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To: Ofcom

Force Telcos to provide broadband without a fixed phone service.

I wish for Ofcom to force Telecoms providers to provide, on request, fixed line, residential broadband without the obligation to undertake a fixed line telephone service provision. This service is available in other countries and is known as "Naked Broadband".

Why is this important?

This will save the average consumer around £180 to £200 per year as many (myself included) only have a fixed phone line service into my house because I have to in order to make it possible for broadband to be delivered. In many cases, the phone service is more expensive than the broadband.
There is absolutely no technical reason why this service could not be turned off and as long as there is a copper pair into the property, the broadband will still work as well as it does now.
We are effectively being held to ransom by telcos if we want fixed line broadband. This also affects most domestic, so called "fibre optic" broadband as this service is still delivered to the property over the copper wires.
Whilst we cannot realistically expect that the provision and maintenance of the copper network can be carried out for free, Ofcom should look at what is fair pricing for the provision of a "naked" copper pair with only broadband provided over it and the removal of the obligation to have a fixed landline telephone service to the home as a large percentage would prefer to remove this option if they were given the choice.

Updates

2015-01-23 16:33:03 +0000

25 signatures reached

2014-12-21 21:09:39 +0000

10 signatures reached