Installing second line

I am considering installing a second phone line in my home. My first line has zen internet broadband on it and we use BT for phone, if that makes any difference.

What are my options for installing a second line? Costs? Is it BT who installs and then you have a deal with a company of your choosing? Or what?

Thanks,

Jon

If you order the 2nd line from BT and put it on the same a/c # as the 1st line, your existing Call Plan covers both. So you will only need to pay line rental on 2nd line.

The BT cable to the premises carrying the 1st line usually comes with 2 line pairs. So the 2nd line can be taken off it immediately.

If you order the 2nd line from some other provider, it is usually BT Openreach who installs it unless you go for a Full LLU provider like TalkTalk.

Any idea what the cost will be for the 2nd line?

Is there any benefit to a Full LLU provider like TalkTalk? Full LLU sounds rather nice, whatever it means!

At most £30 connection fee from BT as long as you take 18 month contract.

I see no advantage from Full LLU for phone only; it's meant for BB + Phone. Particularly as TT has such a bad reputation for Customer Support. Also hard to get line back to BT.

What is LLU?

This will be no difference full LLU or not

Its still BTOR which will carry out the work

also full LLU is not great once you want to change providers i would just stay with you're current provider to avoid the headaches.

The second line is for broadband and phone use. Mind you, I don't want a 18 month contract! My area is supposed to be getting fast broadband early next year.

Its so expensive for a 2nd line installation! I was told £130 on their chat thing. I want to know what my quarterly line rental will be, or monthly fee. I find their packages page so confusing. e.g. its £4 per month, unless you make less than 10 calls per month in which case its blah blah.

In reply to a post by DaveSmith2020:

I want to know what my quarterly line rental will be, or monthly fee. I find their packages page so confusing.

If by "they" you mean BT, line rental is £13.90 pm or £120 for 1 year in advance.

EDIT: For the fast BB, FTTC, you'll need a BT line anyway.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 08-Jul-11 20:10:50)

But if you already have bt for your phone and have "line rental saver"(£120.00 paid in advance) you cannot get lrs on the 2nd line

Who says?

If you order the 2nd line from some other provider, it is usually BT Openreach who installs it unless you go for a Full LLU provider like TalkTalk.

Who do suppose fits 'full LLU' lines then, if not Openreach ?

For the fast BB, FTTC, you'll need a BT line anyway.

.... or a Talk Talk one !

BT will install the second line for £30 as long as you accept an 18-month contract for it. The only FFTC service on it that would exclude at the moment would be TalkTalk. See the third sub-sub-heading on this page.

If you want broadband on the second line, you can have nearly any supplier you wish.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Who says?

Maybe this that the op was referring too

In reference to www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?top...:

£30 Connection Offer: Customers who require a new line will benefit from a £100 discount on the standard line connection charge of £130. Customers who are benefiting from this offer are not eligible for Line Rental Saver and must agree to an 18 month contract (applies to the Unlimited Weekend Plan or the Unlimited Anytime Plan). Minimum call commitment also applies � you must make at least 10 chargeable or inclusive calls per month (30 calls per quarter). You'll need to pay a charge of £5.15 for every month (if you are billed monthly) or £15.45 for every quarter (if you're billed quarterly) in which you don't make these calls, as compensation for not making the minimum number of calls required. These charges are not subject to VAT and will appear in the one-off charges section of your bill.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Who do suppose fits 'full LLU' lines then, if not Openreach ?

I imagined that the non-BT provider (i.e. only TT & Sky) themselves would install non-BT owned lines, but I guess you have disabused me.

Ah. I see! Nothing to do with having Line Rental Saver on your 1st line as poster contended and only applicable when you take the £30 Connection Offer. I thought the poster was talking more generally.

I have 2 existing BT lines, both on monthly rental. I see nothing in BT's T&Cs that prevents me taking up Line Rental Saver on both.

Only way to find out would be to ring them, but as both lines would use the same account that may stop them both having line rental saver, and both presumably would require a calling plan and with line rental saver i'm sure that you have to make 2 calls per month or 6 per quarter so it would be a pain in the backside if you only wanted the second line for adsl use

No, if it's not specifically excluded in the T&Cs it must be allowed. It doesn't matter what they say on the phone unless they can point me to statement in the T&Cs that debars it.

I do have a single Calling Plan that covers both lines cuz the are on the same a/c. Making the necessary # of calls on each line is not a hurdle; both lines are used for calls. EDIT: Anyway BT line rental automatically includes their lowest Call Plan, Unlimited Weekend.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Sat 09-Jul-11 00:15:17)

Ah, but in order to have line rental saver you have to take out a calling plan on the line's that you have the LRS on , i'm sure someone will know what their t&c's are on it their web site is not very clear in that the full t&c's regarding this aren't readily available

In reply to a post by tommy45:

in order to have line rental saver you have to take out a calling plan on the line's that you have the LRS on

Sorry, but how do you work that out?

A Calling Plan is not restricted to a single line, but to a single a/c, as I have proved with my current situation. Just to clarify, I get all my up to 1 hour 01, 02, 03, 0845 & 0870 calls on both lines free on one Unlimited Anytime Plan costing one £4.70 pm.

What did you want a second line for?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by tommy45:

in order to have line rental saver you have to take out a calling plan on the line's that you have the LRS on

Sorry, but how do you work that out?

A Calling Plan is not restricted to a single line, but to a single a/c, as I have proved with my current situation. Just to clarify, I get all my up to 1 hour 01, 02, 03, 0845 & 0870 calls on both lines free on one Unlimited Anytime Plan costing one £4.70 pm.

ok , in which case it would cost you the full £130.00 fee , so either way you you end up paying around the same , pay £130 install charge to get a £46.80 discount (LRS) or pay £30.00 install and pay £250.20 (18months contract) line rental @£13.90

You miss the point. We were discussing existing lines, so no connection charge is involved, and debating whether a separate Calling Plan was needed for LRS.

Installing second line is the topic, which i was referring to,but if you already have more than 1active line then things are different,oh and i found this which i think answers the question of having LRS on more than 1 line

In reference to bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13962/kw/land%20line/c/761,...:

Can I get Line Rental Saver on more than one line?
No, you can only get Line Rental Saver on one of your phone lines.

Edited by tommy45 (Sat 09-Jul-11 15:27:19)

Agreed, this is a bit of a detour from the topic.

Funny, I rang BT today on just this point and they they even said "You could have 10 lines and you can have LRS on all of them". Still, as I said earlier, it doesn't matter what they say on phone; it's what said in T&Cs that counts.

That's a Help page and is not contractual. There is no condition in their T&Cs restricting LRS on more than 1 line.

I phoned BT's Customer Option Team, who deal with such things, yesterday and they said I could have LRS on both my lines, but when I said go ahead and order LRS on one of my lines, they replied the system is refusing it because I'm already in a contract.

So, as an existing customer, if you want LRS, the thing to remember is that when you are taking out or renewing a contract, renewable or not, for your Calling Plan is to order LRS at the same time.