BT service charges are out of proportion to use.

[Mrs T]

Our telephone service charges for 12 months line use are almost £450, including broadband. Our phone use is a quarter of that cost.

 

How can I remove the service charges.

 

I use a mobile phone (an old one and its pay as you go) so simple. Especially texting.

 

Do any of you use a mobile for Broadband (as well as the phone)?

 

If so, that means, if I'm right, that I can dispense with the land line totally and only use the mobile for ALL US.

 

How do the BB costs by a mbl relate to a land line use.

 

I do hope this all makes sense.

 

Mrs T

[colin]

At moment using a mobile for internet is usualy much slower than BB, but this would depend on location. In the near future this may change with 4g but it will still depend on location as to wether it's on par with BB.

To get a better deal on your phone/BB greatly depends on if you have LLU at your local exchange, if you have this you can expect to get BB and calls to non premium rates landlines for around £25/month but you will have to pay extra for calls to mobiles.

[Robinhood]

.....as Colin says, your route to cheaper bills is to choose an "unbundled" supplier, if your exchange has any LLU (local loop unbundling) providers.

 

(LLU providers install their own equipment in the exchanges, and essentially take on ownership of your line from BT when you sign-up, and connect it to that equipment. This gives them more flexibility on price and competition since all non-LLU provision is simply a BT service, using BT equipment and sold at a fixed wholesale price to the end-provider you buy from)

 

I currently pay £200 a year all-inclusive (line rental, anytime calls, 16Mb broadband connection with no download limit) with an LLU service.

 

There are two LLU providers on my exchange, and at renewal time I simply "offer" to move to the other one unless they continue the half-price introductory offer I started with.

 

To check if you have any LLU provision on your exchange, you can use Samknows

 

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

 

Enter your tel no, then click on the exchange name on the next page, and it will give you the exchange status, including any LLU operators.

 

These are the ones that are likely to provide you a competitive (all-in) deal.

[Mrs T]

Mr T says thanks, our local exchange is not yet enabled.

 

Mrs T

[spospe]

Can I suggest speaking to BT and asking them what your options are?

 

I was originally on BT Option 3, which is their most expensive (but unlimited) package, but after a talk with them, was able to move to option 2, which as far as I am concerned is good enough and a lot cheaper.

 

Just a thought.