Sky/Phone Line Fee O/T

StonehamPark · Sep 17, 2014

Just wondered if anyone knew about the 'Line Rental Fee' when signing up for Sky etc.

I pay for my Sky package which includes Phone/TV/Broadband.

We don't use a landline in the house (mobiles easier/cheaper) so am I able to sack the £10.00 p/m line-rental fee or is this not possible?

beorhthelm · Sep 17, 2014

not possible, you need the line for your broadband connection.

Springal · Sep 17, 2014

beorhthelm said:
not possible, you need the line for your broadband connection.

Not strictly true, but both operators make you take it.

seagullsovergrimsby · Sep 17, 2014

I'm surprised that the line rental fee hasn't been renamed by now. Ofcom are keen to spout off about "access charges" rather than old fashioned "fees".

Triggaaar · Sep 17, 2014

StonehamPark said:
Just wondered if anyone knew about the 'Line Rental Fee' when signing up for Sky etc.

I pay for my Sky package which includes Phone/TV/Broadband.

I've got line rental and BB half price from Sky for a year. But yeah, you gotta pay it.

seagullsovergrimsby · Sep 17, 2014

Springal said:
Not strictly true, but both operators make you take it.

Just read an article online about single order FTTC (Naked FTTC) from BT Openreach which might be how ISPs offer broadband service only in the future.

Superphil · Sep 17, 2014

Springal said:
Not strictly true, but both operators make you take it.

Could you explain what you mean, is there a way not to pay line rental with sky or BT?

Brighton TID · Sep 17, 2014

Springal said:
Not strictly true, but both operators make you take it.

Hang on, how else can you get 'normal' broadband if not through the existing phone line? Surely you have to rent the line if you want to use it. A grand don't come for free you know. Pls explain.

Springal · Sep 17, 2014

Sorry I should have been clearer. I meant Virgins broadband is not technically delivered over the phone line so this day and age isn't a necessity. Of course they still make you buy it.

FTTH and similar technologies will be available 'soon' to negate using manky old copper phone lines

Westdene Seagull · Sep 17, 2014

StonehamPark said:
Just wondered if anyone knew about the 'Line Rental Fee' when signing up for Sky etc.

I pay for my Sky package which includes Phone/TV/Broadband.

We don't use a landline in the house (mobiles easier/cheaper) so am I able to sack the £10.00 p/m line-rental fee or is this not possible?

It generally isn't as simple as getting rid of the landline. I tried with Virgin so I could save £15 a month - if I had gone through with it my TV package would have increased by £25 because apparently I get a 'discount' on my TV package for having the phone.

beorhthelm · Sep 17, 2014

Springal said:
Sorry I should have been clearer. I meant Virgins broadband is not technically delivered over the phone line so this day and age isn't a necessity.

yes, Virgin offers broadband over its cable TV cable. not available everywhere is it. theres still a wire, and someone wants paying for the provision and support of that cable. one day we might have naked ADSL, but that still needs a wire and someone to support the termination equipment in the exchange, so there will be a cost. fibre to the home isnt likly to happen in our life time, unless again you pay for someone to run cables and support them. those manky old copper wires do a fine job for the vast majority, FTTC fixed most the technical limitations.

Hatterlovesbrighton · Sep 18, 2014

beorhthelm said:
yes, Virgin offers broadband over its cable TV cable. not available everywhere is it. theres still a wire, and someone wants paying for the provision and support of that cable. one day we might have naked ADSL, but that still needs a wire and someone to support the termination equipment in the exchange, so there will be a cost. fibre to the home isnt likly to happen in our life time, unless again you pay for someone to run cables and support them. those manky old copper wires do a fine job for the vast majority, FTTC fixed most the technical limitations.

Might happen sooner than you think. Was mentioned in a recent government policy document. Probably still would be a cost but fibre needs much less maintaining than copper.

Captain Sensible · Sep 18, 2014

Just an O/T to this O/T but I have just got TalkTalk fibre optic, I should be getting speeds of 25-35mbps but I'm getting 10-15mbps. Does anyone else have this service and what speeds do you get?

Westdene Seagull · Sep 18, 2014

Captain Sensible said:
Just an O/T to this O/T but I have just got TalkTalk fibre optic, I should be getting speeds of 25-35mbps but I'm getting 10-15mbps. Does anyone else have this service and what speeds do you get?

Couple of things to consider :

1. Are you connecting via wireless ? This will give you lower speeds that connecting via a cable to the router. The speeds quoted will always be based on a wired connection.
2. Do you have loads of crap running on your PC ? Virus checkers etc slow down the speed of the device and thus produce lower results in a speed test. My Virgin connecting should be 100mb but I get around 80mb ( not that I'm complaining ! ).

Captain Sensible · Sep 18, 2014

Westdene Seagull said:
Couple of things to consider :

1. Are you connecting via wireless ? This will give you lower speeds that connecting via a cable to the router. The speeds quoted will always be based on a wired connection.
2. Do you have loads of crap running on your PC ? Virus checkers etc slow down the speed of the device and thus produce lower results in a speed test. My Virgin connecting should be 100mb but I get around 80mb ( not that I'm complaining ! ).

The highest I've had wired is 16mbps and wireless 13mbps. I have a fairly new pc with windows 8.1 and not much installed apart from the basics. When the installer was finished I got 20mbps with an upload of only 0.5. Then it settled down at 16down and 2up.
It's way better than my adsl but I thought it would be quicker? Before I go calling the great customer service at TalkTalk, I wondered if anyone else was getting better speeds? I though TalkTalk use BT openreach, so it should be the same as infinity no?

beorhthelm · Sep 18, 2014

Hatterlovesbrighton said:
Might happen sooner than you think. Was mentioned in a recent government policy document. Probably still would be a cost but fibre needs much less maintaining than copper.

the cost of maintenance isnt so much the cable, fibre or copper, but the equipment at the exchange end. i dont believe any company is going to roll out fibre cables to every address when it is very expensive to do so. otherwise we'd all have cable TV already.

Captain Sensible said:
Just an O/T to this O/T but I have just got TalkTalk fibre optic, I should be getting speeds of 25-35mbps but I'm getting 10-15mbps. Does anyone else have this service and what speeds do you get?

i'd hazard guess you dont have fibre to your property but FTTC. if you are a long way from the cabinet you'll have slower than expected speeds. the industry has grossly overstated connection speeds and somehow got away with this mis-selling.

Springal · Sep 18, 2014

beorhthelm said:
yes, Virgin offers broadband over its cable TV cable. not available everywhere is it. theres still a wire, and someone wants paying for the provision and support of that cable. one day we might have naked ADSL, but that still needs a wire and someone to support the termination equipment in the exchange, so there will be a cost. fibre to the home isnt likly to happen in our life time, unless again you pay for someone to run cables and support them. those manky old copper wires do a fine job for the vast majority, FTTC fixed most the technical limitations.

It's out there now. See Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, CityFibre projects. Also a lot of regional rural projects are doing it themselves seeing as BT have forgotten about them.

Captain Sensible · Sep 18, 2014

beorhthelm said:
the cost of maintenance isnt so much the cable, fibre or copper, but the equipment at the exchange end. i dont believe any company is going to roll out fibre cables to every address when it is very expensive to do so. otherwise we'd all have cable TV already.

i'd hazard guess you dont have fibre to your property but FTTC. if you are a long way from the cabinet you'll have slower than expected speeds. the industry has grossly overstated connection speeds and somehow got away with this mis-selling.

Yes FTTC, but 15mbps is the lowest guaranteed. That's what I have. Can they do anything to improve it?

Captain Sensible · Sep 18, 2014

With my pc, the speeds are 15.76mbps on wifi and wired 15.83 so hardly any difference. iPhone is about 12-13 but thats fine.
When TalkTalk said I get speed of 25-35 with a guaranteed minimum of 15mbps I didn't think I'd be getting the minimum all the time.

StonehamPark · Sep 18, 2014

Captain Sensible said:
With my pc, the speeds are 15.76mbps on wifi and wired 15.83 so hardly any difference. iPhone is about 12-13 but thats fine.
When TalkTalk said I get speed of 25-35 with a guaranteed minimum of 15mbps I didn't think I'd be getting the minimum all the time.

I imagine they supply it throttled to 15mb during peak times and un-throttle it between say midnight and 7am.
That's the case with my Sky Broadband.

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