 |  | By Julia Kukiewicz Staff Writer Sunday, 9 March 2008 |
Who offers free line rental?
The following broadband packages all offer free line rental included in the price of the broadband package:
Note: Since Virgin Media is a cable broadband service (and doesn't rely on telephone wires), no line rental is required with any Virgin Media cable broadband package.
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MANY broadband customers will find themselves paying more for line rental – not to mention more for calls - on April 1st, as BT raises the price of line rental by £9 a year. But it’s simple to beat BT: just sign up for broadband without line rental!
As of April 1st BT’s price hike means that line rental will cost an extra 75p – a rise to £11.75 if you don’t pay your bill by Direct Debit.
The cost for line rental by Direct Debit payers will remain at £10.50.
The rise has led to criticism of BT from broadband customers who have to pay BT line rental as part of their monthly bill, especially as it will soon cost more to call as well.
The prices of evening calls will increase by a ridiculous 1900%. Although this rise is offset by free weekend calls for those on BT Together option 1.
But, as Bruce Stevens, Technical Editor at broadband comparison site ChooseISP.co.uk points out: "Millions of people don’t have a BT home phone plan but still use the BT line for their broadband connection. They will be the ones most affected by this change."
Go for free line rental
There are ways to save, however. As part of their commitment to environmentally friendly paperless billing service (read: cost cutting paperless billing service) checking your BT phone bill online could now save you £1.25 a month. That’s £15 a year plus a clear conscience.
But you don’t need to take your line rental from BT.
Many broadband providers offer packages which include either reduced rate line rental, or completely free line rental
No line rental required
Broadband providers Tiscali, Plusnet, Orange and the Post Office Broadband all offer broadband packages that include free line rental.
Considering line rental will soon cost £141 a year, the potential savings by switching to a broadband package that includes line rental in the cost are massive.
After all, £141 will get you a flight to New York.
Virgin Media – which uses its own cable network – doesn’t require line rental at all, allowing you to spend the £141 a year on, perhaps, a broadband, phone and TV bundle instead.
There is a caveat on all these free line rental broadband packages though. In order to get the free line rental, you have to take out a home phone call package with that provider.
Check out our comparison of the cheapest broadband packages from the broadband providers that do not include line rental to see how little you could be paying.
CHEAPEST BROADBAND PACKAGES THAT INCLUDE FREE LINE RENTAL
Reduced rate line rental
Other broadband providers offer reduced rate line rental, which could save as much as an extra £33 per year.
You will have to take out a home phone package with the provider though, as these cheaper line rental offers can not be taken with broadband alone.
Both cheap broadband provider TalkTalk and the much maligned Toucan offer cheaper-than-BT line rental, as this broadband comparison table below illustrates.
CHEAPEST BROADBAND PACKAGES THAT INCLUDE LOW-RATE LINE RENTAL
| Broadband |
Package |
Price per month |
Line Rental |
Line Rental Saving |
| TalkTalk |
8Mbps |
£16.39 excl line rental |
£10.50 per mth |
£15 per year |
| Toucan |
512kbps |
£22.98 excl line rental |
£8.99 per mth |
£33.12 per year |
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