Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

JenSoHappy

Does anyone know how to get caller display for free please? I have BT line rental and Sky Talk for calls though use 18185 override most of the time. I can no longer use 1280 to hop back onto BT to get the qualifying number of calls and I'm worried about moving my line rental to Sky due to nasty stories about the cost/hassle of fixing the line is anything ever goes wrong. Am I left with paying BT £1.71 every month for the privilege? V grateful for any thoughts.

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums JenSoHappy.

You would have to change your calls provider to one which offers CPS (Carrier PreSelect). Sky has now changed from CPS to WCLI (Wholesale Calls Line Independent) - so, as you've discovered, those on Sky Talk find that using the 1280 prefix to 'hop back onto BT' to make the necessary number of calls to qualify for free Caller Display is no longer effective.

rydalong

Just had hell of a game with TalkTalk.

Signed up for their "all-in" deal at around £20.00 a month. 'Phone went live on 22.10.08 - no broadband. Check with TT - ". . we can't provide broadband in your area, sir, our complete service to you will be (something like) £32.00 a month . .". Immediately cancelled and stopped TT direct debit with bank.

Quite why this was not explained during the "sign-up" call will always remain a mystery.

Next thing is, TT debit bank account under the guise of Carphone Warehouse. It was much hassle, time wasting and three weeks or so to get a refund. :mad:

theloft

JenSoHappy wrote: »

Does anyone know how to get caller display for free please? I have BT line rental and Sky Talk for calls though use 18185 override most of the time. I can no longer use 1280 to hop back onto BT to get the qualifying number of calls and I'm worried about moving my line rental to Sky due to nasty stories about the cost/hassle of fixing the line is anything ever goes wrong. Am I left with paying BT £1.71 every month for the privilege? V grateful for any thoughts.

There is a thread discussing this here:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=65805

You used to be able to get it free by signing up to the caller preference service (so stop cold sales calls on your phone). Perhaps Heinz would know if this is still relevant.

JenSoHappy

Thanks very much for the replies. Just checked with Sky and - guess what - they're increasing their broadband charges by £5 a month from March 09 for customers who don't have Sky Talk. So if I move my calls elsewhere I'm £5 a month down so looks like I'll be best moving my landline to sky or paying BT the £1.71 a month for caller display as Sky is great value for broadband at only £5 a month for 8mb. Shame it's a worse deal than previously but probably still good value. Thanks again.

1jpss1

I have been with talktalk for many years and took up the broadband as soon as it started. Then, you had to sign up to talk3 international at £21 per month. For that you get line rental, broadband and all UK and EU and USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand calls any time. Apart from a few times when the internet connection went down (last time was about a year ago) the service has been very satisfactory. :T

fatblokeinacardy

In the text for cheapest broadband is... "STOP PRESS Jan 08. Limited time promotion drops the price to £14/mth. TalkTalk currently has a promotion where for the first year of the 18 month contract you only pay £10.50 line rental a month. This is supposed to be for friends and family of employees, yet it has given its permission that anyone going through this specific one year deal link, will be eligible for that price for the time being. Incorporating this discount, and the set-up fee, this brings the average price down to £14/mth. This was due to end in December but has been extended until the end of January." Using the 'one year deal link' takes one to their website but then all options lead to a general phone number (0870 087 8016) and no on-line sign-up option. When asked the salesperson said they had not heard of the offer and anyway they had no plans to raise the line rental from £10.50 Is this a case of offering something that's already standard anway? When pushed he said that in the unlikely event of a rental rise I would be informed in writing and have the chance to opt out of my 18-month contract at that time. (Cancellation fees are up to £70!) I suspect that close reading of the contract is advised and to do it before the 7 day cooling off period. However, I reckon it's a worthwhile change as at £6.49/m (£3.50 for the first 3 months) it sure beats the £15/m I was paying in my contract that ran out in December. Thank you Martin, brilliant timing.

irrelevant

I've been asked by my neice, who is moving house, about the cheapest phone & broadband supplier, as money is quite tight for them. They are not particularly fussy, and quite light users I think. As they won't already have a phone line, are there any current offers on that include installation? The TalkTalk 12month deal looks good, but the website seems to require a pre-existing phone line, which might rule that out.

Does BT still have a deal on for cheap installation??

Thanks,.

TalkTalk

Hi rrelevant,

TalkTalk do need a line to be active before we can set up a service on there for you. Best bet is to shop around for cheap activation with no contract if you want to move over to TalkTalk. I believe the Post Office charge about £106 for activation and there is no minimum tie in period. You would need to check this with them though. Once the line is active you would be able to come over to TalkTalk in 10-14 days.

BT may do the instalation a little cheaper for you but they tie you into a 12/18 month contract so there would be cancelation charges for moving to another provider within that time frame.

Cheers
EmmaL x

jewelie_2

fatblokeinacardy wrote: »

Using the 'one year deal link' takes one to their website but then all options lead to a general phone number (0870 087 8016) and no on-line sign-up option. When asked the salesperson said they had not heard of the offer and anyway they had no plans to raise the line rental from £10.50 Is this a case of offering something that's already standard anway? When pushed he said that in the unlikely event of a rental rise I would be informed in writing and have the chance to opt out of my 18-month contract at that time. (Cancellation fees are up to £70!) I suspect that close reading of the contract is advised and to do it before the 7 day cooling off period. However, I reckon it's a worthwhile change as at £6.49/m (£3.50 for the first 3 months) it sure beats the £15/m I was paying in my contract that ran out in December. Thank you Martin, brilliant timing.

The offer worked for me, used that link, typed my number in to check availability, came up with details about the discount, and went through order process. The paperwork I've been sent in the post DOES mention the discount has been applied. Did you try using the link and at least doing the availability checker? It did say the offer was only available to the first 2500 people that applied.

As i understand it, the £10.50 is for the talktalk phone line rental only. The £6.49 bit is for the free eve and weekend and international calls, and for the broadband. This is the bit that one can (could) get for free through this offer for twelve months of the eighteen month contract.

Here's hoping it's a bit more reliable than the abysmally unreliable 3 mobile broadband that i'm relying on at the moment. My go live date is 14th of this month.