Fiber to premeses and landline

filipole

Hi all.
I am on BT Infinity with fiber to premises and have no problem with internet
However, I also pay copper landline rental. The landline is not connected to anything and I don't even have a landline phone in the house...
I spoke to BT accounts and they told me that having landline is mandatory and my broadband will stop working if they cancel my landline. When pressed they put me to technical support and an engineer confirmed that technically copper is not needed, but from accounts perspective it is "part of the package"
I am not happy to pay for a service I don’t use, but not sure where to take it next (Virgin is not available for my address)
Any opinion?


Thank you,
Oleg

LazyTyper

"Just the way it is", for now I'm afraid.

I recall a BT Wholesale briefing a while back where they were looking at removing this component, but I think it's just for linking the line to the installation premises for now... or something similarly archaic.

wongataa

filipole wrote: »

Hi all.
I am on BT Infinity with fiber to premises and have no problem with internet
However, I also pay copper landline rental. The landline is not connected to anything and I don't even have a landline phone in the house.

You are paying line rental for the upkeep of the cables to your house, be it copper or fibre optic or both. You have at least one of those so you must pay for it

Line rental is not just for voice calls. It pays for the line to your house, whatever it is used for.

If you don't want to pay line rental you have to go with mobile broadband or Virgin Media with the no line rental option (which is no cheaper than having a bundled phone service).

lee111s

Even if they were to remove the copper, as said above, you'd still have to pay a line rental for the upkeep and maintenance of your fibre "line". For now, as BT have a USO to provide everyone with a working phone line, the copper will remain in place.

JJ_Egan

My bill does not say copper it just says Line Rental or landline .

Pincher

One of these days, there is going to be a guy who says I don't want to pay for the banana skin, I just want the flesh. I hope somebody is there with a camera to put it on YouTube.

LazyTyper

Pincher wrote: »

One of these days, there is going to be a guy who says I don't want to pay for the banana skin, I just want the flesh. I hope somebody is there with a camera to put it on YouTube.

Well there was this:

Pincher

But that's paying for the skin AND THE plastic!

filipole

lee111s wrote: »

Even if they were to remove the copper, as said above, you'd still have to pay a line rental for the upkeep and maintenance of your fibre "line". For now, as BT have a USO to provide everyone with a working phone line, the copper will remain in place.

Thank you... that's offers some reasoning, although the bill clearly distinguish Phone and Broadband and Line Rental is a line item under Phone (which I am not using):

Phone line – 01xxx xxxxxx1
Line Rental £xx.xx

Broadband £xxx.xx

Pincher wrote: »

One of these days, there is going to be a guy who says I don't want to pay for the banana skin, I just want the flesh. I hope somebody is there with a camera to put it on YouTube.

You may look at it differently if a tin of compote was bundled with fruit skins carrying a separate price tags

Pincher

filipole wrote: »

.You may look at it differently if a tin of compote was bundled with fruit skins carrying a separate price tags

In Pudong airport, Shanghai, there is an airport hotel, with a restaurant. They have a salad dish, consisting of peeled cucumber skin, in a white sweetish sauce. I order it every time I go.

So I'm used to paying for the skin.

wongataa

filipole wrote: »

Thank you... that's offers some reasoning, although the bill clearly distinguish Phone and Broadband and Line Rental is a line item under Phone (which I am not using):

Phone line – 01xxx xxxxxx1
Line Rental £xx.xx

Broadband £xxx.xx

You may look at it differently if a tin of compote was bundled with fruit skins carrying a separate price tags

Every telecom provider does not bundle the line rental charge in with the broadband charge. They are always separated. That is why you have the two numbers. It is probably just legacy convention as to why the line rental fee is listed below your telephone number but it does not imply anything. You need to pay for both as without a landline you have no access to broadband as you don't pay for the line to your house.

Again, the line rental covers the charge for the upkeep of the telecom cables to your house. It does not matter what you use the line for - voice/data/both/nothing.