Protected Virgin Line Rental for Disabled and over 65.s.

billsavings

" Virgin Media has today taken Ofcom’s new probe into the cost of landline rental to heart and announced the launch of a new “Talk Protected” plan, which will freeze the price of line rental at £17.99 per month for its elderly and disabled phone-only customers.


Customers currently on Virgin Media’s phone-only plans (NOT their broadband and or TV bundles), specifically those who are over the age of 65 or have additional accessibility needs (e.g. hearing, sight, speech and mobility issues), will be upgraded to the new tier from January 2017.

Eligible customers will also receive £5 off of other Virgin Phone plans, such as Talk More Anytime and Talk More International Anytime, as well as a few additional benefits.

Talk Protected Features
* Inclusive evening and weekend calls to UK landlines and mobiles
* Inclusive calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers and directory enquires (118 180)
* Paper billing at no extra cost
* Caller display at no extra cost
* Voicemail at no extra cost
* Flexible payment options

The new product is effectively a social tariff, albeit one that’s not as cheap as BT’s Basic service (£5.10 every month, including £1.50 to spend on calls and free weekend calls to 0845 & 0870 numbers). On the other hand you do get more free calls and features with ‘Talk Protected’, although BT Basic is also available to those on various kinds of state support (e.g. Jobseeker’s Allowance) and they allow it to be used with broadband."


http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2016/12/virgin-media-freezes-line-rental-elderly-disabled-customers.html

Ian011

People who are retired are around during the day to make calls so offering them an evening and weekend call plan as the first option is highly inappropriate. These are just the sort of people for whom an anytime call plan is the most cost effective.

It is good to see inclusive calls to mobile numbers. The inclusive 0845 and 0870 calls are largely redundant given that these numbers are now banned for customer services, financial services and public services.

It is worth remembering that BT offers Home Phone Saver for £21.99 per month. This deal includes line rental and anytime calls to numbers starting 01, 02 and 03 along with half price (6.5p per minute) calls to mobile numbers. It also has Caller ID and Voicemail and several other features included. For the foreseeable future it also includes calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers.

BT Home Phone Saver is much cheaper than the standard line rental and anytime calls deal and is available only to those who do not have broadband or who have broadband with some other provider.

For those making calls, BT Basic can soon work out expensive in comparison.