£50 off Post Office HomePhone service

Humbug_2 · 3 January 2006 at 2:32PM

Just got back from the PO after paying my TV license where I was handed a leaflet explaining that if you switch to Post Office HomePhone service, they will give you £50 off your bill. Seems like a pretty good offer. They also make claims to be cheaper than BT for line rental (£9.95 per month) and cheaper on daytime calls at 2.4p/min. Can anyone confirm if this is now the cheapest Home Phone service provider, or am I still best sticking to BT. Probably needs someone with an ology to work it out.....

thefirs · 3 January 2006 at 5:40PM

Hmmmm... this looks an interesting strategy by POHP to buy in subscribers. Looking at the offer it shows that the £50 gets credited in two tranches at the 3- and 6-month stage. I have called HP customer service, and established that it will offset not just call charges but also rental - so 5 months rental is effectively free.

The caveat always advanced at this stage is that you cannot use the override services such as 18866, 1899 etc from the line rental inclusive phone providers, and that you'll pay £1.75 per month for caller display. If you are a heavy exploiter of override services, then I can see that this might not be such a good deal - that £50 would *only* pay for 5000 minutes of off-peak talk, or 2083 mins of peak talk. On the other hand, someone who largely uses mobile-inclusive minutes for outgoing calls would not cut into the £50, leaving it to subsidise the rental. It's alleged at this thread that POHP does (for the moment at least) allow overrides, though this could be withdrawn at any time, and PF gives a long list of other disadvantages which must be weighed up.

With BT rental gone up to £11 pm, the extra 70p pm for caller display would still be well covered. You might even discover that it's not that important to have - I took this view before BT privacy made it free.

After nine months, you could think again about your next provider - you'll have had that time for the grand sum of £40 rental, increased by the amounts mentioned above. It's all down to individual useage, but after going through my recent calls a bit more carefully I think it might be almost pure saving for me. Anyone else spotted loopholes?

Added: Linemypocket offer £6.75 for switching via its cashback site!

pricefighter · 3 January 2006 at 6:04PM

Does seem a good offer for low users or people that make short calls. Three more reasons you might not want to switch your line rental from BT.
1.Doesnt support Callsign if anyone uses it.
2. You cant CPS your calls only BT allow this.
3 You cant use the BT override service for free,where as if you were to cps your calls to get say free E&W calls you could use 1280 to get cheaper ngn calls.

DonnyDave · 3 January 2006 at 6:31PM

Another plus point is that there are no minimum call charges. So those short calls will be cheaper.

mikeanegus · 5 January 2006 at 9:20PM

Check this great new deal out : http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/jump2?catId=19300215&mediaId=19300217

Graham1 · 9 January 2006 at 2:05PM

What the Post Office say in their T&C about indirect access codes for routing calls through other service providers is the following:

4.3 Sometimes You may have indirect access to another service operators’ network (for example by using the "IA" access codes) which may result in charges to You or Us. If there is, or We suspect there is, an unusual amount of activity by You via this indirect access, We may bar Your calls and/or terminate the Service with You. We will try to give You prior notice before We bar Your calls or terminate Your Service. You will still be responsible for all calls made via indirect access before We bar Your calls. You will still be able to make calls to emergency services where We have only barred Your calls (but not where We have terminated the Services).

pricefighter · 9 January 2006 at 2:22PM

Another useful thread running here. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=101104&page=1&pp=10

barjam_2 · 9 January 2006 at 3:50PM

my hubby spoke to a guy at our post office he said we wouldnt lose any services we have at bt ie 1571, caller display and can still use 18866 etc... i have a tendency for not beleiving everything what people tell us thats why its always to read the t & c's as mentioned earlier i have even emailed them with my queries let see what they come back with(if they do):rolleyes:

pricefighter · 9 January 2006 at 4:16PM

barjam wrote:

my hubby spoke to a guy at our post office he said we wouldnt lose any services we have at bt ie 1571, caller display and can still use 18866 etc... i have a tendency for not beleiving everything what people tell us thats why its always to read the t & c's as mentioned earlier i have even emailed them with my queries let see what they come back with(if they do):rolleyes:

Yes you can keep your calling features. But they charge £1.75p a month for caller display .BT dont. So BT charge £11 line rental with caller display.They charge £11.70p.(If you get 3 chargeable calling features with BT .BT will give you another free. PO will charge for the fourth one).

They can bar calls to the likes of 18866/ 1899? if they so desire, clearly stated in their t&c.You cant CPS your calls to another supplier like Primus Saver to get free E&W calls. You cant use the BT override 1280 service for free to get cheaper ngn calls.You possibly get a second rate repair service.etc etc .