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Phone line installation options
Dear Simon, my new house has a BT landline but it has been disconnected because the previous tenants did not pay their bills. When I called BT they said they wanted £130 to connect the phone line. Can I get a landline from a different home phone provider other than BT?
Can you help?
Claudio Nogueira, London, via email, Updated: Tuesday 4 January, 2011
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FREE BT phone line installation with any BT package
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Our expert says...
Hi Claudio, thanks for your email about getting a new phone line installed. The majority of people are unaware that most home phone providers offer line installation, so you don’t have to switch to BT (www.bt.com) to reconnect your phone line. TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk), Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) and others also offer line installation
BT says if there’s no suitable BT line at your home, if there’s no dialling tone, or if you have been previously disconnected for non-payment, there will be a standard phone connection charge of £130, however this is subject to survey by a BT engineer and may be less.
However, having a phone line installed by another provider may work out cheaper, as installation costs can be competitive. You should also take call plans and line rental into consideration when choosing a company to install your phone line. Take a look at the table below to see if you can get cheap phone line installation…
Line installation options
Most home phone providers offer new line installation. The table below shows the various providers and the price for line installation:
| Provider | Provider details | Line installation cost |
| BT | www.bt.com | Now £30 with BT broadband and calls (£130 with just calls) |
| Direct Save Telecom | www.directsavetelecom.co.uk | £49.95 - Ring 0800 280 2021 quote "BBC01" |
| Post Office | www.postoffice.co.uk | £112.34 |
| Primus Saver | Primus Saver | £59 - Ring 0800 036 0170 for more information |
| Sky | www.sky.com | Available on request - prices start from £39 |
| TalkTalk | www.talktalk.co.uk | £50 (ring 0800 049 7834 for more information) |
Cheapest way to reconnect your phone line
The cheapest home phone installation option (if opting for just a calls package) is currently Primus at £59. However this may not necessarily be the cheapest installation option for you. You need to do a postcode search to find out which home phone providers are available in your area, and weigh-up the cost of call packages and installation.
For bundled packages, BT offers cheap £30 line installation and TalkTalk (www.talktalk.co.uk) charges £29.99, however these are limited offers.
Phone line installation recommendations
While phone line installation may be a bit cheaper with another supplier, in the long run the company’s call plans may work out more expensive. You should compare the market and calculate how much it’ll cost you over the 12-month contract before signing up to a new package.
If you don’t want to sign-up to a 12-month contract, all Direct Save Telecom (www.directsavetelecom.co.uk) tariffs are 28-day rolling contracts. This means that your contract with Direct Save Telecom will be automatically renewed on an on-going basis every 28 days and until you give the company written notice of termination with 28 days notice. It’s line installation cost is £49.95 and it’s call packages are competitive, so this could be an option if you don’t want to be tied to a contract.
You could also reconnect your phone line with Sky (www.sky.com). Prices vary but typically start from around £39. However to receive Sky home phone you must also be a Sky digital TV customer or a completely new customer to Sky. Prices start from £19.50 a month, so this could make the overall cost more expensive, particularly if you don’t watch that much TV or already have Freeview.
Hope this gives you a bit more information Claudio. Remember, you don’t have to have your phone line installed by BT; there are other options.
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