Service provider 'tag' will cost me 40 quid! How is this allowed?

Rupertdabear

I have been thinking of switching to Sky as I'll get a free Sky+ box, Sky TV, free broadband and free evening and weekend calls and line rental for only £9.50 per month more than I'm currently paying Talktalk for broadband, calls and line rental. However, when I tried to order from Sky they tell me Talktalk had put a tag on my line when I joined them three years ago that Sky will now have to charge me £39 to remove!! Grrr...how is this possible and what can I do? I believe Talktalk do not do this anymore and I would never have joined them if I'd know that at some future date it would cost me dearly to switch providers! :mad:

kwikbreaks

TalkTalk usually fully unbundle the line and you'd need to get it back to being a BT line to get a different ISP. £39 sounds cheap to me as a new BT connection usually costs > £100.

Rupertdabear

Thanks for that kwikbreaks. I did not realize that when I 'simply' switched service providers that I was effectively giving Talktalk ownership of my line and telephone number, which I've had for 20 years. But I've learned TT do not do this 'tagging' anymore, so why is my switching to Sky (for example) akin to getting a new connection as you suggest?

david39

"I did not realize that when I 'simply' switched service providers that I was effectively giving Talktalk ownership of my line and telephone number, which I've had for 20 years."

Surely you never owned either the line or the number - BT owned both and they then transferred ownership to TalkTalk when you switched, which would be within their rights to so do.

If you thought that you owned the line, why have you been paying a line rental fee in your composite package to TalkTalk for three years?

kwikbreaks

I don't know anything about this "tag" which is almost certainly a BT charge. If TalkTalk actually did unbundle you fully then there is real physical work needed in the exchange to reconnect your line to the BT telephony kit.

In any event there will be real physical work needed to connect you up to the Sky DSLAM (ADSL kit). Those jobs get done by BT OpenReach and the ADSL part of the job would be charged at ~ £40-50 to Sky. I've no idea what the phone side of it costs but imagine it would be the same or similar as the actual work is pretty much thes same but to different bits of kit.

That OpenReach charge to connect up for ADSL is why you either have to pay or accept a 12 month contract on new ADSL connections. If you move between BTw IPstream resellers then it is a keyboard job with a lot lower charge so you can normally get a free move and just a 1 month contract (apart from rubbish ISPs who can only retain customers by imposing long contracts)

TalkTalk

Hi Rupertdabear,

The only time a "tag" or "marker" is placed on the line is if you have an IP stream service with TalkTalk. If you have this type of service then you can migrate to another provider using a MAC.

If you have LLU services with TalkTalk then your line will have been unbundled. This is stull current practice for all customers using our free broadband service. There is no "tag" placed on your line for LLU. However, your line will be physically removed from BTs equipment at the exchange and connected to TalkTalk equipment in order for your service to be provided outside of BTs network. A number of providers have a requirment for you to have a service across BTs network before they can provision a service for you. If this is the case you can either pay your chosen new provider to migrate the service or move your line back to BT (return to donor) for line rental services and then set up broadband with another provider. There is no charge for a return to donor as far as I am aware but you would be placed in a contract with BT for your line rental services should you choose this option.

Cheers
Em x

mrtom21

Sky TV, phone and BB are a priviledge, not a right... Why should Sky do the work for free? They have informed you of the charge it is up to you if you take it. Simple as that.