My third post makes it clear I had worked that out .

Yep. There is no suggestion anywhere of a 2-year term.

In reply to a post by broadband66:

I've asked before but didn't follow the answer.

If a user downloads 10GB one month and 100GB on the following month then does the ISP pay more for the 100GB or is it the speed of download that costs?

Neither.

The ISP rents total throughput capacity at the point where the traffic is handed over to it from the BT Wholesale "Cloud". (At an MSIL, which is a bit similar to the old BT Central).

However, whereas a BT Central clogged up if the limit of its installed segments was reached, normally if the rented capacity at the MSIL is exceeded at any given time, up to something like 5% (I forget the actual figure) they are charged normally for the excess, but above 5% they pay a penal rate per Gbps.

In other words, they pay for the expected maximum amount (Gbps) going through per second, with leeway and penalty rates if they exceed it, not the number of GBs passed through in the month.

That's what has always made ISP costs (even on Centrals where per-second bit-rate charging was also effectively in place) and pricing by GB used by the customer a pig for them to reconcile.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 30-Jan-14 21:17:57)

Sorry, I'm just a serial reader.

How dare you compare yourself to the literary giant Charles Dickens!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Yep. There is no suggestion anywhere of a 2-year term.

Indeed, and you have to be a new customer as well.

Some customers [cough] have been offered retention deals of 24 months for BB and LR+Phone

Cheaper line rental elsewhere at £11.22 with no upfront, call connection charge or tie-in, plus per second billing - No brainer.

Another half hour on the phone, two cups of tea and a bar of chocolate later its a result as they say in sporting parlance!

Initially last night spoke to customer services who gave me the official deals. This morning checked Uswitch to see what was out there and an even better deal with PN was listed. Spoke to PN again and got transferred to the better deals department. Very helpful person said the Uswitch price could be bettered too (!) and so it was. Paid line rental up front whilst over excited.

OK its for 24 months but the saving is considerable. Pay less, get more!

It really is a minefield out there and even the PN website itself bears no relation to reality - the headline prices differ from the small print version further down the page.

What a palaver!

Meldrew
(who thinks her desreves his own iPad now but not a pink one like Mrs M!)

In reply to a post by professor973:

Cheaper line rental elsewhere at £11.22 with no upfront, call connection charge or tie-in, plus per second billing - No brainer.

£5.99 per month with primus.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-c...

Don't think so - I happen to know the ASA are onto their claim of UK lowest line rental.
http://www.primussaver.co.uk/HomePhone.aspx
Also, their Home Phone Max does not touch Zen Home Talk Plus.
http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/voice/phone-service...
Also compare chargeable call rates - Double with Primus.
Prices in your link seem well out of date for Home Phone Saver, along with long tie-in and only via Broadband choices. Not a very honest claim for basic line rental.

Edited by professor973 (Fri 31-Jan-14 11:36:52)