BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

[russ9898]

No it doesnt. There is no continuing cost of the line for BT at all. Once its in thats it. BT dont have to do anything for the upkeep of the phone line there is zero running cost. This is from your house to the exchange I`m talking about which is what this Line Rental Charge is for. When was the last time you saw BT come out and do maintenance upkeep on your line ?

Years ago when Mercury were bought over or going bust there was talk of forcing BT to scrap the line rental charge but for some reason Ofcom lost and BT won cant remember the details. It was proven then that line rental charge was a very small percentage of the profit BT achieve and they could actually do away with it and not make much difference to their profit.

Sorry will stop now this is off topic.

What about maintenance of the exchange? (The actual fabric of the building and equipment inside), electricity consumption, maintenance of the cabinets and general infrastructure such as the grids you see in the pavement? Investment in new technologies?

I think to view the line rental charge as simply paying for the line that has been supplying your house for X number of years is quite a naive way of looking at it.

 

[russ9898]

What about all the equipment in the green box, the exchange and the backbone. I guess that just runs on fresh air? Who pays for upgrades and refreshing equipment or repairs?

In reality wholesale line rental charges have been dropping steadily, yet retail cost has been increasing.

Do you know why? Because the 'internet' costs have been dropping year on year and 'value added' features have been bundled in. Most consumers are too stupid to realise A+B= actual cost hence the new Vodaphone marketing 'doing away' with line rental, yet the actual cost is about the same.

Whats actually happening is phone only retail customers are getting milked for every penny and effectively subsidising internet customers.

Wish I had seen your post before posting mine, didn't notice there was another page of comments from the previous one lol.

 

[DragonQ]

It covers the cost of the actual line.

Indeed...

1. I don't think I should pay for the line because I don't use it for voice calls.
2. I expect someone to fix it for free if something goes wrong.

Don't get me wrong line rental costs are too high, but there is a cost there to be paid.

The line rental should be set in legislation with all of the money going back to Openreach in a controlled way. Suppliers shouldn't be allowed able to add a profit element.

Let the providers using the infrastructure compete on the service elements.

When line rental was £10 it "covered the cost of the line". Since then the Openreach wholesale price has lowered, yet line rental charged to customers has doubled.

It's a stealth price hike tactic, nothing more.

...the new Vodaphone marketing 'doing away' with line rental, yet the actual cost is about the same.

Not really. £28/mo for 80/20 Mb/s FTTC. What provider comes close to that without switching and using cashback deals every 12-18 months? Even Plusnet costs about this much including line rental during the initial "cheap" period, then it goes up by £10/mo.

 

[Daaaavvveee]

Kefan, your sister has access to 330/30 FTTP not 80/20 FTTC.

I don't know too much about BT's FTTP, but I think you have to ring up for it.

You can order it online, but have to pay full price. (BT Infinity 4)

If you ring up you can get it for £30 a month + line rental

 

[TheVoice]

No it doesnt. There is no continuing cost of the line for BT at all. Once its in thats it. BT dont have to do anything for the upkeep of the phone line there is zero running cost. This is from your house to the exchange I`m talking about which is what this Line Rental Charge is for. When was the last time you saw BT come out and do maintenance upkeep on your line ?

You seem to be interpreting it a bit too literally, it's quite obvious the line rental charge goes towards maintaining and upgrading the overall infrastructure in the same way that the standing charge on your electricity bill isn't solely for maintaining the cable that runs to your home.

 

[varkanoid]

Last thing I`m going to say on the subject as I have a little insider knowledge if you know what I mean. If you are a BT customer who do you pay line rental ? BT Openreach ? No you dont. BT Openreach however look after the line/exchange and infrastructure.
Finally for those that think the line rental is not pure profit - what about the charge you pay for broadband ? As for phone only users BT have admitted they make enough profit from phone calls to pay for the infrastructure and more. Will say no more as this is going way off topic and just agree to disagree.

 

[MissChief]

I agree that most companies leverage the Line Rental to subsidise cheap broadband deals. The wholesale cost of line rental has remained broadly static over th past few years yet line rental pricing has only gone up. Having access to the Openreach pricing site can be a bit of an eye opener at times. And those are the publicised rates. No doubt many ISP's negotiate cheaper rates too.

 

[varkanoid]

I agree that most companies leverage the Line Rental to subsidise cheap broadband deals. The wholesale cost of line rental has remained broadly static over th past few years yet line rental pricing has only gone up. Having access to the Openreach pricing site can be a bit of an eye opener at times. And those are the publicised rates. No doubt many ISP's negotiate cheaper rates too.

True. A big eye opener I dont think most people know about. Spent 4.5 hours in a meeting room with BT Openreach today they were telling us all sorts !! The amount of money BT has in profit is absolutely immense and the cost of running the infrastructure is miniscule. The massive out of town exchange buildings they use to house the equipment is now partly used as office space because the equipment has become so much smaller they can move employees out to these buildings and save money on city centre costs!! So they are now getting Office space for free.

 

[KIA]

I agree that most companies leverage the Line Rental to subsidise cheap broadband deals.

Exactly. Not long to go until BT, Sky, PN, etc, will be forced to display clear pricing.

From 31 October 2016, this kind of broadband advertising is likely to break advertising rules.

In order for broadband providers to ensure they stay within the rules, we recommend that future broadband ads which include price claims should:

Show all-inclusive up-front and monthly costs; no more separating out line rental
Give greater prominence for the contract length and any post-discount pricing
Give greater prominence for up-front costs

https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resourc...pproach-to-broadband-price-claims-in-ads.aspx

 

[Type_R]

I was due to go from Sky fibre max --> Infinity 1 yesterday. Phone disconnected and connected to BT at about 6:30 last night. Broadband still not activated

Smarthub is solid orange and reports 'no service' under broadband! I paid £49 for activation and now have no internet. Help please!

 

[ChrisD.]

Help? Try calling BT for a start...

 

[Type_R]

Help? Try calling BT for a start...

Indeed is 0800111467 the number to call? Anyone got a faster way of speaking to someone half way across the World?

 

[ChrisD.]

Does your phone line work? I thought you just called 151 from your BT phone line.

 

[Type_R]

Does your phone line work? I thought you just called 151 from your BT phone line.

Yeah phone has been activated. That sounds like a better plan!

So called them. There is a 'delay' with the order. No further information given or known at present. Excellent.

 

[Type_R]

Can anyone update me on the cancellation rules please. The broadband has not been activated 48 hrs after it should have been. I am tempted to cancel both phone and broadband and move to virgin.

I am assuming with no activation I can cancel with no charge, although not sure what happens with the phone? Seriously disappointed with BT this time around.

 

[Type_R]

Just an update. Spent 2 hours on live chat, got through 6 Customer Service agents before one was nice enough to contact their web order dept and within minutes Infinity had been activated. SmartHub is blue now!

I guess the 48 hour delay from the promised date means I shall be claiming my £49 activation charge back thanks!

 

[varkanoid]

Just an update. Spent 2 hours on live chat, got through 6 Customer Service agents before one was nice enough to contact their web order dept and within minutes Infinity had been activated. SmartHub is blue now!

I guess the 48 hour delay from the promised date means I shall be claiming my £49 activation charge back thanks!

Hope you went through Quidco to get your £85+ cashback too

 

[Type_R]

Hope you went through Quidco to get your £85+ cashback too

I did and have £100 tracked

Strangely on the same line Sky were getting 42.5/11.5 on Max and on Infinity 1 BT are getting 47.7/10?

 

[varkanoid]

I did and have £100 tracked

Strangely on the same line Sky were getting 42.5/11.5 on Max and on Infinity 1 BT are getting 47.7/10?

Slightly different hardware at your end and the exchange. Looks about right.

 

[Hyper]

Just placed my order to switch over from Plusnet due to my contract expiring and got the following;

BT Infinity 1 (52MB) Unlimited - £10.99 per month (12 months) + £18.99 line rental
BT Youview (Basic box) - £0.00 (12 Months) including BT Sport
£125 BT Reward Card
£140 Quidco Cashback

One Off Fees;
£49 FTTC Activation
£7.95 Equipment Delivery
£10 TV Activation Fee

Even with the £66.95 one off fees, including all cashback a years broadband including a free Youview box works out at £161.71 for the year or £13.37 a month.

Very happy but hope all the above goes to plan as I have heard horror stories with people switching in the past.

Currently paying £38.99 with Plusnet for their Fibre Pro package (up to 76mb) but sync at about 70mb currently so not a massive drop in speed.