BT line?

dori2o

When a broadband provider states you must have a BT line, does this mean you have to have your phone line provided by BT for your phone line rental, or does it mean that you have to have a phone line entering the property but can have the service provided by someone else?

lee634

your second statement is correct,

they just mean NOT cable

GunJack

lee634 wrote: »

your second statement is correct,

they just mean NOT cable

THIS IS INCORRECT

the OP was correct to say that you have to be paying BT for line rental, even if voice and internet are provided by someone else. If you were on a full LLU (local loop unbundled) service with, say, talktalk, you would be paying TT for your line rental. It is significant, as the line from your house to the exchange would terminate into TT's DSLAM/MSAN at the exchange, NOT into BT's kit.

For IPStream ISPs, they can only operate through the BT equipment as they are effectively reselling the BT bandwidth under thier own name. Any LLU operator is selling it's own (at that level) bandwidth, hence the IPStream ISPs specifying the need for a BT phone line.

frivolous_fay

On a vaguely related note... is it possible to have BT Broadband when your phone line is with another company? Is there a significant saving in doing so?

We pay what seems like a totally spurious amount for BT line rental, when we really don't use the phone much at all. But we do like the broadband.

kwikbreaks

I think if you were with TalkTalk there could be a problem as they take full control of the line over from BT. Most non-BT lines are still really BT though and it is only the billing that isn't.

lee634

GunJack wrote: »

THIS IS INCORRECT

the OP was correct to say that you have to be paying BT for line rental, even if voice and internet are provided by someone else. If you were on a full LLU (local loop unbundled) service with, say, talktalk, you would be paying TT for your line rental. It is significant, as the line from your house to the exchange would terminate into TT's DSLAM/MSAN at the exchange, NOT into BT's kit.

For IPStream ISPs, they can only operate through the BT equipment as they are effectively reselling the BT bandwidth under thier own name. Any LLU operator is selling it's own (at that level) bandwidth, hence the IPStream ISPs specifying the need for a BT phone line.

Not quite correct as you can still pay the post office for your line rental and call charges but this doesn't mean that the line is going through their equipment

kwikbreaks

frivolous_fay wrote: »

On a vaguely related note... is it possible to have BT Broadband when your phone line is with another company? Is there a significant saving in doing so?

We pay what seems like a totally spurious amount for BT line rental, when we really don't use the phone much at all. But we do like the broadband.

The line rental pays for maintenance of the line and equipment at the exchange. Whoever you get the phone line from there will be a charge (possibly hidden). Unless there isn't a phone line and it's cable of course.

GunJack

lee634 wrote: »

Not quite correct as you can still pay the post office for your line rental and call charges but this doesn't mean that the line is going through their equipment

But this is not a full LLU service, this is PO effectively using bulk renting from BT to provide it's service, and you're still limited by the BT DSLAM. Think of it as halfway between a true IPStream ISP and a full LLU operator........

..and let's not forget that, in the vast majority of cases, a consumer will get a better broadband service from a full LLU provider than from any service which relies on BT IPStream and it's AWFUL DLM.....

lee634

GunJack wrote: »

But this is not a full LLU service, this is PO effectively using bulk renting from BT to provide it's service, and you're still limited by the BT DSLAM. Think of it as halfway between a true IPStream ISP and a full LLU operator........

But the OP was not asking about LLU services, so technically we are both correct :beer:

GunJack

Lee, take your point, but I think it may possibly be down to a misunderstanding by the OP of the workings of bb provision in this country. In a roundabout way they were asking about LLU without realising it
If you were on LLU, you couldn't have your bb provided by a.n.other ISP whereas if you have a BT line, you can have bb provided by any BT wholesale reseller ISP as the line is connected to a BT DSLAM in the exchange. This is why ISPs say they can provide you with bb and voice services providing you have a BT line.

GunJack

kwikbreaks wrote: »

The line rental pays for maintenance of the line and equipment at the exchange. Whoever you get the phone line from there will be a charge (possibly hidden). Unless there isn't a phone line and it's cable of course.

This is true up to a point - BT Openreach will still physically maintain the copper/ali between your house and the exchange even if you are on LLU, but will only do so when the LLU provider place an order with them to do so (and pay OR's bill, of course). This is normally an invisible process to the consumer. The LLU provider will maintain it's own DSLAMs/MSANs, whether it uses it's own people or it's contracted this work out to a third party.