Line rental saver

Comparing monthly costs is now even more difficult with things like setup fees and router postage.

For my last two contracts I have used line rental saver to reduce monthly costs, but it appears Sky and Fuelbroadband to name two no longer offer this.

Are there any others that don't offer LRS, or is there a list of those that do somewhere?

Find out, make a list, charge 1p per access, and you won't care.

The line saver is pointless these days in most cases, unless you are with a brilliant provider you want to carry on staying with.

The difference in price is very small but the potential trouble it can cause is huge.

Let's say you take a new contract with a broadband provider that doesn't deliver what you were promised and you want to move. Your paid in advance and non-refundable line saver either has to stay with that provider preventing you getting a better deal somewhere else or you have to forfeit the cost.

I've seen stories of people regretting getting line saver when they wanted to move away from an ISP either after initial migrating debacles or when the service deteriorated a lot.

The problem is you can't get out of a contract once you are in it anyway. So unless you opt for a short term contract you are usually tied in for a minimum of 12 months. Having line saver rental just reduces the monthly bill a fraction that is all.

18 and 24 month contracts seem to becoming more widespread now and this muddies the water even more as LSR is only for 12 months.

The time you can get out of a contract is if the supplier increases price. However, if you have LRS, broadband contract, TV contract and mobile contract it becomes difficult as they often rely on each other but an increase in one doesn't necessarily allow you to get out of the others. So, broadband price increases but you can't leave easily because you would lose the LRS. LRS adds to the tie-in - and that is why some suppliers offer it but the discounts are getting smaller.

Ok, here you are. All the information for comparison in one place.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-c...

There are some interesting deals there.

Edited by deleted (Fri 16-Oct-15 09:21:25)

Yep, valid points, but it would still be nice to know if an ISP gave you the option.

Thanks for that.

Direct save telecom is listed as the cheapest, but as it is a 24 month contract and you have to pay £25 plus £9 router postage and insurance then (I assume) 12 months rental at full cost, I'm not sure if this is right. http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/otherisp/t/4440972-...

The Post Office seems the next best one. http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/postoffice.html

Edited by hk11 (Fri 16-Oct-15 10:05:46)

You might want to do maths and see whether getting broadband only deal and line rental separately would make sense financially.

The line rental only with Direct Line Telecom is £138.

http://www.directsavetelecom.co.uk/dst_option1.php

However you choose, do investigate what the customer service is like, as sometimes you can spent more money on prescription from high blood pressure than you save on rental line fees.

I wonder if the £25 is a broadband or a telephone line setup charge? It's not clear.

Pulse8Broadband line rental is almost unbeatable, and I trust them. Call rates are negligible, with no call setup costs. For the price of an Anytime addon, say £7pm from the big boys, you get 700 minutes of landline - landline calls. More if any are outside peak hours.

Mine is with them, broadband with AAISP.

I strongly advise against LRS now days, the gap between LRS and normal line rental has been decreasing year on year. In addition as others have pointed out it makes it harder to leave even on a price increase.

Plusnet e.g. dont consider LRS refundable as part of the ofcom regs of non penalty contract termination. Ofcom are sitting on the fence and leaning towards siding with the isp's which makes them a complete joke as if they designed regulation to only affect one little specific thing just the monthly line rental with deliberate loopholes.

Interesting. Is it Home Line Bundle you are talking about at £6 per month?

https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/line-bundles

My sentiment exactly.

It's much better to look at the deals that have a voucher, discount or cashback to offset the cost of LRS to leave you free to move if things go awry.

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

Plusnet e.g. dont consider LRS refundable as part of the ofcom regs of non penalty contract termination. Ofcom are sitting on the fence and leaning towards siding with the isp's which makes them a complete joke as if they designed regulation to only affect one little specific thing just the monthly line rental with deliberate loopholes.

If Ofcom rule that LRS must be refundable ISPs will simply not offer them anymore, there would be little to no incentive for them to do so. I don't mind seeing the end of LRS, it seems to be happening anyway regardless of what Ofcom decide.

Edited by Oliver341 (Fri 16-Oct-15 12:53:11)

Seems to be only a 10% saving on BT for example.

Ofcom always have been a joke in my eyes. Same with all/most of these governing bodies: they just don't seem to have the "teeth" for the job.

Thanks: will check them out.

In reply to a post by alext05:

Interesting. Is it Home Line Bundle you are talking about at £6 per month?

https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/line-bundles

AFAIK it is only £6.00 per month if you have Pulse8 XL broadband on that line too, it appears to be £13.00 per month for those with another broadband service provider.

Correct - you've saved me some typing .

I'm on the Home Line Rental package, (the link opens on the Business tab so people need to click the Home tab), at £13 plus £1 for Caller Display. Basic 1571 is free and all I need.

If someone goes on it and later finds their preferred broadband demands that supplier's line rental as well, there's no problem. It's a monthly contract.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Mine is with them, broadband with AAISP.

Moneybags

LOL

Total approximately £7pm more than I was paying with BT line rental and Plusnet Fibre Extra. Pulse8 for line and broadband works out about £2 more than BT + PN.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Seems to be only a 10% saving on BT for example.

Ofcom always have been a joke in my eyes. Same with all/most of these governing bodies: they just don't seem to have the "teeth" for the job.

Yup all bark and no bite, they get bt to reduce cost at a wholesale level but don't put SP's/ISP's under any obligation to pass on those price reductions , so is of no benefit to the customer FTTC migration fees FTTC 1 mth min therm for migrations (subject to conditions), then the reduction of the line rental wholesale price

What have BT done, increased line rental and calling plans and still only offer 12mth min term contracts to those who migrate their FTTC service to them, Ofcom is a useless quango tax payers money would be better spent on something that benefits the customer

In reply to a post by tommy45:

In reply to a post by hk11:

Seems to be only a 10% saving on BT for example.

Ofcom always have been a joke in my eyes. Same with all/most of these governing bodies: they just don't seem to have the "teeth" for the job.

Yup all bark and no bite, they get bt to reduce cost at a wholesale level but don't put SP's/ISP's under any obligation to pass on those price reductions , so is of no benefit to the customer
Ofcom is a useless quango tax payers money would be better spent on something that benefits the customer

+1

What more is there to say?

I complained many moons back to MSE that they were not listing some decent, less expensive providers (e g Zen, at the time), they replied that they'd look into it but still they only list the same old ones (perhaps the ones that pay them to do so?) they still don't list e.g http://www.vivaciti.net/#phone

In reply to a post by hk11:

Seems to be only a 10% saving on BT for example.

The saving might be only 10% initially, but you are locking into today's rates, less a 10% discount. Consequently, you will be protected against price increases in the line rental element for up to 12 months. If there is little or no likelihood that you might need to cancel within 12 months (resulting in forfeiture of the unexpired prepayment), then advance line rental might still make sense.

I locked into my TalkTalk line rental for 12 months on the previous tariff, just 6 weeks before they announced the annual increase in the monthly rate. Timing could be important.

Good points Bob.

http://www.tescobroadband.com/HelpAndSupport/Article... seems to be a good deal.

http://www.tescobroadband.com/HelpAndSupport/Article... indicates BB is free for 12 months

Can't locate the contract length atm.

Are you aware TalkTalk now control/provide Tesco broadband? Link.

It could possibly be at Post Office performance levels, depending on the Tesco<>TalkTalk contract.

Yes, I saw that shortly after I posted and I don't think they actually sell broadband anymore so .....

In reply to a post by bob_lucas:

In reply to a post by hk11:

Seems to be only a 10% saving on BT for example.

The saving might be only 10% initially, but you are locking into today's rates, less a 10% discount. Consequently, you will be protected against price increases in the line rental element for up to 12 months.

I signed up to BT's Line Rental Saver a few years ago. Not only did they recalculate the annual line rental figure when they increased their monthly cost, but each year failed to inform me to re-sign up. This resulted in a short period where their added "Free" services which came with LRS were charged for and since my next 12 months began when I contacted them to sign up, I was not getting the expected saving.

I should have challenged their charges, but was it worth it for the hassle?

Cheers!

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I should have challenged their charges, but was it worth it for the hassle?

If more people challenged these firms when they get it wrong they wouldn't be so quick to overcharge all the time.

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I signed up to BT's Line Rental Saver a few years ago. Not only did they recalculate the annual line rental figure when they increased their monthly cost, but each year failed to inform me to re-sign up. This resulted in a short period where their added "Free" services which came with LRS were charged for and since my next 12 months began when I contacted them to sign up, I was not getting the expected saving.

I should have challenged their charges, but was it worth it for the hassle?

That was my experience as well but all it took was a polite phone call. They refunded the charges, adjusted my direct debit and refunded the cost for that month. Took about five minutes and was totally painless.

I have to say that (despite what everyone usually says) it's BT's service that tends to keep me with them. I've always found them to be helpful and available 24/7. Not that they often get anything wrong for me but it's always easy to sort out.

Edited by Andrue (Fri 23-Oct-15 13:56:40)

In reply to a post by Andrue:

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I signed up to BT's Line Rental Saver a few years ago. Not only did they recalculate the annual line rental figure when they increased their monthly cost, but each year failed to inform me to re-sign up. This resulted in a short period where their added "Free" services which came with LRS were charged for and since my next 12 months began when I contacted them to sign up, I was not getting the expected saving.

I should have challenged their charges, but was it worth it for the hassle?

That was my experience as well but all it took was a polite phone call. They refunded the charges, adjusted my direct debit and refunded the cost for that month. Took about five minutes and was totally painless.

I have to say that (despite what everyone usually says) it's BT's service that tends to keep me with them. I've always found them to be helpful and available 24/7. Not that they often get anything wrong for me but it's always easy to sort out.

I have the line rental saver, but my latest bill shows the increase. I've just spent 25 minutes on the phone to an Indian call centre trying to make them understand. They claimed to be unable to transfer me to someone in England. A supervisor is supposed to be calling me back - we will see what happens.

I've just had the renewal reminder for the Saver - I don't think I'll bother.

After another load of argy bargy with the Indian Call Centre, I manages to get ransferred to someone in Lancaster who sorted things out.

I had the opposite experience in 2013, going a few days over the year-in-advance yet attracting the full month's charges. Sorting out the bill was a nightmare as BT seemed to go out of their way to make life complicated, applying the line rental payment to the subsequent few months' BB/phone accounts. I moved to PN and a far more straightforward billing system. However, I agree with earlier posts that the 'saver' is no longer worth having and merely hinders a move between ISP.