Mobile Broadband

[Abigail]

Hi everyone,

My house doesn't have a telephone line. It does have an old NTL box however I don't know what its for.

Anyway, I need to have the internet in my house and I don't want to pay to install a phone line and pay line rental plus broadband on top. I was thinking about getting an internet dongle but I'm confuddled by which would be best for me.

I don't want a contract but I use the internet a lot, probably about five hours a day on average. I do watch programs online however it wouldn't bother me if I had to stop to keep my usage down. Some of the dongles I've looked at only average 40mins surfing a day :eek: I don't really want to pay any more than £15 per month, which I realise now is a lot to ask for mobile broadband.

So I was wondering if any of you guys use dongles, what sort of deal you get and what allowance I should be looking for. Any help would be much appreciated as I'm moving in next weekend and I'd like to have it set up by then.

As an aside, does anybody know how much (roughly) it would cost to have a phone line installed plus line rental and broadband? I'm not bothered about phone as I have a contract mobile (another reason why I don't want a phone line installed, waste of money) or tv packages.

Thanks :)

[Dazzle]

I'm on Virgin broadband which I'm happy with. I have it bundled with a phone line, but you can get it without a phone line for £15 a month for the first three months, then £20 a month: http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=3264.

Since you've already got an NTL box (cable was NTL before it was Virgin), it sounds like it would be easy to install. There's no download limits, so you'd be ok to watch to watch as much TV as you like.

The only down side is that you'd have to have a contract :(

[Abigail]

Would that act as my phone line which I'd get broadband through? Would I have to pay line rental (to anyone) on top of broadband?

If it was a lot cheaper than mobile broadband then I could live with a 12month contract.

This is oh-so-confusing :( I'd never even heard of an NTL box until the landlady showed me it.

[Dazzle]

You can have it with or without a phone line. No, you wouldn't have to pay line rental to BT because Virgin has its own cable network, so you wouldn't be using a BT line.

[Abigail]

Right, so if I go through the NTL box I can pay for phone and broadband OR broadband only? If I went for the broadband only I wouldn't pay line rental to Virgin?

Sorry I'm being thick, been thinking about this way too long and my brain is fried.

[Dazzle]

That sounds right. Give Virgin a call to clarify things if you're seriously thinking about it (I'm a bit afraid of giving you duff information :(). Good luck on making your choice - it's a bit of a minefield!

[Abigail]

Thanks Dazzle, you've been a great help :D My sister is on Virgin for the whole shebang so I'll see if we can get an introductory discount too. I've never bought broadband without having a BT line already installed hence my confusions; I always thought you needed a landline.

I feel like the fog has been lifted now :) I was getting worried about having no internet or paying ridiculous amounts

[Dazzle]

Glad I could be of help :)

[alan45]

If Virgin do connect you you will find thats its as cheap to get the phone line as well as broadband from them. O2 are also doing packages now for home phone and broadband but Im not sure if you need a BT lanline first. I pay my line rental and broadband to O2 and its much faster that my old BT broadband