Want to save money on your phone bills? Get fair, unbiased advice in a language you understand
so you make the right choice.
Home Phone Line Rental Guide
Following years of market domination by BT, many people have stayed loyal to the company despite being able to get cheaper line rental and call charges elsewhere. This is often because BT provides the reassurance of familiarity and good service. However, BT has been criticised for its recent decision to charge customers who don’t pay by direct debit (DD) an additional £4.50 per quarter, and to increase its late payment fine to £7.50 in a bid to reduce admin costs, despite a 13 per cent increase in profits in the last three months of 2006.
But you don’t need to continue paying over the odds for your home phone. Switching provider is easy, you can keep your old phone number and there won’t be a break in your service. Just follow our guide so that you can make an informed decision and get the best value package to suit your needs.
How much are you paying now?
If you’re with BT your phone bill will consist of two components; your line rental and your call charges. Traditionally, even if you used a different supplier for your calls, you would still have to pay a separate bill for your BT line rental. However, a new system called Wholesale Line Rental allows suppliers to pay BT on your behalf, meaning less hassle for you, and as many suppliers have since lowered their line rental charge, it costs less too.
If you get your home phone via cable from Virgin Media (formerly ntl:Telewest) instead, you won’t be paying BT as well since you wont be using their copper wire network. However Virgin Media doesn’t list its line rental separately, the cost is included in the package cost, so it’s not as easy to compare their line rental with other suppliers.
Other options for saving money on line rental
All home phone providers other than Virgin Media’s cable connections use BT’s copper wires on an ADSL line. Recent years, and Wholesale Line Rental, have seen a host of competitor companies spring up in the home phone market offering cheaper line rental and often more competitive call charges.
If you think about switching from BT’s “all calls included” plan without DD to the YourCalls equivalent, you can save yourself almost £8 a month. And the suppliers offering the cheapest line rentals also tend to offer cheaper calls than BT, especially if you make calls abroad. You can make even more savings by bundling other services, such as broadband, that you already use.
Many people have landlines in order to get broadband but you currently can’t get broadband-only packages unless you have cable. In the US however, you can purchase pure broadband without a cable connection, known as naked ADSL. Ofcom currently allows suppliers to choose whether or not they want to offer this service and as yet in the UK, none do. However, naked ADSL could have a massive impact on the future of both line rental and VoIP connections.
Remember
You shouldn’t switch to a new home phone provider just because they have cheaper line rental as the most you will save is around £2 a month. However, combined with the cheaper call charges of many of BT’s competitors you can make huge savings.
Also, if you don’t already pay by Direct Debit and are able to, you should definitely do so as this can save you as much as £5 a month with some suppliers. And find out if your provider offers paperless billing, as it’s good for the environment and will usually earn you a discount too.
Think about the kind of calls that you make, how long they are and where they’re to. If you only have a phone line for your broadband connection then maybe moving to Virgin Media would be best – they also offer free digital TV with some phone packages, allowing you to switch to digital way before your analogue signal is turned off. If on the other hand you make daily calls abroad, then go for a provider who offers cheap line rental and low international rates such as YourCalls or Toucan.
Keeping your needs in mind and thinking about the way that you use the service you’re paying for is the best way to guarantee that you get the best value deal, catering for all your needs.
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