BT Basic Line Rental: Get a landline for £4.50/month

billsavings

radford46 wrote: »

I can see blood in the streets with this plan. The reason for this is that many people will not realise that using a lower rate international number provider like 0844 200 20 20 (1/2p a min.)will still be charged at 10p a minute. Can you imagine the thousands of immigrants who will be sucked into this scheme, and then be landed with huge bills. By the way, I am a Virgin user, and at one time they also did not allow the use of these secondary providers, except at 7p a min; that is, until they found out that they were acting illegally inasmuch that this was anti-competitive. Offcom should be ashamed of itself for giving its blessing.

1.They dont charge 10p for every type of call.See

http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/Public/current/Cust_Opts_Res_boo/FrameworkImpl55289.htm#FrameworkImpl55289

Although they dont mention 0844/0871 call charges.

2.In any case you cant use a phone service provided by another company (either directly or not directly).

3. VM can charge what they like for calls to Non Geographical Numbers. They are in fact one of the more expensive suppliers for these type of calls..

Flower_of_Scotland_3

I will miss 1571, I think. I will have to get an answer machine. This might be better as answer machine will have red light to warn that I have messages, I suppose I can still use Skype?

BigBadMerlin

I just called BT on 0800 783 1675 and was told to redial 0800 800 864 just thought it worth a mention.

daipp

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Yes, you have to give them your NI number which they cross reference with DWP database.

I'm sorry but this is incorrect - BT do not have access to any records held by DWP.

David

sandrajean1955

This bit of info might be of help to anyone who qualifies for the basic scheme (£4.50 monthly line rental) and who has BT Broadband Talk (Option 1 that gives free phone calls at weekends and after 6pm). I pay an extra £4.95 a month to have free anytime calls through my Broadband Talk line. The 'free weekend calls' from my landline will stop and so will the discounts for 'Friends & Family' once I get accepted for the £4.50 a month scheme and also the cost of calls from my landline will go up after I have used up my £1.50 worth of calls. I think it will be worth upgrading & paying the £4.95 per month considering the line rental will drop by £6 per month because although it seems you would only be £1 per month better off you will never pay for another call at anytime to a UK landline - as long as you don't go over the hour. If the Broadband Talk goes down at anytime (which it does now and again) you can use the £1.50 worth of free calls by using your landline. This will obviously only benefit people (like myself) that spends a lot of time on the phone.

darren72

Bridge_Teacher wrote: »

When I queried the date of the change from the Light User scheme to BT Basic, I was told that the Light User scheme has not been available for new users for some time and that the switchover was expected to be in 6-8 weeks. When I asked them to terminate our service (as we didn't qualify for the social Tariff and couldn't afford the extra line rental cost), I was told that I would automatically be switched from Light User scheme to the new BT Basic scheme and should receive a letter "shortly" explaining the changes.

Thanks for the post - That is handy to know.

Sounds like all Light User scheme customers will receive BT Basic then, regardless of whether they qualify under the new rules.

jeffery07

I rang BT an hour ago(we have been a customer of theirs for several years) and explained that we were on Pension Guarantee Credit and are interested in their special social tarrif. Their reply? It is only for those BT customers who have a 'phone for emergency calls only and the 'odd' 'phone call!! She also said that it would give us a bigger bill!!if we moved to it.
Since we use approx. 7 hours 'phone call per QUARTER they are effectively saying,"stuff you". Any suggestions? Time to move on?

Heinz

jeffery07 wrote: »

I rang BT an hour ago(we have been a customer of theirs for several years) and explained that we were on Pension Guarantee Credit and are interested in their special social tarrif. Their reply? It is only for those BT customers who have a 'phone for emergency calls only and the 'odd' 'phone call!! She also said that it would give us a bigger bill!!if we moved to it.
Since we use approx. 7 hours 'phone call per QUARTER they are effectively saying,"stuff you". Any suggestions? Time to move on?

I think you must have missed the details of the scheme in the OP.

Just a quick glance shows it includes a calls allowance of £1.50 per month and, as the calls are 10p/minute + 3p connection charge, a rough estimate is that's 15 minutes worth.

So, of your 7 hours, about 45 minutes would be free and the other 6 hours 15 minutes would be charged at 10p/minute. Ignoring the additional connection fees, that'd be about £37.50 call charges.

Far from, "Stuff BT", I'd say whoever you spoke to was doing you a favour.

OTOH, there's nothing to stop you using 1899 and/or 18185 and/or 18866 for your calls (each 01, 02 or 03 call would, regardless of duration, then cost you 5p).

Gareth56

vastra wrote: »

I totally agree with you Sian, I have just had a rather rude response from BT after I asked why they don't include people on DLA/Incapacity Benefit etc.
She basically laughed at me, and made out like I was some sort of a beggar or something. :mad:

DLA (and IB) are non-means tested benefits so the rationale behind disallowing people on these benefits from these schemes is that you could be a millionaire on DLA or be on IB and have huge savings or have a partner bringing in a large salary. One thing that contradicts the above is the Warm Front Grant as DLA is a qualifying benefit

janaltus

MSE_Archna wrote: »

What's this about?

Exceptions to the eligibility criteria

• More than one phone line - whether these are at the same or different addresses. (Unless you're registered as disabled or suffering from a long term illness).

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Thanks for the posting, OP. I often wondered if I might qualify (I'm profoundly disabled), and you've helped me confirm that I don't - and that I'm better off as an ordinary BT customer (and that I should keep using 1899 and 18185).

Just one tiny point ... "registered as disabled" doesn't exist anymore (and hasn't for about 10 years or so).

Did you find that bit of outdated terminology on BT's site, by any chance?