Advice needed re. BT Tariff

Majic

I have my home phone and broadband with BT.
My bill per 1/4 is approximately £130 made up of:

Line rental £40
Broadband £45
Calls £45 of which 90% are in the daytime.

I want to stick with BT for my broadband.

I am trying to get down the costs of my calls and line rental.

I have seen the BT Line rental saver £9.49 per month and the Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan free for 3 months then £4.99 per month for a 12 month contract.

Am I right in saying all my calls would be free and I would after 3 months be paying £43.44 per month saving me about £41 per quarter or is there a catch?

Heinz

All calls of up to 60 minutes each - BUT only 01, 02, 03, 0845 and 0870 numbers are covered by the £4.99/month Unlimited Anytime Plan.

Assuming your £45 of calls were to such numbers, you'll save about £30 per quarter.

But why are you paying quarterly? Monthly Whole Bill Direct Debit is far better.

A 18185 account is recommended for calls to UK mobiles (and most international destinations).

ioscorpio

I pay quarterly whole bill by DD, I pay equivalent of £12.04 a month, how much would I be better off by paying monthly?

Heinz

ioscorpio wrote: »

I pay quarterly whole bill by DD, I pay equivalent of £12.04 a month, how much would I be better off by paying monthly?

Nothing - but you wouldn't be lending BT £36 (interest-free) for 3 months, every 3 months.

lynx10

1) Just had a BT quarterly phone bill BB3 (phone/broadband) = £185. Same quarter last year = £147. The phone usage is predominantly evening and local.

Adjusting for a small increase in calls (<10%), but essentially the same pattern of use, the unit call charges have more than *doubled* in 12 months. The main reason appears to be the regular erosion of free calls allowed: 102 in July 2009's bill, now down to 41.

2) Monthly Direct Debit - the *theory* is fine, but in practice it's poorly managed (e.g., erroneous changes in payments applied but remedied only weeks later, at the convenience of the supplier not the customer)

So, the BT broadband charges/service seems reasonable, but are there any suggestions for a better value tarif/supplier for the phone service ? TIA

wild666

I cut my calls costs with BT down to £0 I use an O2 mobile as does all the family and calls & texts to other O2 numbers are free for £15 a month or £10 if you just text. My phone line is only for the internet

brewerdave

lynx10 wrote: »

1) Just had a BT quarterly phone bill BB3 (phone/broadband) = £185. Same quarter last year = £147. The phone usage is predominantly evening and local.

Adjusting for a small increase in calls (<10%), but essentially the same pattern of use, the unit call charges have more than *doubled* in 12 months. The main reason appears to be the regular erosion of free calls allowed: 102 in July 2009's bill, now down to 41.
TIA

If the phone calls are predominately evening then they all should be free provided that a) you have the WE/Evenings package & b) you are making the calls AFTER 7pm - the change in the free evenings start time has been well publicised (from 6pm to 7pm) -I suspect that why you are paying for more calls!!:D
PS There is no such thing as a local call anymore.

lynx10

brewerdave wrote: »

If the phone calls are predominately evening then they all should be free provided that ... you are making the calls AFTER 7pm - the change in the free evenings start time has been well publicised (from 6pm to 7pm) -I suspect that why you are paying for more calls!! ...

Many thanks - you may have a point. Do you know when the change was implemented ?

I've just looked at a couple of the recent issues of 'BT Update' (Summer 2010 & April 2010) but can't see anything.

deklan99

Mentioned in the national press january this year - http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/29/bt-free-evening-calls-change , wef 1st April.

lynx10

Interesting comment to the Guardian article ('BT ditches free evening calls before 7pm'):

"I saw this in the BT email, and wondered if it might be spam. I checked the BT website and could not find any reference to the change, so decided the email was spam. What a bloody underhand move."

macman

The change has been widely publicised in the media, and well documented on this board. TT have done exactly the same thing so it's hardly a case of BT being underhand.