Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

Dante79

I have been a TalkTalk phone customer for a few months now and successfully used 1899 to prefix my daytime calls. However, I just (april 09) added broadband to my home phone package and now 1899 doesn't work - has anyone else had this problem? Have you tried any other of the prefix numbers successfully? I have used budgetcom for calls to Oz (since they dropped the free international calls inclusion) but haven't yet seen a phone bill to see if they are charged correctly.
Thanks in anticipation.

koru

The Post Office are increasing the price of their line rental to £11.75, but they are adding more free calls, meaning it is a pretty good package. From 1 June you get:
* free calls to mobiles at weekends
* free calls to landlines evenings and weekends
* free calls to 0845 and 0870 at evenings and weekends
* free international calls to 40 countries at weekends

That's the same price as BT basic package, but a lot more free. I think it is more free calls than the Primus Saver 2 that Martin recommends.

If you need to call outside the above periods, use 18185. Post Office don't block 18185 - I use it every day.

Heinz

koru wrote: »

I think it is more free calls than the Primus Saver 2 that Martin recommends.

It certainly is and, with their diabolical offshore customer service centre, serves Primus right if they lose customers to the Post Office.

However, I think the Post Office offer is only available if you switch line rental too and isn't available as a CPS package.

grahama_2

In the latest update to the best deals for phone / broadband, Martin says that if you're already on Talktalks Essential (mytalktalk) package, you can ask for the free local calls to be added but you'll then lose the free international calls. I have asked this question on the Talktalk forum web site and Emma (their web forum rep - could be the same EmmaL appearing in this thread!) told me that this isn't true. If you're already on Essentials then you can have free local calls added but also keep free international calls.

EmmaL .... if you're out there, can you please confirm that this is true as I really, really don't want to lose my free international calls. Anyone else know the answer?

koru

Heinz wrote: »

However, I think the Post Office offer is only available if you switch line rental too and isn't available as a CPS package.

...Correct

Mukesh12345

Hello,

I just wanted to mention a deal the Post office are providing and whether it is worth it for me. Apparently there is a charge for people to transfer to the Post Office unless they are on BT option 1 and not tied in to a contract.

Perks of post office home phone:

- Free Evening and weekend calls to landlines
- Free weekend calls to mobile phones.
- Free phone calls to "loved ones"
- Free weekend calls to most of western european countries plus US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand.
- Your BT phone number will remain the same, the only difference will be that your bill will come from the Post Office.
- All included in the £10.95 line rental a month, no additional charge from BT.

Negatives:
- Landlines are i think 4.5p a minute on weekday morning/afternoons.
- Charges for 0845/0870(thats where saynoto0870 comes in)

I'm not too sure about what other providers are providing but a major reason i don't want to switch is because i would lose my BT number with most other providers, but this won't happen with Post office. Is this a good deal?

Mukesh.

koru

Mukesh12345 wrote: »

I'm not too sure about what other providers are providing but a major reason i don't want to switch is because i would lose my BT number with most other providers, but this won't happen with Post office. Is this a good deal?

Did you see my post on the same subject, 12 hours earlier? Post number 195. Some of the details of the deal will change from what you said, from next month. But yes, I think it is a pretty good deal.

However, you can usually port your existing number to most phone line providers, so you need not restrict yourself to PO for that reason.

esperluette

grahama wrote: »

In the latest update to the best deals for phone / broadband, Martin says that if you're already on Talktalks Essential (mytalktalk) package, you can ask for the free local calls to be added but you'll then lose the free international calls. I have asked this question on the Talktalk forum web site and Emma (their web forum rep - could be the same EmmaL appearing in this thread!) told me that this isn't true. If you're already on Essentials then you can have free local calls added but also keep free international calls.

EmmaL .... if you're out there, can you please confirm that this is true as I really, really don't want to lose my free international calls. Anyone else know the answer?

I had uk leisure( eve/ weekends) and free international from onetel for years but the emails started coming from talk talk , who said they had taken over onetel suggesting free local calls and all uk calls.I agreed to a new contract with free international AND local AND 0845/0870 ( nongeographic from june) and uk all time landlines.
I was told and sent written confirmation in my welcome pack of continuation of free international calls when I asked for uk anytime and free local calls as the international is worth much more to me than the locals. yet have now been billed for BOTH international and uk national and local calls!
my advice is dont touch their new offers!as they say one thing but do another! onetel staff contacted on the link for the bill didnt have the answer!

FAIRPLAY

I've recently changed to Talk Talk as one of their salesmen called me out of the blues and convinced me that they were cheaper and faster than BT / Tiscali. I had been with Tiscali and BT for ages and they were fine, and my broadband was reasonably fast. Since changing over to Talk Talk I have been fined by BT, Tiscali is still sending me bills and Talk Talk have LOADS of hidden costs, costs I never had with BT, they have only stopped charging for 0870 number since yesterday, my broadband is slower and they said it would be faster and now want to charge me 4.00 pm to increase speed, they are also charging me for caller ID which BT never charged and 118 118 cost me 1.37, BEWARE this no charge to landlines, hardly anyone has 0208 or 0207 numbers anymore. I am extremely disappointed. I found the call centre to be unhelpful and rude !!!

TalkTalk

Hi Fairplay,

Sorry to hear you are having some problems. The terms and conditions of your service state any contractual agreements with other providers are your responsibility. Were you still in a contract with BT? If not what are the charges for that they have billed?

If you are having problems with your broadband speed and you are not currently achieving an 8 meg connection the speed boost will be of no use to you. We can take a look at your connection if you could register at www.talktalkmembers.com/forums. It is likely that we will need to change your connection profile if you have LLU services with TalkTalk. We'll aslo be able to look into any billing issues for you too.

I'm not sure what your comment regarding 0208/0207 numbers means - could you clarify this for me please?

Cheers
Em x