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

claire1234

hiya everyone,

thanks for the info, we have been looking at bt for a while now but not sure which would suit us,
my hubby is disabled (wont use landline phone as paranoid etc)
so we still pay a fortune for virgin but never use it £4.50 would be ideal for us but:

we are waiting to hear back about income support, can i order what i want then let them know were on income support?(change over to bt then once income supports comes though tell them or do i have to have income support then apply)

we never use the landline phone but obiously need one for emergency`s, all internet is on 24/7 so would need this unlimited.

from there website the packages/items i would like are bt basic phone package & bt total broadband option 3, anyone any suggestions?

thanks claire.

billsavings

Claire.

You actually have to be on Income Support before you can apply for BT Basic. They will check that you are on it before they supply BT Basic.

For what it is BT Total Broadband Option 3 is expensive.It might therefore be cheaper for you to pay £10.50 a month for BT Line Rental and use a cheaper Broadband Supplier. EG O2 http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1138537

Mackliven

billsavings wrote: »

Claire.

You actually have to be on Income Support before you can apply for BT Basic. They will check that you are on it before they supply BT Basic.

For what it is BT Total Broadband Option 3 is expensive.It might therefore be cheaper for you to pay £10.50 a month for BT Line Rental and use a cheaper Broadband Supplier. EG O2 http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1138537[/quote


Sound advice but as I mentioned earlier, customers ARE permitted to have BB from ANY ISP even with BT Basic. They initially tried to make out I had to have their own BB but following Graham1's post referring to BT's press release stating as much, I phoned them the next day and was eventually accepted. With regards to whether you need to be in receipt of Income Support before applying, I am told they check this against DWP's database. Accordingly, I guess it would be best to wait until this has been confirmed or at least advised of the date it is due to commence (working on the basis that I'm told it takes 4-6 weeks to transfer of course). Hope this helps!

claire1234

thanks so much for your replies guys,

i have just sat and worked out what we pay for virgin at the minute and the price of the bt stuff i want,
it is working out to be up to £20 cheaper, so i think i will defo change.

thanks

edit: if anyone is joining bt total broadband quidco give £60 cashback, hth somone.

sharon_kim

i just rang BT about this and was told that as i have broadband im not eligible for this sceam i thought it said on the info about this that you could have broadband and still get the saving

Heinz

sharon_kim wrote: »

i just rang BT about this and was told that as i have broadband im not eligible for this sceam i thought it said on the info about this that you could have broadband and still get the saving

Welcome to the MSE forums sharon kim.

Unfortunately, you spoke to yet another of BT's poorly trained personnel (see the links in the below post):

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=15212757&postcount=49

Mackliven

sharon_kim wrote: »

i just rang BT about this and was told that as i have broadband im not eligible for this sceam i thought it said on the info about this that you could have broadband and still get the saving

sharon kim, you probably spoke to one of the 3 people I originally spoke to at BT whom it would appear haven't read/been given the new briefing and are wrongly assuming the sames Broadband rules apply as to their earlier 'light user' scheme.
If it was not for the post from Graham1 (#49) from last week that very helpfully refers to BT's own Press release on this new scheme, I would have been in the same boat as you (I have a BT line but subscribe to another supplier for Broadband).
I would suggest that if you - or any other eligible customers - don't make many outgoing calls and want to transfer to BT Basic, you would be well advised to phone them again quoting chapter & verse of their own briefing, I did this last week and am now waiting for them to send me their 'declaration form' to sign, when I'm told it will take 4-6 weeks to complete the transfer.
In case it's of interest, I was also informed that whereas the same additional charges might apply, you can also retain any of BT's 'value plans' you might currently have (e.g. Caller Id, Call Minder, unlimited callback/reminder calls etc)

sharon_kim

thanks for that just rang them again and i do qualify im glad i asked on here rather than take their word for it , thanks for the help

Bridge_Teacher

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.

radford46

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Yet another case of BT giving with one hand and taking from the other one!!! :rolleyes:

Call charges will be 10p per minute on this tariff!!!! :eek:

That's more expensive than using a mobile phone!

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.