I am told by BT representatives that you can't have ADSL without also having telephone provision (which is not technically true, but a scam by BT so they don't lose too much trade).

I only want ADSL from BT or one of the other providers, but I can't. So essentially I am paying two lots of rental on the same bit of copper. Just give me ADSL dammit!

I'll provide my own VOIP solution instead.

"The regulator set maximum prices in 2006, but there was no way to adjust them for inflation or other changes."

SO CHANGE THE WORDING OF THE REGULATION.

Seriously, you'd think that law was set in stone. It's not. It evolves and changes.

Nice to see someone soo pleasent suffering so much..

I am continuing to use an unbundled supplier and for some reason I'm glad BT is hurting...

BT its time to dephorm!

BT Vision is sweet.

Maybe I'll pop off a request to Ofcom that BTV and BT BB should not be sold as a pair.

I'd be quite happy to take BTV but without the BB for obvious reasons.

You can't have ADSL without a phone line.

The ADSL service is sent down the same copper pair as the phone service.

The line rental you pay is for the use of the copper pair. That's why they call it LINE rental.

You pay for additional services on top. That includes phone calls, ADSL or whatever the hell you want.

Nobody is forcing you to use it to make phone calls.

So how are you being scammed exactly?

You're wrong. The line rental is a standing charge for the voice service.

In France, you can have ADSL via the copper pair but choose to have no voice service active - i.e. no dial tone, no phone service. You just pay for the ADSL. It's cheaper than having ADSL plus voice service.

In the UK, you can't have ADSL without also renting the phone service. Whether you make calls or not, you still have to pay £11 or so per month for voice service rental. There's no choice.

So yes, it is technically possible to have ADSL without a phone line.

Incidentally, when I moved house my BT voice line in my old place was cut off, but the O2 broadband connection was still active a week later. So it is possible!

They appear to act purely as an infrastructure (IE hardware) provider. Even telephone service becomes a competing service.

What an idea.

"In the UK, you can't have ADSL without also renting the phone service. Whether you make calls or not, you still have to pay £11 or so per month for voice service rental. There's no choice."

Translation:

The powers that be don't have a clue and unless it involves lots of spying, money changing and spin, nobody is going to get cluebyfoured up about it too neither.

"The powers that be don't have a clue and unless it involves lots of spying, money changing and spin, nobody is going to get cluebyfoured up about it too neither."

Perhaps its time to go low tech. A written letter to the all party ISP group pointing this out. Nothing works quite so well as an actual demonstration that something has already been done.

I seem to remember that BT and possibly some other ISPs did a survey and concluded that, at the time, there was not enough demand for ADSL only lines to justify supporting such a product.