Which ISP?

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Glasgow
Ive just learned that i have to have a landline phone to get broadband. I never knew this, i dont need a landline phone, is there any way i can bypass having to give BT £10.92 a month for something ill never use? I can get the broadband deal i want from O2 for £7 a month, 8MB unlimited coming to £18 a month, but i was told the new fibre optic/cable thing can bypass the need to pay for a BT landline. I dont know anything about this new cabling or who owns it, is it available in my area?

Ill be served by the maryhill glasgow exchange here:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WSMAR

Whats my options? £18 a month paying for the BT line +net isnt bad but if theres a way i can bypass a landline completely im all for it.

Thanks for the help.
 
Then you want VirginMedia and cable internet, no need to have a BT line installed.

Other options will depend on where you live, you could try giving sky a call and see if they will do a deal with you if you can get them to provide your voice services too.

Other than that you have no choice, you must pay BT for the line rental, and you will likely also need to pay £125 to have the line installed too.
 
You can go with Mobile broadband or Cable. That requires no land line rental.
optical cabling is a looooong way off. The only provider that offers Fiber to the cabinet is Virgin Media and coverage is very limited.
there are LLU providers who can offer you connection without a BT line but they may well charge you a line rental fee of their own.

Looking at samknows you can get LLU ADSL with O2/Be. However you'd need to check the costs of install without an existing BT line.
 
O2/Be, sounds good. I phoned their customer service... the guy gave me some conflicting info previously, he said i HAD to have a BT line and it HAD to be one of the better BT packages, the basic one dosent offer broadband connections, however the BT CSR told me i could get broadband even with the basic £10.92 a month call package.

Ill give O2 another call, ask them about this LLU stuff.
 
BE do send out emails/letters to customers who download illegally so if u tend in doing that. BE isnt for u
 
O2/Be won't allow you to order from them until you have an active BT line, and what the chap at O2 told you about needing a higher package is tripe (unless this is a recent change but I doubt it). I pay BT the smallest amount I can get away with.
 
O2/Be, sounds good. I phoned their customer service... the guy gave me some conflicting info previously, he said i HAD to have a BT line and it HAD to be one of the better BT packages, the basic one dosent offer broadband connections, however the BT CSR told me i could get broadband even with the basic £10.92 a month call package.

Ill give O2 another call, ask them about this LLU stuff.

Sounds like they were talking about O2 over BT Wholesale. IF you're in an LLU enabled area (which you are) you don't need a BT line. O2 can run you a local pair themselves. This wil come with an installation charge tho.
 
O2/Be won't allow you to order from them until you have an active BT line, and what the chap at O2 told you about needing a higher package is tripe (unless this is a recent change but I doubt it). I pay BT the smallest amount I can get away with.

So theres no way i can get O2 and bypass the BT contract?
 
Sounds like they were talking about O2 over BT Wholesale. IF you're in an LLU enabled area (which you are) you don't need a BT line. O2 can run you a local pair themselves. This wil come with an installation charge tho.

I phoned O2 and they said i still have to have a BT line, even in an LLU area, he said most companies require a BT line except the virgin cable thing which i dont think i get. Says its enabled in the maryhill exchange but when i put in my postcode and exact address it says i cant get virgin cable, their website tells me i cant get it either.

Looks like ill have to bite the bullet and get a BT contract :(
 
Yes you do. From most of the pages on O2's site:

Fair enough.
By that do they mean an active line under contract with voice routing or just a pair of wires to the exchange they can use?

Shoot me down if i'm wrong but...
I'm fairly sure companies like bulldog (who are an LLU provider like everyone else) just need a physical pair. I thought that was the whole point of LLU, your voice and data providers could operate excusively of eachother. Seems the whole competetive intentions of LLU are compromised if BT get £10 per month off of you regardless. LLU was initially introduced to prevent a complete BT monopoly in this way.
 
Fair enough.
By that do they mean an active line under contract with voice routing or just a pair of wires to the exchange they can use?

Shoot me down if i'm wrong but...
I'm fairly sure companies like bulldog (who are an LLU provider like everyone else) just need a physical pair. I thought that was the whole point of LLU, your voice and data providers could operate excusively of eachother. Seems the whole competetive intentions of LLU are compromised if BT get £10 per month off of you regardless. LLU was initially introduced to prevent a complete BT monopoly in this way.

No, LLU was introduced to prevent a monopoly on DSL, which is what it does, you still do need a line to the exchange obviously which costs money to maintain and so you're going to pay a rental fee to someone. That BT is the only game in town right now is unrelated.
 
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