Moving home? Before you order a phone line, broadband or TV..

About to order a phone line before you move in? Stop and read this guide first!

A decade ago, one of the first things you wanted to get sorted when you moved into a new property was ordering a phone line as it needed to be installed before you could order a broadband service.

However today, you could be losing out on the best deals if you order your home phone, broadband and TV services separately. This is because there are some great bundles available that will save you money — adding up to £277 for the year in this example!

This guide explains the logic behind why you should consider ordering a bundle and gives you an example, but the offers change all the time, so please visit our broadband offers page where we list the latest deals.

The phone line

These days, most broadband providers can order a phone and broadband service as 'simultaneous provide' which means they go through as one order which will speed up the overall time of getting a live broadband connection. You will usually be visited by a BT Openreach engineer to install/activate the line and your provider will generally send you a broadband router to connect to the line. What's important to note is for most broadband services (Virgin Media cable services being the most notable exception), you will need a phone line, even if you don't want to make any calls, as ADSL, ADSL2+ and FTTC (what most people call "fibre broadband") is delivered over a phone cable), and even with Virgin, the phone line can be almost free after you add up the discounts.

A worked example..

	Bundled Broadband + Phone	Separate Broadband + Phone
Phone Line	PlusNet Home Phone Line free setup (transfer) £49.99 / setup (new lines only) £15.95 / month	BT Home Phone Line £50 / setup (transfer) £65 / setup (new lines only) £16.99 / month
Broadband	PlusNet Unlimited Broadband £5.99 / setup (incl router) £2.50 / month	PlusNet Unlimited Broadband £30.99 / setup (incl router) £12.49 / month
Cashback	£70	-
Contract	12 months	12 months
Total Cost	£5.99 - £55.98 / setup £18.45 / month (£221.40 yr1)	£30.99 - £95.99 / setup £29.48 / month (£353.76 yr1)
Savings	up to £75 saving on setup + £132 on annual fees + £70 cashback = £277 better off in first year if you buy both phone + broadband from PlusNet

Notes: All prices include VAT. This example is illustrative of savings when bundling services . BT offer similar bundles if you buy both broadband and phone services from BT as do many other providers. Prices correct when this guide was published (Nov 2014 . please refer to offers page for current options) based on information published on PlusNet & BT websites. BT line activation fee is based on an online-only offer price; normally £130. BT states "Most customers get connection at no extra cost. Some customers may have to pay a connection charge." . A test purchase confirmed £50 setup fee for migrating a line from another provider in two separate cases. Costs assume payments to BT by Direct Debit from 1st December 2014. BT will offer free setup with BT Broadband or TV bundles. The £2.50/month price applies for first 12 months for customers living in a "PlusNet Low Cost Area" and is £10 in other cases. After 12 months the fee rises to £9.99/month (low cost area) or £17.49 (other areas) respectively - but you can switch provider at this point

Other things to be aware of..

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get services such as fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services which aren't always bundled in the same way, so do consider your wider options too.

Also bear in mind that after your minimum contract is up (12 or 18 months usually), you can switch providers which can be particularly easy if you're a service provided via a telephone line, and benefit from the same types of introductory offers from a new provider!

So what do I do now?

Check out our broadband offers page for the current packages.