BroadBand OT

[Weatherlawyer]

At last the UK is getting into the 20th century. Still showing last weeks news though.

Carphone Warehouse are due to announce on Tuesday that they are going to be running a cheap broadband service.

I got a phone call from one of their salesmen last week as I used to be with them until recently. Apparently they are linking with Pipex to give a real bargain. But just what might constitute a bargain depends on the clauses in the contract. Look out for them here:

Carphone Warehouse is expected to unveil a new low-cost UK broadband service tomorrow, offering existing customers of its Talk Talk fixed-line service free high-speed internet access.

And the predicted move is expected to herald a large-scale price war among broadband providers, with industry analysts predicting subscription rates will fall sharply from their present level of between =A315-=A320 a month as a result.

$3=80369.htm(Crap website BTW maybe IE based?)

Anyway, if you have the patience to deal with the BBC try this for more details:

(Don't bother.)

Things to look for:

How much speed and for how long. Means: What do you want it for? Positive service. Do you know how to handle problems without too much help? Telephone numbers. Can you take that and the e-mail address with you? Contract. Will you be tied in? Will they charge you to leave?

[Steve Firth]

They could be giving away T1 access for free and I'd still tell them to stick it. I refuse to do business with Carphone Warehouse because of their use of Ernest Saunders as a consultant.

[Andy Burns]

I think this is a triumph of marketing rather than a sign of their generosity.

As I understand it they will only be providing broadband in about 1000 BT exhanges sometime before 2008, this is about 1/5 of exchanges and covers about 70% population and that itself is no different from the other unbundled providers like Bulldog etc.

They will give you broadband "free" if you buy a line/calls package from them, thereby negating the unbundling as you then have everything back in a single basket again.

What would be really different is a company that would take over your line from BT, and provide you with broadband *without* a phone service and just let you sort out VoIP for yourself, no pretence about "free" anything as part of a package ...

[Bob Eager]

But the cost of such a service would be perceived as 'expensive' since it would effectively have to cover rental of the 'line' even without phone service. Probably a marketing disaster!

[Ian Stirling]

I suspect the 'fixed' costs of a with voice phone line will only be some ten quid more on each line card, if that, and ongoing costs well under a pound a year.

[Peter Andrews]

Well just register yourself as a service provider with OFCOM and see what you can do, it's an open market out there...

Peter

[Andy Burns]

I'm not saying it would be a great deal cheaper, but I think whoever offered this would (for a change) be ahead of the curve, with BT's 21CN this is effectively the direction they will push people anyway, a data line that you happen to do your voice calls over rather than the other way round ...

[JoeJoe]

And don't forget that to be able to get it you will have to be a TalkTalk landline customer. By my calculations they are at least 50% more expensive than my call provider. They claim to be much cheaper than BT - big deal... So fre broadband - not exactly.