Broadband and Having to Have a BT Land Line?

I was wondering (out loud) if anyone has ever challenged (legally?) the requirement by BT for you to keep and pay line rental in order to have broadband as you also have to pay for the broadband service.

I appreciate more and more people can get cable but I would think the majority of people still need a BT line. However it does frustrate me as I could quite happily live of a mobile and don't want my land line.

Suppose the question is in the title, while BT may say you have to keep paying for the land line, why do you?

You can challenge all you like but that is the way they sell it. You could have naked DSL (as provided in other countries) but in the end you pay for the line rental within the broadband cost then.

Broadband in this country using BT does not cover line rental. Therefore that is charged separately. There is nothing to challenge.

Of course you could go with a wireless ISP, satellite or cable - none of which require a BT line (although of course even with cable you will pay for the physical line as well as the broadband, it just may be packaged differently).

EDIT: Just had a look at Virgin's site. Look at this page. So, £5 per month for broadband and phone. Wow. Except that after 3 months it is £12.50. Oh, and in the *'d bit it says you also need a virgin phone line at £11.99 per month. Sounds awfully like the way BT based ISPs work except you can only go with Virgin as they aren't wholesaling the connection.

Edited by ian72 (Thu 16-Sep-10 14:22:20)

In reply to a post by doleawg:

I was wondering (out loud) if anyone has ever challenged (legally?) the requirement by BT for you to keep and pay line rental in order to have broadband as you also have to pay for the broadband service.

Line rental pays for the maintenance of the copper wire and other essential infrastructure as well as the telephone service. I suppose it would be nice if you could just pay the maintenance bit but based on WLR (Wholesale Line Rental) pricing I suspect that would only save you a couple of quid.

How would you get your broadband service if the line was removed?

In reply to a post by MHC:

How would you get your broadband service if the line was removed?

Fair point but why doesn't the broadband price include the wire required. Why do I have to pay twice for the service?

You are not paying twice.

Assuming you use the line for telephony too:

1. You pay line rental to cover the cost of maintaining the line, pole, cabinets, MDF and part of the exchange.

2. You pay call charges to cover the interconnecting network between exchanges - maintenance and other costs

3. You pay a broadband fee that covers the cost of the broadband network and interconnections.

They are three separate items and splitting them out shows what you are paying for.



If the cost of the line was included in call fees for example then heavy users of voice would be penalised and pay.

Some providers give you a combined package of line rental and call charges - but you can get pure line rental only if you wish.

If you included line rental in with the Broadband fee, then those who do not have broadband would not pay towards the line maintenance.

Splitting it out the way it is means you pay for what you use and don't pay for things you don't. Doing it as a bundle some people would always not use some part of the bundle.