robin1234

This may well be true. BT were a pain, with having to wait for three weeks for the engineer to come around, but no problems with account setup and arranging for direct debits etc. Same for water bill, electricity, council tax, and other regular bills. At no point did anyone balk at my lack of credit or past history. All seemed very willing to set up accounts, I assume they feel they are not risking much loss and can always cut you off if you fail to pay.

robin1234

Thanks! I don't particularly enjoy lengthy transatlantic flights and dragging my wheely suitcase around, but I'm looking forward to getting there, taking a shower, meandering off to Tesco to buy a pint of milk and a bottle of good French wine.

the1mag

I've been back in the UK for about seven months now and it's like the wild west for TV, internet etc., but I've looked into all the mobile/cell phone contract and PAYG packages from all the providers and for me the best deal for mobile service is with giffgaff https://giffgaff.com/

I had my phone unlocked before I left Canada and got a free SIM card from giffgaff sent to where I was going to be staying when I first arrived. Since being here I've been buying their £10 a month package which gives me 500 minutes, 1GB data and unlimited texts.

You don't have to pay for incoming calls here, and there's no extra cost to call anywhere in the UK.

You might want to look at the Money Saving Expert website [url=http://www.moneysavingexpert.com and sign up for his newsletter. All kinds of information about everything you can think of including this stuff. I ended up with EE for internet after seeing in the newsletter that after three months they gave new customers a £120 Amazon voucher which is not unusual, happens fairly often with the various providers.

Maggie

not2old

good info has been provided so far on TV, Phone, Broadband & cell/mobiles.

Anyone have any comments or suggestions on utility bundle deals for Gas & lecky & whether the water meter is the way to go or keep with the council water charge?

mikelincs

ALL properties are being changed to water meters, and I suspect that most, except for the more remote places, will already be changed. If you haven't got one you can ask the local water people to put one in, but then you can still decide, if you think it appropriate, to be charged on the old system, if they come and change it as part of their inmprovement scheme, then you have to go with the meter charges.

michali

That is interesting about being changed to a water meter. No sign of that in our London area. Only concern would be if you have a leak and cannot get a plumber quickly! Signing on to utilities is SO easy here! We had Virgin Media TV, Internet and landline services set up within about a week but, as my husband loves TV and sports we went for a more expensive package( which seems to go up a couple of pounds every couple of months!) As we do not go out much for entertainment but walk a lot, it is worth it for us.

not2old

thanks Mike

To add to this thread, can anyone offer any suggestions or ways of getting the best deal on utilities for Gas & Electricity, maybe a bundle or recommendations on a lowest cost or best one of the better service provider?

rebs

Utilities & Phones

I've used the MSE cheap energy club and found that very useful.

robin1234

My priority was to get things set up, and then I thought I'd tacke questions about best value etc. later. This was partly driven by lack of connectivity at first, since I had to wait several weeks for Internet and phone, so really all I had for the period when I was trying to set up utilities was a payg mobile and Internet at the public library (and BT hotspot across the road.)

That's why I went with BT and with E.ON for electricity, because the developers had electricity with E.ON and they switched it to me seamlessly with a phone call from the site manager with a meter reading.

rebs

It's also pretty difficult to get meaningful price comparisons until you have a reasonable idea about your usage level.

aries

Also a good idea to check out broadband stability and speed before you settle somewhere.

I have a relative in Lincolnshire who has considerable dropping out problems, but mine is stable on about 75 Mbps using fibre optic.

Perth

Just the question I had - and asked elsewhere. Is there a website to check on this, and do the various providers differ in their capabilities or is it just a regional issue?

spouse of scouse

Thanks apskinner, great links and also good to know that you can make Skype calls to landlines.

spouse of scouse

Liverpool hasn't moved to Scotland - yet

Today's moving day for you! Hope it's all going well, I'll keep on the lookout for your posts

spouse of scouse

Ta not2old, I didn't realize that there were so many Freeview channels. I gave up on free-to-air telly here years ago, I think we had 4 channels then but I believe there may be as many as 7 now. We ARE doing well