BT Announces Price Cut For ADSL

[silver]

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/bus...00/1841478.stm

British Telecom has unveiled big cuts in the cost of broadband internet services in the UK.
The price cuts are part of Mr Verwaayen's growth strategy

The telecoms company will cut the cost of wholesale broadband access for inernet service providers from £25 to £14.75 from 1 April.

This should lead to sharp cuts in the prices end users pay.

The UK has one of the lowest take-up rates for broadband access in Western Europe, and high wholesale broadband prices have been blamed for this.

"We have now achieved the price that service providers told us they needed to get end user prices below £30," said BT Wholesale chief executive Paul Reynolds.

"This will drive the whole market forward by making broadband affordable, attractive and accessible," said BT chief executive Ben Verwaayen.

Consumer prices

Broadband internet services enable users to download audio and video much faster than a normal phone line.

Prior to the announcement, BT Openworld's high-speed internet services to the consumer in Britain cost around £40 a month, which analysts view as more than most consumers are willing to pay.

The cable companies NTL and Telewest offer broadband access for about £25 a month.

High-speed future

BT's price cuts are part of Mr Verwaayen's growth strategy.

"Broadband is the future for Britain and we're putting it at the heart of BT's plans for growth in the UK mass market," he said.

BT aims to attract one million subscribers for its ADSL, or asymmetric digital subscriber line, broadband network by summer 2003.

To do this, it will launch a major marketing campaign together with more than 40 service providers "to champion the benefits of broadband", BT said.

BT will also search for partnerships "to extend broadband to less commercially viable areas", it said.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has set out a vision of "broadband Britain", to be achieved by 2005.

Britain has lagged behind other developed countries in the take-up of broadband services, with many critics blaming the level of BT's charges for the slow progress.

Will Oftel block it b4 it actually happens...

The date for it to be 'brought in', isn't a good omen

Sil

[Onslo]

Time will tell, but at least no one can fault BT for going ahead dispite the rumoured Oftel ruling that may impede the program.

'Slo

[silver]

If BT are using anti-competitive pricing to screw other companies then it's not a good thing overall necessarily.

Add to that if BT expect Oftel to block it (which they may well do) then BT isn't cutting the cost at all, it's playing a game. Oftel can not only make them change the price back (or to a value close to it) they can back date the cost.

Sil

[silver]

Also interesting, this reuters feed says abt the original wholesale cost

The price BT charges to use one of its broadband lines, currently at 25 pounds ($36) a month for self-install and 30 pounds ($43) per month for Internet service providers, would fall to 14.75 pounds per month from April 1, BT said.

So BT are also removing the cost differential between 'wires only' and 'classic ADSL'... why are they doing that then

Sil

[mo.]

A number of ISPs have announced price reductions as a result of BT's announcement today. Details can be found at http://www.adslguide.org.uk

[JimLogan]

Bloody hell, the pipex price looks good.
I was with Freeserve plus just before I moved house, but that bloody transparent cache really peed me off.
Think I'll look closer at the Pipex deal.

Jim.

[Paul]

they can make it free but its still no good if your exchange is so far down the list for conversion that i will be old and grey before it gets onto the somerset levels. anyone know of broadband alternatives?

Paul

[JLR]

It makes a pleasant change for BT to try to do something FOR the internet user, instead of trying to undermine, whatever it is, that others are trying to do, to make life better for the consumer.

P.S.

Long time no Post !!



John

[Onslo]

Got this email yesterday, but forgot to post it.

>Dear Customer,
>
>Great news! Your broadband monthly rental is coming down!
>
>We're delighted to tell you that we'll be reducing the monthly fee on
>your BTopenworld Broadband service from 1st April 2002.
>
>This means that your current monthly rental fee of £39.99 will be
>reduced to only £29.99.
>
>You don't have to do anything, as the reduction will be made
>automatically from your April bill onwards.
>
>So now your high speed world of faster emailing, surfing, downloading
>and online gaming will be even better value!
>
>If you have any queries about BTopenworld Broadband, go to
>http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband...500_qanda.html
>
>Best wishes and we hope you'll continue enjoying your service with
>BTopenworld.
>
>BTopenworld team
>www.btopenworld.com

'Slo

[Alphabetex]

Probably the highest broadband costs in the civilised world if the truth were known.

A notable achievement by BT in the land that invented the telephone.
Still one they excel beyond all others is their capacity to continue to rip-off customers and get away with.
Does anyone have a list of the comparative broadband rates throughout Europe?

The alternatives to ADSL are satellite, cable.
Telewest do a superb cable service, satellite we haven't heard too much detail about but whatever you go for it's sure to be cheaper and more reliable than anything BT ever come up with.
The only way we can get them to drop their prices is by using as many alternative companies and services as possible.

Keep on screaming..............

[gem]

In yesterdays Sunday Times they were saying (sorry, I cannot remember the exact details) that BT had been trialing satellite in Scotland (which had gone well) and that an announcement was expected soon about making it available generally at a cost of (I think) £60 to home users but more for 'network' users ie more than one PC! Installation was, I think, in excess of £200.

So, BT have us by the short and curlies as few of us have cable and it will be BT who supply us with DSL whether by phone line or satellite!

PS You may be interested to see http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/s...&threadid=4860 about BT's price cut!

[Alphabetex]

It's true that BT control the telephone infrastructure but we do not have to sign to BT open rip-off or their ADSL services I have a brilliantly compiled list submitted in the net4nowt forums by a guy called Jaza Jay. see below

Here are some details of ISPs that do ADSL. Their prices are from their website and I believe them to be correct. I have no idea how good they are and some were a bit ambiguous as to what was provided with the installation cost. I hope this helps.

www.Freedom2surf.net

Subscription: £22.50 a month
Installaition: £250.00 Engineer

Subscription: £22.50 a month
Installation: £69.99 DIY and no equipment(I think)


www.NetAxis.co.uk

Subscription: £24.95
Setup/Installation: £50 <--A bit low??? Probably DIY with no equipment.

www.dsl.pipex.net

Subscription: £29.32 (£23.44 from 1st April)
Setup/Installation: Free but need to buy ADSL Modem and 2 Micro-Filters at a cost of £129.19

www.sonnetinternet.co.uk

Subscription: £25 a month
Installation: £60 activation 3 months contract

Subscription: £25 a month
Installation: £210 Engineer 12 month contract

www.btopenworld.com

Subscription: £39.99 a month (£29.99 from 1st April)
Installation: £150 Engineer (£250 from 1st April)

Subscription: £29.99 a month
Installation: £85 (Do it yourself. Equipment comes with the package.)

Nildram www.getadsl.co.uk

Subscription: £32.52
Installation: £75 (Equipment included. Assuming do it yourself.)

www.timewarp.co.uk

Subscription: £34.96
Installation: £45 (No equipment provided.)

www.eclipse.net.uk

Subscription: £33 Minimum Term of 1 month.
Installation/Setup: £50 (No equipment Provided but can buy for £95.)

www.tiscali.co.uk

Subscription: £39.99
Installation: £150 Engineer


Click on the links for more details and Keep on screaming..............................