BT rejects wholesale price changes

BT is not happy with Ofcom's changes to wholesale prices, and is complaining it will effectively make a loss on each connection. Ofcom sets prices for BT's wholesale division Openreach. From today until May 2010 BT can charge £86.40 for each unbundled line - up from £81.69. Where a broadband provider shares the line with BT, …

[Anonymous Coward]

Just broadband please!

I am told by BT representatives that you can't have ADSL without also having telephone provision (which is not technically true, but a scam by BT so they don't lose too much trade).

I only want ADSL from BT or one of the other providers, but I can't. So essentially I am paying two lots of rental on the same bit of copper. Just give me ADSL dammit!

I'll provide my own VOIP solution instead.

[Ash]

What, will children DIE if things don't change?

"The regulator set maximum prices in 2006, but there was no way to adjust them for inflation or other changes."

SO CHANGE THE WORDING OF THE REGULATION.

Seriously, you'd think that law was set in stone. It's not. It evolves and changes.

[Stephen Gray]

@Just broadband please!

Cheapest way to do it is with Talk Talk, I think its £18 per month all in (no extra line rental to BT) which does give you inclusive calls but you don't have to use the voice side

[Anonymous Coward]

Good!

Nice to see someone soo pleasent suffering so much..

I am continuing to use an unbundled supplier and for some reason I'm glad BT is hurting...

BT its time to dephorm!

[Anonymous Coward]

BT ain't all that bad, is it?

BT Vision is sweet.

Maybe I'll pop off a request to Ofcom that BTV and BT BB should not be sold as a pair.

I'd be quite happy to take BTV but without the BB for obvious reasons.

[Jared Hunt]

@ac 09:58 GMT

You can't have ADSL without a phone line.

The ADSL service is sent down the same copper pair as the phone service.

The line rental you pay is for the use of the copper pair. That's why they call it LINE rental.

You pay for additional services on top. That includes phone calls, ADSL or whatever the hell you want.

Nobody is forcing you to use it to make phone calls.

So how are you being scammed exactly?

[Joe]

@ Jared Hunt

You're wrong. The line rental is a standing charge for the voice service.

In France, you can have ADSL via the copper pair but choose to have no voice service active - i.e. no dial tone, no phone service. You just pay for the ADSL. It's cheaper than having ADSL plus voice service.

In the UK, you can't have ADSL without also renting the phone service. Whether you make calls or not, you still have to pay £11 or so per month for voice service rental. There's no choice.

So yes, it is technically possible to have ADSL without a phone line.

Incidentally, when I moved house my BT voice line in my old place was cut off, but the O2 broadband connection was still active a week later. So it is possible!

[John Smith]

France sounds a good model

They appear to act purely as an infrastructure (IE hardware) provider. Even telephone service becomes a competing service.

What an idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

The buzzword is

... misanthropic

[I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects]

Hot Potatoes in Jacquettes?

"In the UK, you can't have ADSL without also renting the phone service. Whether you make calls or not, you still have to pay £11 or so per month for voice service rental. There's no choice."

Translation:

The powers that be don't have a clue and unless it involves lots of spying, money changing and spin, nobody is going to get cluebyfoured up about it too neither.

[John Smith]

@I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects

"The powers that be don't have a clue and unless it involves lots of spying, money changing and spin, nobody is going to get cluebyfoured up about it too neither."

Perhaps its time to go low tech. A written letter to the all party ISP group pointing this out. Nothing works quite so well as an actual demonstration that something has already been done.

[Will Jenkins]

IIRC

I seem to remember that BT and possibly some other ISPs did a survey and concluded that, at the time, there was not enough demand for ADSL only lines to justify supporting such a product.