Line Rental x 2?

I am on an ancient contract, so please bear with my ignorance. There's been no point in upgrading broadband here until recently because of the long length of line to the exchange and a maximum speed of about 3Mb/s.

Now that FTTC is now available with a copper run of about 500m, it's sensible to upgrade.

The ancient broadband-only contract is £12.00 for 'up to' 8Mb/s with Orange (now EE of course) in addition to the (also ancient) BT contract which includes calls and line rental.

Most modern contracts stipulate broadband AND line rental, but its not clear to me whether it is payable in addition to the existing line rental payable to BT for the landline calls.

So: Am I going to be paying two sets of line rental charges effectively for the two services?

Only one line rental payable.

Usually you take line rental and BB from the same supplier, but it can be separate. Separate is usually more expensive.

Check if your contract has a fixed length and if so a) has it expired and b) if not, has it a termination cost.

Edited by hk11 (Sat 16-May-15 18:13:47)

Thanks very much for your answer.

Do you think that would still be the case, say, if any "bundled" calls, eg evening and weekend calls are included in the broadband contract, which suggests that other daytime calls remain with BT?

Sorry to be pedantic, I have this brain that only works in single chunks at a time!

Calls are related to line rental and not BB.

OK, thanks for your help!

Call plans and any other phone charges are always with whoever you have the line rental with.

If changing line/call supplier it is important to check all the things like possible charges for 1451/1571, caller display and so on. Quite often these can add significantly to the published rental cost. Also the setup and call charges for ones that aren't covered by whatever plan you take.

I've always kept my line/calls with BT and pay the slightly higher broadband price that may entail. However, there are now some very cheap line/call packages from several companies that allow you to have other-company broadband. I keep wondering if I should go for one, but somehow BT line/call rental give me a comfort feeling.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Calls are related to line rental and not BB.

That's true, but often aren't advertised as such. BT being a major case in point, where the bundle offered is broadband + call package, with the small print saying line rental with them required.

As I think is also the case with Sky and TalkTalk.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 16-May-15 18:35:32)

You could always add VOIP to muddy the waters.

Yep

I have many online accounts with my Orange BB email address and will have to go through them all to change them to a independent web address before switching to a different provider. I may stick with EE for continuity's sake for the initial 18 month contract before considering switching again.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

... Calls are related to line rental and not BB....

...That's true, but often aren't advertised as such. ....

That's the VERY reason for my OP!

In reply to a post by hk11:

Calls are related to line rental and not BB.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Call plans and any other phone charges are always with whoever you have the line rental with.

Not necessarily. EE/Orange used to do BB Only + a Calling Plan (Anytime, E&Ws or W/end only) to anyone with a BT line. Line rental still went to BT (or other). I can still upgrade to one of those as I have BB only from EE. Perhaps the OP is on one of those?

At the time there were other ISPs doing similar, but I can't find any today.