Home Telephone Tariff - discussion area

sweety · 20 February 2005 at 12:22PM

Please can anyone help me. Am moving house soon and am looking to reduce phone bill. Currently use BT option 1 as we need a line to connect to Internet via Tiscali, plus TalkTalk for our calls. We end up paying BT only the line rental each quarter and then TalkTalk £25 per month for our mainly 0845 internet useage. Can anyone think of a cheaper way - perhaps Broadband is an option, as we only use the phone for local calls as our family lives nearby. Any ideas would be appreciated.

andy88_2 · 20 February 2005 at 2:43PM

sweety wrote:

... and then TalkTalk £25 per month for our mainly 0845 internet useage. Can anyone think of a cheaper way - perhaps Broadband is an option, as we only use the phone for local calls as ...

Your ISP or any other will have cheaper ways of access than 0845 payg, often called Freetime or Anytime accounts and accessed via a number that is not charged by the phone company (maybe 0800, 08089 or other stranger looking ones like 138xxx). Such accounts are typically £10 - £15 a month, but are dropping with the growth of broadband and start around £5 for limited, eg maybe off-peak only, tariffs.

There is plenty of info on some of these around here, and you will probably soon see plenty of recommendation replies

Or yes you could think about broadband

And for cheaper phone calls, read about 18866 and 1899 and the Talktalk offpeak package

theloft · 21 February 2005 at 10:41AM

sweety! Follow Andy88's advice and you will save money. Basically, Option 1 Direct Debit for lowest cost BT line. 18866 & 1899 for phone calls. Use someone like https://www.fast4.net if you want a cheap dial-up service (£6.99 per month unlimited including cost of calls) or take the plunge and go BroadBand (see threads).

Edinburghlass_2 · 22 February 2005 at 9:20AM

sweety wrote:

Please can anyone help me. Am moving house soon and am looking to reduce phone bill. Currently use BT option 1 as we need a line to connect to Internet via Tiscali, plus TalkTalk for our calls. We end up paying BT only the line rental each quarter and then TalkTalk £25 per month for our mainly 0845 internet useage. Can anyone think of a cheaper way - perhaps Broadband is an option, as we only use the phone for local calls as our family lives nearby. Any ideas would be appreciated.

sweety, you don't say if you are on a package with TalkTalk or not but if you are and its NOT the TalkTalk1+ giving free UK calls evening and w/ends, I would suggest you phone TalkTalk and tell them you are shifting to Onetel for their package with free calls and they should shift you onto TalkTalk1+

Does the £25 include calls or is that just internet use because you certainly could get broadband access for less than that.

Blarm · 22 February 2005 at 11:49AM

Just a warning (as I have posted a seperate thread). From 1st Mar daytime calls wil start at 06:00 instead of 09:00 (TalkTalk have put this on my latest bill and say they are coming in line with BT).

Make sure you use 18866/1899 starting at 06:00 from 1st Mar as your TalkTalk1+ and One.Tel Leisure UKTalk landline calls will not be free on after this (previously they were free until 09:00)

jussyc · 25 February 2005 at 2:07PM

hi, currently i am paying bt £75 a mnth for calls and after reading this forum realised i am being fleeced!! i have read abut opening a onetel account and then using 1886 etc for calls ==what do i do about my bt line ? am i correct that i pay them still the line rental and then pay monthly bills to onetel and 1886?
also how would this affect by wanadoo broadband connection?
your help would be most appreciated
cheers x

JayS_3 · 25 February 2005 at 2:14PM

jussys

Change your BT option to option one, which is their cheapest and keeps the line rental and allows you to make the odd call call18866, call1899 and onetel don't allow.

I'm not sure about the wanadoo broadband, someone else will answer you on that.

Best wishes

JayS

andy88_2 · 25 February 2005 at 2:18PM

jussyc wrote:

hi, currently i am paying bt £75 a mnth for calls ...

Aaaaargh!

I think you've got a grip of it already

BT line rental £10.50 month (dd) - probably already on this
Wanadoo BB - no effect
18866 - sign up online for daytime calls
1899 - similar, but cheaper for mobiles, if you make a lot of calls
One-tel or Talktalk - packages of off-peak calls

0870 and 0845 calls probably still via BT, but you can find some alternative numbers at http://www.saynoto0870.com/

t_i_g_e_rr · 25 February 2005 at 2:19PM

jussyc wrote:

what do i do about my bt line ? am i correct that i pay them still the line rental and then pay monthly bills to onetel and 1886?

BT will bill you for your line rental since they provide your line, ontel would bill you for calls, since they provide the calls. Make sure you ask BT to put you on their cheapest package, and pay by direct debit.

jussyc wrote:

also how would this affect by wanadoo broadband connection? your help would be most appreciated

ADSL Broadband is unaffected by CPS (carrier pre-select, which is what Onetel use). When I did exactly the same with metronet and TalkTalk I checked with OffTel and metronet and they both confirmed that they are completely compatible. Nothing to worry about (except your current phone bill!).

jussyc · 25 February 2005 at 2:22PM

thanks so much!!! what is the bit about joining onetel first to get the freecredit but then using the 1866 number etc?or do i just use the bt line and join with 1866 etc?

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