Alternative to BT

Glad

I'm currently with BT

I spend about 20 mins per day calling national numbers and 20 mins day calling local
I call mobiles about 5 times per day usually short calls

I need to change to something cheaper but what ???

Edinburghlass_2

Are all these calls made through the day Glad? What option are you on with BT? and are you using 18866 and/or 1899?

Glad

yes a lot are made in day
not got anything only basic BT Together which means local calls are free after 6pm and at weekends

Edinburghlass_2

yes a lot are made in day
not got anything only basic BT Together which means local calls are free after 6pm and at weekends

Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should have been up here before now

With BT, nothing is free. With BT Option 1 the calls at evenings and w/ends are 5.5p for an hour. If you are on a package where the calls are free you are paying a monthly charge for the priviledge.

You need to check which Option you are with BT, shift over to Option1 then sign up with someone like TalkTalk as a CPS which WILL give you free evening and w/end calls for a year. Also free calls at ANY time to another customer of TalkTalk.

For your day time calls you need to sign up to 18866 where you only pay 1p connection charge for any local or national calls. For international and mobile calls some are cheaper with 1899 than 18866 but with 1899 there is a 3p connection charge.

HTH
(can talk you through this later on MSN )

allthatmularky

Don't forget the £20 sign up for the referrer and referree (?) with TalkTalk.

Glad

Tsk, tsk, tsk, you should have been up here before now  :o

With BT, nothing is free.  With BT Option 1 the calls at evenings and w/ends are 5.5p for an hour.  If you are on a package where the calls are free you are paying a monthly charge for the priviledge.

You need to check which Option you are with BT, shift over to Option1 then sign up with someone like TalkTalk as a CPS which WILL give you free evening and w/end calls for a year.  Also free calls at ANY time to another customer of TalkTalk.

For your day time calls you need to sign up to 18866 where you only pay 1p connection charge for any local or national calls.  For international and mobile calls some are cheaper with 1899 than 18866 but with 1899 there is a 3p connection charge.

HTH
(can talk you through this later on MSN )

firstly
when do I have time to come all the way up here, have you seen what they get up to down there ;D

secondly
that all sounded like a foreign language to me, if BT is so bad why do the people on the adverts say they are all going back? ::)

thirdly
better clear a few hours if we going to sort all this out
see you on MSN


looks like I'm paying line rental and £16.50 a month for the 'free' weekend calls >:(

System

You've answere your own question if you're paying £16.50 month. Anyone doing as Edinburgh lass suggested, is paying the bare minimum to BT, £10.50 line rental by Direct debit and that's all.

By using talktalk during evenings/weekends, you talk free, my monthy bill from them is £00.00 every month.

Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm I predial 18866 for any landline national or local and get charged 1p connection then talk for free, (ie 40 calls at 1p = 40p and talk for ages)

I readily admit this is where you might come out in a sweat. If you aim to call abroad, you predial 1899 and for the majority of countries, it is about 2p connection and 1p per minute.

and finally, those 0870 and 0845 numbers which costalot, can easily be overcome, but that's for another day !..

My suggestion is talk to edinburghlass by PM or MSN and she will guide you through. A canny lass of a scot if ever there was one.

sergeant121

that all sounded like a foreign language to me, if BT is so bad why do the people on the adverts say they are all going back?  ::)

Those adverts are in 'politician-speak'. The most interesting parts are those which aren't said. Let's read between the lines by considering a typical statement in one of their adverts:

"Last month, 108,210 peopole came back to BT."

What that statement doesn't say is:
(1). in that same month, 217,983 LEFT;
(2). of the 108,210 who came back, 108,209 (OK, I exagerate) came back from cable companies AND immediately set up Carrier Pre-Select with another company so that, although they now pay BT for line rental, all their calls now go out via that other company and BT gets no call income whatsoever;
(3). Most of those 108,209 also set up call1899.co.uk and call18866.co.uk accounts so they can make UK 01 & 02 calls of any duration, at any time for 1p, to mobiles for 10p/minute during the week and 2p/minute at weekends and international calls for FAR less that BT charges (e.g. To USA for 0.5p/minute).

Rant over. I'll now leave you in edinburghlass's capable hands re what you need to do to save on your 'phone calls..........

Glad

ok I've read Martin's article and looked into everything edlass said, now ashamed I call myself a moneysaver and have overlooked these savings :-[

can I just ask though, how do talk-talk make any money if no-one pays them anything ???

Edinburghlass_2

Really TalkTalk will hope that most people who sign up for the year's free calls will continue after the year is up and then be paying £4.99 or whatever for the so called "free" calls.

However, us canny MSE users will have set up Martin's Tart Alert to let them know when their year is coming to an end and will be out there looking for another company to give them a good deal

Glad

UPDATE:

I followed all of Edlass' advice
I'm now signed up to Talk Talk and also registered with 18866. I anticipate we will be saving £20 a month at least.

Many thanks to Edlass who spent 2 hrs on MSN talking me through all of this,
I have used her referral link to join Talk Talk for which she receives £20 which she is donating to the tsunami relief fund,
thanks again to a worthy and fab member of MSE ;D :-*