What's the cheapest landline with anytime calls?

Gobsh

What's the cheapest landline with anytime calls?

My mum doesn't use the internet but she just wants cheap anytime calls with her existing landline. She currently paying Sky £40+ per month and never even plugged the router in

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656339/what-039-s-the-cheapest-landline-with-anytime-calls

Wouldn't a PAYG or cheap monthly sim such as a Lebara mobile be cheapest?

JSmithy45AD

If she claims Universal Credit, Pension Credit or equivalent benefits she may qualify for a social tariff BTW.

iniltous

No one , apart from BT is required by Ofcom to offer a standalone telephone service to the public , those that do , like Sky , provide it as an addition to broadband (so basically you pay for broadband even if you don’t want it or use it ) ,so your choice of provider is going to be very limited , in some circumstances BT use broadband to ‘deliver’ the telephone service, but don’t charge for the broadband , they charge only for the telephone service that sits on top, however unless they qualify for certain benefits, the price of a standard phone service isn’t much different to the price of basic broadband with an included phone service anyway .

As stated , a cheap mobile is probably the way to go .

QrizB

I agree with JSmithy that the cheapest telephone service with anytime calls is likely to be a mobile phone. I've got a SPUSU number on a rolling 30-day contract for £3 a month, and an ID Mobile SIM on 24-month contract with a cashback deal that works out as about £2 a month.

If it has to be a landline, you might be able to get a broadband deal for under £30 a month or so but it will depend on where your mum lives and what providers she has available to her.

born_again

Also factor in the ongoing changes.

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/consumer-issues/changes-to-landline-telephones/

Kim_13

If taking a landline, the fact that it almost always comes bundled with broadband will mean that the price rises to some obscene out of contract amount every few years unless action is taken. If routinely contacting a provider to haggle is likely to be a problem, then she should bite the bullet and get a mobile to use instead.

A mobile can be Pay As You Go (monthly bundles can generally be set as recurring card payments) or contract with annual price rises of a few pounds at worst and not a contract with a "discount" that falls off at the end of the minimum term as with broadband. Having recently redone our broadband + line, they claim the usual cost is £63 for 250mbps and weekend calls, which is clearly much more than any reasonable person would ever sign up to. I have a cousin who doesn't use the internet and she has been paying £5 per month for a PAYG bundle of unlimited minutes and texts since 2020; had it been a pay monthly contract on the same network, it would likely be triple that by now with another price hike coming in April.

Landline calls tend to require you to redial after an hour in order for calls to remain free, whereas mobiles have no such stipulation.

Gobsh

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893529#Comment_81893529

Yeap. I got her one for £2.75 month but she prefers her landline phones with 3 handsets

Gobsh

It is a shame that there's no real GSM/SIM versions of standard size handsets that older people can operate. My mum uses std Panasonic handsets that "lift to call", "drop to end" but I can't find anything that compares that takes SIM. Have i found a niche?

QrizB

It is a shame that there's no real GSM/SIM versions of standard size handsets

Do you mean like this?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205636139525

(That one might only be 2G, but there are definitely 4G versons.)

she prefers her landline phones with 3 handsets

I'm sure I've seen boxes that take a SIM card and that you can plug an analogue phone handset into, but my searches aren't finding them at the moment. Sorry, maybe you'll have more luck!

mits999

I’m working in sky retentions if anyone wants advice or deals let me know thanks