data only link

[#1]

Hi
Here's something I think that needs looking at at Ofcom level as its not really something PN can do much about on their own but here goes.
The status quo at the moment is that you have to have a voice service on a line to get ADSL (and yes I know that ADSL simply transmits tones at a higher frequency to voice and  its the DSLAM that splits them blah blah)
However it should be possible for Openreach to convert it to data only so that only signals at voice frequency would be dropped and only data could proceed (dialtone should reamain for line testing purposes)
This would mean that the voice line rental would be scrapped and the customer would just pay for ADSL subs (so I could have pro for £20 as opposed to the total cost being £30)
After all, corporates can buy data only circuits (though lot more expensive obviously)

[#2]

But its the voice line rental that pays for the the physical copper wires that the ADSL runs over. So that has to be paid for some how, so ADSL without Voice would cost about the same as ADSL+Voice.

[#3]

Unless I'm mistaken part of the fees we pay to ISP's goes to pay for connection/line rental that BTw charges ISP's. So in fact we pay line retal twice.

[#4]

Naked DSL, as it's known, is already available in some other countries

[#5]

And was part of the original 21CN WBC spec, but I *believe* it was later dropped.
B.

[#6]

Quote from: glloyd

Unless I'm mistaken part of the fees we pay to ISP's goes to pay for connection/line rental that BTw charges ISP's. So in fact we pay line retal twice.

Kind of.  You pay a voice line rental and a broadband line rental (in a way). That's what we refer to the tail cost, which is around £7 a month.

[#7]

I suppose technically, the PSTN line rental pays for the upkeep of your line between the NTE5 (or terminating equipment), and the exchange jumper, with some contribution going towards the national PSTN infrastructure.  This is the part between the ADSL filter and the PSTN "block" on the diagram below.
The ADSL 'tail cost' pays for the connection from the exchange jumper to the DSLAM, and the national IP infrastructure.  This is the section between the "patch panel" and the "Home Gateway LTS Clusters" in the image below

(Image linked from Kitz' site, which has an excellent ADSL primer for techies:  http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/equip.htm
B.

[#8]

I don't object to paying £20/month for DSL, I'd just rather more of it went on bandwidth.
I read Dave Tomlinson's excellent piece about PN's infrastructure and costs and that you are somewhat squeezed by BT (as are most ISPs)
What I'd like to see is this:
BT charge you £7.00 for the tail circuit between my house and the exchange
PN charge around  £13 for the base service with say 1GB thrown in
I pay £7 extra for 7 GB bandwidth
As regards It being dropped from the original spec, of course it was as BT wouldn't let a major cash cow go now would they.
I think its terrible the way ISPs are treated and what they are charged by that organisation, def time for the infrastructure to be put under public ownership.