MSE News: Sky to hike line rental and home phone prices, but you can beat them

jem16

Ian011 wrote: »

If you downgrade to the £4 per month option, you will be paying 16p per call plus 10p per minute for your calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers during the daytime on weekdays. Two chargeable calls per week, each just four minutes long, will result in spending more than the Anytime package costs.

Yes but people don't have to pay Sky for their daytime calls. They could use Call18185 at 1p per minute plus 5p connection. Or they could use their inclusive minutes on their mobiles.

All depends on circumstances. I would have preferred the old Anytime package to stay at £5pm and not include mobile calls as I rarely call mobiles and can use my mobile minutes when necessary. So for me the extra £3pm isn't good value.

Ian011

jem16 wrote: »

Yes but people don't have to pay Sky for their daytime calls. They could use Call18185 at 1p per minute plus 5p connection.

Using 18185 at 5p per call plus 1p per minute for calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers would mean that
- 10 calls per month of 25 minutes for each call, or
- 20 calls per month of 10 minutes for each call, or
- 30 calls per month of 5 minutes for each call
would cost more than the extra £3 per month being asked for the Sky Anytime package.

For calls to mobile numbers, 18185 charges 5p per call plus 6p per minute. In this case it only takes
- 11 calls per month of 4 minutes for each call, or
- 18 calls per month of 2 minutes for each call, or
- 28 calls per month of 1 minute for each call
for the Sky Anytime package to work out cheaper than paying 18185 for calls to mobile numbers.

jem16 wrote: »

Or they could use their inclusive minutes on their mobiles.

All depends on circumstances. I would have preferred the old Anytime package to stay at £5pm and not include mobile calls as I rarely call mobiles and can use my mobile minutes when necessary. So for me the extra £3pm isn't good value.

For some people, paying an extra £3 per month to Sky for Anytime calls to geographic numbers, 03 numbers and mobile numbers will mean they can reduce their mobile phone tariff by a lot more than that. As you say, it all depends on individual circumstances.

People need to understand that calling a mobile phone from a landline no longer attracts a premium charge. This trend will continue.

Ofcom's long term plan is for all networks to treat calls to mobile numbers exactly the same as they treat calls to geographic numbers. The reduction in the Mobile Termination Rate from more than 25p per minute in the 1990s, to around 4p per minute by 2009, to 0.68p per minute from 1 May 2015 is making that possible. From 1 April 2017, the MTR will be 0.51p per minute. This is slightly less than the current termination rate for calls to 03 numbers (0.56p per minute). By then, all landline providers will be expected to offer inclusive calls to mobile numbers in some form or other.

BENW3497

I currently pay £25 for sky-with a number of discounts-going up by £5 but then increasing to more like £40 from month 10; thats a lot of money for a basic package. I phoned up to cancel and they said i couldn't as i didn't meet the threshold-I dont understand how this is the case? and would very much like to cancel mainly because i cant really afford the price rise coming in month £10 and am incited by the number of cash back deals on offer

jem16

BENW3497 wrote: »

I phoned up to cancel and they said i couldn't as i didn't meet the threshold-I dont understand how this is the case?

It's not exactly clear what package/s you have with Sky so perhaps you could clarify?

The contracts for TV and phone/BB are separate. The recent price increases announced for phone/BB would allow you to cancel that contract. However the TV contract is not affected and if you are still in contract you wouldn't be able to cancel that part.

Jo4

There isn't a great signal on mobiles phones in my parents home unless you stand at a particular window and hold your phone in a particular position hence them using their landline to make calls to mobiles. Hopefully their overall phone bill will be going down in December.

Ian011

Unless they also make calls to 084, 087 and 09 numbers, or forget to hang up before 59 minutes has elapsed when making an inclusive call, or make some calls to international destinations, their phone bill should simply be the combined monthly cost of the line rental and the Anytime inclusive calls package, and not a penny more.

diamonds

Jo4 wrote: »

There isn't a great signal on mobiles phones in my parents home unless you stand at a particular window and hold your phone in a particular position hence them using their landline to make calls to mobiles. Hopefully their overall phone bill will be going down in December.

3 in Touch, Voda Sure Signal, EE Signalbox, o2 TU GO... its not like they dont have broadband


Maybe some cheap androids for xmas ? Or a femtocell (EE, Voda)


Some of the older generation love apps because its easier to navigate and download from a app store than the www.

teddysmum

diamonds wrote: »

Some of the older generation love apps because its easier to navigate and download from a app store than the www.

Quite the opposite for me. I rarely use a mobile and have no idea how to do anything but receive or make a call (that's all my mobile does), but am at home with a laptop and internet.

diamonds

teddysmum wrote: »

Quite the opposite for me. I rarely use a mobile and have no idea how to do anything but receive or make a call (that's all my mobile does), but am at home with a laptop and internet.

Good for you getting into the nitty gritty of it all. I forced a PC on dad a decade ago, he got a Windows Phone and loves the 1 stage pin login from the app, which beats the 3 stage webpage, much easier for him.

He has a calorie counter and lost a few stone in a year, also a app for walking the dog.


That mobile has made him more savvy in retirement/life, now he makes trips to Home Bargains, Poundland and the likes with his bus pass as he plans his route/s from a Traveline app. He now interacts more in life since he got that phone

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

It is high time a way was found to receive internet without needing a phone line. Other than 4G and 3G. WiFi hot spots in town more frequently.

People mainly have landline for broadband and nothing else.

Or streets clubbing together and sharing an internet connection.