Broadband only

ACG

Im all but ready to give up on Virgin Media. I was given a deal, it was set up incorrectly and now theyre saying its a deal they have never heard of. It looks increasingly like theyre going to tell me they cant honour what was agreed soooooo im looking elsewhere.

I dont really watch the TV, so i think freeview is probably going to be fine. I also have unlimited calls on my mobile so i dont need a phone.

So im literally after broadband. Unlimited download is what im after, i MAY sign up to love film at some point (but not sure yet).

So any suggestions on price/performance?

Cheers.

Cycrow

If you dont want Virgin Media, then you will have to have a Phone Line

anotheruser

And therein lies the problem.

Phone lines are fairly expensive these days. I remember when it was about £10 a month. Although BB is fairly cheap for those that need phone lines.

I was looking to move from VM but found they were the cheapest
Although TalkTalk seem rubbish, might see what I can get when my current VM deal is up. Don't want to pay more than £20 a month though.

Inner_Zone

If you pay line rental yearly in advance it can work out to £9.50 a month equivalent depending on provider.

networkguy_2

Or if you use Primus, it can be 5.99 (no included calls) without having to pay a year in advance.

I think the "line rental saver" deals (where you pay 12 months, but get no refund if you choose to switch part way through the year) are a bit of a con.

Yes, they make it a bit cheaper (though in some cases, such as BT line rental, not that much cheaper, now) and with interest rates so low, perhaps a discount seems a better idea. Before those annual rental deals, the firms charged the full monthly fee for the remaining months.

Now we all know that when you switch line rental, the phone line still belongs to Openreach, and they charge around £8 a month. So when a telco firm charged say £12 they had a bit of profit but a chunk went to Openreach too.

Ofcom ruled that if someone switched their phone rental part way through the contract, then the telco could only charge a much more limited amount (think it is £2 to £4) based on the "real cost" to the telco (since the customer had switched, the rental paid to Openreach was no longer a cost for the old telco, so charging £12 a month for remaining months was not justified).

I feel BT introduced the "Line Rental Saver" to avoid the Ofcom rule and either (a) make a pile of cash if you left with 6 months remaining in your contract (the "no refunds" small print) or (b) made a pile of cash if you paid anything other than annually (and then didn't leave part way through).

I also get the impression the firms have split the "add on" charges for anytime calls, and so on, into monthly payments, so they can try to charge the customer for them separately if they switched to someone else (eg remaining months x £5, if £5 was the extra for unlimited calls). I keep seeing "broadband and calls" deals, where the "calls" part should logically be part of "line rental and calls" as the broadband bit is the "add-on" to the line...

Seems unfair that they may be trying to charge for calls you can never make, and if it had been bundled with line rental, would come under the Ofcom "limited charges for remaining months" rule.

networkguy_2

Pretty sure Plus.Net charges 49.99 (but their line rental is much higher than Primus, and if you don't have the PN line rental they hike the cost of the broadband a bit... but if you do have their broadband and line, unlimited is 2.99 a month for first 12 months and then 9.99).

Primus charges £60 (I think) for a new line, if you don't have their broadband, which is one of the cheaper options, or can be free if you do (but while the broadband is £2 or £4/month you'd have to try to get the annual line rental deal at £120 too, or the line rental would be about £15/month). Post Office has had times when new lines were free, but now they have switched to use TalkTalk (just rang them £60 for a new line), and their "unlimited" has a fair use limit of 100 GB.

Someone like TalkTalk and Sky can charge around £65 (or up to £115 - details aren't always clear when/why they might charge max amount) for a new line.

At times, BT has offered free line installation (I used that in February 2010) but lock you into paying full monthly rate line rental for 18 months (not allowed to get Line Rental Saver), and not sure if they are doing that at present, or only if you take their broadband too.

Sorry, most charges are based on checks in the last 2-3 months as I have been looking at getting a second line (where I know I would likely have to pay an installation fee).

Primus fibre broadband deal {which actually uses TalkTalk} at half price and then £16/month is one option but was wondering if they would install a second line free (otherwise it would cost over £200 {ouch} as a lump sum to get the line installed, pay the fibre installation fee (£50), and £120 for annual rental to lessen the line cost)