List of DRL compatible WLR providers

[WillPS]

Can anybody supply a list of WRL providers? I've spent all night looking for one without success.

Such a list would be most useful, as in the next month I'm looking to:
a) move my Sky broadband (full LLU) over to DRL (which will mean moving to BT or a WRL landline)
b) get a new line installed for my business which will need to support DRL

At the moment, I am aware of:
BT (Retail)
Will transfer from LLU (TalkTalk/Sky) at no cost
New line £40 (12 month contract) - online only
BT (Business)
Will transfer from LLU
New line £105 (24 month contract) or £120 (12 month contract)
Yourcalls.net
Won't transfer from an LLU line
Can't find new line charge, but seems they do offer it
Primus
Won't transfer from an LLU line
£59 install charge (12 month contract)

I can see that the Post Office and Phone Co-op both offer LLU broadband services, but I don't know if their landlines are WRL or not?

Frankly - it seems like a bit of a cock up that these charges are necessary at all - I only want to use the last 100m of the landline, but a data-only line isn't economic either. I found a thread on Sheffield Forum which implied that the idea was there would be no need for line rental, and that RiPWIRE were taken by surprise when they found customers getting disconnected from DRL by BT!

[alexatkin]

You could try asking Origin seeing as they are able to take over the land line rental they must know how it works and what options you have. I'm pretty sure a few people on this forum have in fact moved over to Origin directly from Full LLU.

[Originb]

Hi, @WillPS

We can do everything to get you connected and supply you with a standard LWR (Bt line). Give the sales guys a call on 0800 206 23 33 and they can talk you through the options and pricing. I know we do free installs on WLR so that mite help you out.

Thanks,
Origin Support

[WillPS]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm aware Origin and LBO both offer line rental, but the rates aren't great - comparing Evening & Weekends packages:

Origin - £14.60 x 12 = £175.20 (first year cost)
LBO/Chess - £42 + (£13 x 12) = £198 (first year cost)

BT - £141 + (£2 x 12) = £165 (first year cost)

and then, perhaps more importantly, with Origin/LBO, we'd be locked in for a *further* 6 months at that high price, whereas with BT I could say adios and go for Primus or Yourcalls which both charge less than £10/month.

What I'm looking for is a saving on what BT can offer really.

On top of this, I'm keen to start separating my line rental from my broadband. Had a nasty experience last year when we moved from O2 to Sky - gave notice to O2, gave MAC to Sky, everything switched over seamlessly on the promised day, but according to O2 we didn't cancel our broadband - so even though the line was going nowhere they charged us for a further month of it! The bastards!

[alexatkin]

There are people who still use landlines to make calls?

Seriously though, as I need the landline for Origin I just go for the cheapest line rental I can find (was Primus) and make 99.9% of calls on my mobile. But I guess that depends on if you have a fancy mobile that you need to get a certain priced contract anyway to pay for the phone, or if you are a someone who uses an ancient Nokia on PAYG.

[WillPS]

I know, seems weird. I use mine for 08** calls and nothing else, the other person at home uses it for evening calls. Primus unfortunately wont transfer from an LLU product

The Phone Co-operative also offer an (unadvertised) WLR service (not their main service, which is an LLU product) at £12.50 pm and will transfer from LLU.

[alexatkin]

Yeah it totally makes sense for 08** calls (although paying extra for the "free" 0845 calls doesn't unless you make a lot of them every month) but evening calls? I guess some people actually manage to use up all their mobile bundled minutes so it might be useful, but I wouldn't WANT to talk on a phone for that long. The only time I chat for long periods is on Skype or Xbox Live, a much more pleasant experience. (well perhaps not Xbox Live, voice chat just doesn't work as well as it did in the early years of Xbox 360, seems it got worse with each dashboard update)

That's probably the only feature of Xbox One I wish the PS4 could have, cross-gaming Skype. It makes things so much easier when the service is cross platform. Then again, I never understood why they didn't merge Xbox Live voice chat into MSN/Live Messenger.

I have this funny feeling that once PS4 launches I might end up using the PS Vita a lot for chatting to people. Then again, that has Skype too. I wonder if there is a chance in hell the PS4 would get Skype now Microsoft are using it as a selling point for Xbox One? I would be happy even if it was a much more primitive version that only voice chat worked in-game.

[WillPS]

To update - The Co-operative Phone & Broadband offer WLR for £120/year or £12.50/month, I'm just waiting for them to confirm there are no extra charges for transferring from LLU (their website suggests that is the case!).

[WillPS]

Magic - The Co-operative Phone & Broadband offer £120/year, no charge for transferring from LLU! That's brilliant, I'll just use 18185 for calls.

[SpencerUk]

I've just always used BT retail for line rental. Sure it's more expensive generally but I hate the 3rd party faffing when it comes to line rental and faults.