An alternative to BT

BML

I use a BT telephone and have Broadband from them but my last bill of £146.00 plus the news that increases are on the way has persuaded me to look elswhere.
Any sugestions will be welcome.

Heinz

Just changing providers won't help much if your calls pattern (and hence excessive call charges) is your problem.

You need to identify where your problem is. If you are on BT's Unlimited Weekend calls plan and your problem is calls made at other times, change to a plan which makes most of those calls inclusive. Click on the HERE link in my signature below.

Alternatively (or additionally), using 18185, as recommended by Martin, might help.

BML

I'm not sure that reply is stricly acurate if the Guardian 17.9.2011 is to be believed.
They state, "The table shows that if you switch to one of the two companies that are most actively marketing on price - Plusnet and TalkTalk - you can save £130 in your first year and around £90 a year in the second year."

tripled

Depending on what package they have, it could be mostly made up of broadband/line rental charges (up to £125 of it) if they have unlimited, in which case they could save 50 quid a quarter changing provider before even looking at the call costs.

BML, if you give more details of what package you're on with BT and more info on the costs, you might get more help.

Neil49

Before taking any action you really need to analyse where these excessive charges are coming from (as already mentioned by Heinz above).

If you are calling premium rate numbers (09 etc) then switching companies isn't really going to help much.

Have a close look at each call on your bill and then come back with some more information so that we may assist.

BML

You are quite correct; I should have put the account details into my question. The problem is that people of my age, 75 grew up when we had a publicly owned telephone service which although possible less technical was trusted. Now we have a service owned by an organisation whose primary task is not service but to extract as much money from its customers as they can.
The last bill was as follows:
UK phone line. 216 calls Cost £60.93
UK mobile. 59 calls Cost £23.57
An 0845 /0870 number 22 calls Cost £4.65
Other calls 23 Cost £10.23

Total 3290 Cost £99.38

Phone line
Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan Cost £41.70

Processing payment Cost £5.40
Yes, I know that I should pay by direct debit but I resent beeing puched around by this bunch of crooks.
I have to admit to not paying enough attention to my accounts and I note that I have an outgoing on my bank account of £16.40 to BT Group PLC which I think could be for Broadband.
So, what do you make of that lot? Please do try to not be to insulting at my incompetence but its only recently that I have started to look at what I pay for Gas and Electricity.

HappyMJ

BML wrote: »

You are quite correct; I should have put the account details into my question. The problem is that people of my age, 75 grew up when we had a publicly owned telephone service which although possible less technical was trusted. Now we have a service owned by an organisation whose primary task is not service but to extract as much money from its customers as they can.
The last bill was as follows:
UK phone line. 216 calls Cost £60.93
UK mobile. 59 calls Cost £23.57
An 0845 /0870 number 22 calls Cost £4.65
Other calls 23 Cost £10.23

Total 3290 Cost £99.38

Phone line
Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan Cost £41.70

Processing payment Cost £5.40
Yes, I know that I should pay by direct debit but I resent beeing puched around by this bunch of crooks.
I have to admit to not paying enough attention to my accounts and I note that I have an outgoing on my bank account of £16.40 to BT Group PLC which I think could be for Broadband.
So, what do you make of that lot? Please do try to not be to insulting at my incompetence but its only recently that I have started to look at what I pay for Gas and Electricity.

Go onto an unlimited anytime calling plan. Cost around £5 save £60.93

Never use a landline to call mobiles unless using 18185. Get a PAYG or contract mobile cost about £10 per month save £23.57

Call 0845 and 0870 in the evening/weekend and during the day use MSE callchecker to find the cheapest rates.

They are not crooks you are on the wrong plan.

victor2

BML wrote: »

You are quite correct; I should have put the account details into my question. The problem is that people of my age, 75 grew up when we had a publicly owned telephone service which although possible less technical was trusted. Now we have a service owned by an organisation whose primary task is not service but to extract as much money from its customers as they can.
The last bill was as follows:
UK phone line. 216 calls Cost £60.93
UK mobile. 59 calls Cost £23.57
An 0845 /0870 number 22 calls Cost £4.65
Other calls 23 Cost £10.23

Total 3290 Cost £99.38

Phone line
Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan Cost £41.70

Processing payment Cost £5.40
Yes, I know that I should pay by direct debit but I resent beeing puched around by this bunch of crooks.
I have to admit to not paying enough attention to my accounts and I note that I have an outgoing on my bank account of £16.40 to BT Group PLC which I think could be for Broadband.
So, what do you make of that lot? Please do try to not be to insulting at my incompetence but its only recently that I have started to look at what I pay for Gas and Electricity.

Your phone line plus evening and weekends plan sounds ridiculously expensive. You can get unlimited anytime calls plus line rental for a lot less than that from BT. Maybe it includes your broadband cost (although still is expensive for ADSL)?
Going to the anytime package will eliminate the cost of your calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers as they are included, and you generally have to call such numbers in normal office hours. It would also cut down, if not eliminate, the cost of the 216 calls to UK landlines.
I assume your Total 3290 statement was a typo and should actually be 320.
Almost certainly a saving to be made without switching provider, just by talking to BT.

BML

Many thanks for that. It really was so much simpler in the old days with just one provider. I will make the change to the unlimited anytime calling plan although I have one last question.
Why would BT allow this when it means a loss in revenue?

Stuart_W

BML wrote: »

Why would BT allow this when it means a loss in revenue?

Instead of the old monopoly, the industry is now a confusopoly. BT's biggest loss of revenue is customers leaving completely to other companies. They have deals and tariffs available, but you have to look for them, so they make sure they make as much as possible out of someone who doesn't look to switch to a better deal, and then still end up with plenty of the customers who are looking for a better deal, too. Then there's the fact that BT themselves, of course, own some of the smaller more competitive companies (such as Plusnet) so they have all avenues covered.