Ditching the filtering/parental controls would go down like a lead brick with areas that hold power so not going to happen.

Its not just BT Sport, once you add the costs of hardware, youview boxes, free WiFi, BT Cloud. These are all reasons why BT is more expensive than its cheaper baby that is PlusNet, i.e. you don't get all the things millions appear to want.

In reply to a post by tommy45:

Maybe they should ditch their loss leaders like their poxy BTsport channels and the extra net filtering/firewall that is only available to bt broadband customers , why make there telephony customers subsidise their poor buisness plans?

It's not a poor business plan that results in ever increasing market share. BT have been extremely successful in hoovering up the customers.

BT have a strong proposition in the 'complete broadband' market and their Plusnet arm has a strong proposition in the discount trade.

The question is the market failure on line rental. The question is why TalkTalk, Sky and monopoly provider, Virgin are increasing line rental way above wholesale costs.

BT are working Line Rental and the rest of the market are only too happy to join in and work an increasing margin.

What costs involved in "free" WiFi? You pay for access by agreeing to host an AP. For most of the sites the costs are covered by the host customer. Then they actually charge for access for non-ISP customers too.

But don't forget their monthly charge for NOT making calls on the line rental saver.

What charge is that? I can't find a reference to it on their web site after a quick search.

Yes it is true and I almost got caught out on LSR minimum number of calls.
You must make at least 2 calls per billing period for the LSR to be valid.
It is in the small print when you sign up

So zero costs to running that service, just like zero costs for parental controls?
Sport generates revenue, but because lots of people don't like football it is the easy target.

Without hard figures it is all speculation.

How much does 3 million home hub 5 cost ?

They used to have a min of 2 calls per month to get caller display for free but I am signed up to Line Rental Saver and have had months with no calls and had no additional charges levied. I also can't find any Ts&Cs generally available for LRS that suggest this is the case.

Parental controls probably have a software licensing cost. There may even be an ongoing cost to maintain the sites rating lists. Assuming that's how it's done.

3 million home hubs would still needed to have been provided even without BT WiFi. The software for the Hub to provide the service will come from FON.

Out of the added services BT WiFi has the potential to have a very low cost impact. Some mobile 'phone companies pay to have it available to their customers. Some people even pay direct to use it.

In reply to a post by ian72:

They used to have a min of 2 calls per month to get caller display for free but I am signed up to Line Rental Saver and have had months with no calls and had no additional charges levied.

And then it changed again, caller display is no longer free unless you re-contract line rental for a year.

Does anyone know if LRS counts as a re-contract and automatically offers free caller display without specifically having to "order" it?

My son did get a charge levied at one point.
It's possible that was because of free caller display (which he wasn't really using but might have signed up for as it was 'free')

BT don't seem to know ...

Here is a live chat session ...

I know line rental saver used to have a requirement to make a couple of calls a month or else an excess charge was made.
Does that still apply? I can't find any reference to it in the t&cs

Sithara Medakkandiyil: Hello. I'm Sithara Medakkandiyil. Thanks for that information, I'll check it and get back to you in a moment.
Sithara Medakkandiyil: Hello Stephen\
Sithara Medakkandiyil: Could you please confirm your BT account number?
Stephen Todd:xxxxxxxx
Stephen Todd: not that that is relevant to the question
Sithara Medakkandiyil: yes its still apply
Stephen Todd: many thanks for the clarification
Stephen Todd: can you point me at where it is stated in the terms and conditions, please
Sithara Medakkandiyil: Would you mind if I call you and put you through an advisor from customer option team who will be able to assist you further?
Stephen Todd: that's fine


The customer options team then told me that this was incorrect and that there isn't any excess charge.
(They also noticed my pending Mac and tried to hard-sell me staying with BT)


p.s. I don't think much of their automated system, as they had to keep asking for my phone number and account number.

Edited by StephenTodd (Thu 28-Aug-14 12:19:30)