Brit ISP TalkTalk scraps line rental charges UK ISP TalkTalk is scrapping line rental charges and freezing price increases for 18 months – in a bid to comply with forthcoming regulatory changes and retain its declining customer base. The move comes exactly one year after the disastrous hack at TalkTalk, which resulted in 150,000 of its customers' details being stolen. …
Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk’s consumer manager said: “TalkTalk is changing....doing right by them is the right thing for our business."
Harrison added: "...frustrated with deals which shoot up mid contract"...
So how does that tie up with...
TalkTalk ....... "However, subscribers who refuse to sign up to the new deal will be subject to price increases."
Fucking marketing liars.
"Nothing matters more to us than our customers and doing right by them"
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Best joke I've heard in a long while!
Ex-bleedin'-actly. A turd by any other name still stinks...
I wouldn't mind so much if Openretch didn't keep stuffing several lines up every time they open a conduit, which then leads to a month of the modern version of the Adastral Park runaround trying to get your provider to even acknowledge there's a fault, much less run the gamut of OR's fault ticketing system.
Page Junior has just moved into a flat, and is in the market for broadband (or, as he calls it "WiFi" - in a hint as to how the younger generations will lose semantic - and technical - discrimination).
Absolutely no need for a landline whatsoever, so a TT no-line package sounds just the ticket.
Off to do some comparisons ...
"Page Junior has just moved into a flat, and is in the market for broadband (or, as he calls it "WiFi" - in a hint as to how the younger generations will lose semantic - and technical - discrimination)."
<snip>
Make sure that Page junior does not take a page out of the talk talk user book, make him turn over a new leaf and show some spine. Hopefully he will not be foxed by this as you can never judge a book by its cover.
<sfx: thwack>
The misses says it is time for Leroy Merlin and an end to inane ramblings, I might be gone some time.
" or, as he calls it "WiFi" "
LOLZ!! classic
I dont think however that many ISPS will be letting you off to the tune of 15 to 20 quid a month just because you dont want a handset plugged in. (like the thai guy seems to have acheived)
They are just being told to stop the bullshit eg :
"HEY 1 POUND BROADBAND , ......(but £20pm line rental)
"HEY FREE LINE RENTAL, ...........(but £20pm broadband)
Re: Page Junior has just moved into a flat, ..
Absolutely no need for a landline whatsoever, so a TT no-line package sounds just the ticket.
If there is absolutely no need for a landline why are you even considering TalkTalk, the best deal for no landline is from Three, but don't expect fibre speeds...
Jimmy, ignore the "broadband snobs" in this forum.
No doubt you'll do proper research, and will decide what works for your sons situation, whether that is talk-talk or someone else.
Even these broadband snobs realise this, so they aren't intending on giving you advice, they just want an opportunity to shout [company X] SUX, like the insolent kids they are.
"TalkTalk is contacting existing customers from today to offer them the package. However, subscribers who refuse to sign up to the new deal will be subject to price increases."
Do these new packages come with a new contract for existing customers?
"Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk’s consumer manager said: “TalkTalk is changing. Nothing matters more to us than our customers and doing right by them is the right thing for our business."
Nothing matters more than stopping our customers from leaving.
"Do these new packages come with a new contract for existing customers?"
Let me guess.
1. Any new contract will attempt to tie you in for longer than you wish to be.
2a. "New contract" gives them the ability to rifle through your credit records.
2b. Their buddies in the credit rating and debt collection industries will pay handsomely for a legitimate excuse to perform 2a.
2c. Their debt collection buddies are the ones who will try to scare you to carry on paying for those contracts when TalkTalk fails to uphold their side of the deal.
No one is scrapping line rental. It is being included.
A good idea for morons who can't add two numbers.
A good idea for everyone because it will get rid of the practice of offering 18 month phone/BB contracts and pay in advance 12 month line rental discount deals. The out of sync contract periods making supplier switching more difficult.
That's always been my main complaint.
It's obviously perfectly possible for them to offer 12 month fibre contracts since BT and I think John Lewis? for instance do so. They all use OpenReach anyway.
They just want to lock you in for as long as possible but won't let you do the same with the pre-paid line rental.
I'd rather not have an 18 month contract but if I could do both BB and line with no price increase, or no more than inflation, then I might take the plunge.
No one is scrapping line rental. It is being included.
I don't have a problem with that if it brings the total package cost down.
My Virgin package is £24.49 plus £17.99 line rental, £42.48. If that dropped by any amount I would be happy. I wouldn't really care what BS they came up with to justify that decrease.
"My Virgin package is £24.49 plus £17.99 line rental, £42.48. If that dropped by any amount I would be happy. I wouldn't really care what BS they came up with to justify that decrease."
I'm a Virgin cable customer, so the telephone line rental is irrelevant to the broadband - I don't need a telephone line for that. (Therefore, for Virgin cable customers, I imagine this new ruling doesn't actually apply, but having not read much about it, only heard about in passing, I don't know the full details).
I do, however, have a telephone line because while I don't need the phone, someone else in my household does - and they therefore reimburse me for the line rental and any calls they make.
If Virgin follows the flock to sound competitive, and craftily rolls that line rental into the broadband price, the other person will gain £17.99/month, and I'll lose £17.99/month. The only price drop that won't result in me being out of pocket will be £17.99/month.
I could argue the toss, but the counter argument will be "there's no line rental charge" - and strictly speaking, they'll be correct.
I walked past a VM shop earlier today and they were advertising a deal that was for BB only. No phone line.
In my mind, No phone line means no line rental.
I didn't go in and ask as I was pushing a wheelchair at the time.
It might be worth someone finding out if this is the case.
"In my mind, No phone line means no line rental."
That's correct. It's been possible for a long time, but required that you repeatedly ask for it and based on package price "discounts" could, in some circumstances, cost more for BB alone than BB with phone + "free" basic TV package. It does appear that they are now unbundling BB properly but no doubt anyone taking the package will be spammed to hell and back to take at least TV if not landline as well. And probably mobile.
"I don't need the phone, someone else in my household does"
Not having phone from Virgin will likely only save you £8 so if you have been charging whoever £18 you have been ripping them off. Virgin can charge what they like for packages with phone and packages without.
Your 'someone else' should be using VOIP and just paying call charges likely less than Virgin.
"Not having phone from Virgin will likely only save you £8 so if you have been charging whoever £18 you have been ripping them off. Virgin can charge what they like for packages with phone and packages without."
You can argue that having the phone line means I'm getting a package discount - that's fair enough.
However, the phone line rental is separately itemised on the bill, making it easily quantifiable - and even if the bill did show the discount, how much should they get and how much should I get? It wouldn't be fair on me if they had the whole discount against their £18 while I get squat against the rest - the lion's share of the overall bill amount.
An amount, I might add, that includes Virgin Media's top tier broadband, which the other party also uses*.
So IMO to say I'm "ripping them off" is more than a little unreasonable.
"Your 'someone else' should be using VOIP and just paying call charges likely less than Virgin."
I agree, and it has been suggested - but it is what it is.
* Along with various other (non VM) online things I pay for as well.
I don't have a problem with that if it brings the total package cost down.
If only it were that simple.
At one time line rental covered two things: Most of it covered the cost of the fleet of vans, engineers and all the spare parts and equipment needed to keep the local loop working. A much smaller part covered the voice service provision. Now if all that was to it then dropping the voice part ought to allow for a small reduction (I'd guess at £1 or £2 a month).
But it's not that simple. The amount openreach charges has been in decline. Unfortunately the CPs (the people we take the service from) have been adding their own charges to it, probably to cross subsidise other areas of their business. So consequently the line rental we pay now has an unquantifiable component. It is increasingly divorced from the simple reality of 'making sure your phone line is electrically sound'.
But it IS quantifiable, BT Wholesale charge bulk line rental at a bit under £9 per line, per month, and that amount as been dropping for several years; yet BT Retail, et al all charge between £17.99 and £19.99 for line rental, so a handy little 100%+ profit for no actual added service.
In contrast, smaller ISPs often charge much less, my line rental has been £13 per month for the last 4 years.
The change is to stop all the misleading adverts ....
FREE BROADBAND FOR A YEAR!!
.
.
.
.
.Please imagine lots of flashy pictures here
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. and right at the end, in tiny print for ~ 2 seconds, and right under a REALLY flashy picture, it says
.
Line rental £25 per month, minimum contract 24 months, after 12 months the Broadband price returns to our standard £100 per month, if you cancel at any time and for any reason you have to pay the full balance remaining on your contract.
Well what I meant about 'not quantifiable' is that it's harder for anyone to say what that difference is actually paying for. The CPs sure don't want to give anyone a breakdown. 100% profit from companies that aren't actually doing or providing anything that line rental is supposed to cover.
Amazing how they can get away with it really :-/
I didn't move elsewhere because I didn't want to be tie-in to another contract .. Now I'm effectively being forced into an 18 month contract, I might as well jump ship... Good riddens talk talk! Oh and theyre going to contact me? I get 2 calls a day from some offshore call centre professing to be from talk talk, saying my router is playing up (yea right) , how will I know it's actually them! I suppose their incompetent boss thinks this will help retain customers... Ha
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