Cheapest line rental provider?

Munki_2

Hi everyone... I'm pretty certain that this hasn't been asked specifically on this board (just the occasional muttering here and there), but sorry if it has...

What with the deregulation of the BT phone network, I'm sure there must be a number of companies out there that offer cheaper line rental than BT? I'm currently on NTL cable for my phone line, but am contemplating transferring over to a BT-based line, so I can get cheaper broadband access.

My questions are :

1. What companies are there that offer an alternative to BT's line rental, and...
2. What (if any) are the implications of having these new services - i.e. do the the bolt-on call providers like 18866 and 1899 still work with these etc.

I'm already aware of IT Plus, but are there others?

Any help would be appreciated. I'd like to chop my £9.50 per month line rental and £25 per month broadband to a fraction of the cost with any luck! (I know most of my cost is with the NTL broadband, but if I'm going to get a BT line installed I thought I'd might as well look into saving on the whole thing!)

Cheers,

Munki.

Smartasss

Munki wrote:

I'm already aware of IT Plus,

Beware of using this company until you have thoroughly read their Ts + Cs, and are happy to go along with them.

You cannot use any other provider than them - no 18866, 1899 etc.

You must sign up to a minimum 12 months contract which is renewed every 12 months (i.e. you can only ever leave at the end of a full 12 months service - after 12,24,36 etc months.) Even then you cannot leave until giving one month's notice at the end of the 12 month period. (So the minimum is actually 13 months)

They charge £25 transfer fee.

They quote their prices excluding VAT (but always compare them with BT's VAT inclusive prices)

Munki_2

Smartasss wrote:

Beware of using this company until you have thoroughly read their Ts + Cs, and are happy to go along with them.

You cannot use any other provider than them - no 18866, 1899 etc.

You must sign up to a minimum 12 months contract which is renewed every 12 months (i.e. you can only ever leave at the end of a full 12 months service - after 12,24,36 etc months.) Even then you cannot leave until giving one month's notice at the end of the 12 month period. (So the minimum is actually 13 months)

They charge £25 transfer fee.

They quote their prices excluding VAT (but always compare them with BT's VAT inclusive prices)

Yes, I noticed some of these things, but didn't manage to find any info about tie-in periods.... how very cheeky to lock you in for such a long time, and in such a strange way... grrr

You can't use 18866 or 1899... erk! That's no good then!

I noticed the cheaky way they compare their prices... that was very misleading, and to be honest that worried me a bit (the fact they think they can get away with misleading like that).

I'm guessing they are the only ones to offer proper line-rental at the moment? As from what you are saying about not being able to use other providers, that's put me off them already.

Cheers smartass (smartass by name, smartass by nature! hehe)

Munki

Edinburghlass_2

Much as many people dislike having to pay their line rental to BT is really is the best choice for then having a wide selection of broadband suppliers as well has being able to use a CPS such as Onetel/TalkTalk coupled with 18866 and 1899 etc.;)

Munki_2

Yes, I think line rental is something I will not be doing much moneysaving on :-(

But working things out I should save some money simply adding a BT line and switching to ADSL Broadband...

Currently :

NTL Line rental : £9.50 x 12
NTL Broadband : £25 x 12
Total : £414 p/a

Switching to BT and getting a cheap Broadband provider :
BT Line Installation : £75
BT Line Rental : £10.50 x 12
Cheap BB (approx) : £15 x 12
Total (approx) : £381 (in first year, approx + includes line installation)
Total (approx) : £306 (p/a subsequent years)

Saving : £108 p/a approx. PLUS when I join some call providers I will substantially save on my calls too. (I'd rather not bother right now whilst I'm on NTL because we don't use the phone for many calls, expect the wife calling her mum in Spain - However, my sister will be moving to Australia soon so it might be more benifical then).

Munki

Edinburghlass_2

Munki you can use 1899 and 18866 with NTL so worth signing up for those international calls

zzzLazyDaisy

Have you tried switching to NTL's £17.99 Broadband package? I have tried both, and there is no noticeable difference, unless you are downloading a lot of films/music etc. What have you got to lose, you can always swop back....

Munki_2

edinburghlass wrote:

Munki you can use 1899 and 18866 with NTL so worth signing up for those international calls

Yeah I know I can use them on NTL, but there are connection charges of a penny or half a penny per call, aren't there? Not that it's a problem... I'm not that tight... I just think that because I'm a low call user, I'm not going to benifit much... But if/when I move over to BT, I think I'll sign up to 1899 and 18866 all in one go... (while I'm 'in the zone'!) :-)

Munki_2

zzzLazyDaisy wrote:

Have you tried switching to NTL's £17.99 Broadband package? I have tried both, and there is no noticeable difference, unless you are downloading a lot of films/music etc. What have you got to lose, you can always swop back....

Not a bad idea... I did contemplate it a while ago, but that was before they promised to upgrade all their speeds... trouble is, I don't know how it would work if i reduced down to their lower speed ... would they give me the old 300k speed which doesn't have such strict download limits, or the newer 1mb speed but with its silly 1gb/month download limit.... I'm just not sure what they'll do. (Have I got those figures correct? I'm trying to recall from memory from a post I read the other day!)

I may have to give NTL a call. Maybe I can try and wangle some half price line rental and broadband for a bit, then I may not bother changing anything for a little while ;-) hehe