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Elderly 'Hit by Line Rental Charges' (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what's-happening dept.

An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: Recent increases in line rental charges have hit elderly people the hardest, according to an Ofcom report. Between December 2009 and December 2016, line rental prices had increased by as much as 49% for some customers, the regulator said. And of the people with standalone landlines in their homes, 71% were aged 65 or over. Ofcom recently revealed plans to make BT -- with nearly 80% of the UK market -- cut line rental costs by 5 British Pound ($6.1). A huge proportion (43%) of the 2.9 million households with a landline only are occupied by people aged 75 and over. "Older consumers are particularly affected, as they are more likely to be dependent on fixed voice services if they do not have a mobile phone or an internet connection," the report said.

6 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Costs of maintaining infrastructure are fixed by mi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess, the costs of maintaining the wires and the rest of the land-line infrastructure are largely fixed. So, as people — primarily younger ones, according to TFA — drop their traditional land lines entirely, the remaining customers see their fees increased.

    Nothing to see here, nothing to do about it. Whoever feels sufficiently compassionate to "do something about it" can subsidize their favorite senior(s) directly — or help them switch to a cell-phone, etc.. I've switched two elderly couples I feel responsible for to IP-telephony years ago — they had mobile phones already — and now they don't even know, their "regular" phones use Internet...

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    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:Costs of maintaining infrastructure are fixed by tepples · · Score: 2

      I imagine that all DSL providers in all countries charge a fee for maintaining the copper. But I thought Virgin had laid a separate fibre network in much of Britain (source).

  2. Yes, "line rental" is for POTS by tepples · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Line rental" covers the cost of maintaining a phone line used for POTS and/or DSL. POTS (plain old telephone service) is the "old skool phone" you mention, and DSL (digital subscriber line) is an Internet connection delivered over higher frequencies on the same copper.

    This probably raises a question among some of you: "So why even subscribe to POTS in the cellular era?" Even without considering the pricing structure differences between the U.S. and British phone markets, an advantage of POTS over cellular is that POTS lets you have an extension on each storey (as they spell it), so that you don't need to go upstairs or downstairs to answer the phone. In addition, POTS allows use of a fax machine. I know some federal and state government agencies in the USA still require certain tax records to be faxed; does Britain?

    1. Re:Yes, "line rental" is for POTS by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      This probably raises a question among some of you: "So why even subscribe to POTS in the cellular era?" Even without considering the pricing structure differences between the U.S. and British phone markets, an advantage of POTS over cellular is that POTS lets you have an extension on each storey (as they spell it), so that you don't need to go upstairs or downstairs to answer the phone. In addition, POTS allows use of a fax machine.

      Also, doesn't POTS still work when the power goes out? And elderly tend to stick with what they know, the learning curve from an old landline to a cellphone (even a dumb phone) could be too steep or daunting for the elderly, not to mention ergonomically difficult.

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      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:Yes, "line rental" is for POTS by zifn4b · · Score: 2

      This probably raises a question among some of you: "So why even subscribe to POTS in the cellular era?"

      I think you hit the nail on the head about the issue but didn't acknowledge it. What happens when there are a decreasing amount of POTS subscribers and an increasing number of cellular subscribers? The total revenue going towards the cost of maintenance of the POTS equipment and the employees starts shrinking. Eventually it gets to a point where there is risk associated with the "subscription fees" not being able to cover the total cost. At that point, there are two choices 1) Admit that your old product is done and retire it or 2) Start charging your shrinking subscriber base more money to be able to cover the costs.

      This is very much like the problem with the United States Postal Service. Now that we have e-mail, text messaging and all kinds of other ways to deliver digital content to each other, people don't write as much snail mail. Even legal documentation is sent over email these days. Statements and bills are delivered via email instead of postal mail. You get the picture. As a result, stamp prices increase because less people are using stamps. It seems kind of backwards but the economics make perfect sense.

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      We'll make great pets
  3. So, I'm an old-timer who... by Ranbot · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...prefers to tap out his messages on a telegraph. There's just no substitute for those clicks and pauses. But let me tell you, the cost to maintain my telegraph service between me and my one friend who uses it is criminally high! If someone doesn't do something to help me out soon I'll have to choose between my telegraph or my diabeetus medicine and that's just not right!