Short term landline advice

[RasputinDude]

Anyone know if it is possible (and if so, from whom?) to get a landline for a short term period - around 6 months, I should think.

The situation here is that I am renting some office space to write plan B and I want a phone and broadband to be in that office but I don't want to be tied into a 12 month contract or anything like that.

[blacjac]

If you go for a serviced office, they usually do the phone / internet on a short term basis.

[RasputinDude]

Sorry, should have said.

I have found the office that I want to lease. It is where I want for a very reasonable price that no serviced office would be able to match (believe me, I have asked!).

The office that I have has a fixed line going into it terminating at a wall socket. I presume that it's disconnected and was probably a BT line beforehand.

[RichardCranium]

I shopped around 4 months ago and I could not find any of the "1 month at a time" options that existed a few years ago. The shortest term I could find for a phone line was 12 months and that was as part of a phone / broadband package.

BT's minimum was 18 months.

Edit: mind you, you could just make the decision to write off the other 12 months' worth of monthly fees, then stop worrying about it.

I am 95% sure if the line is disconnected you will have to pay BT £105 to reconnect it, regardless of who you get your package through. (I would love to be proven wrong.)

[MPwannadecentincome]

I am 95% sure if the line is disconnected you will have to pay BT £105 to reconnect it, regardless of who you get your package through. (I would love to be proven wrong.)

BT were doing a free connection offer, dunno if its still going.

[SlimRick]

BT were doing a free connection offer, dunno if its still going.

Last time I looked it was only if you sign up for 18 months.

[RasputinDude]

Thanks folks. I'll let you know how I get on.

[blacjac]

One small place I worked at as a permie used to use NTL (now Virgin Media), I think they used to do short term lines, however they did have about 10 lines....

Might be worth a try

[d000hg]

If you can get a 12-month package and cancel it after 6, they'll probably simply say "we will charge you the rental on the remaining 6 months". That's probably not going to be too expensive, and they might be a bit flexible if you get a nice person when you want to cancel.

[d000hg]

Oh, MSE for this week just happened to contain this:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/dea...e-installation

This isn't available online; to get it you need to ring 0800 800 150, lines are open Monday to Friday 8am to 9pm, Saturday 8am to 8pm, Sunday 9am to 6pm. When you call, ask for the 'New line free connection offer'.

When BT ran a previous similar offer, there were some reports of people having difficulty getting the deal. BT has assured us the call centre is well briefed so there should be no problems this time.

You won't have to pay anything up front, it'll simply appear on your bill as a charge then a credit. If you do try and cancel your agreement before the 18 months is up, you'll have to pay the remainder of the contract.