So why do Virgin Broadband charge line rental?

[Dos_Box]

I'm a bit baffled here. I'm going to ring Virgin tomorrow to begin to re-negotiate my contract and possibly get rid of the Tivo - we're on the base package and very rarely watch live tv these days, especially now we have the Roku.

So, as you do, I've been going through their 'deals' and subscripton levels on their site and notice that they are making a big deal about the +£15.99 per month line rental.

Now, I know this is a big issue amongst BT and other copper based customers (apparently BT never charged a line rental before privetisation and invented it as a cash cow once tax payer funding was cut off) but why should I pay line rental on a phone coming via my fibre?

Surely in that case all non-landline customers should pay a line rental if they use fibre?

If there is a logical explination to this would someone please explain it to me?

[Quackers]

I had the Medium Virgin package, 30Megabit Broadband, Basic Tivo and a landline. You do not have to have line rental, you can just have fibre broadband without the phone. As i was out of contract i thought i would save some money as i don't use the Tivo or the landline, so i called them 3 weeks ago to cancel all but the broadband and pay £25 a month instead of the current £37.99 for the bundle.

 

Well the guy on the phone did me an offer he said if i keep the phone i can have it for cheaper than the just broadband price, so now i am paying £21.50 for 30 Megabit fibre going to 50 next month and the landline. If you are out of contract Virgin will throw offers at you.

[Dos_Box]

TBH, when I re-negotiated last year I basically didn't pay line rental, but it just strikes me as them charging money for nothing and it only applies in relation to phones and not to any other fibre connected devices. Very strange indeed.

[CAM]

When we moved from BT to Virgin, we renegotiated our existing cable TV package. Broadband needs a phone line and they give you discounts if you run your Broadband, TV and Phone through them. Cheaper then BT anyway and better customer service.

[featured_spectre]

If you run everything through them, you can generally get a discount on the line rental, however, broadband costs should be covered. Line rental should only be charged if you are serviced with copper and utilise the line for either broadband or the phone. IF you have fibre going to the house, and you don't use the phone, you shouldn't be charged line rental.

 

I am on sky fibre, don't have a phone line with them, and I'm not charged line rental.

[jinnantonnixx]

Mr Box (if that IS your real name) - you're looking for logic where there is none. Line rental is so engrained in the mind that they can charge for it even though it doesn't exist.

 

I'm on broadband-only with Virgin, I managed to negotiate a retentions deal which runs out soon. I'm all out of cards, so I'll probably have to pay the going rate for broadband only. Virgin's services share a common media (the coax) so the phone line rental is a bit of a cheek as it doesn't really exist. Yes, you have an allocated number, but I've got a geographic number from Draytel VOIP provider on a pre-pay scheme. I spent less that £5 per year on my 'landline'. No rental charges! It's only used for the occasional call abroad.

 

I've said it before, but fixed phone is archaic. The only commodity of value is broadband, and the suppliers know that.

 

In this crazy world, I've found that it can be cheaper to get a bundle with a phone line than without.

 

By the way - a BT fibre cabinet has appeared in my street. How does that work? Do you still need a phone line to it or do they run a coax to your house a la Virgin?

Edited August 19, 2014 by jinnantonnixx

[visioN]

When I had VM i paid just for the broadband £25 and had no other services

[tmcd35]

Currently paying about £30pcm for 60mbps from them. Only service I get, no TV or phoneline. I got Netflix/NowTV/iPlayer/Plex/YouTube and a mobilephone so they are surplus to requirements. Apparently they are doubling their speeds again and by end of next year I'll be back up to 100mbps, I'll probably phone them then and drop back down to 60mbps (currently their 30mbps package).

[mac_shinobi]

At least you have fibre in your area, I have the choice of ADSL2+ or nothing

 

No BT Infinity, no Virgin Media Fibre and just wish Google Fibre was available where I live but am guessing that will either

 

1) Never happen

2) If it does it will be a very VERY long time before google fibre is released in the UK and released in my Area

 

Saw a news article the other day in the papers about getting fibre broadband across 90% of the UK by the end of 2017 I think it said but I have no clue or idea if that includes the place where I live or not

 

sigh

[eyetea]

On a tangent.. Is the Roku worth it?

[Dos_Box]

On a tangent.. Is the Roku worth it?

 

Yes, for streaming from my DLNA NAS to Netflix and Crunchyroll access (£11pm for both) as well as all the catch-up tv channels it's really good. I would have gone for the WD Live but they pulled the plug on Netflix

[Roberto]

In this crazy world, I've found that it can be cheaper to get a bundle with a phone line than without.

 

I had a bunch of services from Virgin - the lowest TV and Phone deals because I don't use either much plus their biggest internet package. I switched to their "Big Kahuna" package that gives you their higher tier phone and TV services as well and my bill went down a decent lump of cash. Enough to cover the cost of the Tivo and still save money.

 

It makes no sense to me. I suspect it's not supposed to make sense to us mere mortals.

[CAM]

It bumps up sales figures, ties you into their services instead of rivals and gives them a platform to sell you more packages like sport, etc.

[plexer]

By the way - a BT fibre cabinet has appeared in my street. How does that work? Do you still need a phone line to it or do they run a coax to your house a la Virgin?

 

Fibre to the cab is provided to your house vi the existing copper circuit and vdsl tech.

 

Ben

[jinnantonnixx]

Fibre to the cab is provided to your house vi the existing copper circuit and vdsl tech.

 

Ben

 

So line rental is a must with BT then. Oh well. No custom from me, then.

[Dos_Box]

Renegotiated teh deal. Got incease in broadband speed up to 50Mb, kept the Tivo (no Tivo charge) and had a Superhub 2 thrown in for free, and saved an extra £7.

Happy, although the Tivo is old tech these days and is getting very sluggish to the point where we no longer really use it, especially when we have Netflix and Crunchyroll.

My guess is they don't want them back as they'll cost more to ship and recycle than they are worth.

[DarrenM]

Don't forget it may not be for just the line into your home, they have to run a bunch of services to allow you to make calls.