I recently moved to a new flat, and I have signed up for Orcon's 30GB/unlimited national calling plan for $75, but today they sent me this email.

Hi there, Our install supplier has informed us that your broadband connection needs a full installation at a cost of $149. Here?s why this may have happened and what you can do to avoid the charge: 1. There may be an existing active phone line at the premises. If this doesn?t belong to you, it may have been abandoned by the previous householder. You can call 078320000 to find out who the provider is and then contact that provider to get the line abandoned prior to your install date. This should make it able to avoid the full install charges. 2. If you are moving house and the current tenants have not yet moved out, our supplier will see an active phone line at the property. Please ensure that the line is being disconnected by the current household prior to your install date to avoid the full install charges. 3. There hasn't been a connected line there before (i.e. new house), or the previous line has been disconnected and it requires a physical reconnection at the telephone exchange. Please give us a call on 0800 13 14 15 if you would like to discuss this further. Meanwhile we?ll get on with getting you connected. Kind regards The team at Orcon

I initially thought the problem was the first, but there was no dial tone on the line, and a modem got no signal from it. So I was surprised, although just now I tried plugging a cable modem into a cable in the wall that I didn't know what it was for, and I was actually able to get telstra clear's internet from it! So it seems the previous tenant may have been using that instead of the phoneline, and might have gotten the phoneline disconnected, meaning the problem is the 3rd possibility they suggested.

I am quite reluctant to pay $150 for that reconnection, and it just seems to be a lot.

My question is, would another ISP have a fairer connection price? I was supposed to get my internet connected tomorrow, but I am seriously considering delaying it until I can determine whether or not I could get a better deal elsewhere.

I had been under the impression that Orcon didn't have a connection fee, so this caught me by surprise.