The Hull Tax

[The Dominator]

 

As citizens of the City of Hull we pay a tax, called the Hull tax, for our telecommunications.

Basic Phone Rental  £15 per month (inc vat)
Calls not inc but can be bundled
Broadband costs (good download amount needed) £30
Sky £28
 Total costs = approx £70+

The above with Sky - around £30-40 per month
Tescos have just brought out a nice package (forget the sky) for around £23 per month with inclusive phone calls and unlimited upto 20Mbs ADSL.

http://phone-shop.tesco.com/tesco-mobile-and-broadband/tesco-broadband/tesco-broadband.aspx

The average wage in Hull is very low so why are we paying the Hull Tax just to keep some fat cats rolling in cash?
This City has no manufacturing base left, it has no service industry it has nothing much to offer to anyone. 
We are also taxed with a large telco tax that is unjustified, unwarranted and un-democratic (we have no way of voting with our feet).

Its a Sunday night so I thought I would whinge a little..

What about everyone finding another example of the Hull Tax, i.e. go out and find an alternative package that we are missing out on and then post it as a reply.  I am sure as we see more and more of the things we miss out on due to our geographic tax we will get more and more vexed.


The big question then is why will Sky et al not provide the same package to Hull based subscribers?  Is it due to KCOM or is it due to Sky et al? 

meh...

[Adrian]

KC Talk 1 is £10.99 including local calls, same as BT?
I think it only appears more expensive as we are unable to take out any of the bundle deals that other companies offer over BT e.g. Sky with free Broadband

If you have a BT line (basic package) with Zen Pro (34.99 for 100GB) + Sky you are looking at similar prices to the Hull area.

It does depend on the service and what it has to offer, the Karoo packages are very basic feature wise and performance is still lacking at busy periods.

KC recently, incorrectly pointed out the problem with O2 advertising Unlimited downloads, they failed to mention that it was only the O2 packages on the BT network that had a fair usage policy.
The LLU O2 network still remains unlimited, unshaped and FUP unenforced.

[The Dominator]

Sorry you are right - i have asked the other half and its avg out at £15 with calls, we are on KC Talk 1.
My bad..!

[The Snowman]

KC Talk 1 is cheaper than BT, they charge about £12 per month. I don't understand why KC as a network doesn't offer the same as BT Openreach ie LLU.

My brother lives in Wakefield, he gets his broadband off the Utility Warehouse and pays £25 per month, that includes unlimited downloads, free calls to any landline and he gets around 20 meg speed.

[The Snowman]

The big question then is why will Sky et al not provide the same package to Hull based subscribers?  Is it due to KCOM or is it due to Sky et al? 

meh...

Sky's Broadband is a loss leader, they use it to entise customers away from Virgin so they have no desire to supply customers in Hull with Broadband.

On the other hand I've got Utility Warehouse for my phone, surley it would make sense for them to offer Broadband to increase their customer base.

[Adrian]

KC do offer LLU services, the price isn't displayed on the websites as any company wishing to install their own equipment in KC exchanges would have to approach KC and negotiate their own price.
KC also offer wholesale services, like BT but only a couple of companies have chosen to resell them, the end user prices for such services are the same and higher than KC/Karoo offerings as they are aimed at businesses.

[hullnet]

I think this is best represented in TV, Phone and BB packages.

Sky+HD with full movies
Unilmited upto 20mb Broadband
Sky Talk and Line
total for 12 months £812.50

Virgin HD with full movies (you must be in a virgin fibre area to get this package)
Unilmited upto 20mb Broadband (over fibre)
Virgin Talk and Line (over fibre)
total for 12 months £767.88

Hull (best comparable)
Sky TV with full movies
Mid3 50gb limit
Talk 2
total for 12 months £1039

So the minimum consumer pay if they want HDTV with Full movies, broadband and Phone is a Hull tax of £227 a year. Nice and the BB packing has a 50gb limit! we are getting royally ripped off for living in Hull.

[Project Novo]

Hi All

Have a look at my posts.

Core reasons why there is no competition in the Hull area for lines, calls and broadband.

1)KC illegal tying of local calls and lines in 2 seperate markets where Ofcom say KC has Significant Market Power (SMP) and therfore must not abuse its dominant position !!! - Therefore no competition in the market for local calls as KC forces all end users to take local calls from KC with every line. Tying is illegal under the Competition Act.

2)KC Not forced to offer the equivalent of Openreach WLR3 in the Hull area by Ofcom so that CP's can own the customer end to end relationship for the telephone line service.

3) Lack of effective regulation in the Hull area by Ofcom.

4) Bespoke discrimantory pricing by KC of specific buiness customers.  

5)No BT Openreach POP in Hull.
  
1, 2 and 3 are fundamental to ensure a competitive market for telecommunications. I have met with Ofcom on these issues and their is a clear reluctance by Ofcom to act.

PN





          

[gusgormen]

Why do Ofcom not act?  What do they gain?

[Project Novo]

Quid Pro Quo perhaps !!!

KC have an obligation to inform Ofcom of any changes in their tariff's - When the KC Talk Plans were introduced in 2004 (illegally) either Ofcom were informed and did nothing or KC didnt inform them.

The £3.50 per month levy (forced bundle) on all lines was introduced due to the amount of revenue being lost through customers, mainly businesses, cancelling their unlimited local call lines which were  a source of significant revenue to KC as most customers had reverted back to pay as you go 5.5p per local call tariffs.   

Ofcom beleive that the Hull market is not a significant market and have continually failed to regulate KC under the competition act.

How is it that larger spending customers have the choice to either pay for local calls on a metered "pay as you go" - ie the Council !!!! so why not the end user - KC have an obligation not to discrimanate under Competition Legislation. 
 
This is also a Trading Standards issue due to illegal terms and conditions - ie the "tying" of
the line with their unlimited calls package in consumer contracts.

Why would a company enter the Hull market where it gets no protection from a regulator that allows a company to do as it pleases !!!

No regulation = No competion.

PN     
       

 

[Adrian]

There are cheaper line rental options from KC, ones which do not allow you to make calls, or allow you to pay for calls on a metered basis, however KC do not allow you to order broadband on these lines which is the main downside.