Internet ONLY connection?

Hello,

I have been away from the DSL market for a long period of time so I am not sure if something like this actually exists:
I am looking for a provider that will supply ONLY internet on the line. I do not need a landline package. Just plain internet on good speeds.
Is there such a beast?

Many thanks
N

In reply to a post by Netizen:

I do not need a landline package

No, but you need a landline. You have to rent a line from someone in order to have the BB signals carried to your house.

Of course you can always get slow mobile BB but you said DSL.

I am now with BE Pro 24Mpbs and I am looking into having a similar service but without having to pay for the BT line (and of course without having a telephone line rental & service).

Lines have rental charged. No rental = no line.

You could try www.tooway.com

That doesn't need a landline . The site has a list of UK resellers.

Then either you are dreaming or believe in magic

The BT line is kind of essential to DSL - unless you can make DSL signals travel over a different medium and find someone that will support it...

As others have said (or suggested), broadband charges do not include the line. Any that do would be about £10 more (ie the line rental hidden in the broadband charge). Find the cheapest place for line rental, don't plug in a phone and get the broadband of your choice.

I am not dreaming.

I mentioned I've been away from the DSL market simply because I was abroad in another European country which does what I asked via normal telephone lines (not cable).
The setup is normal ADSL (as we know it) however if you connect a phone to the splitter you hear nothing. Cost wise is cheaper than having the phone line as well.

The interesting bit is that the provider that offers that is NOT the last mile owner.

An alternative in my case here would be via cable, however Virgin is not economical if you take internet only without line.

A&A offer this, which is what I am on right now. I can't make any outbound calls on the line, except for free phone and 999. People can make inbound calls to it.

Different regulators force different things on firms.

It has been suggested that voice line rental is relatively cheap in the UK as the profit comes from the calls made. Thus on a line where no calls were ever possible they'd want more money!!!

In reply to a post by mixt:

A&A offer this,

No, all they offer is line rental with no calls for £12 pm, just like everyone else The OP thinks he can get away without line rental.

In reference to aaisp.net.uk/broadband-services.html:

A telephone line is required for broadband and has separate costs for telephone service.

Their website is a bit confusing.
Can you be a little more specific please?

1)Do you have just one line?
2)How much do you pay to them monthly and for what speeds & capacity? Which package do you have

Are they good?
Many thanks

Assuming the tooway thing isn't exactly what you have in mind, but is the only suggestion so far that does what you asked for, I think you will find Be Home Phone is the lowest rental around. That's if you are happy with the Be Pro broadband.

BE do basic Landline for £10 per month

https://www.bethere.co.uk/be-portal/files/03588_BEpr...

For DSL in the UK you need a phone line

Have a look here, I use BT for line rental and calls, so don't know how good or bad the others are.
Shouldn't matter too much if all you want is a basic line rental contract.

Edited by Apprentice (Mon 06-Jun-11 18:18:20)

1) One line.
2) £12 a month (including VAT) for the line rental (see below for total).

This is not the cheapest. As others have said, Be might be your better option. I went with A&A only because I had specific requirements that Be can't fulfil (like IPv6).

A&A are more a niche/business ISP, and I've had no issues with them at all. It is, as they say, no frills broadband, literally.

I am currently being charged for:

* Line Rental - £10.
* Broadband on a 21CN connection - £10.17
* 2 base units of bandwidth allowance per month - £6.00

VAT for the above is: £5.23

Total per month: £31.40

You will always have to pay something for line rental, as this is the physical medium your broadband works over. There's no getting out of that one.

The bonus in my setup is, however, I do not have to deal with BT for any line fault. That is purely dealt with by A&A (who pass the buck to BT). Suits me down the ground, as I honestly have no interest in speaking with BT (personal preference).

Regarding units, they meter this differently depending on time of day. Further information about that is on their site.

Edited by deleted (Mon 06-Jun-11 18:55:18)

It is possible and is called Naked Dsl but BT would not want it to happen, the share price would probably collapse if it went down that road. One of the directors of BT a few years ago claimed there is not a big demand for naked dsl - they obviously never asked their customers the simple question, would you like to pay for a broadband line only and not a voice/data line.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

...would you like to pay for a broadband line only and not a voice/data line.

Would you care to explain the difference between the two types of line?

So, a question for you.

If, say, phone line rental was £10 and you broadband was £15 would that be any different to getting "naked DSL" with a bill of £25? That is the most likely scenario if naked DSL was allowed - the line and support of the line still have to be paid for no matter whether you call it phone line rental or naked DSL.

As another has said BT make most of their profits through the calls on lines and therefore it is little cheaper (and perhaps more expensive) if this component is removed.

It could be cheaper than that. If there's no PSTN service provided over the copper pair, only ADSL that's one less connection to one less box in the exchange. That connection to provide PSTN services clearly has non-zero cost, even if it's not actively used.

The 48V DC still needs to be maintained on the line (dry pairs were found to be easily re-used at cabinets when fixing other lines).

Non-zero cost to connect the PSTN side up, correct, but it is believed to be marginal.

BTW there are firms providing line rental at what appears below cost in the WLR world, but name escapes me - Utility Warehouse may be the one.

Demand - we see someone looking for this once every few months.

Ofcom could force the issue, but it would probably require a complete review of the whole line rental and broadband pricing. Surprisingly it might not be BT that complain, but Sky/TalkTalk where active PSTN are a pre-requisite for many of their packages.

It wouldn't be cost-effective for Openreach not to provide the PSTN connection at the exchange so as to achieve naked DSL, because the user could change their mind at will, (minimum terms aside). So that connection could repeatedly need making and breaking, perhaps simply because the user changes CP.

Just wondering as well, something I nearly posted before you raised the issue of it needing a full review of pricing, given a physical connection between the premises and exchange, how legal would it currently be wrt the USO and dial-up internet, and I expect there is something about the 999 service in there as well.

Primus telecom offer a 12 month contract at £6.79/month if you sign up through some site or another.

I was initially interested until I realised:
1 - Wholesale price plus VAT comes out at about £9ish a month.. so they're selling below cost.
2 - The contract is an auto-renewing 12 months
3 - The contract says "we will pass your details on to our trusted partners such that they may offer you products or servi..."

...I stopped reading at that point and closed the tab, it's quite simple to see how they make up the shortfall in income!

In reply to a post by blueacid:

Primus telecom offer a 12 month contract at £6.79/month if you sign up through some site or another.

I was initially interested until I realised:
1 - Wholesale price plus VAT comes out at about £9ish a month.. so they're selling below cost.
2 - The contract is an auto-renewing 12 months
3 - The contract says "we will pass your details on to our trusted partners such that they may offer you products or servi..."

...I stopped reading at that point and closed the tab, it's quite simple to see how they make up the shortfall in income!

it is only £6.79 a month got this package myself just for broadband only

http://www.homephonechoices.co.uk/article.asp?id=pri...

Primus Saver's Line Rental Saver details...
This package bundles your home phone and line rental from Primus.

Primus Line Rental Saver offers you line rental only and you will pay for the calls you use on top - see call rates for full breakdown
Monthly Package Fee Free - The set monthly cost you will pay for this package does not include line rental
Line Rental Information £6.79 - per month for Primus Saver line rental (Exclusive Offer). You will no longer pay line rental or calls to your current home phone provider.
Contract Length 12 months
Minimum Call Charge 11.00p - is a one off charge and applies to all non-inclusive landline calls. 11 pence is a one off charge and applies to all UK mobile calls. Call charges will be rounded up to the nearest full minute.

I think you may find you are restricted as to who you can have broadband off with Primus. That used to be the case, but maybe it has changed.

not sure mate you could be right . am using BE Broadband on this line

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

not sure mate you could be right . am using BE Broadband on this line

There's clearly 2 Anons here. That makes things difficult.

But Be on a Primus line sounds as though I could be wrong.

As far as I know it's fine on BE

One of the BE Usergroup at least has a line with Primus Home Saver

my bad forgot to log in sorry . yes primus Landline and BE broadband works spot on

In reply to a post by ian72:

So, a question for you.

If, say, phone line rental was £10 and you broadband was £15 would that be any different to getting "naked DSL" with a bill of £25?

Plusnet offer £11.99 for the line rental and their basic BB is £6.49 (markets 2 & 3). That's a grand total of £18.48 assuming you can get the right market. BT are £23 on a special offer. Not sure who's cheaper. However, that's their 'Value' BB package, so the OP would have to specify if that's sufficient.

Just come back from China after 4 years,
China Unicom 90pound a year. 8mb up and down.
They have fiber optic to switches out side apartment areas, Run lan cable to your house/flat.
No caps on anything full speed all the time.
Being screwed big time in the UK.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Just come back from China after 4 years,
China Unicom 90pound a year. 8mb up and down.
They have fiber optic to switches out side apartment areas, Run lan cable to your house/flat.
No caps on anything full speed all the time.
Being screwed big time in the UK.

That's available all over the country is it, to nearly all the population?

Wow!

not sure on coverage, that was rolled out in Guangxi couple of years ago.
Went in paid 900rmb over the counter, man next day arrived chucked a LAN cable threw my window and off he went.
No bills, no agro done and dusted.
Come back here and i just started to look for isp and its making me feel sick.

Gosh. I'd bet you wouldn't be able to find any other examples of goods or services being cheaper in China than the UK.

Where do think most the hardware comes from?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Where do think most the hardware comes from?

And the spam

funny because dont suffer the same spam problems in China they block all the [censored].

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The 48V DC still needs to be maintained on the line

It is 50V DC in the UK. I think 48V is used in the US of A.

When their average salary in Shanghai is just USD 10,000 then still a fair chunk of the salary at $140 a year.

If a lot of blocking for 'illegal' content took place in the UK, unlimited would be feasible again too.

And the Chinese government is artificially keeping it's currency weak, which a lot of countries have complained about. So you can't even say it costs that much in £'s as you were recieveing an effective subsidy from the Chinese government.

Good to see you all happy getting such a good deal for your internet in the UK and will put up with it and never protest.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Good to see you all happy getting such a good deal for your internet in the UK and will put up with it and never protest.

The vast majority in the UK get very cheap and effective internet, though that leaves a large number getting poor internet and some effectively none.

Please can you give an approximate percentage of the population of China that can get over 12Mbps connection speed? What is available in Shanghai is totally irrelevant to the overall comparison of the UK and China.

Ah ... relevant from Wiki

A majority of broadband subscribers are DSL, mostly from China Telecom and China Netcom. The price varies at different provinces, usually around US$10 � $20/month for a 1M DSL with unlimited downloads.[citation needed]

Although mainland China has the largest Internet population, it had a penetration rate of 31.8% as of June 2010.

Amnesty International notes that China �has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world.� The "offences" they are accused of include "communicating with groups abroad", "opposing the persecution of the Falun Gong", "signing online petitions" and "calling for reform and an end to corruption".

Nice.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 08-Jun-11 14:08:36)

Interesting article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_the_People'...

The price varies at different provinces, usually around US$10 � $20/month for a 1M DSL with unlimited downloads.

edit- you spotted it first

Edited by billford (Wed 08-Jun-11 14:09:44)

All completely wrong misinformation as usual but if it make you feel better knock your selfs out.
Pulling info from a wiki site class.

When are you going back to China?

And the correct information is?

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2011-02/17/con...

Which appears to mix up its Mega Bytes and Mega bits per second.

http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/20...
Not clear whether they are talking some cities for China e.g. Macau or the whole country.

Two nice quotes from that

The company said that within three years, its broadband network plans to cover every city and convert all low-speed copper broadband wires to fiber optics, which will improve bandwidth capabilities. The maximum Internet speed will increase from 2 megabytes (MB) to 100 MB by 2015.

Note it says cities. I wonder what about the rest of the country?

The company currently has 70 million low-speed broadband users.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

All completely wrong misinformation as usual but if it make you feel better knock your selfs out.
Pulling info from a wiki site class.

It's better than the information you supplied when I asked you, as that is zero. Perhaps you just like to slag things off in the UK compared to the first-class heavily censored, (and I don't mean porn, I mean real true world events news), service you claim to have had there. A service that is available to a tiny proportion and no apparent prospect of anything good getting outside the cities for several years.

There is a lot that could be improved here. These forums are full of sensible complaints, but yours isn't one of them.

The question you were asked by someone else as to when you are going back there seems relevant. Such a nice place. In fact, a photo of the apartment block and its environment might be interesting .

Post deleted by Sadoldman

Edited by deleted (Wed 08-Jun-11 18:28:36)

In reply to a post by PatTang:

City of Guilin a 3rd tier rural city in the province of Guilin.
Granted they was one of the first provinces to get this latest fiber optic systems in place, better then China Telcoms [censored] old twisted wires at 2mb connection.
Yansghou a small country town in the middle of no where also benefits from fast broadband as wel as the remote villages in the area.
Internet cafes in there hundreds in every city(+town,villages) that hold 500 plus terminals per multiplies floor for them who cant afford ... Re world news access being blocked total [censored] ....

Sounds like you could usefully sign up to Wiki and correct the rubbish in another article then - this one. Save many of us being mis-informed.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 08-Jun-11 18:32:19)

Post deleted by Sadoldman

In reply to a post by PatTang:

If you look at the geographic lay out of China you can see how difficult thats going to be, compared to say some where like Wales..

I don't suppose The Great Wall can be used as a backbone cable run?

In reply to a post by PatTang:

Whats this got to do with what I said in the first place.

My reply to your first post dealt with that post. I don't see anything in the bulk of the post containing this quote that has anything at all to do with what you said in the first place either. Your first post talks purely about China, and I replied. This one talks purely, (or rather impurely), about the UK.

Does using gutter language make you feel your views are more convincing?

Only two post ATM and both using crude language, lightly disguised.

Please state your views without the crudities...they add nothing to the argument

Censorship at its worce.....

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Censorship at its worce.....

Irony alert...

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Censorship at its worce.....

Why not register and stop hiding behind Anonymous?

In reply to a post by burakkucat:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Censorship at its worce.....

Why not register and stop hiding behind Anonymous?

Maybe he got used to it for safety in China.

Im not sure this Anon, the OP and PatTang aren't the same person .... There is of course at least one helpful Anon in the thread, but who knows. It's are always a pain when people post anonymously in anything but the simplest thread.

But I'm a GOM, so ....

Maybe he got used to it for safety in China.

Im not sure this Anon, the OP and PatTang aren't the same person .... There is of course at least one helpful Anon in the thread, but who knows. It's are always a pain when people post anonymously in anything but the simplest thread.

Perhaps the time has come for "the management" to remove the ability of unregistered persons to post to threads. To me, the current set-up seems to be abnormal and prone to abuse . . .

But I'm a GOM, so ....

. . you're just like the b*cat.

In reply to a post by Netizen:

Hello,

I have been away from the DSL market for a long period of time so I am not sure if something like this actually exists:
I am looking for a provider that will supply ONLY internet on the line. I do not need a landline package. Just plain internet on good speeds.
Is there such a beast?

Many thanks
N

Hi, you say; I am looking for a provider that will supply ONLY internet on the line. I do not need a landline package.

You got to have a landline, copper or fibre, if you want high speed broadband.
If you do not want the phone, bin it! Job done. These days they don't supply a phone anyhow.

The trouble is that nearly all CPs now bundle in an E/W call package. I realise that costs peanuts to them, but you can be sure a profit arises from it. I.e. the pure rental price could be lower. I haven't looked for the current OR line rental price, to compare with the BTW and Retail pricing, so not sure how much could be shaved off the consumer cost.

The Be line rental price looks interesting, but I expect even in that there is a contribution to the OR ADSL line rental.

In reply to a post by Netizen:

I am not dreaming.

I mentioned I've been away from the DSL market simply because I was abroad in another European country which does what I asked via normal telephone lines (not cable).
The setup is normal ADSL (as we know it) however if you connect a phone to the splitter you hear nothing. Cost wise is cheaper than having the phone line as well.

The interesting bit is that the provider that offers that is NOT the last mile owner.

An alternative in my case here would be via cable, however Virgin is not economical if you take internet only without line.

Hi, in the daytime, I use my mobile to make calls to landlines, which is free, in the evenings and at weekends; I use my landline phone, which is free. So directly I don�t pay for any phone calls, be versatile.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/broadband/compare-all/

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

not sure on coverage, that was rolled out in Guangxi couple of years ago.
Went in paid 900rmb over the counter, man next day arrived chucked a LAN cable threw my window and off he went.
No bills, no agro done and dusted.
Come back here and i just started to look for isp and its making me feel sick.

It may cost more here but at least you got more freedom to say what you want, look at what you and want and not have to worry about the great Firewall of China

If it was not for my internet I would not have a phone line to be honest, now I got a mobile phone contract I hardly use my landline.

Sadly the only thing you can do is get a cheap line rental deal.

I am using first telecom just for my landline, cheaper than BT and does the job.

I'm an English guy living in Thailand. Was a customer of Claranet, Demon, Plusnet and Zen in the UK.

I paid 70 quid for 6 months access over here.

It was 10 pounds the install (same day!), and 10 pounds PM paid upfront for the line.

They lashed the Co-ax cable towards the building, brought it in to the premises and terminated it onto a small - Korean made (LS networks) - Cable modem.

I've have 4Mbs/512Kbs but could have paid more for 20Mbs... the line is totally unmetered / fast all the time.

I'm about 1Km from the providers shop (thay have the shop downstairs and the networking gear upstairs). From their shop; it's Fibre all the way to the National Internet Exchange building.

In some others Asian countries; If you're close enough to the ISP's routers, they'll even lash a cat5e cable into your building and rent you line-speed ethernet network access for around $100 PM.

IMHO; there's much more common sense thinking and a "get things done" attitute in Asia than the UK.

George.

That would look great George round a typical suburban housing estate in the UK. It would be a few hundred cables from each supplying shop crawling all over the place.

Might be a bit difficult finding attachment points in suitable places though. And what's the punishment there for vandalism, i.e. cutting a few cables 500m away from their destinations for a bit of fun or because you don't like someone?

Are you talking about domestic premises there, or industrial? If domestic, what proportion of the surrounding buildings have it?

Edit - what's the average income per household - is £10 in local currency a significant figure to the Thai population?
Edit 2 - Ah. In 2010, $4716. How do the rural 68% of the population get on for internet access, including the cabling?

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 16-Jul-11 09:13:00)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

The trouble is that nearly all CPs now bundle in an E/W call package. I realise that costs peanuts to them, but you can be sure a profit arises from it. I.e. the pure rental price could be lower. I haven't looked for the current OR line rental price, to compare with the BTW and Retail pricing, so not sure how much could be shaved off the consumer cost.

The Be line rental price looks interesting, but I expect even in that there is a contribution to the OR ADSL line rental.

It could be the telephone line service subsidizes the broadband service, so if a broadband only line was provided it would be more expensive, would that oblige the OP?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

IMHO; there's much more common sense thinking and a "get things done" attitute in Asia than the UK.

George.

I can take the point for trailing cables and vandalism; however as with everything in the global economy pricing should comparable worldwide for the initial kit. For me it comes down to profit before service that western economies aspire for their shareholders and is very much supported by the I'm alright Jack attitude that is rampant in the UK which is quickly becomming, The Roman holiday attidue.

"Wires only" has been in discussion for years. It's simply a copper pair with ADSL on it - no dial tone. It wouldn't be free and the difference in cost to the end user would be, at best, marginal and BT may even price it higher because there is no chance they will make money on calls.

BT already charge consumers more for line rental if they don't make a single chargeable phone call in a given period.

Ofcom is BT's poodle, IMHO. They have no interest in the consumer and no teeth even if they did.

I use the Post Office for my line - no 12 contract and free calls all weekend

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

"Wires only" has been in discussion for years. It's simply a copper pair with ADSL on it - no dial tone. It wouldn't be free and the difference in cost to the end user would be, at best, marginal and BT may even price it higher because there is no chance they will make money on calls.

BT already charge consumers more for line rental if they don't make a single chargeable phone call in a given period.

Ofcom is BT's poodle, IMHO. They have no interest in the consumer and no teeth even if they did.

I use the Post Office for my line - no 12 contract and free calls all weekend

I am glad i don't use BT, my line rental is the same if I use or don't use my home phone. It is cheaper than Bt anyway.

It have got a 12 month contract, but only 2 months and that is it, but I expect I will be staying.

No where else to go really