Selkirk-based ISP TenTel, which recently entered the market with an aspiration to sign 20,000 customers in its first year of trading and 100,000 within five years, has moved to take on the big boys by claiming to offer the United Kingdom’s “cheapest telephone and broadband deals” and they’re starting by offering phone line rental from just £7.99 per month.
The provider claims to be slashing their prices this month in support of “customers who are angry over BT’s decision to impose a 6% increase on its home phone and broadband bills“, which is a move that other big name ISPs are following (i.e. pushing line rental near to the £17 per month mark).
In response, TenTel has announced that customers who take one of their broadband bundles will only pay half-price line rental of £7.99 per month and this price will be locked in for the next 12 months (note: £7.99 inc. VAT is well below the roughly £10 +vat wholesale price for standard line rental).
On top of that most of TenTel’s packages only seem to attract a 30 day contract and come with a free connection and free router (plus free delivery).
Robert McKechnie, MD of TenTel, said:
“BT is driven by the battle for football ratings which is unfair on its millions of customers who don’t watch football. It’s unfair on pensioners and it’s unfair on low income earners.
We know that many of their customers feel like they’re being ripped off. We believe our job is to provide an excellent service to our customers at the lowest possible prices and we don’t have the distraction of supporting other things or lavish marketing expenses with our customers’ hard earned money.”
TenTel Bundles
hello broadband 2
* Download speeds of up to 17Mbps
* 2GB usage allowancePRICE: £1.99 per month (plus £7.99 line rental)
hello broadband 10
* Download speeds of up to 17Mbps
* 10GB usage allowancePRICE: £2.99 per month (plus £7.99 line rental)
hello broadband 50
* Download speeds of up to 17Mbps
* 50GB usage allowancePRICE: £6.99 per month (plus £7.99 line rental)
hello broadband unlimited
* Download speeds of up to 17Mbps
* Unlimited usage allowancePRICE: £9.99 per month (plus £7.99 line rental)
Otherwise there’s also a Tentel Advanced package, which gives customers unlimited broadband, line rental and FREE weekend UK calls for £199 per year. But take note that any data consumed in excess of the bundle (except unlimited options) will cost £1.50 per GigaByte. Also if you happen to need a new phone line installed then a standard charge of £60 applies.
However we note that a standard UK local and national call is 10ppm and a UK mobile call is 15ppm on Tentel, which compares with 9ppm and 12ppm respectively with standard BT charges (Tentels charges will still be higher even after BT’s 1st December 2014 price hike).
So does Tentel really offer the UK’s cheapest telephone and broadband bundle? As usual this depends on how you weigh the markets complexity of charges and special offers. Yes the line rental is a lot cheaper, but their call charges seem higher and the unlimited broadband aspect is more expensive than similar packages from rivals like TalkTalk (£1.75 per month for 6 months then £3.50) and others. In real terms the prices are a lot closer than they may first appear.
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