why do you have to pay line rental?

teddysmum

giraffe69 wrote: »

Unless money is very tight I would go for a fibre service because
a. if not it will be a misery compared with what you used to have
b. it will give you a better experience
c. it is more future proofed

But if ADSL provides sufficient for your needs, why pay more ?

SeduLOUs

I don't know whether I failed to post or whether my post was removed for including a referral link, but I am posting again to suggest looking at topcashback.co.uk who pay decent rates for signing up to a new broadband package.

giraffe69

But if ADSL provides sufficient for your needs, why pay more ?

Because needs/wants will expand if the service improves. We weren't running several machines or downloading films with dial up. I get a reasonable speed where I live but when Infinity arrives sometime in 2015 (I hope) I will snap it up because it will allow me to do more.

littleboo

Buzby wrote: »

Because the data on a voice line is deemed suitable for Group 3 fax at 9600 using analogue modems. xDSL is a kludge to try and squirt data at a faster rate - but this of course is all shared with your neighbours. None of this affects the minimum speed the native voice line so your line rental is based on that. BB down a phone line is a compromise - and won't improve much even with the mis-named 'fibre' services. You don't get any fibre - it just gets a little closer to you.

The 'up to' is there for a reason - don't expect to get any more, but you will get less. Until they change this to a minimum, nothing will change.

Plenty of misleading statements here. With ADSL, you don't share anything with your neighbors, you have a dedicated pair back to the exchange, with VDSL it's a dedicated pair to the cab.
The suggestion that it wont improve much with a fibre based service is also wrong, most people will see a marked improvement. I went from 8Mb to 70Mb
Likewise, the fibre thats "a little closer" is probably within a few hundred metres instead of a few kilometres away.
If you don't like the use of the word fibre to describe hybrid copper/fibre networks, blame Virgin, they were the first to "mis name" their hybrid network this way.

teddysmum

giraffe69 wrote: »

Because needs/wants will expand if the service improves. We weren't running several machines or downloading films with dial up. I get a reasonable speed where I live but when Infinity arrives sometime in 2015 (I hope) I will snap it up because it will allow me to do more.

So you actually must have needs that are not met, whereas I would be wasting money paying for a fast service that I don't have a need for; emails,forums, reading online newspapers, playing Spotify are all fine at my present speed (5 to 6).

onomatopoeia99

spaceboy wrote: »

Well there lies the problem. And there is no competition on the phoneline network is there?

Another operator could theoretically build another network, but at present there are two nationals :

BT
VM

VM does not cover the whole of the UK and can pick and choose their customers.
BT does cover the whole of the UK with one exception, it has a universal service obligation imposed on it by the Telecommunications Act, so it must provide a residential voice line capable of 2400 baud data and G3 fax to anyone that asks, unless they live in Kingston-upon-Hull.

BT are also obliged to unbundle all of their network, to allow other operators to install kit in their exchanges, to offer wholesale services at regulated prices (VM is under no such obligations).

The only place there is no competition is the provision of the physical line to dwellings, and that's because no-one else wants to make the investment required to create another national residential telecommunications network. You can get a private circuit put in with backhaul to the provider's nearest point of presence, but you wouldn't like the cost if you are complaining about BT line rental.

kwikbreaks

spaceboy wrote: »

Also it seems we can only get between 1.5 and 3Mb speed on our line, which is far short of "up to 17Mb". So why do we have to pay the same rate for line rantal?

Ah - you must have a long line so you are getting an absolute bargain - far more line that needs maintaining for the same price as those on short lines pay.