Getting the internet sorted in a shared house

In a few weeks I am moving into a shared house where the room is let on single tenancies. The bills are not inclusive, which means that its pretty likely that everyone won't know eachother and its possible people will be moving in at different times (the are 2 universities with different start dates).

I know the landlord has the electricity and gas in their name, so they have said they will transfer the bills across when everyone is in. What they didn't mention, and what I assume they don't have in their name at the moment, is the internet.

I think the best thing to do would be to get an unlimited download package with a wireless router. But there are a few questions that have sprung up from this.

1. Just looking on a comparison site, it seems you can get this for about £15 a month. This seems perfectly reasonable split between 6, but it states that line rental isn't included. We wouldn't need line rental to have a phone number, so is there an internet provider that just gives you the internet/included some kind of line rental?

2. I'm only on a 10 month contract - are shorter contracts always more expensive?

3. Most importantly really - how long does it take to get set up? If I was the first to move in say, I would want the internet asap. But i'm not keen on setting it up before I get there because I would want to discuss with the other people what we get. But then we wouldn't be able to look at offers when we were all there because we would have no internet.....

Does anyone have any tips having done the same thing? This might all be solved of course if the internet was also in the landlords name at the moment but I don't believe it is.

Reply 1

Friendly_cow

you will most probably need a line from BT unless your going the sky/virgin route. shorter contracts are difficult to find and will be more expensive, BT's contract will also be for 12 months. BT are useless and may take a few weeks to set up your line, the ISP should be fairly quick in setting up your internet though(couple of days or so)

Reply 2

Wildebeest

13

barmy_army008

1. Just looking on a comparison site, it seems you can get this for about £15 a month. This seems perfectly reasonable split between 6, but it states that line rental isn't included. We wouldn't need line rental to have a phone number, so is there an internet provider that just gives you the internet/included some kind of line rental?

That isn't correct (you may have just phrased it badly), you will of course need to pay line rental to have a phone number and this is its sole purpose. The all-inclusive internet package you have seen assumes that you are paying line rental (which BT currently charges £11.25 per month for) and you cannot connect to any internet service through your phone port without a line activated. You would need to discuss all of this to ensure the terms would be reasonable with your housemates.

The alternative is to opt for a mobile broadband dongle for your computer and there are some good deals for the same £15 per month from Three and 02, the latter offering a more flexible contract. This would naturally work out more expensive seeing as the connection would not be shared with the others in the house. Your best option at the moment would be to make contact with the landlord to enquire about an internet connection - don't go spending money before you have discussed it.

Reply 3

barmy_army008

OP

Wildebeest

That isn't correct (you may have just phrased it badly), you will of course need to pay line rental to have a phone number and this is its sole purpose. The all-inclusive internet package you have seen assumes that you are paying line rental (which BT currently charges £11.25 per month for) and you cannot connect to any internet service through your phone port without a line activated. You would need to discuss all of this to ensure the terms would be reasonable with your housemates.

The alternative is to opt for a mobile broadband dongle for your computer and there are some good deals for the same £15 per month from Three and 02, the latter offering a more flexible contract. This would naturally work out more expensive seeing as the connection would not be shared with the others in the house. Your best option at the moment would be to make contact with the landlord to enquire about an internet connection - don't go spending money before you have discussed it.

I have phrased it badly - apologies for that. I meant we wouldn't need a landline number and therefore wouldn't want line rental for anything other than to have the internet (that still seems slightly badly written but hopefully understandable!). As you've said, I think the best option is to speak to the landlord, but they are on holiday for a week so i'm kind of pre-empting the possibility of having to sort it out.

If people didn't want to go for the tv plus internet package from say Virgin (which would be my favoured option - I think having a tv in the communal area might encourage people to be sociable, what with us not knowing each other) then a dongle might be a good option. The only thing is that I have always considered those to just be for internet on-the-move: useful when you're out but not a replacement for a connection at home. Presumably they are actually a viable option in the long term?

Reply 4

Wildebeest

13

barmy_army008

The only thing is that I have always considered those to just be for internet on-the-move: useful when you're out but not a replacement for a connection at home. Presumably they are actually a viable option in the long term?

There's no reason a mobile connection shouldn't form one that you use all the time at home. Some people aren't too keen on Three as a company, but they have just started offering this package, which essentially resembles what you would get in a stand-alone home broadband package. That's £15 a month for 5GB transfer (£10 connection fee too, but oh well) and considering it's only a one month contract, I think that's actually very reasonable.

Reply 5

goodmen

13

Mobile broadband is just not realistic for full time internet use, especially from a student. Most people will burn through 5gb.

Reply 6

dances_with_lamposts

7

virginmedia have an offer of £19.50 per month plus £11 line rental for tv, unlimited broadband and phone (evenings and weekends). free installation, £20 off the 1st bill and first 2 months free. im gonna try to get that package sorted when i move into my house next week, there'll be 4 of us living there so it works out at about £7 a month i think (plus £36 each for the tv license). :smile:

Getting the internet sorted in a shared house

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