Any recommendations for land line only

tulip12

My elderly parents have always been with BT, they have no internet just the land line phone which they don't use much at all.

They were looking to reduce their bill, which seems to be on the increase.

I have called and checked with BT and they have told me that they are on the cheapest tariff.

Could anyone recommend any other decent company they could maybe change to that would be a little cheaper

Thanks very much

Stuart_W

It depends what "decent" means? Customer service? Cost? Free gifts?

Also worth looking at why the bill keeps going up. What are they paying for? What do they need?

Do they require a paper bill?
What calls do they make?
Are they prepared to pay upfront for 12 months of line rental to save money?

tulip12

Stuart_W wrote: »

It depends what "decent" means? Customer service? Cost? Free gifts?

Also worth looking at why the bill keeps going up. What are they paying for? What do they need?

Do they require a paper bill?
What calls do they make?
Are they prepared to pay upfront for 12 months of line rental to save money?

Thanks

Yes customer service wise.

They only make a few local calls a week. It's the line rental that is the most expensive part, I was hoping maybe to find cheaper line rental for them.
They would still like a paper bill as they do not have a computer for on line payments.

I could look into the pay upfront for 12 months option Thanks

Stuart_W

Post Office may suit them.
£12.25 per month line rental. Includes evening and weekend calls.
No extra for a paper bill. Can pay in cash at the post office. No extra fee.
There is currently a £50 cashback deal.

Direct debit and online billing are usually mandatory with the cheapest deals. However, Primus Line Rental saver for £6.79/month is available with paper billing for £1.80/month extra - so £8.59/month. They have an unlimited calls deal, too, for £12.79 (which is £14.59 with paper billing). This would mean all landline calls under 90 minutes are included in the line rental. Direct debit payment would be required.

If customer service is really important, I can't vouch for either of the above companies. The Phone Co-op may be worth a look, a small easy to get hold of oprganisation. Not as cheap, though, probably best option Line Rental Saver (£10/month) and the Caller Plus Tariff, no connection fee on calls and a 1.2p minimum charge per call (paper billing will now cost £1.50 extra, though)

Overall, Post Office might be best, with the current cashback offer. Can be applied for at the post office if they'd prefer to do it themselves.

DVardysShadow

tulip12 wrote: »

... Could anyone recommend any other decent company they could maybe change to that would be a little cheaper

BT customer service became dire a few years back when they stopped doing customer service at all but pretended to do it from India.

Essentially, your choice is 'cheaper' or 'better customer service'. Don't get muddled and expect better customer service and cheaper. It is the fact that people constantly buy purely on price which has led to so many companies having a deficit of decent customer service.

tulip12

Post Office may suit them.
£12.25 per month line rental. Includes evening and weekend calls.
No extra for a paper bill. Can pay in cash at the post office. No extra fee.
There is currently a £50 cashback deal.

Thanks Stuart_W that sounds very good, especially with the paper bill and the fact they can pay cash at post office. I will look into this with them. Thank you for all the info, much appreciated.

Quentin

Stuart_W wrote: »

There is currently a £50 cashback deal....

Not "cashback". The post office deal is a total of £50 credited to your account over a period of time (7 months I think).

So to get the benefit of it you need to stay at least for the 7 months.

As well as free evening and weekend calls including 0845/0870, you also get free calls to mobiles and lots of international destinations at weekends.

hareng

No ones mentioned these https://www.yourcalls.net/Features/Phone.aspx
Line rental and free calls evenings and weekends for that, therefore should never pay more than £9.69.
No paper billing though.

Its a 12 month rolling contract.

DVardysShadow

hareng wrote: »

No ones mentioned these https://www.yourcalls.net/Features/Phone.aspx
Line rental and free calls evenings and weekends for that, therefore should never pay more than £9.69.
No paper billing though.

Its a 12 month rolling contract.

Rolling? Or auto renewing? The terms and conditions don't specify but seems to imply that you renew for periods of a whole year.

macman

'Local' calls have not existed for many years. It costs the same to phone next door or the other end of the country.
If they are spending more than £5pm on calls then they would be better off on an Anytime tariff. Using Line Rental Saver will give them a big reduction in annual line rental charges, as will using monthly whole bill DD, rather than quarterly manual payments.

Stuart_W

macman wrote: »

'Local' calls have not existed for many years. .

True with most providers. The Phone Co-op still offer their Caller Plus Tariff to new customers, local calls are 2.5p/min daytime, 1p/min evening and weekend, with just a 1.2p minimum call charge and no connection fee. Possibly a worthwhile tariff in conjunction with their value line rental (£120/year) for certain patterns of call use (short infrequent daytime callers predominantly). The majority of my phone calls tend to be under 2 minutes so it suits me (although probably not most folk).