Broadband only?

adonis10

It would appear that Virgin have a monopoly on this service, am I correct?

Soon to be moving into a new flat and looking at internet options and am rather surprised about how much it'll cost to have broadband. I have no use for a phone line so it seems pointless but I guess if it's cheaper to have one + b'band than b'band only, then I may as well.

Not really bothered about overpriced cable either, just broadband and freeview is fine for me.

penrhyn

ADSL broadband is delivered over telephone lines, you have to rent one to receive it.
Do an exchange search on samknows to see which LLU operators are available to you. These will usually have the cheapest deals.

shopbot

Try Plusnet and then buy through Quidco.

SB

adonis10

Thanks.

May as well just go with Virgin as the cheapest plusnet is £24 a month with the line whereas virgin fibre optic is 22.50.

macman

It's not a matter of 'cheaper'. To get any ADSL broadband you need an active line to transmit the data, and that means paying line rental.
Your payment to the ISP does not provide or maintain the landline.
VM's bundle price is rigged so that you hardly save anything if you don't take the phone line with it.
Unless you are on a Market 1 exchange, you should be able to get Plusnet Essentials broadband for £5.99 (plus line rental for £10.49 If you opt for Line Rental Saver). Total cost is £16.48pm. Less any cashbacks currently available, usually around £40.

Kev27

Was paying £19.65 (after recent price increase) for 10 Meg Broadband - Virginmedia

Just got 60 Meg on a 12 month contract for £22.50 a month with Superhub and £30 cashback making it £20 a month. (First call)

That will do me.

eldar_2

try https://www.titan-adsl.co.uk they do phone and broadband on low term basis might be worth a look!

Buzby

It you have access to cable, it really is a no brainer. You can have BB only without a phone line but discounts apply if you take one. Benefits include avoiding BT/Openreach and the kludge that is ADSL (distance from the exchange, high contention rates and having filters on your phones to make it all work.

Speeds are higher (up to 120Mb) and all without fibre optic (which BT do not provide in an meaningful way either). You'll get a copper connection - but co-ax, not a pair of phone wires.

The supplied Superhub whilst not perfect, is a good compromise - and it makes sense to take it if available.

spacey2012

It is amazing in this day and age that no company has worked out that people might not want the phone part.
Opening in the market or what.

Timalay

It's far to expensive. Each ISP would have to lay their own cabling. Satellite is also a far to expensive to implement also.

ChiefGrasscutter

spacey2012 wrote: »

It is amazing in this day and age that no company has worked out that people might not want the phone part.
Opening in the market or what.

Not amazing at all - its quite deliberate:

It is because OFCOM forbids Naked DSL in the UK on telephone lines.
'Naked DSL' as it's called is available in other countries I believe - a BB service with no voice dial tone.

This is because in the UK the line rental income from the 33 million voice phone lines is part used to improve/mend/update the broadband side of the phone business the cables/drop wires whatever - it's a cross subsidy paid from the 33m phone lines to the 22 million BB activated lines.

If this x-subsidy was removed/naked DSL permitted and additionally then many cutomers decided to remove the voice part of their service then everyone's BB prices would have to go up in price very considerably

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which I suspect you would like even less.

The real people who should be annoyed are the xmillion lines paying an increased line rental to subsidise your broadband when they have no broadband themselves.