BT Home Phone Saver 2020 - a hidden gem of a deal

Doc_N

BT have a very special (but very well concealed) rate aimed at people who want a landline for phone calls only, but not broadband. It's buried away in their website, and you may find, as I did, that even their staff aren't aware of it when you try to sign up to it.

It's just £21.99 per month, but that does include line rental, unlimited 60 minute calls to UK landlines at any time, likewise for 0845/0870 calls, caller display and a variety of free (usually expensive) calling features.

The normal price just for the line rental and the anytime calls is £28.49 - and that's without any of the other extras included free here.

The price is fixed too - no increases at all. There is a minimum 18 month contract period, though.

For anyone wanting just a home phone line, with the freedom to make as many calls as they want, I doubt there's a better deal than this on the market at present.

Details here:

Just want a telephone service from BT? Home Phone Saver is our exclusive telephone-only plan that bundles line rental, calls and features into one neat package for just £21.99 a month.

What’s more, we guarantee the price of your Home Phone Saver will stay the same until 2020.

What you get:

Your monthly line rental
Unlimited calls to UK landlines at any time, for up to an hour
Inclusive calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers at any time, for up to an hour
1000 free minutes to BT Mobiles (excluding BT Business Mobile)
Free 1471 Call Return >
Inclusive 1571 Call Return if you have the BT Answer 1571 voicemail service >
BT Privacy with Caller Display, Call Minder with Enhanced BT Call Protect, International Premium Rate Call Barring and up to seven useful calling features for free when you opt-in
Anonymous Call Reject will be provided if BT Call Protect isn't available in your exchange


Home Phone Saver 2020 is a telephone only deal, so can't be taken out as part of our BT Broadband or BT Infinity packages.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/58585/~/learn-about-home-phone-saver-2020

Ian011

BT Home Phone Saver has evolved over a number of years. The latest iteration has a lot of extra features at no extra charge, but still does not have inclusive calls to UK mobile numbers. This despite falling termination rates.

BT is now the only major landline provider to not offer inclusive calls to UK mobile numbers. The original Home Phone Saver deal had half price calls to UK mobile numbers but even that has been removed in later versions.

Ofcom is forcing a reduction in line rental for ordinary landline-only BT customers. BT Home Phone Saver has already had that reduction built in since its inception some five years ago, but, as you say, BT has kept this deal very quiet.

Sterlingtimes

Some elderly people, such as my mother, who is aged 90, do not understand when they are telephoning a mobile phone number. So, a three-minute call to a mobile under one of these packages would cost 22p setup plus 51p = 73 p. It doesn't take many calls in the month to bring the phone bill up to the level it was before the discount applied. It is crafty of BT to apply premium call rates to mobile numbers, but no doubt it makes business sense to them.

boatman

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/60353/~/is-bt-cutting-line-rental%3F

AgathaPoirot

Just been looking at the BT Home Saver 2020 package for a relative as an alternative to their current BT Unlimited Weekend Only landline package.

I wasn't sure whether the Home Saver price would be reduced by the proposed £7.00 per month reduction as from April 2018 or if its price would stay at £21.99 per month so rang BT. The person I spoke to said that the April 2018 date hadn't been confirmed and that the reduction may be pushed back to the summer months.

Has anyone else heard anything about this delay?

AgathaPoirot

[QUOTE=Ian011;__Ofcom_is_forcing_a_reduction_in_line_rental_for_ordinary_landline-only_BT_customers._BT_Home_Phone_saver_already_has_that_reduction_built_in_but,_as_you_say,_BT_has_kept_this_deal_very_quiet.[/QUOTE]


Sorry Ian011 just reread this thread and saw properly this time that the Home Saver plan does already have the reduction built in.

DonnyDave

BT Home Phone Saver usually renews early in April. As line rental for voice-only customers (without broadband) is to come down to £11.99, with Anytime inclusive calls at £9.50 having gone up in January, it would seem unlikely that BT will offer a new Home Phone Saver. This will mean that line rental plus anytime calls with no broadband will be £21.49, which is 50p short of the current Home Phone Saver 2020.

However, Home Phone Saver 2020 offers some other features that may make the extra 50p worthwhile, these including the full version of Call Minder (not just the cut-down BT1571) and Call Diversion.

HableLabel

I called BT this morning looking to switch my 84 year old mother from SSE who want to increase her landline with unlimited UK calls deal to £32.00 / month from October! (no broadband and no extras like call display etc in that either!).
I went through everything with the operator who was just about to complete the switch but stopped, said she needed to ask a question and after 5 mins on hold, said there would be a £70.00 connection charge as my mother did not have a BT landline (SSE pay Openreach for the landline?).
I cannot see a reference to a connection fee anywhere on this deal.
She said if I went on products & services, which I did, I would find it in their, but actually I couldn't as when you go into that option and look through the further options they list, the home phone saver 2020 deal is nowhere to be seen?
I feel mislead, or am I missing something?
Can anyone advise?

DonnyDave

HableLabel wrote: »

I called BT this morning looking to switch my 84 year old mother from SSE who want to increase her landline with unlimited UK calls deal to £32.00 / month from October! (no broadband and no extras like call display etc in that either!).
I went through everything with the operator who was just about to complete the switch but stopped, said she needed to ask a question and after 5 mins on hold, said there would be a £70.00 connection charge as my mother did not have a BT landline (SSE pay Openreach for the landline?).
I cannot see a reference to a connection fee anywhere on this deal.
She said if I went on products & services, which I did, I would find it in their, but actually I couldn't as when you go into that option and look through the further options they list, the home phone saver 2020 deal is nowhere to be seen?
I feel mislead, or am I missing something?
Can anyone advise?

Caller display will be free for everyone from 1 October due to changes instigated by Ofcom.

Be aware that BT does not include mobile numbers in its packages, so they will be at its exorbitant 22p per call plus 17p per minute, charged in whole-minute increments.

In respect of the connection charge, I wonder if SSE is provided LLU, such as by TalkTalk, rather than by Openreach Wholesale Line Rental.

It works like this: The wires go back to the exchange building. BT (Openreach) has its own equipment there, and other providers can have their equipment there in order to provide service. Those other providers are 'LLU' (local-loop unbundled), meaning that they are not Openreach.

SSE doesn't have its own equipment and will therefore purchase from one that does. Obviously this can be Openreach (just as 'BT' does), or it can be another. TalkTalk sells wholesale to other providers, Post Office Home Phone being one example. If SSE, say, has TalkTalk provide its service, then the line will be LLU and connected to TalkTalk's equipment. This might explain the comment about there apparently being no BT line (because it isn't connected to and operated by Openreach and therefore doesn't show on its system).

In order for a line (a pair of wires, if you like) to be moved from Openreach to an LLU provider or vice versa work needs to be carried out by an engineer, and therefore there is a charge by Openreach to the telephone company (retailer) that requires the change to be made. Whether that company passes on such charge to the end user (customer) whose line it is, or whether it absorbs the cost, is up to it.