Why are BT allowed the monopoly on phone lines and exchanges?

lesleyoxley

Here we go again. I can't believe I just spent half hour writing this thread and it disappeared when I tried to post it AAAAARRRR

My gripe is why do I have to pay BT anything when I don't have my phone service from them. I can understand having to pay them to have a line put in, but line rental when you don't use their services I DON'T THINK SO........

I pay BT more than £40 a quarter, just for the use of their lines and my internet usage going through their exchange.

Once upon a time gas was provided by British Gas and electricity by MEB
They had the monopoly over those services. Now we can change gas and electricity suppliers whenever we wish to.............. but we don't have to pay British Gas or MEB for the use of their pipes and cables. Get my drift.

Some of us have no choice in having a cable supply. The cable companies only seem interested in supplying major towns and cities. Surely a phone line should be an expectation in a property nowadays, just as we expect to have gas, electric and water supplies. And we should only have to pay the company who supplies that service.

We should not have to pay line rental on top of any other phone/internet service we have. We should be paying one amount to the service provider.

With VOIP and mobile phones, many people find a home phone line extinct to their needs and only require a line for internet services. Surely then we shouldn't be paying BT for a full service. I have questioned them and been told that I have to pay for their minimum tariff even though it includes call time and extras (whether I use them or not). Why don't they have an internet service line rental which is of a token cost, if we have to pay them anything. I have my phonecalls and internet from the same provider, so why am I still paying BT the same as someone who uses BT for their phone service?

Maybe companies will start putting wirelss internet services to all new builds allowing us to finally only make payment to our provider. That surely would knock BT out of the water.

littleboo

Is your point that you'd rather have one bill for telephone and internet services? If thats the case, your provider has the option to re-sell a wholesale BT line to you to give you that, although the advice on these forums is not to do it.

moonrakerz

lesleyoxley wrote: »

We should not have to pay line rental on top of any other phone/internet service we have. We should be paying one amount to the service provider.

Are you really suggesting that you get your phone/internet service from sky/virgin/talktalk, etc, etc, etc using millions/billions of pounds worth of equipment that BT installed and paid for - AND not pay for that !!!!

If you want to you CAN rent your line from another company, but be warned - the response to faults will be lousy and they can put major constraints on what you can do with your phone line. BT have to, by law, allow you to access any other service provider. Other companies can and do charge you more than BT. Same applies to cable.

I get rather weary of ill founded gripes about BT, they aren't perfect, but they are the best provider of telephone lines !!!

lesleyoxley

Sorry not sure what you mean?!!!
Sell me a wholesale LIne???

I want to know why BT are ripping us off by taking line rental fees from us when we are supplied a service by another company.

Like I said.... we don't pay electric wire rental to the MEB or gas pipe rental to Btitish Gas when we have our supplies elsewhere. So why are we still expected to pay BT the full going rate for a telephone service when we have our service elsewhere?!!!

lesleyoxley

I get rather weary of ill founded gripes about BT, they aren't perfect, but they are the best provider of telephone lines !!!

Moonrakerz..............I'm assuming you're a BT sales employee, otherwise you wouldn't have that attitude. I expect you have millions of messages on sites just making complaints about what others say.................
Everyone has a right to there opinion without being slagged off by others.

Heinz

I'm afraid I don't understand your argument either Lesley. You don't have to pay line rental to BT - pay it to one of the providers which re-sells your BT line (sometimes) at a small discount (WLR) or, instead, to one which has installed its own equipment in the local BT exchange to link up with BT's 'last mile' of copper cable (LLU).

You'll still have what is really a BT line (Openreach will maintain it) but someone else will send you the bill.

If you want to 'make BT suffer' (or whatever), route your calls via cheaper providers (but, in most cases, that means you have to leave your line rental with BT).

gt94sss2

lesleyoxley wrote: »

Once upon a time gas was provided by British Gas and electricity by MEB
They had the monopoly over those services. Now we can change gas and electricity suppliers whenever we wish to.............. but we don't have to pay British Gas or MEB for the use of their pipes and cables. Get my drift.

You do have to pay your local electricity company and/or British Gas/Transco for using their pipes/cables - maybe not directly like BT, but its built into the charges all these other companies charge you..

We should not have to pay line rental on top of any other phone/internet service we have. We should be paying one amount to the service provider.

Then the prices of those other products will go up - as they need a working telephone line to operate and will then have to pay BT to maintain the lines, even if you don't see it happening.

With VOIP and mobile phones, many people find a home phone line extinct to their needs and only require a line for internet services. Surely then we shouldn't be paying BT for a full service. I have questioned them and been told that I have to pay for their minimum tariff even though it includes call time and extras (whether I use them or not). Why don't they have an internet service line rental which is of a token cost, if we have to pay them anything. I have my phonecalls and internet from the same provider, so why am I still paying BT the same as someone who uses BT for their phone service?

BT's basic line rental only covers the mantainance of the line - it doesn't cover extras or inclusive call time. Fixing lines isn't cheap - especially in rural situations and this has to be paid for..

Your other provider already has the option to bill you for line rental as well, if they wanted.. so you wouldn't receive a bill from BT..

Regards
Sunil

Cardew

lesleyoxley wrote: »

Moonrakerz..............I'm assuming you're a BT sales employee, otherwise you wouldn't have that attitude. .

Wow! that is an original comment!

Someone actually dares to defend a company against ill informed criticism, so he must work for that company; and is "slagging" you off.

So I suppose the other posters who have pointed out your lack of understanding are also BT employees? Me to?

Your 'assumption' has as much merit as your opening post.

redux

You won't receive many phone calls without a telephone line and exchange.

Yes, perhaps eventually one day you will be able to subscribe to a wi-fi or wi-max service instead

These inconsiderate and greedy people also have capital equipment and maintenance costs (how for example will the signal get to the local station if not via some other network?) and therefore might likewise want to charge you a standing fee irrespective of your amount of use.

Cardew

I bought a train ticket and paid National Rail for the ticket.

However I travelled on a Virgin train.

I think its disgraceful that National Rail charged me for the ticket when I only used a Virgin train.

Any National Rail employees want to defend the company;)

crankup

Cardew wrote: »

I bought a train ticket and paid National Rail for the ticket.

However I travelled on a Virgin train.

I think its disgraceful that National Rail charged me for the ticket when I only used a Virgin train.

Any National Rail employees want to defend the company;)

:rotfl:

My gripe is why do have to pay for things that I use?
They should get someone to provide things for free, that'll blow them out of the water.