Travelling On

beanielou

Most unlimited calls you have3 to hang up after 59 minutes & just ring right back.

Karmacat

Thanks madvix - I really wasn't sure I was on the right track there, but that sounds good.

Beanie - I usually do that on the rare occasions I go on for so long but it wasn't appropriate that one time.  Bit of a shocker to be charged £5, though **shrieky smiley**


I felt like I worked my socks off after all that, but I did want to send off my postal vote.  Even that nearly overloaded me, they make a right palaver about envelopes and which form goes in which envelope and which way round it faces so the address is visible.  Astonishing!  But its done.  And the rain lasted a nice long time, garden looks better.

beanielou

Agree that they could have made the postal vote plaver a lot easier.

Karmacat

Thanks honey!

I'm off to Bedfordshire right now.  Hope you sleep well.

Suffolk_lass

Just to chip in on your phone and broadband situation. Talk-Talk customer services were a complete nightmare when my elderly and disabled neighbour's phone broke and I had to intervene. Without going into detail I would never go for a contract with them after that. BT ended up sorting her out and adding her to their vulnerable customer list (by the way if you swap service providers, you need to add this again with each new provider). 

In terms of options and costs -

• First there is line rental (many pay this as an annual thing so they don't get caught by the inflation increase part through the year) - the only exception is Virgin who offer an internet only service (but after a year their costs ramp up and only available as FTTP (see below)
• Broadband based on your location - contract lengths are typically 18 months so out of whack with the line rental and a way of trapping you (IMHO) for 3 years!
• BB1. many receive their service that is fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) then copper twisted pair to the house max speed 80mbps depending on proximity to the cabinet (green box, once you've seen it...) - so-called superfast is the maximum here, in rural areas it can be much, much lower
• BB2. there is also FTTP or fibre to the premises - mostly in urban areas this removes the need for a cabinet - 1gb possible in towns - this is ultrafast and depends on the Openreach infrastructure where you live. You cannot choose this if it is not available
• Call charges - we pay £5 a month for unlimited domestic calls to UK landlines and mobiles providing (as beanie says) the duration is under an hour - any more than that and the per minute charges ramp up. A 58 minute timer on your mobile is excellent

Other options are using your mobile phone and changing your settings to wi-fi as the default - it means when you use your mobile at home it is using your broadband (most plans usually unlimited volume, the limit is the speed) - so the signal is stronger than the mobile provider's mast signal strength - much better here.

I increasingly use WhatsApp (encrypted) and Messenger calling with video to speak to family members and have set up my Mum with a dummy FB account and set up a FB mini portal which we speak on every day as a video call - no timers required as this is the equivalent of video conferencing or voice over internet protocol (VOIP).

Providers; - There is a checker to see who you can use for your postcode. We are only twisted copper pair to the house so Plusnet works best for us (it is cheaper than BT but owned by them, as is EE the mobile provider). Ours was £22 per month until I lapsed the annual line rental and that has taken it up to £44.99 but only until we re-contract and get a better deal. Be aware if you go Plusnet that they (like BT) offer TV packages and HD storage and record boxes within that - we found their plus-box and routers have a problem with remote tv controllers talking to the box and router dropping out but since buying a BT Home Hub 6 and manually setting the IP address this latter is resolved.

I can really see why people leave it! - sorry for the essay

Karmacat

Thank you Suffolk Lass!  You get the full title today, that's a great post **airkisses**  I really admire the grip you manage to get on details in the topics we discuss on here, like your knowledge of pensions on Ed's FIRE thread.  

Before lockdown, I'd totally have agreed with you on TalkTalk's customer services - and thinking about the lack of a phone number, I may still.  The only reason I was thinking of staying was the way they reacted when I contacted them at the beginning of lockdown - my service was so intermittent, I bought new routers and couldn't figure them out (they had SIMs!) and got them refunded.  Then I *did* manage to contact TT on the phone, and they sent me a new router straight away, a plug and play one, and since then my service has been faultless, bar the odd time I need to switch it off and on again.   I'll wait for a few days before I commit myself, but I feel like the £22 broadband and line, and the £9 mobile charge for 8GB data plus unlimited calls and unlimited texts - honestly, with the stress of going to a new provider, I might just try this for a while.  It would mean that I'd be calling mobile to mobile a lot of the time, and I think my mobile technique needs improvement (I hold it in the wrong place ...) but I think that's doable without too much stress.

rtandon27

Karmacat said:

...I think my mobile technique needs improvement (I hold it in the wrong place ...) but I think that's doable without too much stress.

KC - have you ever thought of using headphones with a built in mic?  For my work video calls, I often plug in a pair so that I have the mobility of sitting or walking outside during the call.  They are brilliant, especially with my hearing difficulties.

I also have a pair of wi-fi headphones, which for some reason are not brilliant for outdoor use, but enable me to talk and not be chained down to device.  These are great for those long calls I have with family across the pond, that are filled with lots of rambling about nothingness which means I can iron or fold laundry while discharging my familial obligations - LOL

Karmacat

Hi RT - I haven't actually - my first thought is that its another layer of electronics for the signal to go through, but it *might* work, mightn't it ... I have a couple of sets with inbuilt microphone, so I'll give it a go.  Not before the weekend, I don't think, yesterday blitzed me a bit, and today, I want to ready myself to return the Amazon Fire Stick I bought, which was a huge mistake.  It was from qvc, and is currently unopened, but I'm reaching the end of the two month returns period, so I have to get my act together.

And, I can combine it with a little recycling trip - I phoned my local Waitrose, and they definitely take the frozen veg bags to recycle.  I'd heard it from a voluntary group, but I wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth.  

All of this stuff is the kind of thing that got left behind in pre-covid times, by trips to London, catsitting, days out at the seaside, genealogy research, that kind of thing.  It would be nice....

Karmacat

Right, ordinary recycling is out of the door, all the frozen veg bags are by my front door, and so is the Amazon fire stick, duly wrapped up in the box it came in, the branded box was never opened.  I need to get it to Hermes tomorrow morning, collection may come as early as midday, and since the "depot" is directly over the road from my Waitrose, I'll take the bags with me too.  Result.  Just time to dump my clothes in the washing machine and myself in the shower, and Bob's the proverbial  

debtfreeoneday

Productive day there KC!