Landline charges

[johnmac150]

I used to take advantage of the Line Rental Saver on my landline. Now BT have bundled landline cost in with Broadband and LRS discount no longer available. Broadband package was about £37/month less £19.99 because I paid LRS annually. So, in effect, I was paying £17 for broadband.

When I tried to cancel my landline, I was advised that I would still pay the same amount, i.e. I would continue to pay £37 but would not have a landline. Is this correct, as it seems like sharp practice and it would appear pointless to cancel landline?

[Keith_Beddoe]

@johnmac150 

The broadband cost has included line rental for a long time now.

If you cancel your landline, it will terminate your broadband, as the line is needed to carry the broadband, whether its copper or fibre. The price you have been quoted is correct, as you would no longer get the £19.99 monthly discount, that you already paid for in advance.

If you do not want a phone service, then you can start a new "broadband only" contract, but the saving is only small.

[iniltous]

All LRS gave you was a £20 per year discount for paying £220 upfront, continuing to call it line rental saver was always going to make the relationship between the discount and your monthly bill confusing and probably was a factor in removing it from sale .
Telephony ( not line rental ) is about £3 a month ( broadband without any telephony is £3 cheaper ) , if your old bill was the equivalent of £37 and the new bill is also £37 but with the £3 telephone service removed  then it follows that your annual increase is around £3 , that  sounds about right

[johnmac150]

Just want to make sure I've got this correct - LRS applied to the actual line that brought both broadband and telephony into the house; it did not cover the telephony side of things, which was paid for via PAYG or similar telephony package?

So, I need to continue renting the line, as part of the broadband price, to get the service? Little point in cancelling the landline then, for a saving of approx. £3/month.

[rbz5416]

@johnmac150 

Correct.

[iniltous]

In my case I ( relatively recently ) renegotiated my BT package due to a change in circumstances,

I was offered a reasonable deal with the option of saving an extra £3 by dropping the telephony service completely (which was on a PAYG basis ) , like you I decided for the relatively small sum it was worth keeping the telephone service , and in that time although I’ve never used it for an outgoing call , I have , as well as the odd nuisance call , had a couple of incoming calls that were worth the expense of keeping the phone number I’ve had for decades…

[Pete31]

Depends how close you are to the end of the contract, and what deals BT are offering at the time. I recently renewed broadband+phone for well under £30.