Cheapest Home Phones Discussion

allanmc

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

An even saimpler no-brainer option is Talk Talk assuming you live in area where free broadband is available, and that 40gb/month is enough for you. It is £20.49p/month for line rental, broadband, inclusive free calls (24/7) to UK landlines and 36 international destinations. I would not recommending using 18185 with Talk Talk; better to use one of the other finarea offerings that use geographical numbers for access to international destinations (where Talk Talk is not free) and also to UK mobiles.

Yes Paul,

but I thought this thread is really about cheapest home phone without broadband. In that scenario, as it stands at the moment, you will be paying £3.39 a month after 12 months for a phone with inclusive evening and landline calls via TalkTalk. This is fine if you remember to cancel it at the end of the year. It's not so good if you forget. With the BT Option 2 on a rolling contract, or the Option 1/Primus combination, it costs you nothing more than you would be paying for line rental if you forget, and you can safely use whichever override provider you want.

If you are willing to try TalkTalk, then go for it. My experience of their customer service makes me a bit wary of them.

Paul_Varjak

As, people on here clearly have internet there is a fair bet it is a broadband connection.

I am a little confused over this £3.39p/month after 12 months. I thought the Talk Talk offer of £20.49p/month line rental, broadband and inclusive calls 24/7 did not end after 12 months?

allanmc

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

As, people on here clearly have internet there is a fair bet it is a broadband connection.

I am a little confused over this £3.39p/month after 12 months. I thought the Talk Talk offer of £20.49p/month line rental, broadband and inclusive calls 24/7 did not end after 12 months?

Yes Paul (do I sound like Paul Daniels?) You may be correct. I do think a lot of us forum members also pass info on to friends and family who may not be blessed with the internet.

As the theme of this thread is home phones, I was comparing the current Talk2 voice deal with the BT Together Option 2 offering. No broadband involved at all. This info is for people who do not want or cannot get broadband. It is also appropriate for people who want broadband and cannot get the excellent deal you mention as TalkTalk have not reached their exchange yet, or maybe don't want to touch TalkTalk with a barge pole.

chrisnorden

Anyone else seen this?
£24 per month (18 month contract) of which 6 months will be half price.
Free evening & weekend (2 hour) landline calls + broadband + 2nd phone line with free anytime land line calls + 30 countries + Orange mobiles. Is it good?? Includes BT line rental!!

I pay Tesco £17.97 for broadband + approx £25 per month line rental & unlimited UK landline phone calls (70 mins).

Orange deal too gtood to be true, or should I rush & get my MAC no. now? Is it worth negotiating with Tesco now?

pigeonpie

I'm very confused. I'm currently on BT Option 1 (default). 95% of my phone usage is during the day Mon-Fri. My bill suggests most of my money's going on calls to geographic landlines, mobiles and unavoidable 0870 and 0845 calls (no alternative nos on saynoto...). How do I work out if BT Option 3 is a good deal for me from April when the tariffs go up? Hardly make any evening or weekend calls. I don't want a phone + bb offer as am happy with my ISP. Any suggestions please?

Heinz

pigeonpie wrote: »

Any suggestions please?

Well, certainly using 18185, 1899 or 18866 would save you money on those weekday 6am to 6pm UK 01, 02 or 03 calls. Instead of paying BT 6p set-up fee + 3¼p/minute (4p/minute from 1-4-08), pay 5p for calls of any duration.

18185 would save you a great deal on calls to mobiles too - 5p connection and 6p/minute weekdays (3p/minute weekends).

mar7t1n

These alternate phone providers are all very well but if like me you have FREE BT Privacy - caller ID then beware. If you siwtch and stop paying BT for any calls, then they will take the Caller ID service off you. And the alternate provider will then want something like £1.50 to continue providing it. So if your call rate is low and you want Caller ID then you may not benefit at all. Stick with BT and take their free weekend and evening calls and you still only pay £10.50 a month.

Heinz

mar7t1n wrote: »

These alternate phone providers are all very well but if like me you have FREE BT Privacy - caller ID then beware. If you siwtch and stop paying BT for any calls, then they will take the Caller ID service off you. And the alternate provider will then want something like £1.50 to continue providing it. So if your call rate is low and you want Caller ID then you may not benefit at all. Stick with BT and take their free weekend and evening calls and you still only pay £10.50 a month.

Or make the necessary number of calls on BT.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5022907&postcount=2

allanmc

pigeonpie wrote: »

I'm very confused. I'm currently on BT Option 1 (default). 95% of my phone usage is during the day Mon-Fri. My bill suggests most of my money's going on calls to geographic landlines, mobiles and unavoidable 0870 and 0845 calls (no alternative nos on saynoto...). How do I work out if BT Option 3 is a good deal for me from April when the tariffs go up? Hardly make any evening or weekend calls. I don't want a phone + bb offer as am happy with my ISP. Any suggestions please?

If you are spending more than £4.50 per month on daytime landline calls then Option 3, on the 12 month contract may be worthwhile and would be easier. (12 month contract = 3 months free then £5.95 per month). After your year is up, I think your Option 3 monthly charge will stay at £5.95, assuming the charges stay the same and it would only be worth your while if you were making daytime landline calls to at least this value. Please note that this does not include your line rental which can be as low as £10.50 if you pay by DD and use online, paper free, billing.

BT is very competitive for 0845 and 0870 calls during daytimes as well.

On this option you also get discounts on the BT prices for calling mobiles, but they are higher than 18185 during weekdays.

If the price is more important than ease of setting up and use, then, as Heinz suggests, 18185 would be VERY hard to beat for your landline and mobile calls, on top of your Option 1, or even Option 2 on the rolling 12 month contract. Use BT for the 0845 and 0870 numbers and that would qualify you for your free Caller Display via BT Privacy.

poorbabe

Thanks to Heinz and other phone specialists :T, I have just switched from plain BT option 1 to BT + Primus SO2 (with penny mobile 2), or will have once the cooling off period etc has expired

Just a :beer::T for all the information/help you provide.