Just an update, incase anyone else find themselves in this situation.

I called sky and they were very helpful, if a bit longwinded (I shouldn't complain, at least they knew what I was talking about).

They told me they'd be sending someone out to activate the phoneline in my house and an engineer to the house to check everythings working, once the line is up they'll enable the broadband. This cost £25.

The woman then offered me half price line rental for the first 6 months and free voicemail and caller ID and told me i'd also be eligable for a new joiner broadband offer (she didn't elaborate on that at the time).

All in all, this was very easy and the service was excellent. I thought i'd have to spend ages explaining my problem and trying to get them to understand. I barely even finished my first sentance and she knew what the problem was.

Now I just have to wait for the engineer and hope everything else goes as smoothly.

fnarrr:

Any provider can activate lines these days if they want to. I believe Sky do it these days as well as many others. Most of those who activate lines will expect you to pay line rental for a fixed term, Post Office excepted who have no minimum term.

Thats good news. I have no issue with a fixed term with sky, i've been with them in my old house and they've never been anything but helpful. I just didn't like the idea of being stuck with BT.

Any provider can activate lines these days if they want to. I believe Sky do it these days as well as many others. Most of those who activate lines will expect you to pay line rental for a fixed term, Post Office excepted who have no minimum term.

The BT offer is for a call package which has no minimum term, you will however need line rental which comes with either 12 month or 18 month minimum term.

I'm moving into a new house on monday with a few of my friends and we've just had Sky+ installed yesterday. I'd really like broadband as well but we're running into problems.

Theres an inactive phoneline in the house but sky allowed us to pay an extra £25 to overlook that for the TV installation. But i'm guessing that for broadband we'll need to get that activated.

Now, can sky activate that line and then provide us with the sky talk line rental plus broadband? Or do I have to get BT to activate the line?

If I need to involve BT am I going to need to sign a contract to stay with them for a few months or will they activate the line and then allow me to switch to sky?

Finally, I noticed this on BT's site: "Unlimited Weekend Plan. For new and existing residential customers making at least one chargeable call a month with BT. Only £11.25 a month line rental with Direct Debit and paper-free billing. No minimum term, unless you order a new phone line or switch your phone line to BT from another provider, where a 12 month minimum term applies to line rental."

Since theres already an inactive phone line in the house, does that mean I dont need to order a new line and therefore qualify for this option?

Thanks in advance for any help.