Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

Heinz

antonio1 wrote: »

3) internet research reports the company filed for bankruptcy in 2009

Primus was taken over in late 2010 by the New Call Group http://www.newcalltelecom.co.uk/

dave_dph

Heinz wrote: »

Primus was taken over in late 2010 by the New Call Group http://www.newcalltelecom.co.uk/

Do free evening and weekend calls still have 90 minutes duration?

Heinz

dave_dph wrote: »

Do free evening and weekend calls still have 90 minutes duration?

I'm on a CPS calls package - but yes, mine do.

oscarhugo

Hello Heinz ~

I think I can make a (very) small saving (provided I don't die within the next 12 months...) by Bringing My Calls Back To BT -- but I thought I might run it by the fount of all knowledge first. Woddja reckon? Here's the deal:- I have received a snailmailshot from BT offering me Unlimited Anytime Plan for £3 per mo. instead of £5 & inclusive of all UK landline calls incl. 0845 & 0870. I presently use AOL Talk Unlimited for FREE but 0845 & 0870 are chargeable, I believe. If I take the BT deal it will enable me to also do their 12 mo. Line Rental Saver at £12 per mo. So, I'd be paying an extra £3 per mo. for calls BUT saving a bit less than £3 per mo. (per yr earlier post advising that the paper-free discount would be lost) on my line rental. BUT- I would be paying the Line Rental saver with my 1% cashback credit card & so getting another £1.20 back in due course!
This pre-supposes that BT doesn't subsequently put up the above costs & that my 1% c-card cashback doesn't disappear... What to do, what to do? Your opinion/advice will be mush appreesh. Tks in advance.

Rgds,
Stephen

Heinz

I use the cost-of-a-Mars-bar test. I should really use the cost-of-a-tin-of-baked beans test but, there you go.

Regardless of what price you remember they used to be (I'm old enough to remember 6d [now 2½p]) and the shrinking size of the product (2009 alone saw a 7.2% reduction), use today's price. If the saving you are going to make is less than that per week, don't waste your time or energy and don't do anything.

In this case, you say you'd pay £3/month extra for the calls plan to save a little under £3/month by paying your line rental up-front and 'make' £1.20 cashback on your credit card.

Even before you take into account the (probably permanent) loss of £1.25/month paper-free discount, that process must fail the Mars bar test - there's no saving!

Mevs01

hmc wrote: »

hi, can you tell me if you think im on the cheapest deal for me please
i have line rental off bt which with caller display is £18mth dd but im going to cancel the caller display. 6.99mth to aol for broadband and all inclusive calls. 1899 for 08 numbers. i make no mobile calls
thanks in advance

Hi i have just negotiated a good deal with BT. I have broadband and home phone with them, no call deals just line rental and internet for £18.50. This is £3.50 line rental. Just phoned up to cancel and said about the primus deal and they offered me this deal as i do not use my phone for calls because i have mobile. Give it a go.

Heinz

Sounds great Mevs01 (welcome to the MSE forums BTW) but it's nothing exceptional I'm afraid.

It sounds like you have just been given a (fairly standard) £3/month discount on the line rental of £13.60 (which does, by default, include the Unlimited Weekend calls plan) and BT Total Broadband Option 1 at a discounted price of £7.90/month* for 12 months.

* That's what I always pay for Option 1.

Hence, £13.60 - £3 + £7.90 = £18.50/month.

Mevs01

Heinz wrote: »

Sounds great Mevs01 (welcome to the MSE forums BTW) but it's nothing exceptional I'm afraid.

It sounds like you have just been given a (fairly standard) £3/month discount on the line rental of £13.60 (which does, by default, include the Unlimited Weekend calls plan) and BT Total Broadband Option 1 at a discounted price of £7.90/month* for 12 months.

* That's what I always pay for Option 1.

Hence, £13.60 - £3 + £7.90 = £18.50/month.

Ah Rookie mistake, thought it was good for me anyway as was paying £28 a month for both now only £18.50 a month, saving me over £100 anyway. Will need to dig deeper for a better deal next year then. A lesson learned explore all options first.

Thanks Heinz

kad1

antonio1 wrote: »

Was thinking of switching to the 12m £6.79 primus deal. No way now after: 1) sent them some queries by email and got no reply; 2) some negative posts above; and 3) internet research reports the company filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and look at the horror stories on reviewcentre.com/reviews145423.html. One post says:

Simply put - the worst customer service I have ever received from any company in any industry. I urge others who have received equally terrible customer service to contact OFCOM regarding their practices.

1.5 out of 5 is the average rating. Thought it was too good to be true....

i too was thinking of going to primus as i'm on BT's basic line rental package with free evening & wkend calls for £13.60 (shortly to go up to £13.90), but now I won't go to primus either. however is there anything cheaper than Bt that's not Primus? I hardly use my phone - most months I'm just paying for the line rental! thanks

antonio1

kad1 wrote: »

i too was thinking of going to primus as i'm on BT's basic line rental package with free evening & wkend calls for £13.60 (shortly to go up to £13.90), but now I won't go to primus either. however is there anything cheaper than Bt that's not Primus? I hardly use my phone - most months I'm just paying for the line rental! thanks

Ditto. There seem to be no crystal clear alternative recommendations beyond paying BT a year's advance line rental. Have a look at the thread entitled "Primus Saver rip-off".