Oftel happy with BT's DIY ADSL

NEWS Oftel has given the big thumbs up to BT's plug-and-play broadband access. Despite rumours of an investigation into whether the product would prove anti-competitive a spokeswoman at Oftel said: "We have no investigative concerns about this product at the moment." The DIY gadget costs £50 rather than the £150 charged when a BT engineer is required to install a DSL line and the ADSL service will cost £25 per month, a saving of £5. However, it is not known if ISPs will pass on the cost savings to their customers as BTopenworld demonstrated by ignoring a recent £5 reduction on monthly DSL subscriptions. BT's customers will foot the bill for a DSL modem, which at the moment retails for around £200 due to the low demand compared to around £15 for a computer modem. Trials begin on 3 December and the product will go live in January.