Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

Heinz

emilygilmore wrote: »

Thank you heinz! I rang again this morning but the line has been disconnected so they couldn't do the return to donor.

That sounds like BS to me. Of course the line's been 'disconnected' (from BT's equipment) at the exchange - it's been connected to Talk Talk's equipment. That's why it's called return to donor!

Try again.

emilygilmore

Well the phone has been totally disconnected, there's no dial tone, does that make a difference? She said it was an MPS line, whatever that means?

emilygilmore

Sorry if this is all obvious and thank you for your help I almost miss the days of free AOL cds now..

emilygilmore

I can't get them to do it, I'm paying primus saver 69£ to reconnect me

Craftyscholar

Heinz wrote: »

That means your incoming calls arrive on BT but your outgoing calls go via AOL by default. Hence, your Caller Display is supplied by BT and, as you cannot make any calls via BT because of the way AOL supplies your calls package, you will have to pay BT £2.59/month for Caller Display. If you don't have Caller Display, you escape that charge.

Heinz wrote: »

You have to have a BT line (i.e. pay line rental to them) in order to have a CPS calls provider like AOL.

Thanks, Heinz.
I now have the answers to two questions I was going to ask without posting them.

kevpc

atm i pay BT line rental only and pay Sky for calls (free evening and weekends, up to 60mins per call). typically, BT seem to think that the way to be more competetive, is to increase their prices and drive more customers away. however, as there is little difference between BT and Sky for line rental, i intend staying with BT. should i change broadband providers from Sky to another company, hopefully it will be easier. what i need to know, please, is if i sign up to pay the full 12months line rental to BT in one go plus have the free weekend calls, how will i make the minimum of 2 calls per month (at weekends) through BT and not through Sky? failure to do that, so BT have just told me, will mean i have to pay extra per month, making the deal a bit of a waste of time. would be grateful for any advice/opinions, please.

Heinz

kevpc wrote: »

what i need to know, please, is if i sign up to pay the full 12months line rental to BT in one go plus have the free weekend calls, how will i make the minimum of 2 calls per month (at weekends) through BT and not through Sky?

You would not be able to do so because Sky now uses WCLI to provide your calls carrier (which is BT) and so you cannot use the 1280 prefix to 'hop back onto BT' to make calls - even via the Unlimited Weekend calls plan which is a (free) part of your line rental.

That will also mean that, if you have Caller Display and/or basic 1571, BT will charge you for that/them too.

In any case, because you're on BT's Unlimited Weekend calls plan (even though you cannot use it), you are barred from making BT an interest-free loan of a years' line rental.

You qualify for Line Rental Saver if you have paper-free billing and one of the following products:

• Unlimited Anytime Plan
• Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan
• Any package of products, such as phone and broadband

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/d...id/13962/c/345

kevpc

hi Heinz. tnx for reply and info. i dont have 'caller display, 1571 or 1471' services, so dont pay for them. i assume that they are not available to me thro' Sky, only as a 'paid for' service thro' BT? from what you also tell me, it appears that i have to continue paying BT, as many others do, for line rental, unless i want to risk being in the position of paying a further extortionate sum if i leave Sky's broadband service. what i find more annoying than anything is, when something does go wrong with the line, BT then do their best to try to blame you or your equipment and threaten a charge of well over a £100 to put things right and take weeks to sort it anyway. i still dont see how they can legally get away with that charge, when people are paying a fee every month in the first place. just another case of 'good old rip-off Britain', i suppose.

Heinz

You'd be surprised how many faulty modems in Sky boxes, ADSL filters and carpet gripper piercing self-help extension wiring cause line faults.

Step

Is it possible to include anytime free calls when searching for best deal on home phones please?