BT to amend residential prices - the ups and downs

zx2011

BT is to take the axe to its call charges.

Details are to be announced on Tuesday.

The Times is also reporting cuts to be made to 0870 numbers too.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/07/30/cnbt30.xml

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2290873,00.html

bbb_uk

This was mentioned on SayNo also as well so I thought I'd be lazy and just copy and paste my reply from SayNo here

That's good news except I can't see them reducing the 0870 that much because of the revenue generating that operates beneath them. These numbers do cost more for teleco's to carry due to the revenue sharing.

BT have specifically chose these numbers knowing that in most cases other teleco's can't match them because of all the money the teleco's have to pay to carry the calls.

BT could reduce their cost to geographical numbers if they wanted but so far don't appear to want to do this which I assume is because they know their competitors can generally price-match or beat BT on their geographical calls but can't on NGN's like 0845/0870. This is crafty of BT to choose 0870 to reduce knowing that most of their competitors can't price-match them or beat them on these calls but at least it's a start!

When the revenue sharing officially ends on 0870 then I suspect that BT will also bring down the cost of these calls to match geographicals and hopefully include them in existing plans, etc similar to the new 03x range.

BT will use headlines like they've specifically chose this number because they are so much to call - hiding the fact that they have chose this number because their competitors charge more (for which they'll highlight) and, as mentioned above, they can't compete with in most cases.

We spend a [highlight]quarter[/highlight] of our time on the phone on these numbers, according to BT

I personally would have said it's more than a quarter of our time as these numbers are everywhere. Just go through the magazines that come in the papers and TV shopping adverts and you'll see most numbers are 0870.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see excactly what BT plan on doing.....

utilitybroker

Rumour has it that BT Opt 2 will become £3.95p a month and Option 3 will become £9.95p a month.

Which will make them cheaper them some other suppliers. Eg Tesco,Homecall etc.

skybluesaver

Where did you hear this?

utilitybroker

skybluesaver wrote:

Where did you hear this?

I have a very good intelligence system.:D Only a couple of days (1/8/2006) to see if its true.

Switched on moneysavers should already be paying less then this.;)

See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1095003038,99872,

Steve_xx

Confirmed that BT will reduce it's Options to £3.95 & £9.95 per month respectively. Heard it on the lunchtime program on Radio 4. It will also reduce charges to 0845 & 0870.

scoot23

They are also gonna offer free evening and weekend calls for a year if you commit to keeping your line with them for a further 18 months.

DonnyDave

utilitybroker wrote:

Rumour has it that BT Opt 2 will become £3.95p a month and Option 3 will become £9.95p a month.

Is this £3.95 and £9.95 above the price of Option 1?

Heinz

£3.95 instead of £5.50 for BT Together Option 2 and £9.95 instead of £14.50 for BT Together Option 3.

Both charges, of course, are additional to the (unchanged) £11/month (by DD) Line Rental charge.

Not much of interest there for the vast majority of us on BT Together Option 1 (in effect, Line rental only) because we route our calls more cheaply (or free) elsewhere.

http://www.callsave.bt.com/

However, there are some crafty little changes (some of which are nice little earners for BT) being introduced as well:

Call Set-up Fee

From 1st October 2006, the minimum call charge of 5.5p for residential customers will be replaced by a call set-up fee of 3p that will be charged at the start of each phone call.

The call set-up fee will be applied to national and local geographic calls, premium rate calls, NTS calls (e.g. 0845, 0870), international calls and landline-to-mobile calls. However, it will not apply to zero-rated calls included in BT Together Option 2 and 3, BT Together Local Calls Option or Evening and Weekend UK geographic calls of up to an hour for Option 1 customers for which a charge of 5.5p per call will apply.

The new call set-up fee will apply to all customers on the Light User Scheme (LUS). The LUS rental rebate and threshold will be adjusted in the customer's favour to ensure customers continue to benefit from these services and that their bills do not increase by more than the rate of inflation as a result. For customers on In-Contact Plus, the 10p minimum call charge will be replaced by the 3p call set-up fee. More details on this can be found at bt.com/pricing.

Landline-to-mobile Price Changes

From 1st October 2006, BT will simplify its landline-to-mobile rates for residential customers by introducing just three rates which will replace existing landline-to-mobile tariffs. Landline-to-mobile rates during the Daytime will be 13ppm (inc VAT), during the Evenings, they will be 8ppm and during the Weekend, they will be 5ppm (inc VAT). These rates will apply for calls to ALL mobile networks (except Hutchinson 3G) and will make it easier for you to manage your calls. Not only does this change make our pricing easier to understand but also ensures our prices remain among the most competitive in the market.

Reductions in 0870 and 0845 rates

From 1st October 2006, the call rates for residential customers making 0870 calls will be reduced to 7ppm from 7.51ppm in the daytime, reduced to 3.69ppm from 3.75ppm in the evening and remain at 1.50ppm at the weekend. 3p set-up fee applies. Also, the call rates for residential customers making 0845 calls will be reduced to 0.5ppm from 1.5ppm at the weekend and will remain the same at 3ppm in the daytime and remain the same at 1ppm in the evening. This change will mean our 0870 call rates are among the most competitive in the market.

Whole Minute Charging

From 1st October 2006, each call will be rounded up to the next whole minute for national and local geographic calls, international calls and landline-to-mobile calls. Minute rounding will not be applied to NTS calls or premium rate service calls and existing rounding rules will apply to these numbers. Calls made by In-Contact Plus customers will also be subject to this pricing, as will calls made by LUS customers. The LUS rental rebate and threshold will be adjusted in the customer's favour to ensure customers continue to benefit from these services. Other calls like 5.5p Evening and Weekend geographic UK calls on BT Together Option 1, any calls made within the inclusive calls packages on BT Together Option 2 and 3 and BT Together Local Calls Option will not be affected. For full details of which call types will be charged by the whole minute, visit bt.com/pricing.

And there's a 25p reduction on your line rental if you opt for online (only) billing! That's less than it costs them to post the paper bill!

mad_rich

Blimey, they've pulled out all the stops for this one haven't they. 0.04p off evening 0870 calls. Crack open the Champagne.

Still, could be worse. They could have 'enhanced' the line rental to £15.

hurrah

Be interesting to see how other providers react particularly those that are now dearer eg Tesco Home Phone.

Could set off a price war.:D