Granny's phone bill

money?whatmoney?

My mum is 91 and has dementia but manages to live in her own home with lots of support from me. What worries me is that she phones us anything up to 15 times a night just to have some contact, which we understand. She's on for only a few minutes but her standard BT bill is becoming huge for a little old lady - the most recent one was £130.

Do any of you lovely money-savers have any advice for me of what we can do (if anything) to reduce her bill? She doesn't have satellite or anything so there's no tie-up there. I really don't know how to change things to make it better.

I'd love to know what you think!

Linda

cte1111

You can get a package from BT that includes unlimited peak and off peak calls.

See the link:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=31674&s_intcid=con_intban_hp_ph
Unlimited anytime calls for £4.90 per month (free for first 3 months). If you can do it online then have a look at quidco for cashback too.

money?whatmoney?

Thank you - looking at that now. Really appreciate your help.

macman

Any elderly vulnerable person should be on an Anytime package, the extra cost over E&W is recouped in just a few calls.
Just go into her online account and upgrade it.
Remember that the calls are inclusive only for the first 60 minutes though.

Heinz

macman wrote: »

Any elderly vulnerable person should be on an Anytime package, the extra cost over E&W is recouped in just a few calls.

Or, if you can get hold of one, have an Orchid V4 dialler installed and programmed as required (our 90 year old relative's is programmed so that she keys 88 to dial our number [we are 30 yards away - annoyingly, not quite within DECT range] and that dials out via the override provider 18185* when the call would not be inclusive in her BT E&W calls plan).

* Hers is a second number on our 18185 account.

macman

Wouldn't a pair of walkie-talkies do the job over a 30 yard range?

Heinz

macman wrote: »

Wouldn't a pair of walkie-talkies do the job over a 30 yard range?

I'm sorry to say it takes daily lessons to get her to remember that the TV handset is not a telephone (and vice versa) and which way up to hold the phone when she's using it - so another piece of kit is out of the question.

I have to admit though I am considering a baby monitor so, when we're in, we can hear when she answers the door (worryingly, she tends to invite callers in).

EDIT 17.36 11-12-11

Invasion of privacy concerns (albeit, whether we would be doing that in her case is open to debate because of her diagnosed mental state) mean that, at this stage, we'll be getting her a new wireless front door bell - one with 2 mains-powered receiver units so that we can have one in our house and, when we're in, be aware when she has a caller at the door) and leaving the baby monitor* option for later.

* I did pick one up on Ebay today for silly money so that option is instantly available if necessary.

Old_Git

cte1111 wrote: »

You can get a package from BT that includes unlimited peak and off peak calls.

See the link:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=31674&s_intcid=con_intban_hp_ph
Unlimited anytime calls for £4.90 per month (free for first 3 months). If you can do it online then have a look at quidco for cashback too.

this will not include FREE moblie calls (or the !!!!!! line )

DVardysShadow

money?whatmoney? wrote: »

What worries me is that she phones us anything up to 15 times a night just to have some contact, which we understand. She's on for only a few minutes but her standard BT bill is becoming huge for a little old lady - the most recent one was £130.

Do any of you lovely money-savers have any advice for me of what we can do (if anything) to reduce her bill?

I think you need to get hold of an itemised bill. If she is ringing you, she probably has a few others she rings from time to time. Once you understand her usage, it will be easier to know how to deal with it.

Gleek

money?whatmoney? wrote: »

My mum is 91 and has dementia but manages to live in her own home with lots of support from me. What worries me is that she phones us anything up to 15 times a night just to have some contact, which we understand. She's on for only a few minutes but her standard BT bill is becoming huge for a little old lady - the most recent one was £130.

Do any of you lovely money-savers have any advice for me of what we can do (if anything) to reduce her bill? She doesn't have satellite or anything so there's no tie-up there. I really don't know how to change things to make it better.

I'd love to know what you think!

Linda

I could have written your post word for word including bill amount, but my situation is my 80 year old dementia suffering Grandfather.

We're moving him to Sky Talk Anytime (like the package we're on) sub-£13 line rental each month and £5 a month charge to enable free
01, 02, 03 & 0870 numbers at all times.

Makes it roughly £50 a quarter instead of £136.56(!)