without BT or Virgin

I have been literaly everywhere on this and am reaching the end of my tether. I was with BT for 8 months when i had a billing dispute with them and was subsequently cut off completely. They sent me a final bill of more than �400 pounds which they said included the line rental and broadband service charges for the remainder of the contract. After much wrangling, i was advised to pay the amount in installments which i reluctanly agreed to as i didnt know another way by which i could get home phone line rental from another provider (i'm not in a cabled area you see).

At the present moment i am unable to reconnect my line as i am still paying off the money but i need broadband desperately as i work from home and 90% of my work is done on the internet. I've heard of LLU providers can provide me with home phone and broadband is this true? Are there any providers who can use the dead BT line to offer home phone and broadband? PLEASE HELP!

I think it would be simplest to swallow your pride, pay BT off, and get BT to re-connect your phone, then choose a different ISP for your broadband.

mobile broadband from 3, vodafone etc, or move house to hull and get KC

Can't you get Kentucky Chicken anywhere or only in Hull?

Hi there,

Any provider who uses BT Openreach's Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) service should be able to reinstate the BT line, regardless of your billing dispute with BT Retail.

We are one such provider, but there are a few others.

Our Home Phone products start at �9.99, which includes all local/national evening and weekend calls.

You can see our products here.

I don't think any of the LLU companies yet get a line connected, they only take over a working BT line. Though I think I read somewhere that people such as Sky will be doing so soon.

At the moment you could try Plusnet. They do connections, and I don't think you have to have their broadband, but even if you do it isn't too bad, and decent pricing bundles.

You may not realise that pretty well any phone line or connection is actually connected and maintained by BT Openreach. There is almost certainly nothing you can do to avoid that. But your fallout was with BT Retail so I shouldn't worry about it.

Thanks for the reply. How do i sign up to plusnet and how soon can i be connected? Cheers again.

Hi there,

You can sign up online, or by giving our sales team a call. The number is on our website.

We can usually restart a line if it shows as stopped within a few days, and then you would need to allow a further 7 days or so for broadband activation.

Looks like someone hasn't told you that Plusnet (and Madasafish) are owned by BT. I would have thought that Mand, as a Plusnet rep, would have remembered to point that out, but apparently not.

But not by BT Retail.

Your solution to his problem is?
The costs of your solution are?
The practicality and speed of implementation of your solution are?

Yes we are. But we, and Madasafish, operate independently of BT.

You should of told him upfront rather than risk him finding out later and feeling cheap and used.

I'm not sure why that would make customers feel cheap or used, but fair point some people do find it useful information.

As I said though we do operate independently so there's not much difference day to day from when we weren't part of BT.

In reply to:

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I'm not sure why that would make customers feel cheap or used

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Good job you're not in a customer-facing role.

She is.

Thanks a lot for the help. I've since signed up to Madasafish and hopefully i'll be connected in a few days time. One more thing for any of you that might know. I've still got my old bt home hub. Will that work with Madasafish's broadband?

madsasafish=plusnet=BT

I haven't tried this recently, but as far as I am aware the old Home Hub is locked to BT. There are a few hacks around on the 'net to unlock this, but I'd advise against their use unless you're very technical.

You can get a SpeedTouch 585v6 re-furbished with 3-month warranty from DSL Depot for �23.98 including postage.

Very good router with WLan.