BT Phoneline with Sky Talk

Danica

I don't know if I am posting this in the correct section so apologies if it is not.

We have a BT phoneline paid quarterly by DD and are also subscribed to Sky Talk which is free with a sky TV bundle broadband package.
My query is that BT charge us at an inflated line rental rate (£44 pq approx) because we do not make the minimum amount of calls. We are regular users of our phone and sky are charging us around about £11 pm for calls made on Sky Talk.
Are we paying BT the higher rate because the Sky Talk is taking over the calls so to speak? only select calls seem to show up on our BT phone bill.
Phones lines are not my best subject so I hope I have explained this well enough.

ahll

I am just looking into this myself but I believe you can also get the line retal from Sky for less than BT and so pay nothing to BT.

Then I beleive you can use 18185 service to reduce call charges futher..

I am thinking of switching to SKY broadband and line rental...anyone here use it ?

Heinz

Danica wrote: »

I don't know if I am posting this in the correct section so apologies if it is not.

We have a BT phoneline paid quarterly by DD and are also subscribed to Sky Talk which is free with a sky TV bundle broadband package.
My query is that BT charge us at an inflated line rental rate (£44 pq approx) because we do not make the minimum amount of calls. We are regular users of our phone and sky are charging us around about £11 pm for calls made on Sky Talk.
Are we paying BT the higher rate because the Sky Talk is taking over the calls so to speak? only select calls seem to show up on our BT phone bill.
Phones lines are not my best subject so I hope I have explained this well enough.

You should be making non-inclusive 01, 02 and 03 calls and calls to mobiles using the 18185 prefix (as you're here, I assume you have a 18185 account) rather than paying Sky's rates.

You cannot make the required number of calls on BT (even though you pay BT line rental) because of the way in which Sky now provides Sky Talk.

Their intention is obvious - to get you to move your line rental too.

If you do so though, you will not be able to use the 18185 prefix (although making calls via 18185's freephone gateway number, 08081703703, will still be possible).

ahll

Heinz wrote: »

If you do so though, you will not be able to use the 18185 prefix (although making calls via 18185's freephone gateway number, 08081703703, will still be possible).

Oh no I thought you could use 18185 if you had sky and there line rental..

Or is it only if you have sky talk and still keep the BT line at £13.90 a month ?

Can you explain what you mean by this ?
'You cannot make the required number of calls on BT (even though you pay BT line rental) because of the way in which Sky now provides Sky Talk'


At the moment BT are charging £23.50 for Broadband and £13.30 a months plus calls...its to expensive so I thought SKy was a better option as can get BB, TV and Talk for 38 ish so as currently dont have any tv reception that seem like a good option to take up

Now concerned about not being able to use 18185

HappyMJ

ahll wrote: »

Oh no I thought you could use 18185 if you had sky and there line rental..

Or is it only if you have sky talk and still keep the BT line at £13.90 a month ?

Can you explain what you mean by this ?
'You cannot make the required number of calls on BT (even though you pay BT line rental) because of the way in which Sky now provides Sky Talk'


At the moment BT are charging £23.50 for Broadband and £13.30 a months plus calls...its to expensive so I thought SKy was a better option as can get BB, TV and Talk for 38 ish so as currently dont have any tv reception that seem like a good option to take up

Now concerned about not being able to use 18185

It depends on why you use 18185. If you move to Sky and make a lot of daytime local/national calls you probably should take the unlimited calls package as well. If you make calls to mobiles then get a cheap PAYG mobile and put a sim in it from giffgaff or similar and use that to make calls to mobiles. Don't use the home phone.

Heinz

Sky uses a product from BT Wholesale known as WCLI (Wholesale Calls Line Independent) to carry Sky Talk calls. That means Sky Talk calls are routed via the BT network and charged (or not in case of evening and weekend 01, 02 and 03 calls) by Sky. Hence, using the 1280 prefix, which used to force calls back onto BT so that you could make the required 2 calls per month to qualify for free Caller Display, basic 1571 and to avoid the £1.50/month charge for not making any calls, no longer works (you cannot force a call onto the BT network when it's already there).

Taking Sky line rental (£12.25/month from 6 July) will mean you will not be able to use the 18185 prefix (Sky bar it on their lines whereas BT, and only BT, have to allow it).

In sumamry, BT line and Sky Talk calls package - use of 1280 not possible but use of 18185 possible. Sky line and Sky Talk calls package - use of 18185 not possible.

Danica

I am actually thinking of moving the line rental to Sky but the details of their service are very vauge, do they do caller id and answer phone (1571) with their line rental? if so then it will pay me to change meaning a saving of £12 pq.

ahll

HappyMJ wrote: »

It depends on why you use 18185. If you move to Sky and make a lot of daytime local/national calls you probably should take the unlimited calls package as well. If you make calls to mobiles then get a cheap PAYG mobile and put a sim in it from giffgaff or similar and use that to make calls to mobiles. Don't use the home phone.

I have never heard of giffgaff and even after looking at the website I am not clear how this works...can anyone explain ? Why is this better for just mobile phone calls ?

OldGreyFox

Danica wrote: »

I am actually thinking of moving the line rental to Sky but the details of their service are very vauge, do they do caller id and answer phone (1571) with their line rental? if so then it will pay me to change meaning a saving of £12 pq.

Yes they do see call features here: http://www.sky.com/shop/__PDF/8968_Sky_Talk_Tariff_Guide_V4_HR_RGB.pdf



if they llu your service you may find your choice of supplier if you choose to leave them restricted.

OldGreyFox

ahll wrote: »

I have never heard of giffgaff and even after looking at the website I am not clear how this works...can anyone explain ? Why is this better for just mobile phone calls ?

Its a payg mobile service run by O2 at arms length.

Mobile calls only cost 8p a minute as opposed to Skys dearer peak rates.

See Sky,s rates here http://www.sky.com/shop/__PDF/8968_Sky_Talk_Tariff_Guide_V4_HR_RGB.pdf

Unlike other operators GiffGaff allow you to call freephone numbers for free so you can also use 18185 from it via there 0808 freephone number see http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php