Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

Blackjack_Davy

From Martin's article:

BT, £9.49/month (if you pay upfront)
Line rental & inclusive weekend calls

If you prefer to stick with BT, it's possible to vastly slice your line rental costs. It is offering reduced line rental if you pay up front before the 12 November.

Pay £113.88 for its Line Rental Saver* which includes free weekend calls and over the year's contract it works out at £9.49/month.

QUICK FACTS. Price: £9.49./month Free Calls: Weekend Free Calls are free for: the first 60 minutes Connection Fee: None Allows override providers? Yes

I'm thinking of signing up to this to save money on BT line rental - but I have Sky Talk for calls to get the cheap option with Sky Broadband - can anyone tell me if I can still remain with Sky Talk for calls whilst paying BT for cheaper line rental, or do I have to go with BT for calls as well? Because if so, it's a not an option.

kad1

Heinz wrote: »

The new build place doesn't have a BT line. It may have a BT-branded master socket and, possibly, internal extension(s) too and may even have external wiring to the nearest street cabinet or telephone pole but, until the first occupant pays to have the line connected, that's all.

Any of the line providers now in the market (Primus is one) can* accept your order for a new line and then pay Openreach to do the work. They will all charge you their own rate for that and most will require you to agree to at least a 12 month contract to prevent you leaving immediately. Remarkably though, Post Office Home Phone still only tie you to a one month contract so many people use them.

* Most will not do so though, probably because they will have to pay Openreach before they can recover the money from you.

Ahhh! I see thanks Heinz. So woud the best thing be to call BT and see if we can get what the landline number is and then call Primus & see if they will connect? Does anyone know how much Primus will charge? If Primus say they cant connect the line, would she have to get BT to do it and then get tied into a contract she doesn't want? thanks again!

Heinz

kad1 wrote: »

So woud the best thing be to call BT and see if we can get what the landline number is and then call Primus & see if they will connect?

No. As I said, the wiring may exist but there is no line (and, hence, no number) until someone pays to have the line connected.

JerryW

I have been with Primus (Home Saver package) since April and everything was fine until my line failed last month.. dead, no dialling tone or anything. I then discovered that:

- Primus staffs its call centre with operators who haven't got even basic English. On two occasions I was unable to carry on any sort of a conversation at all.
- the technical support team are friendly & sympathetic (and do speak some English) but take forever to get anything done. It took them 10 days to divert calls to my mobile phone.
- BT Openreach are very slow to respond to requests for action by Primus. Maybe it is the same for everyone, or maybe BT give their own customers priority. Who knows?

My line started working again yesterday - a fault in the overhead cables was found - but I reported it as faulty on 27 September, so I have been without any broadband or telephony for 23 days!:mad:

bronzie

GUYd wrote: »

My BT contract has just expired and so it is time for me to find a cheaper deal.

I use O2 for my mobile phone and also have had O2 unlimited home broadband for the past year (£7.50/mth). Contract has also just come to an end.

I have just spoken to O2 sales about taking out their home phone package in addition to my broadband.

I was told that they need to cancel my current broadband package (now obsolete) and they will put me on the new "All Rounder" package which gives unlimited broadband/up to 20meg. They are giving me 6mths free on a 12mth contract.

Usually this broadband package would be £12/mth but is now reduced to £6/mth because of the free period.

The O2 home phone with unlimited anytime calls comes in at £12.50/mth (includes line rental) - despite haggling, no deal to be done here unfortunately.

Therefore the total cost to me for line rental, unlimited anytime calls (+ 600 mins/mth international calls & 600 mins/mth to 0845/0870 numbers) & unlimited broadband (up to 20Meg) is £18.50/mth - Not a bad deal!

Guy, did o2 say anything about a fee for converting the line? o2 website says:

An O2 Home Phone line to your property. If you have a landline with another provider, we should be able to switch this over, although there may be a charge for this. If you don't have a landline, we can put one in for you.
http://www.o2.co.uk/broadband/homephone/

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/downloads/O2_Home_Phone_Price_List.pdf page 42 say £45 even though I am pretty sure they used to allow you to sign up with a bt line now they've changed it.

R34GTT

Wulnoth wrote: »

On the Money Saving site Primus and Plusnet are stated to be the cheapest Phone/Broadband/LineRental package available.

The problem I am having is that Plusnet seems to need either a Plusnet or a BT line to connect Broadband to.

Is there a way around this or is it not possible ? :question:

I recently switched to Primus Saver for my landline, and Plusnet Value for my broadband.

The line doesn't really change, it is still the same line just you are now billed by Primus.

What I did was firstly switch landline to Primus who gave me a switch over date.

I then ordered Plusnet Value broadband who let you specify a switchover date, so I chose the day after my landine switch over.

All transferred smoothly.

Things to watch out for with Primus
Primus don't include Caller ID or Call Divert functions in their £8.99 per month. As my line previously had these functions they were left on when Primus took over the line and I was billed extra. So just make sure Primus remove any unwanted features to avoid extra cost.

The call centres are in India so sometimes it can be difficult to communicate. Some operators are better than others at English so if you have a problem just call back again.

Things to be aware of with Plusnet
Plusnet's Direct Debit dates cannot be changed and it is set as the date of switchover, so if you want a specific date for the DD to go out make sure you choose your switchover date accordingly.

GUYd

bronzie wrote: »

Guy, did o2 say anything about a fee for converting the line? o2 website says:

An O2 Home Phone line to your property. If you have a landline with another provider, we should be able to switch this over, although there may be a charge for this. If you don't have a landline, we can put one in for you.

They haven't added a charge for switching over from a BT landline to O2.

The only thing that I have to do is return the old O2 router & cables when I receive their new super-duper router. If I don't do this then they will charge me £50 for their old router. Not a problem for me as my old router is now redundant and they have posted me a freepost jiffy bag so it doesn't cost me anything.

the_rev_2

Plusnet say that the only compatible landline providers are themselves and BT. So if I move to Primus I appear to be with an incompatible phone line provider? I am currently with Talktalk. Any advice, please? Many thanks

lympus48

Am I right to assume the 4.99 BT Unlimited Anytime Plan ( first three months free when you purchase this package on-line + 'Line rental Saver 9.49 per month paid upfront for a year' is a competitive deal to enter into. For example compared with using 18185 + old Primus. One thing I am unsure of with this BT plan is a) is there a minimum connection charge on every BT call? b) will increased VAT be imposed on the 4.99 in the new year?

R34GTT

the_rev wrote: »

Plusnet say that the only compatible landline providers are themselves and BT. So if I move to Primus I appear to be with an incompatible phone line provider? I am currently with Talktalk. Any advice, please? Many thanks

If Plusnet ask if you're on a BT line, just say yes.

Primus operates on BT lines anyway.

I switched to Primus and Plusnet 3 months ago, no problem.

See my post on page 28 of this thread.