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How much to get a second phone line

spudy12
Grafter
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Registered: ‎24-07-2013

How much to get a second phone line

I was wondering, what would be the cost of getting a second phone line put in just for internet? ( Ie internet only package)
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Townman
Superuser
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

It is the same as Broadband plus "phone line".  "Phone line" is an unfortunate label as it implies the presence of a service which (emotionally) some users do not want, were as in fact it is a provision which they must have.
Broadband and 'phone' is really three components...
1. A PHYSICAL line (the wires), which has to be maintained and managed by BTOR, on which you pay a monthly rental
2. A telephony SERVICE provided by a CP delivered over the physical line - depending upon the service package chosen there may or may not be a volume of calls included.  At present the phone SERVICE "owns" the wires rental charges
3. A data (broadband) SERVICE provided by an ISP delivered over the physical line
Unfortunately, the only route to obtaining (1) to deliver the capability for (3) is via (2).  Therefore you cannot have a broadband service without also having a 'phone' service, even if you have no need for (2).

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pwatson
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

Standard prices apply - PN (or indeed any other xDSL provider) do not provide an 'internet only' line, ie no voice service.  In the case of a BT Wholesale reseller, naked DSL is not an option provided by BTW for sale and OFCOM don't believe there's any demand for it...
spudy12
Grafter
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Registered: ‎24-07-2013

Re: How much to get a second phone line

thanks for that. Yes I do agree a very unfortunate label as it is required.
I was wondering what this would roughly cost?
pwatson
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

Oldjim
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

The standard charges are http://www.plus.net/info2/legal/price_guide.html#talk
New line provide £49.99
and from here http://www.plus.net/home-broadband/
£3.25 per month for 12 months with no activation charge for unlimited plus Line Rental (you can get Line Rental Saver which doesn't have any calls included)
You can also nominate your existing account as the referrer
spudy12
Grafter
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Registered: ‎24-07-2013

Re: How much to get a second phone line

wow that is incredibly cheap. Guess they (BT) make the money back on the line rental. but still, I thought it would be a few hundred at least.
On to my second question, anyone know any routers that can multiplex 2 wan connections together? ie double the internet speed
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: How much to get a second phone line

@spudy12
You'd need to find an aggregation provider to do that for you. Do be aware that can also mean needing a specialist router too.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
spudy12
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Registered: ‎24-07-2013

Re: How much to get a second phone line

Yes I realised i'd need a multi WAN router but I've not heard of a aggregation provider? Had a  (very quick) google and can't find much on them? Is plusnet not a aggregation provider?
I guess a seperate question then would be, is it possible / roughly how much if it is possible to get a fibre to the home link put it from the cabinet?
Smiley
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

Hi it's not something we do, no. Maybe aggregation is more an industry used term. "Line bonding" or "bonded broadband" may be more helpful as a search term.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Townman
Superuser
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

What is it you seek to achieve?  Speed or resilience?
If it is speed, then if available, FTTC should deliver at least what 2xADSL would offer.  Look here to see what is available - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php - in some parts of the country FTTP is being trialled.
If it is resilience, then 2xADSL is likely to have the same routing and thus common failure path / points.
There are routers around which will provide dual (or triple) routing using a 3G/4G wireless dongle.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How much to get a second phone line

Quote from: spudy12
On to my second question, anyone know any routers that can multiplex 2 wan connections together? ie double the internet speed

Yes it is possible, but not often done due to cost.
Another less complicated and cheaper option you might want to consider, is router based multi-WAN LOAD BALANCING.
Rather than attempting to achieve a broadband speed which is the sum of your connections,  it is MUCH easier to setup a multi-WAN router to share multiple internet connections to give you a total broadband bandwidth which is the sum of your connections.
In effect, your router is configured to direct each new connection from your home network, over the least loaded internet connection.
This does NOT require you to sign up to an expensive ISP that provides line bonding.  In fact the internet connections can be a collection of as many and anything you like such as ADSL, FTTC, 3G, 4G, dial-up, etc.
Admittedly the fastest you can download is still whatever the individual fastest ISP connection can provide, BUT any other traffic threads simultaneously being used on your network would be going via the other ISP connection, so as not to slow the first download until the second modem link becomes saturated.
You could either buy a load balancing router to do the job, or use a couple of standard ADSL modems (or ADSL routers in bridged mode) and connect them to an old PC with at least three ethernet sockets and run some decent router software such as pfSense.
jelv
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Re: How much to get a second phone line

Have a read of http://aaisp.net.uk/kb-broadband-bonding.html
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
   Why I have left Plusnet (warning: long post!)   
Broadband: Andrews & Arnold Home::1 (FTTC 80/20)
Line rental: Pulse 8 Home Line Rental (£14.40/month)
Mobile: iD mobile (£4/month)
spudy12
Grafter
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Registered: ‎24-07-2013

Re: How much to get a second phone line

Ah I see. I didn't realise there was a difference between the two. Still quite an interesting concept.
If load balancing, I'm guessing there is no way to be able to share say an upload (the main reason for this question) across the 2 connections?
Yes I currently run my own pfsense based router and have the spare Ethernet connections so that wouldn't be an issue.
Anyone any ideas on the fibre question?
Thankyou all for your answers, I have defiantly learnt something today Smiley
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How much to get a second phone line

Quote from: spudy12
If load balancing, I'm guessing there is no way to be able to share say an upload (the main reason for this question) across the 2 connections?

I don't believe so  Sad

As you are running pfSense already, have you installed the squid3 package ?
If not, adding the caching http transparent proxy will minimize the use of your outgoing (upload) internet connection, therefore maximizing what little upload bandwidth you have.