Cheapest Home Phones Article Discussion

bendipa

tahrey wrote: »

*shrug* All I know is I fronted up on their order-our-stuff phone line as if I already had a Primus phone line, and was told "sorry sir, we don't support use of Primus landlines with our broadband service any more", and ended up ringing off with a comment to whit "guess I'm stuck with them til the contract runs out then... well, see you in 18 months". At no point did they try and grab me as a potential customer even then...

I have a Primus landline and use PlusNet broadband and so far I've had no problems using both. It could be that PlusNet have just stopped issuing broadband on new contracts for those who have Primus landlines. But 3 months ago I switched to Primus from BT and already had a broadband connection to PlusNet. When I informed PlusNet of my decision to switch to Primus they had no issues about it.

tahrey

Benpida, I have a feeling this is a policy change that's happened fairly recently; in fact, about the start of August. That's approximately when I signed up with them, and the first mention of this issue in this thread is on the 8th of that month... first by someone else, then myself and (IIRC) a couple others confirming it.

Yet in the intervening 6 weeks or so, there's been no alteration of the data in the article, merely a noticeable facelift to the page furniture...

If you signed up to Primus 3 months ago, however - and were already under contract to Plusnet, no less - that would have put you in the clear as of mid-June. So, who knows what's gone on in between!

(and as i fell asleep in the middle of that, because the hour was very late, I won't go any further )

Former_MSE_Becca

tahrey wrote: »

I note with interest that the article page has been extensively refurbished, but this joint offer is still listed - does that imply that someone's investigated it and found out that it's still in place? Because I'd like to know who's lying (intentionally or accidentally) to me here.

We received confirmation from both Primus and Plusnet that you can still take these two services together. Plusnet said:

"It is still possible to get stand alone broadband from Plusnet with a stand alone Primus phone line."

If you encounter any further problems trying to sign-up to Plusnet broadband with a Primus phone line (or vice versa), please let us know on the forum.

Thanks,
MSE Becca

apwood

I'm wondering about suggesting Primus Line Rental Saver to my mother-in-law as she is a low call user, with most calls currently directed through 18185. Currently her line rental is £9.19 per month - so I calculate the £6.79 per month primus deal will save her money even though up to a further 20 free calls per month will now have to go through 18185.

However, what worries me is, given the 12 month contract, what happens if they decide after June 2012 to bar 18185 calls? Would she be able to upgrade to an option with some inclusive calls with Primus within the 12 month contract?

If she had to start paying the full Primus price for calls from June 2012, any savings would be quickly wiped out.

How likely is it that they might start barring 18185 calls? Maybe the expected saving of between £1.40 and £2.40 per month is just not worth the (small) risk.

Note I use an Orchid dialler for her to program calls to go through 18185 where appropriate.

Heinz

Assuming the saving is £2.40/month, that's equivalent to 8p per day!

Remember too that, if she uses Caller Display, Primus charge £2.50/month extra for that so the saving would instantly be wiped out.

I'd use the old "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim.

apwood

She does not use caller display.

bendipa

apwood wrote: »

I'm wondering about suggesting Primus Line Rental Saver to my mother-in-law as she is a low call user, with most calls currently directed through 18185. Currently her line rental is £9.19 per month - so I calculate the £6.79 per month primus deal will save her money even though up to a further 20 free calls per month will now have to go through 18185.

I'm not sure where you got that figure from. The cheapest landline deal Primus are currently offering is £7.99 pcm for a 12 month contract with free national geographical calls weekday evenings (after 6pm) and weekends. It's still a lot cheaper than BT. However Primus have had big problems with their customer service, and getting through to their customer service call centre has demanded great patience, although things seem to have improved a little on that front recently.

tahrey

MSE_Becca wrote: »

We received confirmation from both Primus and Plusnet that you can still take these two services together. Plusnet said:

"It is still possible to get stand alone broadband from Plusnet with a stand alone Primus phone line."

If you encounter any further problems trying to sign-up to Plusnet broadband with a Primus phone line (or vice versa), please let us know on the forum.

Thanks,
MSE Becca

Thanks Becca!

However... did Plusnet offer any comment on why, when I enquired about taking out this package - as a private individual, rather than a representative of a fairly well known website that offers recommendations on such things and therefore may drive people to their customer services... who are then a lot easier to "talk round" to signing up even though their original target package is unavailable - and pretending for all the world that I had a Primus line already, I was refused a Plusnet Broadband sign-up pretty much point blank?

Seems a bit of a strange thing for a random CS agent just to dream up off their own back. Unless some wires have got seriously crossed over there, it still seems a touch fishy that they'd say that to me one day, then backtrack on it in conversation with yourself the next.

(I never even got to talk to Primus, so I can't comment on their angle on it all)

I'm not massively bitter or anything, as I have made good use of the additional free calls, and I'm particularly in love with the amount of bandwidth I can get for a very reasonable sum :rotfl: but it's piqued my curiosity!

As my mother and her partner will - hopefully! - be moving house soon, and are uncertain over the continued value of taking a Virgin connection with them now that the main heavy users are out of the house and Freeview+ boxes are quite affordable, they are looking into jumping ship also. I may ask them to enquire in a similar fashion and see whether the story has changed in the interim.

jhp

bendipa wrote: »

I'm not sure where you got that figure from. The cheapest landline deal Primus are currently offering is £7.99 pcm for a 12 month contract with free national geographical calls weekday evenings (after 6pm) and weekends. It's still a lot cheaper than BT. However Primus have had big problems with their customer service, and getting through to their customer service call centre has demanded great patience, although things seem to have improved a little on that front recently.

£6.79 a month offer here via HomePhone Choices.

http://www.homephonechoices.co.uk/

bendipa

I see the website, but I've spoken to Primus who tell me they are not offering any package as cheap as that, and confirm as on their own website that the Home Saver package at £7.99 pcm is the cheapest. One word of caution. The package you state (if it's still in existence) does not have free weekday evenings or weekend calls, and daytime calls are significantly more expensive than the package that I mentioned. In addition any call you make has an extra 11p connection charge. So unless you are an ultra light evening/weekemd user I'd be careful.