We moved house a month ago and have yet to set up a phone and broadband connection with our chosen provider because the previous owners haven’t cancelled their Sky service. Sky says it can’t take instructions from anyone other than the account holder. I am working from home and my wife, an NHS doctor, needs the internet for work, so this has bigger implications than the Netflix and Amazon we’re paying for, but can’t use.
BF, St Austell, Cornwall
Unlike other utilities, telecoms lines cannot be taken over by a new tenant or homeowner until the previous occupant has closed or transferred their account. In your case, your predecessor did not yet have a permanent address, so had not done so. You could have installed a new line, but at a needless cost. Or continued using the phone line and wifi which was still live, and the previous owners would have been liable for bills. Sky told me that the old account has finally been cancelled, so you should now be able to go ahead.
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