Line rental saver - any benefit beyond the meagre saving?

[Retrovertigo]

 My line rental saver is due for renewal, if I want to. But I'm convinced you don't save nearly as much money as you used to. Is that piddly £1 odd per month all you really save now for stumping up £200 in advance? Thanks

[pottyperson]

You're right, LRS looked like a reasonable deal when it was first introduced. Like other providers offering something similar though, BT obviously decided that it was too generous and it's value has been markedly reduced. In fact, I believe that at least one other major provider scrapped it altogether, and I expected BT to follow suit at some stage.

I was tempted at first but decided that, on balance, even the decent, initial saving wasn't worth the hassle potential of fiddling with my service. The paltry saving available now makes that decision a no-brainer.

[Keith_Beddoe]

The saving is more than the interest you would get if you put the money into a savings account for a year, that is another way of looking at it.

With current savings rates, any upfront payment which gives you a discount over the year, has to be a better deal.

[Interceptor121]

Line rental saver is 10% off from £18.99 which is £1.90. 10% saving is better than putting the money in a saving account currently paying nothing so this is competitive

On the other hand BT line rental is the most expensive out there but that is another story

[conrad]

I think at least two other major ISPs don't offer any form of LRS , one fairly recently but they fix the contract price for its term.

[barnpiece]

You can get free callerid if you sign up for 12 months line rental.

Richard

[Interceptor121]

If you use the Present value formula in excel with a 1% interest rate annual you see that 12 payments of £18.99 are worth £226.65 versus £205.80 of the line rental saver. So your saving is £20.85 at the moment you buy the line rental saver which for me is not small

[gg30340]

You also have to factor in that you will not be subject to any line rental price rises during the period you have it.

[Interceptor121]

Gg30340 is right so the value is at least what I calculated

Line rental saver makes sense if you are starting a 12 month contract period and of course you have the money to pay even if it is only 10% this is a much better return than anything out there

[Retrovertigo]

Appreciate all the replies. I think what had me second guessing was the caller I.D thing. Someone at BT ( a couple of years back) told me it was free if you took out the line rental saver. But the last time my line rental saver was due, I'm sure I had to renew my contract to get free caller i.d instead.