Personal phone line and business broadband

[Fred Bloggs]

No 3g and no fibre optic round here

[thunderlizard]

Registered office address is just a place to send official correspondence. It doesn't have to be your only business premises. Think of Tesco, who will have one registered office at a smart corporate address, but actually do their business in many other places.

Having the broadband and phone line in your own name but having the business directly is a bad idea for the accounts and tax (I forget why exactly). Better to get a business phone line and broadband installed in the company's name, and then if there's any personal use you can declare that as a benefit in kind on your tax return.

[SantaClaus]

Get a Virgin line installed. BT is sloooow, never managed to get above 1 meg speed.

With Virgin, I have 10 megs currently. and yes, I verified that

Mobile broadband can be a bit hit and miss, but a good backup in case your line goes down.

[swamp]

I had hoped to be able to do that and avoid having a land line, as you say it would be 100% business expense, however I have enough trouble getting a normal mobile phone signal in my house (I usually end up going out in the garden) so I don't think I'd get a good enough signal.

Maybe try a different network?

[dropcliffsnotbombs]

Slightly off-topic, but why not just get a USB 3G dongle for your PC? Saves the cost/hassle of getting the landline hooked up etc. You can take the contract out in your Ltd name, save any personal stuff getting involved.

I had hoped to be able to do that and avoid having a land line, as you say it would be 100% business expense, however I have enough trouble getting a normal mobile phone signal in my house (I usually end up going out in the garden) so I don't think I'd get a good enough signal.

[swamp]

A friend of mine spent nine months getting broadband installed from BT. Complete disaster.

I'd also be looking at 3G dongles, but check reception in your area first. Should all be available with your business mobile account (which I presume you have...)

WiMAX should be rolled out across the UK some day, but it's happening rather slowly.

[ASB]

Various 3G options? Voda if 15 quid for 3gb. Or 15 quid for "fair usage" if you ask nicely. Exisiting mobile provider will generally discount too. Three do a preloaded 12gb dobgle valid for a year for about 100 quid.

If you get a phone line you're straight into an annual contract, and its about 120 quid to turn the line on. For me 3g was a much better option. Mind you it's really awful when it drops to GPRS......

[pmeswani]

Slightly off-topic, but why not just get a USB 3G dongle for your PC? Saves the cost/hassle of getting the landline hooked up etc. You can take the contract out in your Ltd name, save any personal stuff getting involved.

And if he is lucky, he can get a laptop thrown in for an extra £10 a month on an 18 month contract (even if they advertise it as free).

[Tensai]

Currently at my home I do not have phone or internet connected. There is a physical line to the house but I have never set it up as I have not been there that much and find that I get by fine just using my mobile phone and I have a bit of an adversion to getting a BT landline that I won't use.

However now I have just started a new contract for which I will be able to work from home at least one day a week. I am thinking that I will set up the basic BT land line and pay for this personally (and probably not give out the number but maybe use the odd inclusive calls). I then want to add broadband and pay for this through my business. There would be some personal use - I know there are other discussions regarding whether broadband can be claimed wholly as business use.

My home address is not the registered address of my business. Will this prevent me from charging the broadband to my business? At the moment I do not want to change my business address to my home address but would want the broadband there.

Slightly off-topic, but why not just get a USB 3G dongle for your PC? Saves the cost/hassle of getting the landline hooked up etc. You can take the contract out in your Ltd name, save any personal stuff getting involved.

[dropcliffsnotbombs]

Currently at my home I do not have phone or internet connected. There is a physical line to the house but I have never set it up as I have not been there that much and find that I get by fine just using my mobile phone and I have a bit of an adversion to getting a BT landline that I won't use.

However now I have just started a new contract for which I will be able to work from home at least one day a week. I am thinking that I will set up the basic BT land line and pay for this personally (and probably not give out the number but maybe use the odd inclusive calls). I then want to add broadband and pay for this through my business. There would be some personal use - I know there are other discussions regarding whether broadband can be claimed wholly as business use.

My home address is not the registered address of my business. Will this prevent me from charging the broadband to my business? At the moment I do not want to change my business address to my home address but would want the broadband there.