Help me get internet access for a few months in Accrington, UK.

October 31, 2006 7:15 AM

Help me get internet access for a few months in Accrington, UK.

I'm staying at a family home in Church, near Accrington. I'll be there until the end of December 2006. The house doesn't have an active landline phone. An across-the-street neighbor has broadband access through BT, but he's elderly and not the person to ask for details or advice.

I'd like broadband access where I'm staying, preferably without the requirement of an active phoneline. (I've seen ads for Orange Broadband that say you don't need a phoneline for their services, so I'm hoping something like that is available to me.) I'm afraid I'm feeling very ignorant because I don't really know how the process of ordering and setting-up would differ from what I'm used to in Canada.

Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what companies to call and what to ask for when I do? My only requirements are that it cost less than £30-50/month and that I can use the service for only two months.

If you need any more information to advise me on this, please ask away!

posted by chudmonkey to technology (8 comments total)

Broadband internet access for that length of time will be very very hard to arrange. I think virgin.net will do short contracts, but they require a land line.

Orange also requires a phone line - it doesn't have to be a BT line, but they need the wires! (They also require an 18 month mobile phone contract).

Thinking laterally, you could apporach the gentleman across the street, and offer to pay his broadband costs for 2 months in exchange for you placing a wireless modem in his house. I can't see any other way of getting internet into the house without a landline.

(I'm assuming that there isn't cable installed, obviously - otherwise you would have mentioned it.)
posted by handee at 7:23 AM on October 31, 2006

I and my peers have had a terrible, terrible, terrible time getting broadband hooked up here in Edinburgh. The delays are unfathomably bad, and the service equally so. I doubt you'll even have internet hooked up within 2 months! Your best bet is indeed probably to 'think outside the box'...
posted by Marquis at 7:40 AM on October 31, 2006

Get a pay-as-you-go T-Mobile phone (make sure it has bluetooth, and 3G if you're in a 3G area) on the "Mates rates", "Everyone", or "Text appeal" plans. You can connect your laptop to the internet through it for £1 per day (you only pay for the days you actually use), and the speed isn't too bad. (Modem-like speeds if you only get 2G coverage, or near-broadband speeds if you're in a 3G area.)
posted by Mwongozi at 7:57 AM on October 31, 2006

fyi: Virgin.net has no 12 month contract but they do charge you £50 to disconnect if you leave them before 12 months is up.
posted by tomw at 8:13 AM on October 31, 2006

Orange also requires a phone line - it doesn't have to be a BT line, but they need the wires!

That's kind of misleading though, because unless you live in Hull or a cable area, your phone line is BT. I'm still yet to see a way of getting non-cable non-wireless broadband in the UK without getting a phoneline hooked up.
posted by cillit bang at 9:04 AM on October 31, 2006

(by which I mean paying for voice service)
posted by cillit bang at 9:05 AM on October 31, 2006

Don't touch Orange with a bargepole.
posted by Dr.Pill at 10:29 AM on October 31, 2006

Talk nicely to your neighbour about upgrading his BT package to their Total Broadband service. It won't cost him any more, and comes with their wireless router foc, which might work from over the road. Takes about a week for delivery.
(I'm not shilling for BT here, I have my own issues with their service levels, but it's an easy to try option for you).
posted by punilux at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2006