Question Help - Can I receive broadband connection in these strange living arrangements?

[Skankie]

Hello,

Based in the UK if that helps.

In an attempt to keep this short here is a summary of my current living situation having recently separated from my wife of 12 years (although I'm only 32, I am a boomer when it comes to networking, so please explain things in layman's terms!) Playing video games online with friends is my only real escape and distraction, but I'm unable to do that currently due to the following circumstances.

I have moved into a one bedroom annex (best I can afford whilst getting back on my feet). The annex is attached to a main house (my new landlords). It does not have it's own recognised address. I share their internet via WiFi using a TP Link extender, but the connection is very unreliable once they return home, with constant high spikes in ping making playing online video games impossible. Due to the very rural location, broadband comparison websites only offer a maximum of 60mb/s download speeds. I think this would be fine - but only if I am the only person using it, which is evidential as mentioned, because when they return home suddenly I'm unable to play online.

I'm not prepared to start asking them to look into changing providers, or feeding a long ethernet through their house and into mine - I'm trying to stay low key and ignorable.

I have looked into Starlink as an option as I previously used this at my workplace, which seemed to work fine for my gaming needs. However, that's an initial investment of around £450 just to get set up, with the equipment cost, congestion charge for my area and mounting options. My budget is limited during this time of transition, not to mention the monthly cost of £75 which is more than double any broadband provider.

Starlink is still an option, however I spotted something this morning that peaked my interest. Please take a look at the below image of a wall socket in my annex which I believe is a phone line?

https://imgur.com/GM6SSbe

My question is, would it be possible for me to contact one of the broadband providers for my area (BT, TalkTalk, Vodafone or Sky) and have my own broadband connection in the annex via this socket? As the annex does not have it's own recognised address, would doing this affect my Landlord's current provider and broadband connection? Or would it simply not work because this likely isn't the master socket.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, even if it's urging me to just bite the bullet and go for Starlink as the best option. Thank you!

EDIT: The mobile signal is also very bad in the area. I would struggle to watch a Youtube video on my phone using my mobile data.

 

[bill001g]

You have 2 different issues one is technical and the other is ISP policy.

So if that is a phone line you likely can get a DSL connection from the ISP. DSL is not as common because they charge as much as say a fiber connection and offer a fraction of the bandwidth. Also true copper phone lines do not exist as much. Where I live when ATT has a issue with a copper phone line instead of fixing it they just use the fiber they use for internet and put in box that makes it appear as if it was a copper phone line.

So as long as that wall jack actually connects out to the phone company wires it can likely get a dsl connection. It also is going to depend on how many actual wires run to the property and if your landlord is also using DSL and using some of them. In general there is more than enough wires to run 2 completely separate DSL connection without running new wires.

The harder issue is the ISP policy stuff. Sometimes the ISP will only allow a single internet connection to a address. Not sure why in cases there is no technical restriction. Partially I suspect it is a billing/credit thing. If you were to not pay your bill they eventually will go after the person that owns the property. Not sure it does not make a lot of sense sometimes. I do know that it takes a lot of effort to say get cable reconnected to a house where the previous tenant was a dead beat.

 

[Skankie]

You have 2 different issues one is technical and the other is ISP policy.

So if that is a phone line you likely can get a DSL connection from the ISP. DSL is not as common because they charge as much as say a fiber connection and offer a fraction of the bandwidth. Also true copper phone lines do not exist as much. Where I live when ATT has a issue with a copper phone line instead of fixing it they just use the fiber they use for internet and put in box that makes it appear as if it was a copper phone line.

So as long as that wall jack actually connects out to the phone company wires it can likely get a dsl connection. It also is going to depend on how many actual wires run to the property and if your landlord is also using DSL and using some of them. In general there is more than enough wires to run 2 completely separate DSL connection without running new wires.

The harder issue is the ISP policy stuff. Sometimes the ISP will only allow a single internet connection to a address. Not sure why in cases there is no technical restriction. Partially I suspect it is a billing/credit thing. If you were to not pay your bill they eventually will go after the person that owns the property. Not sure it does not make a lot of sense sometimes. I do know that it takes a lot of effort to say get cable reconnected to a house where the previous tenant was a dead beat.

Thanks for your detailed reply Bill.

That does sound quite complicated but most of which makes sense to me.

My takeaway from your reply is that Starlink is likely the simplest and most reliable option for me.

Thanks

 

[bill001g]

Starlink is expensive is the key issue. Doesn't hurt to call the phone company and ask if they can deliver a connection to you on those wires. That is/was a phone connection at some time in its life.

 

[CountMike]

Thanks for your detailed reply Bill.

That does sound quite complicated but most of which makes sense to me.

My takeaway from your reply is that Starlink is likely the simplest and most reliable option for me.

Thanks

Isn't there 4G LTE mobile internet provider nearby. ? It can provide speeds over 100Mbps, All it takes a router (usually provided by ISP).

 

[Skankie]

Isn't there 4G LTE mobile internet provider nearby. ? It can provide speeds over 100Mbps, All it takes a router (usually provided by ISP).

Thanks Mike,

I'm unsure how to check that, but what I can tell you is that my phone gets next to no signal at all when not connected to the WiFi. I would struggle to watch a Youtube video on my phone using my mobile data in that area.

Thanks

 

[BFG-9000]

what I can tell you is that my phone gets next to no signal at all

All this tells you is that it would be a bad idea to try that phone provider's mobile internet solution. You have to see how good the data transfer rates of other people's phones with different providers is.

I will say that 4G and 5G can provide some seriously high bandwidth nowadays but latency can be iffy. Apparently these mobile internet hotspots use the excess bandwidth leftover from higher-paying phone subscribers so you are limited by cell tower traffic at certain times. But yes, usually way cheaper than Starlink