What would be NTL move for BT Fusion

[kanagarajanc]

I'm wondering what would NTL do to their fixed telephone lines after BT's plan of offerring combines Mobile & land line service.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4096404.stm

Right now if we need to have NTL digital TV they get packaged with NTL telephone. Will people start moving away from NTL TV & Telephone service if BT's fusion seems to be cheaper? ofcourse for the TV possibilities are Sky or Digital TV. (I meant sky with 20pound Free to View card). I think Sky still needs Telephone line to subsidise the Digibox. Not sure if BT fusion product can allow that.............

Again some people say BT fusion is not going to be a big hit. I do like the idea of paying for one phone bill and one number wherever I'm........

Any thoughts?
-Raj

[jrhnewark]

It won't take off. It really won't take off.

NTL wouldn't waste their money on that sort of business. Are BT awake? Landlines are very 20th Century, as is BT. We're now in the 21st Century, but BT don't seem to realise that.

[Jules]

All sounds like a bit of a daft idea to me

[bob_builder]

BT seem to think it is a great idea becuase people can use their mobiles at home as well as out and about and that people need cheaper rates to encourage them to do this. What they seem to be missing is that most people already use their mobiles at home (especially if they are ringing another mobile phone) and have "free" calls as part of a monthly package.

I certainly only use my landline for incoming calls, dial-up and 0800 numbers and my mobile for everything else.

[SMHarman]

This is not really new technology, there are two paths in history it maps to

One - Rabbit - Use your rabbit phone around the house (it was a DECT cordless) or at a rabbit point.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2175804.stm

Two - BT did something like this about 5 years ago, didn't take off then either, probably the billing now is more seamless but still much the same product.
O2 seem to have been offering a similar product in Germany for about a decade http://shop2.o2online.de/o2/interess...pageframe.html

Here it is before fusion it used to be onephone

http://www.bt.com/userguides/downloads/btonephone.pdf

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...17/ai_19605043

It has the problem of only one mobile, also that mobile tech is fashion driven so in 12 months time the mobile will be due an upgrade and cannot be as it is part of the fusion thingy. Also lose the mobile and your home cordless is lost too.

[etccarmageddon]

I'm ditching my landline - it's a rip off. I'm with BT and pay around £11.50 a month line rental (correct me if I'm wrong!) plus an additional £1.50 a month for caller display. For this I get a line which is in a fixed location in the house and a real pain to put extentions on.

So as I have cable modem and not ADSL I dont need a line. I will either use Vonage or my mobile. If I use Vonage I get all my local and national calls at all times plus caller display for £10 a month and it's a normal land line phone plugged into my cable modem. Alternatively I just use my mobile which is slight more expensive but has no line rental and no caller display fees.

I recon BT will be ditching the line rental fee within the next 10 years in order to beat VOIP.

[Chrysalis]

their is still a demand for landlines, in normal circumstances I find it useful for the following.

outgoing calls, landlines are usually a lot cheaper then mobile phones. comparing base packages alike. (my mobile costs 30p a min everywhere, my landline only costs near that if ringing mobiles to other landlines I can talk for 6 hours to hit that cost)
disabled people, will again have reliance on landlines.
internet, use for pays dialup services which still has a modest demand where people dont want broadband or broadband isnt available. (bt may claim 97+ % coverage but thats not the realistic situation)
some interactive digital services on sky need a landline (I think).
business users may be tempted by this as they tend to use landlines, a fair few business's also run from homes.
__________________

Originally Posted by bob_builder

I certainly only use my landline for incoming calls, dial-up and 0800 numbers and my mobile for everything else.

I am the opposite I use my landline for outgoing and have my mobiel for the purpose that people can contact me easier in other words for incoming calls, I only use it for outgoing in emergencies.