Cheapest Home Phones Discussion

sootyboy · 16 August 2007 at 5:12PM

When I first subscribed to the talktalk international package 18 months ago, it cost £21 a month. The cost has now fallen to about £18 a month. Before I investigate/try to get talktalk to give me the lower rate, I wondered if anyone out there has gone thru' the same process. Is it possible to do it without ending current deal and starting with talktalk again?
thanks in anticipation

phil_the_red · 16 August 2007 at 11:06PM

Regarding TalkTalk, unless you are on their totally free calls, they now (from 1st Aug 07) charge 6p connection charge plus the call cost on non inclusive calls. Without analysing my recent bills I guess this will significantly up my call charges as I'm only on free w/end & eve calls. In addition they have copied BT in removing the w/end tarrif which means their 'cheap' mobile call rate is 7p/min plus w/end daytime calls to 0870 are 6p/min. I didn't see this mentioned in the article or forum so wanted to alert the money savers.

herdeep · 20 August 2007 at 2:13PM

Help
All I see is talk about Bt n others.
Perhaps some can help me a non techie.
I signed up Virgin last year without reading the small print abt 0.06p a call.
I am coming to an end of my contract.Is there any other supplier cheaper?
With a large family my average monthly telephone bill including calls thro telediscount is abt £60 a month.I have also also Virgin broadband n TV.

Heinz · 20 August 2007 at 3:24PM

herdeep wrote: »

Help
All I see is talk about Bt n others.
Perhaps some can help me a non techie.
I signed up Virgin last year without reading the small print abt 0.06p a call.
I am coming to an end of my contract.Is there any other supplier cheaper?
With a large family my average monthly telephone bill including calls thro telediscount is abt £60 a month.I have also also Virgin broadband n TV.

Is your Virgin Media connection cable or landline?

herdeep · 20 August 2007 at 4:22PM

Heinz wrote: »

Is your Virgin Media connection cable or landline?

cable,previously I was with Xtell/BT,Virgin engineers cut that off and in the process cut off my burgular line as well.I complained and Virgin re connected the BT line but had to pay Alarm Co to re set the line.have complained to Virgin but so far all my calls have fallen 0n deaf ears

Heinz · 20 August 2007 at 5:33PM

Apart from cable (Virgin Media now has a monopoly of the cable market anyway), your only option is to go back to standard landline(s).

There are numerous line 'providers' in the market now but most insist upon potential customers having a working BT line before they'll take them on (it allows them to force BT to pay Openreach the £100+ connection or reconnection charge rather than having to pay it themselves).

Having paid BT £124.99 for an install/reconnection, those who still think it's a good idea then breach their 12 month contract with BT (a penalty charge of a maximum of another £70 applies) but appear to overlook the other negative aspects of doing so (see the 'HERE' link in my signature below).

As you appear to have forced Virgin into reconnecting your BT line, you may be in the fortunate position of simply being able to dump cable and work out your best standard landline options.

You'll read on other threads (perhaps even on this thread, I can't remember) comments from those who 'wouldn't touch BT with a bargepole' or similar but, IMHO, most of them finish up cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Yes, the Talk Talk offerings are extremely tempting and, for those who don't experience problems (which seem to occur when Talk Talk LLU the local exchange instead of, in effect, re-selling BT's services), they're a great money-saver. However, even taking into account that those with complaints are more likely to post on this and other forums than those who are satisfied, I'm not convinced on the wisdom of going that route.

Flyingvet · 22 August 2007 at 10:11AM

Vispa ISP and phone - I have no connection with the company.
Martin's latest article on combined phone and broadband is still "recommending" TalkTalk - one of the least rated broadband suppliers out there. I suggest you take a look at Vispa's Home package = A1.
Line rental; broadband; 300 mintes of calls /m for £29/m It's not the cheapest but is completely hassle free with UK support.

Tom-not-tight-justcareful · 24 August 2007 at 2:36PM

I have looked around the forum a bit but still can work out how to do that with broadband. I'm not eligible to give up my BT line without forking out £130 (I was told) - which seems to rule out TalkTalk (I think). Are you saying I should take BT broadband along with the other tools?

Sorry if this has been answered many times elsewhere. Feel free to put down a link to the relevent past Posting.

I just checked what it would cost me (just out of interest, there's no way they're getting my custom).

My exchange isn't LLU'd so:

Landline rental -

£10.50
Up to 8Mb broadband -- £15.00
Talk 3 International - £ 9.99

£35.49

Even without the £29.99 'activation fee', I can beat those prices with BT, Primus Saver Option 2 and 18185.[/quote]

Heinz · 24 August 2007 at 7:47PM

Tom-not-tight-justcareful wrote: »

I have looked around the forum a bit but still can work out how to do that with broadband. I'm not eligible to give up my BT line without forking out £130 (I was told) - which seems to rule out TalkTalk (I think). Are you saying I should take BT broadband along with the other tools?

Sorry if this has been answered many times elsewhere. Feel free to put down a link to the relevent past Posting.

I just checked what it would cost me (just out of interest, there's no way they're getting my custom).

My exchange isn't LLU'd so:

Landline rental -
£10.50
Up to 8Mb broadband -- £15.00
Talk 3 International - £ 9.99

£35.49

Even without the £29.99 'activation fee', I can beat those prices with BT, Primus Saver Option 2 and 18185.

Welcome to the MSE forums Tom-not-tight-justcareful.

I'm not really sure what you're asking so if you'd like to try again .....

funkenstein · 3 September 2007 at 2:18PM

Hi all, I don't know if it's been posted already, but specifically wrt international dialling telestunt are particularly good:

http://www.telestunt.co.uk/accessnumbers.php

Let me know if there are any hidden charges or anything like that. I have found them to be very reliable and cheaper than most int'l phone providers.

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Cheapest Home Phones Discussion

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