Post Office Home Phone Service merged

lizzieb_3 · 12 October 2005 at 8:31AM

I have just noticed that the Post Office line rental is cheaper than B T (if you pay by Diretc Debit) at a cost of £9.95 - VAT inc. They also support the use of calling pre fix numbers like 1899 which route charges via others. Has anybody anything to say about this service? Their call charges are nothing special but better than B T of course with no minimum call charge or connection charge.

pricefighter · 12 October 2005 at 8:59AM

Their are a number of factors to bear in mind before you take your line rental away from BT,just to achieve small savings eg 55p a month in this case.
1.Only BT have to allow you access to providers like 1899,Other carriers can bar them.(The PO dont actively support calls to these numbers!!!)
2.If you have free caller display with BT you will be charged for it with PO.Your line rental goes up to 9.95 +1.75=11.70.Bang goes any savings.
3.If anything goes wrong you have to report it to PO they then call BT in.You cant call Bt direct.
4.If you move, you dont benefit from being a BT moving customer.So you may well have to pay for a complete new line.

The service itself piggy backs on the C%W network and is run by C&W on behalf of the PO.You will notice they dont offer any inclusive minute packages.

lizzieb_3 · 12 October 2005 at 10:26AM

Thanks for the advice. I would not move to save a mere 55p but I am simply ante B T

Edinburghlass_2 · 12 October 2005 at 12:19PM

But at the end of the day your line is still owned by BT and you merely pay your line rental to another company

bbb_uk · 12 October 2005 at 12:32PM

Edinburghlass wrote:

But at the end of the day your line is still owned by BT and you merely pay your line rental to another company

... and this other company (the PO in this case) simply pays BT the line rental for you after you pay them but at a very slightly reduced rate.

If you are really against paying BT in anyway then your only other option is to get your telephone service from Telewest or NTL if either of these are in your area. Of course doing this tie you to a minimum term of 12months and would prohibit you from using most of the cheaper call providers because, as mentioned earlier, only BT have to allow access to other providers and all other line rental providers can block or charge extra for accessing other cheaper alternatives like Call18866/1899, etc if they wanted to.

Steve_xx · 12 October 2005 at 1:16PM

It's a bizarre affair. BT and the Post Office were once as one!

Why are people so anti BT.

lizzieb_3 · 13 October 2005 at 6:53AM

Would gladly move to Telewest or NTL if it were an option but on the S.E. coast we are stuck with B T.

lizzieb_3 · 13 October 2005 at 7:03AM

I am anti B T because they had the monopoly of the telephone service for many years. Each year we heard of the profits that B T had successfully made but they never appeared to give back to their customers in any way by reducing our bills. The customers were loyal because they had to be and if you didn't like it the only choice was not to have a phone.(I am going back to the dark ages when there were no mobiles) I know that they dug up all the roads and paths etc and did all the donkey work setting up the system but they should have given a little back before the monopolies commission stepped in and allowed others to profit from the B T network.

pricefighter · 13 October 2005 at 10:03AM

Steve_xx wrote:

It's a bizarre affair. BT and the Post Office were once as one!

Why are people so anti BT.

Perhaps one reason could be their sneaky back door price increases.

Rex_Mundi · 13 October 2005 at 10:12AM

lol..................

If the Post Office telephone service turns out anything like their delivery service, it could spell trouble!

Your friend would phone you, you wouldn't get the call, then two days later you'll get a call from the PO with a recorded message saying.........sorry, we tried to deliver your call but you were not in. :rotfl:

(sorry, coudn't help myself)

s.c. · 13 October 2005 at 10:58AM

Steve_xx wrote:

It's a bizarre affair. BT and the Post Office were once as one!

Why are people so anti BT.

Even though the "hate" is mostly historical, they have to be forced into price cuts.
e.g. 0870 numbers are 9p a minute because BT has control, and we would all be paying this for daytime landline calls if NTL hadn't brought out 3-2-1, BT reluctantly responding a year later with 4-3-2-1.

They used to charge over £100 installation each time you moved, even though you were leaving them with cash cow at your old address.

They made so much money they were with Shell and BP, in having to report profits 6 monthly instead of yearly because they were embarassingly large, and later every three months for the same reason.

Post Office Home Phone Service merged

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