UK phone line/broadband question

[+unabatedshagie Subscriber¹]

I'm just curious as to whether this exists or not.

What I'm looking for is if there are any ISP's that provide broadband + line rental but without any phone calling capabilities. I never use my home phone, I use my mobile for all my calls. All it seems to be there for is to recieve sales calls.

Does something like this exist?

[lee31]

No, it's technically impossible because there's no way they can block you from using a phone signal for calls without disabling the signal.

I've asked this myself and I'm fortunate enough to know a BT engineer who basically said the above.

Edited November 21, 2009 by lee26

[1337ish]

Erm technincally it could be possible...

All they do is only listen for information on the frequencies/voltages that adsl works on. They could ignore the normal voice call range.

[acnpt]

Unplug your phone?

[BGM]

Unplug your phone?

this is exactly what i do, although ****ing ?11 away each month to BT still pains me, meh.

[+unabatedshagie Subscriber¹]

That's what bugs me. It's as if I'm being forced to pay for something I don't want or use.

[Pablo2008jedi]

I think Virgin Media will allow cable broadband without phone, but it does cost more, but I guess you're not in a cable area?

[Colin-uk Veteran]

you still have to pay line rental to BT wheather you have a phone or not.

there are some broadband companies (like virgin & plusnet) that will rent the line from bt and then rent it to you at the same price so that its included in your broadband bill. (so it will seem that your broadband costs more, when in fact its the line rental thats bumping up the price).

but if you have a phoneline you can recieve calls, the only thing you can do to not recieve calls is unplug / not plug a phone in.

[Robbie Ride]

Actualy, any ISP who provides Broadband and Telephone functionality can remove the telephone feature from the line.

As i Sky employee i get asked this question alot and i also know that BT does this when requested.

If your are a new customer you need to ask for Line Rental only, then request a Broadband order, so all that you do pay for is what you receive.

It's funny how people think this is impossible but what they don't understand is that it is a little know and asked for feature.

So yeah call BT sales team and ask them.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

Actualy, any ISP who provides Broadband and Telephone functionality can remove the telephone feature from the line.

As i Sky employee i get asked this question alot and i also know that BT does this when requested.

If your are a new customer you need to ask for Line Rental only, then request a Broadband order, so all that you do pay for is what you receive.

It's funny how people think this is impossible but what they don't understand is that it is a little know and asked for feature.

So yeah call BT sales team and ask them.

Still need to pay for line rental :p

removing the telephone feature doesnt make it any cheaper, if you dont use your phone your not paying for calls anyway.

[Robbie Ride]

Still need to pay for line rental :p

removing the telephone feature doesnt make it any cheaper, if you dont use your phone your not paying for calls anyway.

removing the calls package does actually make it cheaper, if you look at the current BT pricing for having a calls package on your line and then removing it, this is called a saving therefor making it cheaper, even if you dont use your phone to make calls when the package is enabled your still being charged.

example BT offer the Anytime Package for ?4.95 per month plus Line Rental ?11.95 per month, now if no calls are made then ?4.95 is still added to your account each month, (check the T&C)

BT Phone

[Colin-uk Veteran]

or like i said in my earlier post you can just pay a broadband isp like virgin or plusnet the line rental and they will pass that onto BT and you dont pay anything for calls :p

(my brothers with plusnet and he does this).

[Robbie Ride]

or like i said in my earlier post you can just pay a broadband isp like virgin or plusnet the line rental and they will pass that onto BT and you dont pay anything for calls :p

(my brothers with plusnet and he does this).

that depends if Virgin doesn't provide a Fibre Optic line to his household, then yeah Virgin buys the line from BT Wholesale and he is charge a little extra not normally alot

Sky offers the same service if a customer is outside the coverage area, the package is called Sky Connect and is ?17 per month.

Sky also offers Sky Line Rental for ?11 per month

Edited November 23, 2009 by Windows Tester

[Colin-uk Veteran]

that depends if Virgin doesn't provide a Fibre Optic line to his household, then yeah Virgin buys the line from BT Wholesale and he is charge a little extra not normally alot

Sky offers the same service if a customer is outside the coverage area, the package is called Sky Connect and is ?17 per month.

Sky also offers Sky Line Rental for ?11 per month

thats what i was sayin:D:D

but yeah he would have to check what ISPs are available in his area.

[belto]

I'm just curious as to whether this exists or not.

What I'm looking for is if there are any ISP's that provide broadband + line rental but without any phone calling capabilities. I never use my home phone, I use my mobile for all my calls. All it seems to be there for is to recieve sales calls.

Does something like this exist?

We have a service over there that does not requite a phone line to have broadband but it is a Hungarian Company. But we also have UPC's new Fiber Power with 120 but it is still new so it it not available all over the Country yet but Hungary has a huge monopoly (it is like a mafia thing but it is after all T-Home services) and they do not want to open up free trade or services.

[Robbie Ride]

thats what i was saying :D

but yeah he would have to check what ISPs are available in his area.

Technically thats not entirely what you said, you stated that if you dont use your phone your not paying for calls but he would still be paying if the Calls Package was taken (package dependant) but we wont argue about it

[Colin-uk Veteran]

Technically thats not entirely what you said, you stated that if you dont use your phone your not paying for calls but he would still be paying if the Calls Package was taken

unless he went with an isp that only offered broadband + line rental + no call packages. but yeah, lets not argue :p

[Panacik]

No, it's technically impossible because there's no way they can block you from using a phone signal for calls without disabling the signal.

I've asked this myself and I'm fortunate enough to know a BT engineer who basically said the above.

You and your BT friend are both wrong.

You would still need to pay for the line rental, but they can block your number for making and recieveing calls. If you where using dialup internet then this would be a problem, however, you are using broadband, which would mean you get around the issue... I had it on mine when i lived with my parents!

[lee31]

You and your BT friend are both wrong.

You would still need to pay for the line rental, but they can block your number for making and recieveing calls. If you where using dialup internet then this would be a problem, however, you are using broadband, which would mean you get around the issue... I had it on mine when i lived with my parents!

Well it was a few years ago so maybe things have changed since then. I haven't seen him for a few months either. He's more a friend of my dads than mine.

I know you can get a block on receiving calls but didn't know you could block making them as well, if what you're saying is true.

[_bobcat_ Veteran]

We used to have a Virgin Cable deal with no landline. Being cable BT didn't really come into it as far as I know. It was about ?10 a month for a 2MB connection with no landline facility.

Currently on ADSL, with a calls package. I believe Tiscali offer a broadband only deal, but as mentioned, with ADSL you still require the BT line (though Tiscali pay for this and make it fairly cheap). We currently pay ?15 a month for a 6MB connection and get free weekend calls. If you take off the ?11 line rental that would make it ?4 a mo:Dh :D

Well it was a few years ago so maybe things have changed since then. I haven't seen him for a few months either. He's more a friend of my dads than mine.

I know you can get a block on receiving calls but didn't know you could block making them as well, if what you're saying is true.

Tiscali managed to 'accidentally' block us from making calls for a couple of week:pinch:nch: I'm pretty sure it's always been possible to block outgoing calls, they need control over the money making part :unsure:ure:

[Panacik]

Well it was a few years ago so maybe things have changed since then. I haven't seen him for a few months either. He's more a friend of my dads than mine.

I know you can get a block on receiving calls but didn't know you could block making them as well, if what you're saying is true.

As far as im aware its always been possible since people having telephones became standard to most house holds in the UK.

And yes, it is true. You may not want to believe me in your little world, but it is true... Both my sister and I have had this on our lines purposly so we cannot make outgoing calls.

You can even get a code you enter in order to be able to make calls...

[lee31]

As far as im aware its always been possible since people having telephones became standard to most house holds in the UK.

And yes, it is true. You may not want to believe me in your little world, but it is true... Both my sister and I have had this on our lines purposly so we cannot make outgoing calls.

You can even get a code you enter in order to be able to make calls...

What little world would that be?

Anyways. now you say all that stuff, I do now seem to recall my mother getting a block on the phone when I was a kid because of the huge phone bills my sister was running up at the time.

Just goes to show even so called experts get it wrong sometimes.